Hi All, I'm so glag Grant created this forum for people like me! I'm submitting this first post to introduce the GearPull, a dangler I recently designed. Please reply with your thoughts and ideas!
Anyway, this isn't itself a multi-tool but I've been fooling around with the idea of Danglers, a.k.a. pocket hooks, hangers etc...
Compared to all other options, a Dangler offers the most rapid access to key chain and pocket sized gear unless the needed item is already in hand.
For those who are inclined to carry a large number of key chain size items the Dangler offers a way of keeping their pockets from getting bulky, uncomfortable, disorganized, noisy, and stupid looking. They can still be overloaded though, and it's on the operator to deny the compulsion to overload the clip...something most committed members of the edc community find hard to do, myself included. Plus, an overloaded Dangler can pull your pocket cuff down, and still give you a visible lump, compromising your opsec ;-). ...but if one is disciplined enough to limit the number of items carried, I maintain the humble Dangler is still the best way to carry key chain sized gear you want to deploy in under 2 seconds.
Belt loop clips and caribiners are also a speedy option, but they are not for me. Belt loops can fray and fail very early on. I used to use a caribiner but the gatestay would always get snagged as I went to remove it from or attach it to the belt loop. Although I know there are carabiners out there less prone to snagging, there is another issue I have with this carry method; Unless you have some kind of quick release on the items themselves you still need to remove the whole carabiner or at minimum open the gate to retrieve what you need, which becomes a two hand operation, not cool.
Belt sheath carry is a good method, which I use for a pocket knife or Multitool, but in general belt sheaths aren't for key chain sized gear so they don't really factor into this topic beyond just a mention. The only other comparable would be a pocket sheath. But a nice leather one adds up to a lot of material and pretty much makes the pocket otherwise useless. I guess for really fast access there is also neck carry but I will never like the feeling of having something around my neck so I don't even consider it. So, After much careful thought I settled on the Dangler as the ideal way to pocket carry my smaller gear.
The problem is that there isn't much out there... The p7 by Tec is a great, albeit tiny hook. I own two of these. One for my Quantum DD, and the other as a dedicated quick deploy pepper spray hanger in my bag. I love these little Danglers, but I wanted to be able to carry more than one item comfortably at a time, so I modded one of mine to include the small copper hanger and cord pull pictured below. The hanger allows up to three smaller keychain sized items to sit side by side, flat against my leg rather than in a disorganized bunch, and the cord pull lets me whip it all out faster than otherwise possible. On this tiny set up, removing the light, knife or battery capsule isn't necessary, which means less hardware overall, a good thing. Even though its limited in size and utility, I really like this set up. I also wanted to carry larger items in the same way, and started searching for the perfect Dangler, or atleast one I could modify....but ultimately I hit a dead end.
I did find this brass pocket hook via Kaijin on Ebay. It came with a big integral ring at the bottom which I cut down before drilling three 1/8" holes in it for split rings or mini gate clips etc.. I also drilled one at the top for a cord pull. I like the results, but the fatal flaw with this one is the orientation of the hook vs. split ring attachments. The three seperate, level split rings provide for better organization, but they are in line with, rather than perpendicular to the hook. This design problem forces the hook to torque the cuff of my pants pocket when stowed there, never really allowing the attached items to sit flat against the leg while in the pocket.
The two smaller Munroe danglers look really nice, but both only have one attachment point. The Mega offers two, but they are just about on top of each other. All of the Munroes offer the right orientation in the attachment point/pocket hook relation ship that the brass one pictured above lacks. Still, the Mega suffers from certain details which have kept me from buying. I don't want a bottle opener, pry bar, hex wrench or any other integral gimmick on my Dangler! (this rules out the Pickpocket too). It's just my personal opinion, but I feel all those extras clutter up and so detract from the aesthetic qualities of the design while offering minimal additional utility. Before finding my permanent solution I almost bought a Mega, but something didn't feel right and so I held out.
Frustrated, I set out to make my own perfect Dangler! This is what I came up with and I'm really happy with the results because for me, it offers the best features of all those others I had become aware of or encountered while searching for the One.
Conditions affecting the design: The Dangler must be simple, beautiful, functional, versatile, light weight and low profile, allow for between 1&3 items to be carried comfortably and flat against the leg, have a pull tab at the top, and make customization fun.
I've been carrying it for about 3 months, changing the set up to test different things along the way . I know copper isn't for everyone but it's easy to cut and form with the tools I have on hand, and I personally love it as a "living" material which, like leather, looks better as it ages. It's also anti microbial, which makes sense for something I fiddle with all day long.
One of the remaining questions were the attachment points. McGizmos add unwanted length and weight, but allow one to remove the items faster than threading them through a small split ring. Conversely the split ring rides higher and allows for minimal hardware, making it as simple as possible. In the end the little split rings won out because it wasn't important enough to me that these things be removable...and any way they ARE, it just takes a little bit longer than it otherwise would. The proto is cut by hand from 1/8" bar stock which makes it thick and strong, but its still light because I removed so much material. That's what the holes are all bout; weight. They also look good! Copper split rings don't exist at this diameter (1/4" ID) so I ended up using brass, but I'll pick up some "copper finish" rings because I think that will make for a more appealing package over all. The pic below is what it looks like today. All I need now are the copper split rings, a copper trit bead for the pull and some copper scales on the SAK and that'll do it...well almost.
The truth is I got so obsessed with this project that my standards just kept going up the more I thought about it. So I decided I wanted to take this to the next level of quality. The proto pictured above is a little rough. It's not perfectly symmetrical, the counter sinks on the holes are choppy, the spacing between the holes is far from perfect. There is a lot to love but if I'm doing these by hand there is no way to get them just how I want, and it takes forever. Next step: auto cad and water jet.
Above is the final drawing! It's 85% the same as the proto but with a lot of cosmetic improvements and one big change at the bottom; 5 attachment points instead of three. My thinking is that three is still the ideal, but with skinnier items like the Valiant Concepts pen or the Tec Inchworm, 5 will fit no problem. I had 4 samples cut; Copper, brass, German silver, & type2 pure Titanium. Now I have different metals to suit my moods and match my gear, and loads of options to play with as I experiment with different set ups. For me that's part of the pleasure of a Dangler.
So fast forward and here we are with the finished proto types. I'm totally loving my personal one which you can see in copper in the last pic. BTW, and I cleared this with Grant, I also want to mention that The GearPull is currently funding on Kickstarter:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/872996112/the-gearpull-a-revolutionary-dangler for anyone who is interested.
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