The HOOK brings you back

[ThundahBeagle]

I use the hook to pull open the zippers of my backpack. When i ride the train or in public im pretty sure that no one would bother trying to open my pack sneakily.

So have you removed the zipper pulls for added security and just used your SAK to open them?

If that's the case, I have to say that's a pretty clever idea.


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CARBON COPY... genius in its simplicity. Remove the pull tab from the zipper slider to make it difficult for someone to open your pack...so using the hook on my Deluxe Tinker, I just tested it on my day pack and it works. It won't stop a determined thief who has time, but most people would look at it and move on in favor of an easier "get."

Now back to normal programming: I ALSO tested this using the hook of my bottle cap opener (cap lifter). I placed it inside the eyelet of the slider, and THAT works, too. Actually better because it gets into that little eyelet easier. As does the can opener. And the awl. And the toothpick. The plyers of the Deluxe Tinker and other models can be used to grab the outside surface of the zipper slider and move it that way.

It's clever, but I'm just reinforcing my position that the hook is a superfluous addition to the SAK.

[MacGyver]

The Multipurpose Hook, a highly underestimated tool indeed...The hook has a very satisfying element of surprise to it. And it saved my day on more than one occasion.

Once I was riding my bike to school, it was exam day! Halfway my chain got derailed and got stuck, really stuck, between the rear gears. It was impossible to budge. I tried sticks, my hands. I was a oily mess and nothing worked. Then I recalled my Handymand an opened the hook. One tug and the chain was free! I quickly replaced it and raced to school.  Just shy of 20 minutes late, the deadline for entry.

I wouldn't want to miss the hook!

This has got to be one of the BEST uses of the hook that I've heard so far!
All the stuff the OP mentioned such as tightening small brass hooks or pulling guitar strings I always do with my fingers. But the bike chain. Hey hey! Good idea!

Always think outside of the box and keep a loose and open mind

I think most people do, actually. How many times have you seen someone use a kitchen knife as a pry bar, screwdriver, an even a hammer?
What's odd to me is how many "unprepared" type people who are quick to abuse a kitchen utensil and would never think to buy a SAK, think of using a knife blade for everything. But the type of people who buy a SAK seem more resourceful and prepared, in general, but we often struggle to think of using a tool for an "off label" use.
I think we're all resourceful under the right conditions. As the saying goes, "Necessity is the mother of Invention". I think our problem is focusing on the labels. I like what another poster said about the hook. (Paraphrasing) It's not a "parcel hook"; it's just a metal hook.


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One has to know the tool as well. We all know that prying with blade tips is BAD, due to the way they are made, and the the SAK screwdrivers are better for the job.
Think outside the box, like MacGyver, but know the theoretical stuff, such as reasons why it might(will)/might not (will not) work, like MacGyver.   

Of course, when i say "think outside the box", i'm assuming people are aware of the physical limitations of the tools and what kind of use (or abuse) would damage them in order to stay away from that danger area. I'm also assuming that people (at least Sak and MT lovers) are aware that prying (anything) with any of the blades is an absolute NO-NO 

 

[strmliner]

..so again, I say that whatever the hook can do, seems to be able to be done by something else...

Well that is true. It's also true of every tool on every SAK. The only thing a SAK can do, that some other tool can't do, is look like a real SAK. Your line of reasoning would seem to suggest that you should put your SAK's in storage...or ***gulp***...sell them all and invest in task specific tools. 

Let's say you were not out riding and didn't have your bicycling tool kit, but encountered a damsel in distress who need a spoke tightened on her bicycle while wearing a loose corset. Would you render assistance if you could with your trusty SAK and extensive knowledge?

Prepared is prepared. Just sayin'.....

 

TWICE if possible!

But seriously...all of the other tools on the SAK have at least one dedicated purpose. Some are even named after that purpose. Screwdriver. Bottle opener. The hook is just such a wide net to cast.

I have a 30 year old Super Tinker with no hook and I love it. Then again, I have a newer Tinker Deluxe with a hook, and I haven't tossed that out as junk

   I'm with you, I really do like the pre-hook SuperTinkers!

[Nix]

I prefer my newer Climber-with-hook to my Pre-hook Climber. I just love that hook.   

[Barry Rowland]

Right on Nix!!! 

[twiliter]

Right on Nix!!! 

+1! 

[Don Pablo]

And I'm not sure that I'll ever be totally happy with my bladeless Woodsman until I get new scales, buff up the tools, and oh yeah, add a hook. 


The back is looking unsymmetrical without a tool on the opposite side as the corkscrew, and the scissors go on that layer, so the only thing that fits is the hook. 

[Nix]

Pablo, is it time to change your screen name to "Cap'n Hook"?

 

[twiliter]

And I'm not sure that I'll ever be totally happy with my bladeless Woodsman until I get new scales, buff up the tools, and oh yeah, add a hook. 
(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)
The back is looking unsymmetrical without a tool on the opposite side as the corkscrew, and the scissors go on that layer, so the only thing that fits is the hook. 

Then you can sell the spring to a hook hater for way more than it's worth. 

[Don Pablo]

Pablo, is it time to change your screen name to "Cap'n Hook"?

 

I'll put a close up pic of the hook as my avatar. 

[strmliner]

Pablo, is it time to change your screen name to "Cap'n Hook"?

 

I'll put a close up pic of the hook as my avatar. 

Here you go Cap'n Hook...   

[Nix]

 

[Barry Rowland]

 

[KandiKlover]

It also works great for carry bundles. When people think using it for boxes they only imagine one with the string around it, which is good too, but people never think of multiple boxes specially a few smaller ones. Or essentially multiples of any items, fishes fruits, wood, rock, loose tools anything that needs carrying. What you do is use a Cargo Net like bike messengers do, really compact and light since its just nylon cordage essentially and put each corner into the hook. Even a tiny net is helpful.

[Tired_Yeti]

By now you've heard of Hurricane Harvey pounding the hell out of the Houston, Texas area. Today, my father-in-law and I took a raft and a kayak out to try to evac some geriatric patients from a flooded nursing home. By the time we were able to get to it, FEMA and the National Guard has swarmed the area with resources and the didn't need help from us and our little boats. As we were drifting down the middle of a downtown street headed back to my jeep to load up and clear out, we saw a middle-aged woman standing in the water wearing pajama bottoms, a t-shirt, and a black garbage bag for a rain poncho. She flagged us down and asked if we could open her car trunk and fish out her plastic bag of clothes (presumably to take to the shelter with her). Her car was flooded up to the door handles in the middle of the road. She gave me her key but there was no key hole in the trunk and her electric switch was under water (shorted) and the battery had died. It took some searching but I found the manual release pull behind the rear head rest.
I used the flat screwdriver (bottle opener) on my Craftsman to pop off the cover. The opening was too small for an adult finger to grab the cable. I used the hook to pull the cable and pop the trunk.

I had a deeply satisfying feeling of thinking, "THAT is what that tool--even what a SAK as a whole--was made for!"
P.S. I was also carrying a Leatherman Supertool 200. It never saw the light of day.



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[El Corkscrew]

  

[theonew]

Nice work Mr. Yeti

[strmliner]

Good story, Yeti, and nice work!    

[Barry Rowland]

Outstanding job!!

[Tired_Yeti]

Thanks, guys! It was wet and cold but I don't really consider it any kind of sacrifice at all because it was a really fun, surreal experience.
Here's a few pics from our kayaking down the middle of the streets.




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[Nix]

Sorry you are having to deal with all that!

Great use of the hook! 

[pfrsantos]

A use for the hook, opening big cans easily. 


Of course, the pull tab had to break when I tried to open the can, after taking the photo, so I needed pliers to finish the job. 

With these type of opening, you need the tab to first make a small opening in the lid. This breaks the integrity of the lid and makes it easier to open. If you just pull the tab, it breaks, because the attachment point is weaker than the lid resistance.

[Don Pablo]

A use for the hook, opening big cans easily. 


Of course, the pull tab had to break when I tried to open the can, after taking the photo, so I needed pliers to finish the job. 

With these type of opening, you need the tab to first make a small opening in the lid. This breaks the integrity of the lid and makes it easier to open. If you just pull the tab, it breaks, because the attachment point is weaker than the lid resistance.

I figured out what I did wrong. 

[VICMAN]

By now you've heard of Hurricane Harvey pounding the hell out of the Houston, Texas area. Today, my father-in-law and I took a raft and a kayak out to try to evac some geriatric patients from a flooded nursing home. By the time we were able to get to it, FEMA and the National Guard has swarmed the area with resources and the didn't need help from us and our little boats. As we were drifting down the middle of a downtown street headed back to my jeep to load up and clear out, we saw a middle-aged woman standing in the water wearing pajama bottoms, a t-shirt, and a black garbage bag for a rain poncho. She flagged us down and asked if we could open her car trunk and fish out her plastic bag of clothes (presumably to take to the shelter with her). Her car was flooded up to the door handles in the middle of the road. She gave me her key but there was no key hole in the trunk and her electric switch was under water (shorted) and the battery had died. It took some searching but I found the manual release pull behind the rear head rest.
I used the flat screwdriver (bottle opener) on my Craftsman to pop off the cover. The opening was too small for an adult finger to grab the cable. I used the hook to pull the cable and pop the trunk.

I had a deeply satisfying feeling of thinking, "THAT is what that tool--even what a SAK as a whole--was made for!"
P.S. I was also carrying a Leatherman Supertool 200. It never saw the light of day.
(Image removed from quote.)(Image removed from quote.)


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Great use of the hook Yeti!   

[ironraven]

I had a deeply satisfying feeling of thinking, "THAT is what that tool--even what a SAK as a whole--was made for!"

Good job! Keep safe- I won't tell you to stay dry, that isn't happening.

I sometimes wonder if someone woke up in the middle of the night, and sketched the hook he'd seen in a dream. Had a vision. The hook is one of those tools that until you need it, you wonder about it. Then, one day... yep. You needed it. And that is why it was there. In a way, it is meditative, pondering the hook.

[Dutch_Tooler]

Funny ironraven, I had exactly the same thought. The Zen of the Hook  .

I have used the hook on my Cybertool more than once for grabbing otherwise unreachable wires and have wondered ever since how such a, well, 'simple' tool has found its place among the other, more sophisticated and precision-engineered SAK tools...

[ThundahBeagle]

This is during the biggest storm probably in a lifetime. That makes  a good deed a great deed.

My stance on the hook remains the same. Many tools could have done that, but I think what you did is what any Leatherman or Swiss Army Knife- carrying person carries them for, in the big picture.

I got a kick out of the fact that through all that adventure, you had the wherewithal to take a pic of the hook in action

[shadowrider]

Awesome story Yeti!

[Tired_Yeti]

I got a kick out of the fact that through all that adventure, you had the wherewithal to take a pic of the hook in action

LOL!
Honestly, I was kneeling in water thinking "Don't drop the phone! Just don't drop the phone!"

[ThundahBeagle]

I had a deeply satisfying feeling of thinking, "THAT is what that tool--even what a SAK as a whole--was made for!"

Good job! Keep safe- I won't tell you to stay dry, that isn't happening.

I sometimes wonder if someone woke up in the middle of the night, and sketched the hook he'd seen in a dream. Had a vision. The hook is one of those tools that until you need it, you wonder about it. Then, one day... yep. You needed it. And that is why it was there. In a way, it is meditative, pondering the hook.

I believe the hook to be meditative and pondering the same way one person will sit cross-legged meditating on an issue, while someone else with a corkscrew or Philips head screwdriver will just get up and do it.

For real...I challenge anyone to find a use for that vestigial organ of a tool, that I cannot also do with some other implement of a SAK. I mean - if they sold it as  a CROCHET hook, then at least it would have its singular named purpose.

Seriously keep safe Yeti! And everyone else in the path of this storm