My first knife...was a multitool! The lowly Trim Trio.

shecky · **on:** February 12, 2007, 07:05:31 PM

I was about eight when I convinced my dad to get me one of those shiny things. Up on a cardboard display at the barbershop, was an assortment of small pocketknives. Well, sort of. They were more like a personal grooming/multitool/pocketknife, a folded metal handle with three folding implements, a nail cleaner/file, a bottle opener/screwdriver, and a sheepsfoot knife blade. Very thin and tiny, less than 2.5" closed, with a short ballchain attached, it seemed a very practical device to carry around. I'd nagged my dad for several months, this one time, he relented, and for the sum of what couldn't have been more than about $1.25, as I recall, I got to take one of those neat little gizmos home with me.

It was called a "Trim Trio", clearly stamped on the handle. And was something I used and often carried with me until my teen years. I learned how to sharpen the blade, I recall bending the screwdriver tip trying to pry something. Then, somewhere along the line, it was lost.

So recently, in a bout of nostalgia, I picked up a few of these things off ebay. To my surprise, they're actually about as decent as I remembered. The tools are useful. The blade takes a decent edge. Despite the extremely simple construction, they actually have a rudimentary backspring similar to what Leatherman used on older/simpler tools. It has a lanyard hole and a big hollow rivet, allowing for "tip up" OR "tip down" carry on my keychain.

Manufactured by the W.E. Bassett Company , the original patent can be viewed here. Back in the day, they were commonly given away as promotional swag. Old ones are commonly found with a variety of business logos, addresses, phone numbers, stamped in the handles. I don't know if they're still manufactured today by the same company, but I have seen inferior versions or copies sold in drug stores these days. Still for about $1.25.

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #1 on:** February 12, 2007, 08:22:41 PM

My folks often had those kicking around the house and I remember adopting one or more as my own on various occasions, but I never managed to keep track of them for long. Luckily, there always seemed to be a bottomless supply of them around the house!

Def

Anthony · **Reply #2 on:** February 13, 2007, 12:50:44 AM

I have one somewhere I had found in my grandfathers stuff, but it only had a blade and a tool for packing a pipe...it was a flat shank about the size of the blade, with a round metal top (used to push the tobacco down into the pipe I guess. Same handle though, I think my grandmother has it now.

J-sews · **Reply #3 on:** February 13, 2007, 02:47:35 AM

Thanks shecky, that brings back some old memories for me too. As a kid, I used mine to carve my initials into a wooden picnic table near the playground at school. I was too intent on finishing up my "artwork" to notice that the assistant principal was suddenly standing behind me. To make a long story short, I spent some community service time after school for the next couple weeks, and the Trim Trio was turned over to my parents.

I don't recall ever seeing it again.

CQC-7 · **Reply #4 on:** February 13, 2007, 05:08:01 PM

My first knife was a 2 bladed barlow made by Schrade. My father bought it for me when I was 5 and I carried that knife everyday until I was 16 when my father slipped a new Case stockman into my stocking at Christmas. The barlow disappeared one day. I think it is in my mothers basement in a box of my old hunting gear. The Stockman is in my tackle box now where it brings me luck when I go fishing.

CQC-7 · **Reply #5 on:** February 13, 2007, 05:10:27 PM

The trim Trio? I forgot to mention that My grandfather still has about three of those. One resides on the tool shed key ring. The other two are in a glass bowl in the china cabinet. Neat little tool I must say.

Splat · **Reply #6 on:** February 14, 2007, 07:10:21 PM

Wow! There was always one or three of those floating around my folk's house when I was a wee little lad. I gotta ask my dad, see if he still has any. Thanks for the memories.

smiller43147 · **Reply #7 on:** January 07, 2016, 03:00:27 AM

I remember these back in the 70's and even into the 80's. Recently came across this little gem, gold plated with a Native American theme.

zoidberg · **Reply #8 on:** January 07, 2016, 03:05:28 AM

Got to respect that bump.

rishardh · **Reply #9 on:** January 07, 2016, 03:44:25 AM

BIIIIG BUMP!

As a fairly newbie here I love reading some of these old posts. Thanks!

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #10 on:** January 07, 2016, 02:48:09 PM

My parents always had a few of those around the house when I was growing up. I was fascinated by them, which I suppose explains a lot!

Def

WoodsDuck · **Reply #11 on:** January 07, 2016, 05:38:14 PM

Did somebody say Trim?

Humppa · **Reply #12 on:** January 07, 2016, 07:53:57 PM

I always like the look on vintage tools. But this one is really a great looking pair. Looks very practical in any way.

Thanks for sharing!

Aloha · **Reply #13 on:** January 07, 2016, 08:35:03 PM

Quote from: WoodsDuck on January 07, 2016, 05:38:14 PM

Did somebody say Trim?

(Image removed from quote.)

Had one exactly like that. Wow what a memory. Great thread.

SteveC · **Reply #14 on:** January 07, 2016, 10:09:15 PM

I have one stamped Bassett USA 77 on the cap lifter

Shellhopper · **Reply #15 on:** October 31, 2020, 10:39:20 AM

I recall these knives from the 1968 time frame or so. They had a "special purpose". Coca-Cola used incredibly cheap locks on their vending machines, and the knife blade of the trim trio could pick the lock in moments.. As in, no fumbling, no failures, people who watched me and others work the locks with the Trim Trio thought we had keys. The flat straight blade was the right blade to pick the lock.

You could lock the machine up just as quickly, and the process didn't damage the lock. Insert - jiggle - opened.

I last saw one of these in a break room inside at a bank I worked at back in 1976. Someone lost money in the machine and the manager lamented that they were supposed to have given him a key so that he could give refunds. I asked him if he wanted me to open the machine, and he said, "yes, if you can".

I gave him my trim trio and a quick lesson. Never got another one.

I have played at picking locks since then and, well, it is not like picking a pin tumbler lock, you didn't put tension on the lock, you just gave it a jiggle while turning it like you were using a key, and the blade on the trim trio was the right length to trip something in the lock. More like what a locksmith would call a bypass than a pick.

Did I mention choice vend machines? They had their own problems...