ToolFob by Bruce Boon

[Happy Gilmore]

I will continue to post my findings about this tool. So far I'm a bit shocked at it's quality. Not perfect by any means but it's something I've never seen done before at this level of precision.


Cheers,
HG

[Sos24]

It is an interesting looking little tool.  It would be nicer if it had a pair of scissors.

[cody6268]

Looks pretty good, but I'd have taken scissors over a comb. My hair is kept extremely short, and I shave all facial hair off. Thus, I don't need one.

[Vidar]

Looks nice! 

They seemed rather coy about the price. One has to go all the way to the shopping cart before it shows up. (USD 69 for anyone else who might wonder).

One the way there you get asked if you want to add bits or extra ferrorods in the best of TV sales style - but wait, there is more! Anyway, I chose no and no. They were added to the cart anyway though, which I think is rather bad practice. So fair warning about that. The tool does look interesting though.

[Etherealicer]

Looks nice! 

They seemed rather coy about the price. One has to go all the way to the shopping cart before it shows up. (USD 69 for anyone else who might wonder).

One the way there you get asked if you want to add bits or extra ferrorods in the best of TV sales style - but wait, there is more! Anyway, I chose no and no. They were added to the cart anyway though, which I think is rather bad practice. So fair warning about that. The tool does look interesting though.

You are forgetting the $40+ they want for international shipping.

I'm also wondering why they have such horrible images on their website. I mean really?
What makes me worry is "The Man Ring" (same manufacturer, see attachment) has not gotten good review (poor design, because of the way the tools open and poor blade steel). Checking the description again... they use 410 stainless steel for the blades (seems like an odd, low-end, choice next to the titanium frame).
2 saws, 3 blades... and all extremely short. Seems like overkill to me. And the nail-file looks suspicious.
The tool I really like the look of is the pliers... well done this could work for many things.

All in all, I'm curious how this one holds up. Thanks, HG for testdriving it for us.

[Happy Gilmore]

This is why I love the multitool.org community so much. You guys don't sugarcoat it you say it like it is. This is awesome feedback and I agree with especially the website part.

[Aloha]

 .  Everyone has their opinions and I appreciate hearing them all.  In the end it the individual that needs to decide if an item is for them.  I always appreciate the direct feedback and again opinion bluntly stated.  Neat tool but not something I gravitate to. 

[Happy Gilmore]

.  Everyone has their opinions and I appreciate hearing them all.  In the end it the individual that needs to decide if an item is for them.  I always appreciate the direct feedback and again opinion bluntly stated.  Neat tool but not something I gravitate to.

For me I see massive potential In the base frame setup. Given time this tool could evolved into a number of actually useful variations. For now I really appreciate a one handable utility blade that I can find easily and doesn't scare anyone.

[Aloha]

  The creativity is there no doubt.  If this was bouncing around in the designers mind I'm sure theres a lot more in there. 

[SirVicaLot]

Looks nice! 

They seemed rather coy about the price. One has to go all the way to the shopping cart before it shows up. (USD 69 for anyone else who might wonder).

One the way there you get asked if you want to add bits or extra ferrorods in the best of TV sales style - but wait, there is more! Anyway, I chose no and no. They were added to the cart anyway though, which I think is rather bad practice. So fair warning about that. The tool does look interesting though.

Wow, that is really bad practice. That would be enough for me not to buy it.

[Etherealicer]

For me I see massive potential In the base frame setup. Given time this tool could evolved into a number of actually useful variations. For now I really appreciate a one handable utility blade that I can find easily and doesn't scare anyone.

Can you tell us about the blades? Sharp? Do they keep an edge?

Also, out of curiosity, could you remove some layers, making it thinner?

[Aloha]

Wow, that is really bad practice. That would be enough for me not to buy it.

[Happy Gilmore]

Can you tell us about the blades? Sharp? Do they keep an edge?

Also, out of curiosity, could you remove some layers, making it thinner?

Blades came quite sharp, I really like the serrated with the very shallow serrations.

I'd imagine it's possible in the future because it's made up of layers. I wonder if it would make the hex.bit driver more difficult to use.

Yea, the website is definitely a strike against it. I'd also say this tool need more of a watch style unboxing experience vs plastic packaging.

[theonew]

1.4 oz (39 g), I find that to be rather impressive
The comb is a bit daft
May have to subtly show this to my wife and see if it shows up as a present 

 

[Happy Gilmore]

1.4 oz (39 g), I find that to be rather impressive
The comb is a bit daft
May have to subtly show this to my wife and see if it shows up as a present 

 

Some more info:

The wire stripper located on the flat head is 

I don't like that it reduces the strength of the tool. The comb is much more useful than I expected. Saved the day when I forgot to brush my 5 year olds hair and we did it in the parking lot of her school. Also feels like a perfect beard comb in a pinch. The pliers are...well very small but they did successfully pass my nose hair test...ouch. pulling quite a few securely at once (disgusting I know but it's a valid test). I love these tweezers btw but wish the gap between the two sides was bigger. The points being so sharp is quite useful for digging. I actually don't mind the 3 blades, or at least not until there is something worth replacing them with. The saws are....well...they are cut to work on the push rather than the pull which is  . Meaning the are actually rather dangerous taking into account that they are so short. Usable? Definitely, but not even remotely what I want in there. I can deal with 1, but 2... 


As I stated before the frame on this thing is truely a work of mechanical art, if all that has to be adjusted are implements that's still amazing. God knows Victorinox has a ton of incredibly questionable toolsets and this one at least has screws to work with.

[Bruce Boone]

Wow, that is really bad practice. That would be enough for me not to buy it.

The site you saw was a site hand written by me with an outdated shopping cart and html code, so I had to pretty much have everything chosen at the final page before submitting the form.  Most people did want those options, so I made it the default.  I have since changed it to not include them.  We have a more modern cart at the main site, which is   (link removed) 

We appreciate any and all feedback.

[Bruce Boone]

The saws are....well...they are cut to work on the push rather than the pull which is  . Meaning the are actually rather dangerous taking into account that they are so short. Usable? Definitely, but not even remotely what I want in there. I can deal with 1, but 2... 

My original prototypes had saw teeth on the pull stroke.  I found it cut much better on the push stroke, as it locks full open and you get extra power on the push stroke.  You can have the teeth dig in better with each stroke.  The other saw is more of a hacksaw, so could cut aluminum tubing or carbon fiber rods easier than the more coarse blade could.

[SteveC]

The site you saw was a site hand written by me with an outdated shopping cart and html code, so I had to pretty much have everything chosen at the final page before submitting the form.  Most people did want those options, so I made it the default.  I have since changed it to not include them.  We have a more modern cart at the main site, which is   (link removed) 

We appreciate any and all feedback.

Bruce, sorry to have to pull your post, but it is in violation of our forum policies on advertising.

As this is a privately owned and members funded forum we can't allow you to advertise for free here. We have members here paying for the privilege to advertise and allowing you to do so for free wouldn't be fair to them. If you're searching for input and thoughts on projects you'll need to upgrade your account to a Research and Development subscription you can buy here for only $10 for 30 days or $75 a year.


Then you'll be able to post links to your project in our R&D subforum.


Or if you're trying to fund your project, check out our Crowd Funding board. Crowd Sourcing subscription is $15 per month or $110 a year.


Be sure to read Multitool.org Think Tank Rules too.


If you have any more questions or would like arrange options for advertising your tool, please contact Grant Lamontagne, the site owner via email.


Nice to have you with us and you can enjoy the forum and take part in the discussions, but don't advertise anymore until you've made arrangements to do so with the forum owner.

[Bruce Boone]

You are forgetting the $40+ they want for international shipping.

We normally sell titanium rings, so in that case people are normally needing higher priced items much more quickly.   We just added First Class shipping so is doesn't appear that we are ripping people off.  We just sent one to Romania, and actual cost was over $60, so we lost $20 on the $40 shipping.  I wouldn't have thought that people would be willing to wait several weeks to get their package, but maybe that's the standard way to do it.  If there are other options we aren't aware of, please let me know.  This market is new to us.

[Vidar]

Hi Bruce,

I believe part of the high shipping cost is simply due to the fact that you are in the US, and for whatever reason, small international shipments are much more costly from the US than most other countries. (If I remember correctly this is due to the US not being part of some international mail agreement - something along those lines anyway).

Maybe a possible solution might be to send a larger shipment to some partner in Canada, Europe or for that matter Asia, and have them send out international shipments from there.

[SirVicaLot]

The site you saw was a site hand written by me with an outdated shopping cart and html code, so I had to pretty much have everything chosen at the final page before submitting the form.  Most people did want those options, so I made it the default.  I have since changed it to not include them.  We have a more modern cart at the main site, which is   (link removed) 

We appreciate any and all feedback.

Thanks for the clarification 

[Etherealicer]

We normally sell titanium rings, so in that case people are normally needing higher priced items much more quickly.   We just added First Class shipping so is doesn't appear that we are ripping people off.  We just sent one to Romania, and actual cost was over $60, so we lost $20 on the $40 shipping.  I wouldn't have thought that people would be willing to wait several weeks to get their package, but maybe that's the standard way to do it.  If there are other options we aren't aware of, please let me know.  This market is new to us.

That was not a critique, but for me as consumer the price I pay includes shipping. It does not matter if it is $70 tool + $40 shipping or $110 tool + 0 shipping, I pay $110. And to me, that is what the tool has to be worth, as unfair as that might sound, it has to stand up in comparison to $110 tools (which around here is the Victorinox Spirit).

We appreciate any and all feedback.

Because of the high shipping cost and as a consequence no easy returning the product, better images would help a lot in the decision making.
I also strongly recommend to replace the old site with a re-direct to the new site.

[Bruce Boone]

Because of the high shipping cost and as a consequence no easy returning the product, better images would help a lot in the decision making.
I also strongly recommend to replace the old site with a re-direct to the new site.

I have a redirect to the new site and have been working on updating the pictures.   We added First Class as a shipping option but we'll need to see if it's possible for the factory to ship international orders cheaper than we can.  We had a local jeweler show a few of them and sold them in the first 10 minutes he had them. Hopefully that speaks well for people seeing and holding it in person.  I imagine we'll do the Blade Show in Atlanta next time around.

[Alan K.]

Interesting design Bruce. Welcome to the forum.  I actually like the little comb as I frequently need to comb crumbs and such from my rather bushy mustache. Good luck. I would like to see how this develops in the future.  We all carry other knives or multitools so maybe you'll offer a pocket grooming tool with just the comb, a nail file, and scissors.  That might be just the thing.

[Bruce Boone]

Interesting design Bruce. Welcome to the forum.  I actually like the little comb as I frequently need to comb crumbs and such from my rather bushy mustache. Good luck. I would like to see how this develops in the future.  We all carry other knives or multitools so maybe you'll offer a pocket grooming tool with just the comb, a nail file, and scissors.  That might be just the thing.

Thanks Alan.  That's a great angle.  I love the utility of the raptor blade for opening packages the most.  Especially at my shop, I'm always searching for an X-acto knife or whatever.   The tweezers are pretty cool in the off chance you need some in the woods (or in a metal shop!)  I used the nail file the other day when I had a rough nail catching on my pocket.