Explorer Challenge May 2024

[Farmer X]

More great stuff today, y'awl!

[Jeffjeeptj]

Small blade used to open this box.

[nate j]

Day 28

Small blade cut a cigar.

Toothpick was used for its designed purpose.

Large blade had a busy day, cutting tags off pair of sandals for one daughter and a bike helmet for another daughter, and opening a package.

Challenge totals:
Large Blade 26
Small Blade 32
Scissors 19
Hook 1
Inline Phillips 4
Toothpick 2
Cap lifter 1
Magnifier 1
Corkscrew 2

[Grand_Banana]

Day 28

Starting projects at the new house. 

First thing’s first: painting and internet installation.

  [ You are not allowed to view this attachment ]  

Tools used:
Large blade x14
Can opener x7
Scissors x11
Small blade x8
Cap lifter x10
Toothpick x6
Tweezers x4
Philips x10
Mag lens x5
Awl x4
Hook x3

[Antti Lammi]

Day 29 of 30

Today opening some letters with big blade

Only Tools Matters

[Farmer X]

Small blade used to open this box.

Did it contain a new SAK?

First thing’s first: painting and internet installation.

I wouldn't have done them in that order.

More great stuff, y'awl!

[Jeffjeeptj]

Did it contain a new SAK?

Not this time.  Had to buy an oxygen sensor for my Sequoia.  Damn thing angered me.  Bought it new in 2003, and this sensor only lasted 21 years and 165K miles.  Not nearly as long as a SAK lasts.

[Farmer X]

Had to buy an oxygen sensor for my Sequoia.  Damn thing angered me.  Bought it new in 2003, and this sensor only lasted 21 years and 165K miles.

I'd be happy enough with that! My little Saturn, bought new by Mrs. FX in June of 2007, has around 72,000 miles. And I think it has a park position sensor that's given up the ghost.

[Buzzbait]

Day 29: Only one use, but I finally got to use the awl. The hole got plugged up in my incense holder, so I used the awl to clean it out.

  [ You are not allowed to view this attachment ]  

[Alan K.]

Day 29
Used the scissors to harvest some fresh parsley.

[Antti Lammi]

Day 30 of 30

Last day of challenge and today i goofed around with all tools but mostly with mag.
It was fun to carry Explorer but tomorrow im falling back to PX since its quite everything i need from SAK. I may carry Explorer again someday but for now its going back to resting with others SAKs in my collection.



Only Tools Matters

[Jeffjeeptj]

Day 30

Explorer performed a bunch of tasks over 29 days.   I really enjoyed this challenge. 

So, on the 30th day Explorer rests.

  [ You are not allowed to view this attachment ]  

[hsherzfeld]

Day 28:

More gardening. I trimmed spent flowers and dead leaves with the scissors.

[Buzzbait]

Day 30: It’s been an interesting month. I’d say that the Explorer has been in my Top 5 of SAKs for many years now, and I think it’s still there. But……… There’s always a but…. I don’t think this was the best month to show it off. I’m also a big fan of the SwissChamp, which I often swap out for the Explorer as the weather gets warmer and I start wearing lighter shorts. But that weather hasn’t hit yet, so I was constantly left wondering why I wasn’t carrying my SwissChamp, offering more tool options. If this had been a July challenge, I think the goodness of the smaller Explorer would have shone through a bit more.

With that said, it was easy to assess the tool selection in comparison to the custom alox SAK I’ve been carrying continually for the last 9 months or so. The Explorer’s magnifier came in super handy, being extremely useful to my aging eyesight. I’ve never been a huge fan of the Philips driver opposite the magnifier, having too small a shank to be truly useful. The scissors were useful, but I was surprised how often I just used the main knife blade instead, having grown accustomed to using the main knife blade on my scissorless alox SAK. The Explorer’s backside awl wasn’t so useful, where the inline awl on my alox SAK is one of my most valued tools. I truly did enjoy having access to the toothpick and tweezers once again, but I didn’t really consider them to be essential. The Explorer’s opener layer went unused, and the small blade was barely used. In comparison, my alox knife has a small electrician’s blade on the opener layer, which is far more useful to me, presenting a different shaped edge profile to the main blade. One idea that I did get out of this challenge is to possibly try to swap out the cap lifter on my alox SAK for a magnifier.

So there it is. I do love the Explorer, but for me right now, it is eclipsed by the SwissChamp and my custom alox SAK for daily carry. The yellow Explorer will now return to service as the knife that lives in the coffee table drawer of the family room, being used once or twice per week, and daily when I have an ongoing project.

  [ You are not allowed to view this attachment ]  
  [ You are not allowed to view this attachment ]  

[Alan K.]

Day 30
Congratulations to all who finished this challenge and a challenge it was.  I'm not as handy as many on here but I do like to putter around in my yard and that often requires a saw.  That is the tool I missed most this month.  The inline Phillips and magnifying glass are great to have, but I have many SAKs that have them and also have the saw so I will put the Explorer back in storage with the rest of the collection and probably go back to carrying the Swiss Champ as my EDC.  I think the Explorer is better suited to a more urban carry and while I am glad to have an Explorer it will never be a favorite.

Today I used the big blade to open a package and the small blade to remove the safety seal on a bottle of pills.

[hsherzfeld]

Day 29:
Cut some strawberries with the main blade and took pictures of flowers through the mag glass.

[hsherzfeld]

Day 30:

No uses today.

[Grand_Banana]

Day 29

Great challenge awl.  Thanks for going along for the ride with me. 

I still have one more day as I was behind posting earlier in the month.  I’ll post my Explorer thoughts tomorrow.

For today, lots of uses at the new house.

Part of the day removing a railing to the basement. Got it part of the way off I’ll need to go back to it later there’s a stuck bolt. 

  [ You are not allowed to view this attachment ]  

Cut some tags off new furniture

  [ You are not allowed to view this attachment ]  

Trying out a different clip

  [ You are not allowed to view this attachment ]  

And things I didn’t get pictures of… used the Philips and small blade installing window AC unit.

Tools used:
Large blade x14
Can opener x7
Scissors x12
Small blade x9
Cap lifter x11
Toothpick x6
Tweezers x4
Philips x11
Mag lens x5
Awl x4
Hook x3

[Jazz]

  [ Quoting of attachment images from other messages is not allowed ]  
  [ Quoting of attachment images from other messages is not allowed ]

When you carry that cool custom, what do you use on a Philips screw? I want to carry my Electrician, but that’s what stops me.

[Buzzbait]

When you carry that cool custom, what do you use on a Philips screw? I want to carry my Electrician, but that’s what stops me.

I go grab my Cybertool out of my bag. I much prefer the bit drivers.

[nate j]

Day 29

Scissors trimmed a hangnail.

Large blade opened a new shipment of cigars, as well some more five packs, a bottle of Hershey’s syrup, and pack of paper bowls.

Challenge totals:
Large Blade 30
Small Blade 32
Scissors 20
Hook 1
Inline Phillips 4
Toothpick 2
Cap lifter 1
Magnifier 1
Corkscrew 2

[nate j]

Day 30

Small blade trimmed a cigar.

Large blade cut the tags off a pair of sandals for one my daughters.  Scissors trimmed a hangnail and a jagged toenail for her also.

Corkscrew opened a bottle of wine.

Overall, I knew going into the challenge that the Climber and Climber + 1 layer SAKs were very capable while remaining quite pocketable, and the Explorer didn’t disappoint.


For me, the more interesting question is:  Is the Explorer the most useful of the Climber + 1 layer SAKs, or is one of the others better?

I clearly used the blades the most, followed by the scissors, with everything else pretty far behind.

I got more use than I anticipated out of the inline Phillips, though perhaps in hindsight for the sake of science I should have tried the tip of the can opener first and only resorted to the inline Phillips if that failed.

The magnifier simply didn’t and doesn’t do much for me; I guess my eyes are still good enough not to really need it.  The one time I used it was more just playing around than actual need.

Thanks for a fun challenge, all!

Final Challenge totals:
Large Blade 31
Small Blade 33
Scissors 22
Hook 1
Inline Phillips 4
Toothpick 2
Cap lifter 1
Magnifier 1
Corkscrew 3

[Grand_Banana]

Day 29

Large blade opened a new shipment of cigars

 

[Grand_Banana]

When you carry that cool custom, what do you use on a Philips screw? I want to carry my Electrician, but that’s what stops me.

Im not sure if you plan to also carry a multitool?  I usually pair a Wave and Electrician.  I think that’s one of the most capable pairings of a LM and SAK. I do find if I just have the Electrician I run into the issue of not having a Philips driver.

[Farmer X]

The magnifier simply didn’t and doesn’t do much for me; I guess my eyes are still good enough not to really need it. 

I get slightly more use out of the magnifier. Usually it's trying to better deduce a tang stamp that my unaided eyes can't quite make out. One or two SAKs with the magnifier would be more than enough for me, and there are at least two dedicated magnifiers laying around my house. Perhaps the light that can awlso be found in the ILP layer would work better for you? (Speaking of working, I've never been able to get the can opener tip to work on a Phillips head screw.)

Though I observed safely from the sidelines, this was a great challenge. As usual, y'awl have some great uses and great-looking SAKs. I came away from the challenge with a new appreciation for the ILP layer, and maybe a desire to incorporate it into a 93mm frame or a bladeless mod someday. And the yellow and green scales caused an itch that I'll need to scratch sooner or later.

Special appreciation to Buzzbait for showing the neat gems, stones, and such, and Grand_Banana for hosting the challenge.

I hope to see y'awl in future challenges, hopefully when I'm in the thick of things!

[nate j]

I've never been able to get the can opener tip to work on a Phillips head screw.

Hmmmm

In my experience, it works great.  The only times it comes up short is for recessed screws, or sometimes if the clearances are too tight.


The only things I can think of:

You do have to hold the SAK perpendicular to the workpiece or even slightly inclined toward the back springs.  If you hold it inclined toward the sharp part of the can opener, then this part of the can opener can cause the tip not to seat in the screw correctly.

It is designed for #1 and #2 Phillips screws, so it doesn’t work on larger or smaller sizes.

[Grand_Banana]

Day 30:

A great challenge, awl! Thanks for participating 

The Explorer is my preferred EDC SAK and I wanted to do this challenge to see if I could get a better sense of how and how much I use it.  I tried to keep track of usage totals, which I only did for days I used a tool and not how much each day I used a tool.  Here is what I tallied...

Tools used:
Large blade x14
Can opener x7
Scissors x12
Small blade x9
Cap lifter x11
Toothpick x6
Tweezers x4
Philips x11
Mag lens x5
Awl x4
Hook x3

I will say there were days where I used certain implements more than once.  I may mark 1x use for the scissors, main blade, and Phillips for a day, but there were many days I used each of these more than once.  As I see it, a SAK like the Yeoman would be my ideal except I did use the can opener more than anticipated and I did need the awl.  So that leaves the Explorer as having the ideal around the house carry.

I would not use the Explorer by itself for our upcoming new house projects.  I foresee the need for a file, saw, and pliers, which is why I'm going from this challenge to the Spirit challenge.  The Explorer may make some appearances as a helping hand. 

Alas, did not use the corkscrew a single time this month. 

  [ You are not allowed to view this attachment ]