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My cheap EDC and the journey to a new upgrade
My cheap EDC and the journey to a new upgrade
Where I come from, it feels like at around age 4, you're issued with your first pocket knife and taught how to use it safely as a tool. Early years watching MacGyver episodes spurred a further love of the Swiss Army Knife as a tool that you could use for almost anything.
Living in the UK, has (slightly) dampened that enthusiasm as knives of all types have gained an unsavoury reputation as weapons used to threaten and/or injure people. This has created a culture that understandably gets a bit twitchy about knives.
Watching countless episodes of the "Forged in Fire" reality show, has re-ignited my passion for knives along with the fact that my tiny EDC that I carry around with me is used a few times a day for various tasks - none of them stabbing!
The comparison I'm making on this page is an unfair one - It's very unlikely that a sub-£10 every day carry tool will be able to compare with something more than twice the price, but since these tools have similar features and get used by me in the same way, I'll talk you through my journey.
True Utility Mini Nail Clipper
The great little tool that I have been using on a daily basis for a few years now is an unbranded version of this True Utility mini nail clipper and knife mini tool. It costs just over £7 on Amazon and it has served me incredibly well. The nail clipper is really great - especially considering it's part of such a small and inexpensive tool. The knife blade made of 422 steel cuts well enough (I did need to sharpen it often though), the nail file works fine, the flat screwdriver bit was very helpful, but I was mindful of not putting too much pressure on the steel tip, which has seen a fair bit of action. The scissors on my tool didn't really cut, but I bought two of these at the same time and the other one's scissors actually cut pretty well. It's very compact and fits neatly into the little pocket in jeans, has a mini keyring to add to your keys and you can pop it into any bag without inconvenience of size or noticeable added weight.
The design, while neat and comfortable to use, does look a little like a mini multi-knife tool screwed onto mini nail clippers - in fact that's pretty much what it is. You can see the screws that hold the two pieces together. I've often wondered about taking it apart to see how it looks in pieces, but haven't had the time, energy or reason to do that... yet anyway.
Recently, I had the sudden realisation that I'm really using this tool everyday multiple times and it would not be a waste to find something that is a bit more durable and has nicer design. This made me think about which tools I use on this pocket tool and which other things I'd like to include in something as compact if I could.
True Utility on Amazon around £7
Victorinox Classic SD / Mr Green Nailclipper / VOGARB Nailclipper
An obvious place to look for an upgrade is the classic Swiss Army Knife range by Victorinox. I have a few Swiss Army Knives and I'm not sure you can have too many. Most of mine are in the 84-91mm size range which would easily fit in my pocket, but still feel a bit conspicuous or bulky to carry with me everywhere. I enjoyed browsing through my selection again though.
As I considered which blades I'd need to have in a mini EDC, I realised that the Victorinox Classic SD (about £18 on Amazon), has everything I need minus the nail clipper. I thought that would be fine, but then thought about how many times the nail clippers have been really helpful to have. It's still a great option and definitely one I'll use from time to time when I want something even more discreet. The Classic SD is really slim, and yet the blades are made of significantly better steel than my True Utility Nail kit above.
The addition of a tweezer and toothpick are an improvement over the True Utility tool, but neither are very strong. The tweezeris not going to be a replacement for bigger and better tweezers and I'm not sure how much the toothpick gets used by others, but I don't use it a lot.
The tiny size of these Swiss Army Knives (SAKs) has always made me consider them to be gimmicky or even put them in a children's category. Upon better reflection on what I had been using, I realised that they are credible tools with their own use-case and they can stand up to a lot of use.
One of the things I'd figured I could do to solve the lack of nail clipper was to carry an additional slimline nailclipper like the Mr Green version on the right (around £16 on Amazon) and I'd have everything I was used to having with me and could leave the nail clipper on my keys or in my bag .
It's beautifully compact, with a great design, but I'd also consider going for something like this VOGARB option for around £10 too.
Victorinox Classic SD on Amazon for around £18
Mr Green Nail clipper on Amazon for around £16
VOGARB Nail Clipper on Amazon for around £10
Roxon KS2 Elite
I'm pretty interested in knives and tools, so it didn't take much to be persuaded to search further to see what other options might be out there. I knew about Victorinox and Wenger (acquired by Victorinox) and other manufacturers like Gerber, Leatherman etc, but I hadn't come across Roxon before.
The first Roxon tool that I thought could be the one for me to try was the Roxon KS2 Elite (just under £40). This caught my attention as it has recently had an upgrade to the knife blade steel to D2 instead of the very acceptable 5Cr15MoV. My hours of watching the "Forged in Fire" TV Series has created an awareness in me that knife steels are not all created equally. Those that know more than I do were very excited about this, as apparently D2 is harder than the austenitic stainless-steel AISI 316L used by Victorinox in their knives. It is slightly more susceptible to rust, however, but that's not a problem for my applications and I regularly like to clean and dry my blades anyway.
The Roxon KS2 Elite features a robust 13-in-1 functions, including a few that I didn't already have in my True Utility tool. The scissors on this mini tool is significantly larger than any of my other tools and can handle some tough tasks without any issue. They fold away really neatly too. You would not guess that it's even in this tool when closed up. The scissor handle also has a neatly tucked away set of tweezers.
There is the can opener/bottle opener, which Roxon have put on one blade, as well as a saw blade and awl.
There is a full phillips screwdriver head (instead of the half you often find) on the nail file blade. This conveniently allows you to use the extended bit set, which comes with the KS2 Elite (but not the KS2 standard) for more fixing options.
The Roxon tools have a really great feature in the locking mechanism. The little slider button on the G10 handle is used to lift the tools for easy access and also to release the lock on the blades. There have been so many times when I have either hurt myself or almost hurt myself when my non-locking tools have slipped while trying to unscrew something, so I'm grateful for this feature. It does become a little tricky in the UK though, as you can't carry locking blades (even if they fold) by pressing a button.
I'd be very happy to have the knife blade not lock to get around this, as I almost always use it as a cutting blade against the folding direction, so there's no risk of it folding back while in use. From what I understand, the UK position is that if a blade locks, it can more easily be used for stabbing.
The KS2 Elite is missing the nail clipper though and my experience was that I didn't need the addition of a saw blade etc. in my everyday scenario - although that could be because I didn't have it on me.
The G10 scales of the KS2 Elite look great and are finished well to give a good texture for grip and are sure to be super resilient in the beating of daily use.
Roxon KS2 Elite on Amazon for around £40
Roxon M4
I didn't stop at the KS2 Elite though, because at the time of my search they were out of stock (a sign that they're really popular and potentially a great tool?)
I noticed that Roxon do make a few other tools - many of them too bulky for me: either full-size or Leatherman-style multitools. It was then that I came across the Roxon M4 (around £24 on Amazon), a tidy-looking 10-in-1 EDC folder - and it had the nail clipper!! When I saw it, I was concerned that the nailclipper might make it too wide for what I was used to carrying, but having bought and used it, I can say that it is a very convenient size and so comfortable to use. The blade steel is 5Cr15MoV and not the upgraded D2 steel of the KS2 Elite, but it's still comparable to the Victorinox Steel in hardness and has the stainless properties.
The M4 sports a knife blade - much broader and stronger than my True Utility EDC - a can / bottle opener combo, screwdriver/nail file combo, which are also in the KS2 Elite. The scissors are significantly smaller than the one in the KS2 Elite, but bigger than the Victorinox Classic SD and True Utility option. It also atually works, which is unlike my True Utility tool. It's at least as good as the Victorinox scissors and possibly slightly better.
In my opinion, the M4's nail file and phillips head screwdriver bit are much neater and of better finish (see pictures below) than the KS2 Elite, but both are equally functional.
The M4 has lovely leather scales which give it a suitably premium feel especially when matched with the well-finished steel and precision-engineered fit of the blades into the tool housing. It does make it a bit more susceptible to water damage though, but the advice given by Roxon is to dry it off after any water contact. This isn't something of concern to me in my normal use though and I appreciate the feel, look and comfort of the leather scales.
Roxon M4 on Amazon for around £24
Roxon M4 vs KS2 Elite
I had some difficulty deciding between the KS2 Elite and the M4 - they appeared to be the same size, but the KS2 Elite had more tools, but was missing the desired nail clipper.
I could not find a decent folded-size comparison of the two tools, which may have just been a poor choice of search terms while trying to find the info. I have both tools now and the KS2 Elite is actually quite a bit larger when folded up than the M4. I understand why now, as the massive pair of scissors in the KS2 Elite need that additional space - all the other blades are the same size as the M4's, although the knife blade on the KS2 Elite is broader and features a sabre grind. The M4 has a flat grind and is also razor sharp.
The folded size of the KS2 Elite is 87mm (l) x 26mm (w) x 20mm (h)
The folded size of the M4 is 69.9mm (l) x 18.8mm (w) x 16mm (h)
This makes the KS2 Elite feel larger than what I was ideally wanting to use as an EDC to keep in my pocket all the time, but it is a beautifully-made and well-engineered tool. I had mistakenly thought that it was the same size as the M4, but they are different in size as well as function. I have landed on the M4 as my EDC (for now anyway ;-).
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