Gerber Shard

Gerber may have made good stuff at one time. Now they, like so many other US firms, are little more than a marketing department with a warehouse. And all the Bare Grills branded stuff? I’m not even going to go there.

They tried their hand at a one piece multi-tool, the Artifact (that I don’t think is offered any more), which was panned across the board. Being a long time user and fan of the X-Acto #11 blade, I thought it looked intriguing. Never did get one, mainly because the reviews I read dissuaded me.

This little gadget however has received more favourable press.

It was originally released as a give-away at...SHOT Show I think....but not as something to sell to the public. When photos of it emerged, people started asking for it, but they steadfastly refused to sell it. Finally, after months of badgering by consumers, they relented. 

This gives a sense of the size. Some kind of stainless steel and a TiNi coating. Not super high tech, but it should be fine for this application.

A few different angles. A pry bar, nail puller, two different sized slot screw drivers, a bottle opener (that also makes for an okay O2 tank wrench in a pinch) and Phillips screw driver.

Not very big at all. 7 cm long (2¾") by 2.5 cm wide (1") and not even 3 mm thick (less than ⅛"). Weighs about 17 grams (0.6 oz.)

2 1" pieces of webbing and a 1" space between them, to give another sense of the size. And also demonstrates how the hole is big enough for a carabiner to fit.

Close ups.

I wouldn’t want to use this for an entire night of opening hundreds of bottles of beer, but for a bottle or two? Just fine.

And I also wouldn’t want to use the nail puller for a day of framing, or the pry bar for a whole day of renovating. But for one or two things? Sure. Like so many multi-tools, they’re not the ideal tool for the job, but compared to not having anything, they are a more than serviceable option.

I got it for $15 Cdn at a retail store. All in all, handy little gizmo. I like it.

Not sure if Gerber has entirely redeemed themselves with this, but it’s definitely not a total turd.

Gerber Dime

A friend had one of these and I thought it was a fun little multi-tool so I grabbed one.

I tend to have a pretty jaundiced view of Gerber. After hearing multiple bad reports from friends and acquaintances about their full sized multi-tools, their shilling of the cringe worthy Bear Grylls, etc., I don’t pay their stuff much mind. But this was $20. What the heck. I need a new gadget.

The package.

Closed, from all angles. The metal is 3Cr13 Stainless. Opened it’s 10.8 cm (4¼")long. Closed it’s 7 cm (2¾") long. And the weight is 62.3 grams (2.2 oz.)

Main body opened with the pliers exposed. That pivot where it opens will have any paint worn off in a few openings and closings. One side is metal and one side is covered in a plastic scale. Other models come in a gun metal on one side and a red or green plastic scale on the other.

The scissors. More on these later.

Screwdrivers.

Small screwdriver and file. And the bottle opener.

Large screwdriver. Well, large being a relative term.

Knife blade.

Box opener blade.

Just to give a sense of scale.

And easy to overlook, the tweezers.

So, my impressions. First off, the size and weight of it is great. Easy to carry, on a key chain for instance. And just less obtrusive. The design itself is really good. That it comes in tactical black is a big plus for all my covert multi-tooling activities. The blades and tools are quite stiff to open at first and might break a nail. They do seem to loosen up a bit with time. From my usage of it so far, the two knife blades have been good. The tweezers, file, screw drivers and pliers have not gotten much use. The scissors I have attempted to use repeatedly. I say attempt. Paper, fine. Hairs, okay. Tried some vinyl at work. Nope. Cord of any kind? Forget it. 550 cord? Bwahaha! Yeah right. I had a thread hanging from my shirt so I pulled the Dime out to cut it. The first bunch of times I thought I just didn’t have the thread centered between the blades. Made sure it was. Kept trying. And trying. And trying. No kidding, two dozen times and finally I managed to snip it. These scissors are terrible!

The little bottle opener is good though, as evidenced by this cap from a bottle of Innis & Gunn. Mmmmmm....Innis & Gunn.

Not a bad little key chain tool. So long as you don’t have much need of scissors.