this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2023
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ultralight

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Overnight backcountry backpacking/hiking in the spirit of taking less and doing more. Ask yourself: do I really need that?

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Food for thought (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
 

Original post by liveslight

Swiss Army knife vs. individual (better) items (Opinel No. 3, 2-inch Westcott scissors, titanium tweezers, nail file)

SAKs are a popular item, but given that Swiss Army knives are not allowed in carry-on I was interested in alternatives.

What do you use?

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You saved 2g for about 50cm3 more. Congrats.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

And a bag/case

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I love a good Opinel knife, but isn't the point of the Swiss Army knife that it saves space?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago

the real question is what do you need a pocket knife for on an ultralight-style hike when you have a pair of titanium scissors?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago

The creator of the Swiss Army knife wasn’t trying to solve a weight problem

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago

What about the toothpick?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

mini chainsaw does the job in this case. You can use it as tweezers, nail clipper, heck one can even shave or haircut

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Wait, what? The SAK classic is only 19 grams? How is it reading 21? Did you not zero it out for the tissue?

Besides, I personally would rather carry a multitool on my belt than either of these options, even in the spirit of this sub. It may weigh a lot more than both options but what you can do with one is leaps and bounds over what either of these kits can do. Especially with so many multitools on the market with a lot of brands allowing you to kit yours out how you like or pick different versions with different tools, you'd be able to eliminate other tools in your kit as well.

This is also one of those situations where the saying "I'd rather have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." comes into play for me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

you may want a better pair of tweezers if that is something you use a lot. those penknife tweezers are ok but still rather flimsy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Don't bring logic into this

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You could also remove the plastic cases from the Swiss Army Knife and save the same amount of weight while not taking up more space

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

You'd lose the 'tweezers' and 'toothpick', though I'm not sure that's a bad thing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I've found mini scissors to be acceptable nail clippers, so I've never needed to carry any on longer trips.

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