Rexford R.U.T. Titanium Utility Knife Keychain dongle

Another trend I have noticed in the last few years with custom/handmade knives is the keychain tool/dongle. I just saw this video:Rexford R.U.T. Review, $135+ box cutter "worth it?":
First thing that came to mind was the quip 'First world problems', but after watching the video (and also since I have always lived in the 'First World' all my problems are of that nature), not considering the price, just function, I think it is the first of these keychain tools that I would actually find useful. There is no way I can wrap my head around or justify the price. Maybe I have never been 'that' kind of 'First Worlder'?

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
WordPress YouTube Facebook Patreon Locals Instagram Twitter

Pure value wise, that Rexford RUT is overpriced, but given how much people pay for knife knut pocket gadgetry it isn't that bad.

My problems with it... it looks like it would destroy my pocket, and it looks like it would be very uncomfortable to use.


Chumgeyser on Youtube
E-nep throwing Brotherhood. Charter Member

The problem with price is that once you start from that perspective, almost everything beyond an Opinel isn't practical.

If you look at the price of that compared to a normal box opener, and then a folder compared to one from the same guy, then how does that compared in terms of price? Is it extremely expensive for what it does? Sure, but the same holds for most of the self-made knives.

Joe, Kyle and Kyley for example all have very reasonable prices when you look at other self-made knives, but if you look at generic/production versions of similar knives they can be easily 25-50X the cost? It is hard to describe them as anything but extremely expensive from that view.

As for that tool, the curious thing there is that it is very poorly made compared to the basic versions in terms of function of the blade. It is clearly a piece of jewelry in that respect where looks/ease of manufacturing dominated function. But hey, some people put diamond studded collars on toy dogs, it just depends on the amount of money you have as to if the price of something is justified.

if I am honest all those key chain tools might be good for someone with an office job but for me they are just too small to be of use and too big to bother carrying. I dont like Jarosz bottle opener though. Im sure if you dont work a blue collar type of job it could work well.

I just made myself a 6 ti pry bar to carry and it does the tasks I need it to, if I need something bigger I need something much bigger in terms of feet.[instagram.com] now I could have just as well used a piece of steel bit i didnt want to have to pay for ht for it and the ti is light, I should note that I could easily snap the ti bar if I wanted to I couldnt do that with steel.

Cliff is right though from a pure price point perspective anything custom suffers from inefficiency that the end user pays for. Most customs are more about looks than anything, the only thing that seaprates custom and production is ergos and edge geomerty imo.

Contact 570-486-9095



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/18/2015 08:31AM by KWB.

They are keychain tools so they are even smaller than the mini versions of tools typically.

If it isn't obvious, one of the reasons why these are often jewelry type items vs functional is the use of Titanium as a material. The typical titanium alloys used are softer and weaker than a simple stainless steel. However the use of Titanium is strong for marketing because people generally have the perception that it is much stronger/more durable than steel.

Just think about how many times you have seen in movies someone talk about a Titanium sword and how that allows it to have insane cutting ability, or someone will have something stop a bullet and claim it was a titanium watch or similar. There is even a scene in The Abyss where a guy jams a titanium ring in a hydraulic door and jams it open.

They are even making solid tungsten carbide rings now which would likely actually do some of the things people think that titanium alloy rings would do. I think it is only a matter of time before makers start using carbide in these small mini tools.

I just wanted to share my perspective on this. I use, and break, wear out, and otherwise destroy these utility blades everyday. They are functional because of a few small things. They are very sharp (considering) they have a high cutting ability due to the thin stock and they typically have a comfortable handle. I usually use an olfa knife with the snap off blades as I appreciate the longer length however I do have and use a folding knife that uses the Stanley blades. This "tool" above in the simplest term isn't. Cliff is right it is jewellery. I would actually really like to see a review or a side by side comparison between the RUT and even the cheapest handle that uses those blades. If I had the money to waste I would buy one just to do that. I think it would be quite humorous.

www.theflatearthsociety.org

BIGFOOT FINDS YOU, YOU DON'T FIND BIGFOOT!



IT IS THE E-NEP THROWING BROTHERHOOD

Mark, have you tried the more expensive utility blades in HSS, bi-metal, TiN, etc. ?

I have tried the HSS olfa blades as well as Irwin bi-metal I tend to prefer the regular ones I found the Irvin blades weren't very sharp (could have been the batch) and the HSS olfa blades were very sharp I seem to remember they were more fragile and they have a tacticool feeling with the black blades. I didn't find them to be worth the extra cost. All day I have been cutting drywall and the blade I'm using is so dull right now it won't cut my skin with the weight of the knife it won't dig into my fingernail But still works fine for drywall .

www.theflatearthsociety.org

BIGFOOT FINDS YOU, YOU DON'T FIND BIGFOOT!



IT IS THE E-NEP THROWING BROTHERHOOD

I have recently bought some of the snap off utility knives to use as a reference point for comparing sharpness. I am also running two experiments with utility blades, one in my Gerber EdgeTAC for my EDC finish experiment, and one I also sharpened one side with a coarse finish and the other a fine finish, and gave to my apartment buildings maintenance man to test. Along these lines, I did pick up a pack of Irwin Bi-Metal Heavy Duty Utility Blades (the packaging says 3X more cuts), to see if there is indeed a difference.
Which is also why the RUT caught my attention, and like I said before, price not being a consideration, out of all of there keychain-titanium-dongles, this one looks like I would actually use it.

This is interesting:
Knife Review : Screwpop Tool Keychain Utility Knife:

"I am still discussing issues of steels and performance at this stage." -- Cliff Stamp, May his memory be a blessing
"Life is GOOD", -- Stefan_Wolf, May His Memory Be A Blessing
WordPress YouTube Facebook Patreon Locals Instagram Twitter