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Leatherman Blast Review
Submitted by An Outdoor Idiots Team Member.
The Leatherman Blast: Bottle Opener
For this part of the review, we will hand you over to our resident hop enthusiast, who, after insisting that a knife is all that is needed to remove bottle caps, reluctantly put the bottle opener through its paces...Good. Now for the most important tool of the whole lot. Apart from tea (which goes without saying), the most important beverage to keep you safe when in the wilderness on a hot sunny day is of course beer.
If you have any class at all, then your beer will be in a bottle rather than in a can, and so you will need a bottle opener in order to stay safe.
Here is the bottle opener:
(Looks rusty? Read this)
This tool does three things in fact - it is also a can opener and a wire stripper - but the other uses will be covered separately, by people who care.
It works very well as a bottle opener, managing to reliably open bottles with one beautiful action every time. Here is that beautiful action in pictures:
The above may seem straightforward, but one really can't take opening bottles for granted. There are plenty of other tools, including ones that have no role in life other than to open bottles, that just aren't as good.
Here's my keyring bottle opener which is just a bit silly. It's made of aluminium, it degrades with each use, it always takes several attempts before a bottle top finally comes off, and, since your fingers need to hold it close to the bottle top, I often lose skin:
And here's a bottle opener tool on an old Victorinox pen knife. It's much better than the blue thing above, however it can often slip off a bottle top:
So it seems that someone at Leatherman understands the importance of beer, and that must stand for something.
The editor was a bit disappointed with my input for this bit of the review. Fellow beerists will probably notice that the bottle for the above photographs was one of Hoegaarden, which is just about the only beer worth drinking. The editor wanted a broader range of tests than that, as he felt bottle tops must come in all shapes and sizes. He insisted that at least three different types of beer should be used for the test. I am of course happy to oblige. Here are my findings:
| Beer Type | Leatherman Blast Bottle Opening Success |
| Hoegaarden (750ml bottle) | Excellent |
| Hoegaarden (330ml bottle) | Excellent |
| Hoegaarden (250ml bottle) | Excellent |
[The Editor speaks: "I will be having words. Rest assured, I will be having words."]
Page 8 of 18 Previous Next [Top of Page]
Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Overview: Vital Statistics; The Metal; The Plastic; Quality of Construction
Page 3: Overview: Usage
Page 4: Rulers
Page 5: Wood/Metal File
Page 6: Small Bit Driver
Page 7: Screwdrivers
Page 8: Bottle Opener
Page 9: Wire Stripper
Page 10: Can Opener
Page 11: Needlenose Pliers
Page 12: Regular Pliers
Page 13: Wire Cutters
Page 14: Hard-Wire Cutters
Page 15: Saw
Page 16: Scissors
Page 17: Knife
Page 18: Conclusion
Page 2: Overview: Vital Statistics; The Metal; The Plastic; Quality of Construction
Page 3: Overview: Usage
Page 4: Rulers
Page 5: Wood/Metal File
Page 6: Small Bit Driver
Page 7: Screwdrivers
Page 8: Bottle Opener
Page 9: Wire Stripper
Page 10: Can Opener
Page 11: Needlenose Pliers
Page 12: Regular Pliers
Page 13: Wire Cutters
Page 14: Hard-Wire Cutters
Page 15: Saw
Page 16: Scissors
Page 17: Knife
Page 18: Conclusion
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