Several years ago, designer Iain Sinclair launched the Cardsharp, a razor-sharp stainless steel knife folded into a credit card-shaped package. The knife combined real-world function with sleek, aesthetic design. Late last year, Sinclair updated the knife into the Cardsharp 2.
An evolutionary update, version 2.0 of the Cardsharp includes a stiffer polypropylene build and a child-proof safety lock. The knife packs 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) of stainless steel cutting surface into its own card-like sheath. A series of three folds is all it takes to turn the device from card to knife.
While the Cardsharp 2 doesn't offer as much utility as a multi-tool, it's a featherlight (13 gram) knife that's easy to transport anywhere. The knife can slide easily into a wallet, pocket or gear bag, and the blade locks into its sheath so it won't open accidentally. Sinclair says that the knife is less than a tenth the weight of a Stanley utility knife and about a seventh the weight of a Leatherman knife.
It's not too difficult to imagine uses for a thin, razor-sharp go-anywhere knife. The Sinclair firm says that it's useful for everything from emergency wilderness survival to arts and crafts. It can be customized with silk screen printing or laser engraving for use as a gift or promotion. It retails for US$25.
The video shows how easily the knife transforms.
Source: Iain Sinclair via Gear Hungry
I wonder what the limit is for how many people will individually buy, forget they're carrying, lose them to TSA, and stop buying them? My limit, at $25, would be...one. I mean, how useful is a single blade, except for opening tough packages...and hijacking airliners?
Personally, I carry a swiss army knife. You can do a lot more with it, for one. And it's easier to remember to pack it in the checked luggage rather than carry-ons...even so, I've lost 3 to TSA over the years because I'm so used to wearing it on my belt I forget to pack it in the checkables. So I'm thinking this little gadget will go to a lot of TSA families or the Sargasso Sea of airport confiscations.
...except one, that is: couldn't there be a danger of this being considered to be a concealed weapon in certain jurisdictions?
Don't be flippant about airline hijackings, especially when it's untrue. Even the former head of the TSA says knives won't help anyone hijack an airliner after 9/11 and should be allowed. The current procedure is to keep the reinforced cockpit door locked no matter what. It's not great to let a few passengers or flight attendants be murdered, but it sure beats letting a hijacker crash an entire plane full of people.
While filling out my expense report and dragging receipts out, I realized my cardsharp was sitting right where it is supposed to be on a daily basis - in my wallet. The problem? I put the cardsharp back in my wallet when I took off for Christmas, haven't moved it since, and I've been through TSA screening at four airports in the last 2 weeks - Houston (Bush), New York (LaGuardia), Atlanta, and my home airport.
So a couple of learnings: 1. If you have one, you should make it a checklist item when you're packing to make sure you take it out before you fly if you would like to stay out of trouble. 2. If you accidentally leave it in your wallet in the midst of a bunch of credit cards and thrown in a coat pocket with keys/belt/earbuds/etc. going through the "security" checkpoint that is supposed to make everyone feel better, it apparently doesn't show up on the x-ray. 3. If this had happened once, I could perhaps blame it on incidence angle (the angle at which the x-ray sees my wallet) since the blade is ultra-thin and the profile of the handle looks like, well, a credit card. But to have it happen at 4 airports on 6 occasions (walked out and back into checkpoint at LGA due to a delay) suggests that this is unlikely and that #2 above seems true.
YMMV and DON'T intentionally do anything illegal...