Everyday Carry

Each year the makers of multi-tools continue to impress us with their creativity and sheer determination to squeeze utmost functionality into easily carried packages and 2021 was no exception. Let's take a look at the best of the bunch.

The time-honored utility knife with its retractible blade is an indispensable tool for many, and has undergone many iterations over the years. Aerocrafted has now put forward a particularly minimalist one with style and simplicity at its heart.

With a lineup of titanium pocket tools and pens, Tennessee's Big Idea Design has established a name for itself in small, lightweight everyday carry (EDC). Its new Bit Bar Inline shrinks and lightens that EDC even more.

Knife-maker SOG has teamed up with smartphone accessory specialist PopSockets on a pop-out grip for handsets that packs quite a punch in terms of versatility, storing a five-in-one multitool should they need to pop open a bottle or turn a screw.

Startup Keytool is stepping into the world of everyday carry with the belief your keyset can do much more than open your front door, offering an eponymous multitool with an impressive suite of functions.

The M.020 from Tactica Gear is another interesting example of a credit-card-sized multitool for easy carry, squeezing a number of campsite-oriented functions into a package that will be right at home in your pocket.

After finding success with the original Claw, selling over 100,000 of what "may be the world's smallest multitool," its creators have taken on board customer feedback and gone bigger and better with their latest everyday carry offering, the Claw 2.0.

Canadian outfit Ronin Energetics has taken to Kickstarter with a rather handy looking flip-knife that can be easily kitted out with replacement blades.

Offering a small blade with a friendly handle is a tricky task, and that's the one Horizon Knives has undertaken with Lyra. The morphing knife is small enough to be keychain compatible, but uses a nifty folding mechanism to give its users a good handle on the job.​

The small steel Prylobite blade weighs no more than a handful of coins and packs up neatly thanks to a friction folding design, which incorporates a couple of handy innovations to take this utensil into multi-tool territory. ​

San Francisco’s Fulcrum Knives has taken inspiration from the humble coin to come up with a compact everyday carry option that can be slipped into a jean pocket, and then flicked into action with one hand when the need arises. ​