I recently received my Hacksmith Smithblade Pro (Early Bird) and as a LONG time Swiss Army Knife carrier, I wanted to give my opinion on the Smithblade, as well as how it compares to my SAK.
I had certainly read all the negative posts in some of the Reddit forums about the Smithblade, mostly due to the marketing seeming to stretch out the usefulness of the features (or doubling them up). I won't bother getting into that . . . (but I do agree with a good chunk of that).
I'll start by saying something that I don't often see people say about EDCs but . . . they really are a very personal thing. What makes a perfect EDC for you, is a completely useless tool to me, and vice versa. Everyone's quick to complain and shoot down a tool for the entire world, simply because it doesn't fit THEIR needs. Lame! lol
I've been carrying SAKs since I was probably 12 years old. My needs have changed as I've gotten older, and gotten into the workforce. I work in IT. I'm out dealing with clients. I'm installing computers and servers. Sometimes I'm cabling. Sometimes I'm cracking open hardware, or installing it in a rack. So . . that's where my needs are centred.
When I lost my last SAK, I again got frustrated that nobody out there seemed to have the "perfect" tool for me. They either had 80% of what I wanted, but missing a tool or two. Or they had all the tools I wanted, and more, and were too big. They all seemed to have a tool or two (or more) that I had no interest in having, and as such, made the tool thicker or bigger than I wanted it to be.
(I carry mine in my pants pocket, so, it needs to be small. It needs to be light. So . . Leathermen are out. Those things are just way too big. Yes, they have all the tools but . . . if I can't comfortably carry this thing around and not have it bother me, then the tool is useless).
So . . things I would want in my ideal EDC.
Locking blade, scissors, tweezers, big flat head screwdriver that I can also use for light prying, phillips head screwdriver. The nice to haves would be some sort of nail file, the can opener, some sort of punch tool.
I don't want a saw. I don't want a corkscrew (seriously, why are these still a mandatory option on so many SAKs?? lol)
And, I want this to be light and small enough to carry in my pocket unobtrusively.
I had settled on the SAK Trailmaster. It didn't have the scissors, and it had a saw, but, it had everything else. And for that, it's been great. The Philips head screwdriver isn't pleasant to use. It wobbles back and forth. It isn't very deep but . . in a pinch, it gets me through. The small flat head on the end of the can opener, again, great in a pinch but, you don't want to use it often.
Then I saw the Hacksmith's promotion of the Smithblade. This to me looked like it had ALMOST everything I wanted and then a whole bunch of nice to have's that I may use from time to time. Not a deal breaker that I've never had them before but . . now that I see them, sure, I could see some use.
So . . you get the locking blade. The one hand flick open is nice. (yes, the clicky sound is gimmicky . . it's cool . . i'll forget about it in a week I'm sure.). Having the ability to carry four ACTUAL screwdriver bits is amazing. And you can use it upright, or in the side, so you can get some real torque. The side mounting option is a little sloppy though but . . so far I haven't had a need to use it in the field.
The pry bar . . . well, it's STUPID strong . . because it's integrated right into the titanium scale. Its annoying that they call this thing 3 or 4 different tools (pry bar, staple puller, big flat head – guys, its the same tool). But . . it's nice.
It has the nail file . . also very nice. Tweezers of course, I use them all the time.
Then there's the nice to haves. The bubble level. Okay, MAYBE i'll use that once a year. BUT, it doesn't take up ANY space at all so . . I'm not offended its there, and . . . who knows, I may actually use it.
Nail file, I'm a nail biter so . . I'm sure I'll use it to smooth out my gnawed nails. 🙂
The metric and imperial rulers . . . yeah, I'm not going to be framing out a house but, again, it takes no space, it's a nice to have, and I can see myself using that from time to time.
The glass breaker, carbide scribe (again, same tool guys, don't stretch it) . . . hopefully i NEVER need to use a glass breaker but . . . nice to know it's in my pocket and handy should the time ever come.
Firestriker . . . I've not had a need to try it. I doubt I will EVER try it. It doesn't offend me though, as it takes up NO extra space on the tool.
Wirestripper . . . can we call that a tool?? Really? It's 3 little notches in the scale and then you still use the knife. Again, I'm not offended its there. And I've used it, but . . . hardly calling it a separate tool.
With the knife blade detents, you can use the blade as a protractor . . . . cool. Again, takes up no space or trouble on the knife so . . why not. And . . maybe I could see myself at least using the 90 degree from time to time.
The blade is M390 . . . I'm not a knife guy. I don't know the differences. But it's sharp, and supposedly will hold it's edge nice . . guess we'll see.
So . . . comparing the two:
Weight: Smithblade: titanium, and noticeably lighter than my SAK.
Width: Smithblade: thinner, so is a little nicer in the pocket.
Length: SAK: a bit shorter, due to the extended prybar on the smithblade.
Blade: Smithblade: it opens one handed, still locks, and (allegedly) a better steel.
Tool combo: Smithblade: For me, a MUCH better tool set than my SAK. Would be PERFECT if it had scissors (which, my Trailmaster SAK does not have either). Smithblade does not have tools that I will never use, such as the saw, other than perhaps the firestriker, which does not get in the way or add to the bulk.
Price: SAK. At least for now, the smithblade is quite expensive, given it's the early days and kickstarter. I'm guessing the titanium also adds to the price versus just regular steel and plastic scales.
Final Virdict: Smithblade. Obviously, this is just for me, and my use case scenario. I'm not out camping. I'm not a survivalist. I need something to help me open boxes. I need screwdrivers. I need prying. I need tweezers. If it had an option to add scissors, it would truly be my perfect multitool EDC. Hopefully this becomes successful, and the price drops. Wish these guys all the success in the world!
But as always, your mileage may vary! 🙂
by ego1138
