Sosakonline Archive

Please note that all content in this section has been imported from our old Sosakonline website and may contain broken links. We are revising it as we can, but these things take time, and it's a lot of content to get through!

As many of you know, last year I purchased a small apartment building, and that I live in one of the apartments inside it. And, as you can imagine, it means that I now have a lot of work to be doing on a regular basis to maintain and upgrade it. I recently had to renovate one of my units in anticipation of a new tenant moving in, and what started out as a few SAKtivity pictures soon turned into a full blown article.

 

The great thing about a SAK is that it doesn't really have any specific intended purpose- yes, initially it was designed for use by the military to open food in the field, perform basic camp chores and assist in rifle maintenance, but since then things have changed somewhat. True, many SAKs like the Rescue Tool are purpose oriented, and many like the Camper are intended for a specific purpose, but excel at a number of tasks. All in all, most are multi purpose tools, capable of doing all manner of different tasks as necessary, and on demand, in a convenient package. What more could you ask for?

As I took many of these pictures on my phone and while working, they aren't the usual slightly better than terrible shots I usually try to take.

In addition to the shots you see here of me working with a Ranger 172 for loosening taps in the washroom, cutting plastic for a new tub surround and opening tubes of sealant, I also used it a lot during some dry walling and painting jobs. No matter how many tools I had (four different kinds of power saws, two drills, electric sander, a grinder etc) the New Ranger was always at hand, and always useful.

 

In fact, I likely wouldn't have managed to get anything done in a reasonable amount of time had the New Ranger not been there to fill in the gaps between one tool and the next. We often refer to some of the more complex SAKs and multitools as “toolbox replacements” but I personally believe that they are more realistically toolbox enhancements. Just as it's easier and more precise to cut a straight length of plywood with a table saw, it's a lot easier to open packaging, mark items or flip a cap off a beer at the end of the day when you have a good SAK with you. It's important to not only have the right tools for each job, but also to have the right tool to allow them all to work together.

I can't imagine a situation that requires any kind of hands on work that couldn't benefit from a SAK, from home renovations, to working as a doorman at a bar, to surveying damaged cargo in a dockyard- all of which I do, and all of which I have used a SAK for! That, and many other things as well!