The cliché outdoor person swaggers along with a Crocodile Dundee-length knife strapped to his hip, but unless you’re planning to skin a moose, such flamboyant displays just add unnecessary weight and size. How big a blade do you really need to cut open a packet of freeze-dried food? How big a hacksaw to trim a broken ski?
Over the years, I’ve collected, been given, or custom-made tiny tools that do the job with a minimum of weight and size. A friend calls this the Arctic Small Tool Tradition, after the pre-Inuit Alaskan and Dorset cultures, with their finely crafted miniature artifacts.
In the photo above, a sampling: my summer polar bear fence alarm, which runs off a 9V battery and weighs just 85gm (3 oz); a small file (15gm); a micro multi-tool (52gm), and a custom-made hacksaw (15gm).
You can also carry a tiny but exquisite pair of Japanese scissors that weigh under 4gm and will open freeze-dried packages, cut thread and material, etc. Finally, it’s not hard to make your own Xacto knife (7gm with case).
I didn’t start out using the Arctic Small Tool Tradition, but since I’ve adopted it, it’s all I’ve ever needed.
A homemade Xacto knife, with case. Weight: 7gm. Photo: Jerry Kobalenko
Japanese micro-scissors. Weight: 4gm, including tassel. Photo: Seki
