Review Titanium Pocket Tool TPT utility knife review

[kreisler]

Disclaimer: This unit was sent to me for review.

Note: In order to avoid too much overlap of two otherwise similar products/reviews this TPT review work (2016 product) should be understood as supplement or follow-up to the TPT Slide Review (2018 product) posted earlier. Either contains comparative references to both products but it would have been too messy to compose one big comparison review.

Summary.
Let's start with my layman's constructional criticism:

• in the animated GIF's we are going to learn that the bottle opener could not have been designed any shorter to make the '4 blade notches enables 4 deployed positions' still agreeably possible. the nub for the blade notches is placed at the very right top corner of the titanium back plate, no millimeters of titanium space are wasted, allowing for a maximum of edge length to be exposed for the cutting task. the tool length lets the user keep the blade in the tool for the cap lifter functionality. great idea great design.
• chamfered grind makes flat head screwdriver (as is) slippery, i.e. less functional as screwdriver. it is straight-forward to mod it, though.
• because of the fat chamfers nearly everywhere, only one side of the tip of the screwdriver can be used effectively as general scraping tool; fortunately the tool shoulders (on one side) are sharp 90°-angled and could, for example, be used as striker for a ferro rod
• the millimeter-spaced vertical grooves at the bottom and top edge of the tool are too shallow to enhance the finger's grip or to function as wood file. while the bottom edge can be used as finger nail file, why not make a genuine metric ruler (with +1mm resolution) out of it?

For the pro's and con's I am listing only the most outstanding relevant points, not every "feature".

The Good:

• incredibly light weight (with installed razor blade only 24g w/o lanyard); and the overall dimensions similar to (and thinner than) two stacked regular keys, making it totally suitable for keychain-EDC
• very pocket-friendly carry on the keychain: fat chamfered edges, no pointy tips/corners, nothing pokes/catches/snags in the pants (not even the screwdriver or the bottle opener!)
• because of fat chamfers and rounded corners feels comfortable enough in hand fwiw for being that thin; nice build quality, no internal rattling noise
• totally safe and secure in the pocket, no accidental deployment possible
• in practice a 6-way tool: fire steel striker, finger nail file, mini pry bar, bottle opener, razor blade as cutter & scraper (imho the hex bit driver and the open-end wrench have extremely limited practical usage and sorry the screwdriver becomes fully functional only after a mod)
• no accidental blade retraction upon hard gripping during heavy duty tasks; (relatively) secure deployed position
• razor blade with 4 blade notches enables 4 deployed positions, blade with 3 notches enables 3, with 2 notches 2, etc, i think you're getting the point

The Bad:

• price
• mini pry bar is on the thin side, probably not indestructible
• thin tool, difficult to get a secure (and safe) grip during heavy duty cutting tasks ojo!
• difficult to operate with gloves, too difficult to operate one-handedly

The Ugly:

• nada. zilch.

In the hand of a maker a trapezoidal utility blade can be used as a knife, a screwdriver, a sandpaper, a chisel, a marker, a carver, a shaper, and the TPT's bottom edge could be used as a cutting ruler. The TPT also lets you use the laterals of the deployed blade as scraper and backup striker for a ferro-rod. I did not enumerate all these potential features in the TPT Slide review because here, on the original TPT, it apparently comes more natural to manipulate the blade with two hands and eventually take it out.

Unboxing / Misc / Disassembly.
My unit was shipped in a small gray bubble-padded SFC-labeled envelope PAR AVION as CHINA POST registered letter, trackable through several sites, and reached me in less than 2 weeks.

The tool and sheath came in retail blister packaging. Very commercial, wow. The leather sheath is bigger and also (with the two included safety inserts) heavier than the tool itself. A sheath for a keychain tool? Hmm. Or maybe it is for helping you not lose the tool, when you throw your stuffz in a duffle bag. But then the black color wouldn't be really helpful.

The lanyard helps with the grip, ring finger and pinky would hold at it; alternatively, the two fingers would hold at the bunch of keys. The hex bit driver is nice to have i guess, if you have hex bits on you.

The safety inserts don't become valuable imho until half of the dull edge has been sharpened to a razor edge. If i needed a dull edge for opening boxes, i'd simply use a regular key for the task, no? Other reviewers called the fork on the safety insert "gimmicky", i'm calling it "usable fwiw".

The screws were tightened so firmly that only my iFixit driver could loosen them, i didn't have enough grip on the SHEK tool. I noticed that TPT Slide screws would be a bit too long on the TPT and vice versa, so one should not swap the T6 torx screws between the two tools.
Note: Screws which are not tightened back firmly could get loosened after frequent operation of the locking mechanism. Me, instead of tightening them back firmly, i preferred to put a droplet of el cheapo liquid transparent paper glue in the three holes (threads) before inserting and tightening the screws; my el cheapo glue is totally harmless. I have loctite but sealing the threads with that would be overkill imho.

Dimensions / Size / Weight.
My measurements: thickness is 4.2mm, length 77.0mm, width 26.0mm. Weight of the tool alone is 21g w/o lanyard (on my +1g kitchen scale). A standard utility blade weighs 3g, so the total weight is 24g (w/o lanyard). That's lighter than an 1xAAA flashlight with Eneloop battery! The overall dimensions are such that you'd be hard pressed to find a similar keychain razor blade tool which disappears even better in your pocket or on your keychain; maybe the Screwpop Ron's Utility Knife 3.0 and that's about it. A safety insert weighs ~3.3g, the empty leather sheath weighs 19g. In comparison, my mirror-polished TPT Slide weighs 28g w/ razor blade w/o (lanyard+pocketclip).

The Open-End Wrench.
Not very usable in practice. This functionality got improved on the TPT Slide but it doesn't change the fact that in practice you'll get very little opportunity to make use of the wrench, if you ever encountered a (theoretically) fitting nut. A freestanding nut of this small size, never mind the size range, is an absolute rarity in our RL world prove me wrong! Imho we can safely ignore this potential functionality both on the TPT and the TPT Slide.

The Mini Pry Bar.
Thin bar, thin prying lip, short lever. Perfect for opening up home electronics plastic housings in your household, e.g. for repair purposes. Not so suitable for tough prying tasks, anything heavy duty, obviously. The mini pry bar is not a gimmick on the TPT but it should be used for mini tasks only.

Owners who paid 69 bucks for the product will most likely know when to better not use the TPT as pry bar or mini pry bar. In comparison, the titanium back plate on the TPT Slide has a thicker, more solid construction with less cutouts which could compromise the structural integrity of the prying tool.

 

[kreisler]

The Screwdriver.
It has basically the same grind as the TPT Slide's screwdriver. Since the titanium back plate is 1mm thinner on this model, the screwdriver head "fits" in narrower screw slots; but I am still not totally happy with the fitment. Again the fat chamfer almost spoils the screwdriver's functionality.

Luckily it is straight-forward to grind the chamfer away with a file (e.g. the Spyderco triangle rod 204M), if you don't mind the mod and really want the full potential out of the screwdriver functionality. At this point it is only fair to mention that titanium alloy could be regarded as a nice strong metal but it is not uber tough or super hard.

Your typical hardened tool steel is harder than titanium alloy, the Rockwell hardness of Grade 5 titanium alloy is correct me if i'm wrong in the 30's, and apparent usage marks after the first few moderate uses of TPT as screwdriver are a testimony to that. So eventually the sharp edges of the screwdriver's head and shoulders will get worn, rounded. At that point you could refresh the sharpness with a file or decide to stop using those edges and, instead, use the laterals of the deployed blade as screwdriver, scraper, or striker for a ferro-rod. I am not complaining, it's good to have a screwdriver, I am just saying that no shopper should expect too much from the screwdriver functionality if he's not willing to maintain the tool with a file when it's needed.

On the TPT Slide I modded the geometry of the screwdriver tip, not only ground the chamfer away.

Since the titanium alloy isn't too hard, my Spyderco 204M was sufficient for filing and grinding the material.

Now the TPT Slide screwdriver functions much better, like a real screwdriver. When i have another free minute, i'll do the mod on the TPT too, no problem.

Maybe a typical application of the screwdriver is the mounting of a camera on a modern tripod head. But then again a camera mounting screw of a modern tripod is hinged and one could tighten it with two fingers.

The Ferro-Rod Striker.
The concave spot of the screwdriver head/shoulder (or more accurately the "neck") is sharp, 90°-angled (i.e. without a chamfer), and matches perfectly the roundness at the circumference of a ferro-rod.

Striking the rod with this sharp spot will produce firesteel sparks securely, effortlessly. Because of the shoulder symmetry you have two striking edges available, so choose the left or right neck whichever does the job best for you as righty or lefty. If the shoulders are worn/rounded, you'd still have the laterals of the deployed razor blade as backup striker. A regular key doesn't work as ferro-rod striker because its edges are not sharp enough.

The Scraper Edge.
The bottom edge of the tool has two fat chamfers, which basically ruins its potential functionality as a scraper edge. You could still try to use it as a soft harmless scraper edge, sure.

You'd be scraping then with the chamfer itself (which is flat!) or one of its two 135°-edges (which is less sharp than a 90°-edge but more resistant to wear, getting rounded off).

As mentioned before, the screwdriver and its shoulders have sharp edges on one side, so they could be used as scraper or as striker for a ferro-rod. In addition you'll find a more aggressive scraper edge on the deployed razor blade, using its laterals not the cutting edge, albeit from one blade side only; with the other blade side increases the risk of inadvertently opening the titanium lips in such a way that the blade retracts on you during the scraping action.

Let the "Ti"-label side of the tool face down toward the surface which you scrape, and the scraping action will be safe, the blade cannot retract on you by accident because the blade/notch gets factually pressed into the titanium nub. What a lovely safe effective scraper that way, no matter how much force you apply (Jake demonstrates the scraper with the wrong side facing down )! Maybe other keychain utility blades can be used in that way too but the Gerber EAB Lite cannot.

Construction.
On the TPT, the magnet is embedded in the back plate, i.e. the plate with the mini pry bar. As the magnetic force is strong enough to penetrate the remaining thin titanium wall, on a shared single key ring a regular key gets attached to the backside of the tool, which I like because it makes my keys a bit tidier. (On the TPT Slide, the magnet is embedded in the front plate, making the front plate the magnetic side; none of the magnetic force is left at the backside of the tool. The relocalization of the magnet probably helps the robustness and structural integrity of the TPT Slide's thicker mini pry bar.)

A modder's delight, another positive side effect is that it would be unproblematic to mod the tool and make it even thinner: grinding down (or polishing for mirror polishing tests) the inner side of the TPT's front plate would not harm the structure, construction, integrity, function, or else of the tool!
The small rectangular precision-machined titanium nub resulted from the CNC-milling process and thus is integral part of the back plate. This unibody design has the advantage that there is no joint between nub and plate which could develop play in itself and that the nub is totally secure and indestructible, it cannot retract because it's not a movable part! Time will tell how much the rectangular edges will wear, getting rounded off, which would lead to growing razor blade play. The nub is cute, so small, about 0.8mm high; maybe I would have preferred a minimally higher nub?
The slit (slot) is to increase the flexibility of the titanium lip with the button. The nominal thickness of the pry bar plate was 2mm but, as you can witness, after all the machining of the blade channel, the slit, the magnet cutout, there isn't much material left to support the pry bar functionality. So yes, on paper, the TPT Slide has the much stronger mini pry bar, if that's what you're after.

The Locking Mechanism.
The tool thickness is 4.2mm, at the button it's 4.6mm; pressing the button until it is "~flush with the front plate" (well, more or less!) releases the lock. In other words, it'd take a minimum of only "~0.5mm" of pushing the button to unlock the blade, even though the nub height is 0.8mm, the channel width ~0.9mm and a standard razor blade is 0.6mm thick (IRWIN 0.64mm, STANLEY 0.61mm). All these numbers do make sense to me: the lip opening must be at least as wide as the blade thickness, and geometry demands that actuation will be less than that. Depending on where exactly the blade is seated (lateral blade play 0.3mm) it will take between 0.5mm and 0.8mm (=full nub height!) to overcome the nub. Here an illustration of the 0.5mm to overcome the nub:

The simplicity makes it so secure fwiw, a permanent non-moving nub is where the blade notch engages and that's it. Unless you push the titanium nub out of the notch, the blade will not move in either direction. That's a big plus in my book. You can press as hard as you like with your thumb on the top edge of the tool, the blade will remain secure and not fold (retract) on you.

However, you should never exaggerate and, for example, increase the lateral strain (torque) on the blade. If you exert enough torque on the blade and force pressure on it at the same time, then yes the blade could retract on you. To make blade exchange possible without extra tools both TPT products exploit that a thin titanium lip can be bent, is flexible, elastic, and could function as a spring-assisted opening for the blade exchange. An element of risk remains under unusual extreme operation, so beware. In any case, potential accidental unlocking of the deployed blade is here less of a problem than on the TPT Slide.

Btw the 0.9mm channel width means that you cannot retract a razor blade edge which is dirty. The other day i cut up three tangerines and didn't wipe off the juice-oil-residues from the sharp edge. The gunk became sticky and I had trouble operating the TPT (or was it the TPT Slide? i can't remember) because of that. Other utility knives which don't have such a narrow deployment channel, e.g. all folding utility knife varieties, don't have this minor potential problem. You gotta keep your razor blade clean 's all, no big deal.

 

[kreisler]

(Ease of) Operation.
One-handed operation is possible but not secure because the blade side is slippery to the touch, it's not even a matter of practice imo. One-handed blade retraction is easy (and it teaches you how easily the blade could get retracted, if you operated the knife wrongly!) but one-handed blade deployment is too challenging, the thumb would slip along the blade, not gettting enough grip to slide the blade out. Two-handed operation is the typical, common way to go. But even that could become difficult, if you were wearing gloves (depending on the gloves). Sure enough, deploying the blade on the TPT Slide is more convenient, easier, securer, faster, better, but that comes at a cost. To me, there is nothing wrong with how the blade needs to be deployed on the TPT, with two hands.

The Bottle Opener (Cap Lifter).
Yeah, it works. The blade does not need to be removed for this function.

It's imho a must-have function on a keychain, if one decided to carry an extra tool other than regular keys on the keychain. Some people can pop up open a bottle with a regular key, which is cool, but i find it cooler to take out my titanium keychain tool and lift the cap like a senior. The tool does leave a dent in the beer bottle cap, i hope you don't mind.

The way this bottle opener works and is constructed, it is easy to imagine that it could also lift caps, lids, covers, etc of other vessels, containers, items and such. This is a more versatile bottle opener than others which I have seen, sweet!

Razor Blade Fitment.
Razor blades with one, two (most common!), three, or four notches can be used in the TPT, and all these notches can be used for the forward deployment, i.e. without exchanging the blade side. That's because the titanium nub is located right at the cap lifter. Because of that freedom an IRWIN 4POINT razor blade enables four deployable positions and a max. cutting edge of 25.7mm, fabulous!

The TPT Slide is more limited with regard to which notch can be used for the forward deployment and how many deployable positions (namely max. two, to be exact!) are available, for example a 3-notch blade can be held in notch1 only...

...while a 4-notch blade, held in notch1, has an invalid position0 (1.0mm, ouch!):

And what about rattle, play, in the deployed position? Well, that depends on the notch tolerances of your blade product AND in which notch the blade is deployed. Because of geometry the further a blade is deployed, the more up-and-down play (in degrees and amplitude) it will exhibit. Here the example of the 3notch safe-carry insert:

And with a clipped trapezoidal blade (the IRWIN 4POINT blade is a segmented razor blade allowing for 4 fresh razor points) the geometries produce extreme cases. Here the minimum possible case:

Here the maximum possible case:

Generally speaking, I'd say that my TPT unit has a tiny bit less play than my TPT Slide unit and that either TPT product has little blade play compared to my Stanley Quickslide Sport MkII, so I'm all good here.

Exposed cutting edge.
The sharp edge of a razor blade be at the bottom and the notches at the top; counting from the left, a razor blade has either four or three notches. The two notches of the standard/most common razor blade coincide with notch2 and notch3 of LENOX GOLD and IRWIN 4POINT, which have four notches. Razor blades with one notch only are super rare, the singular notch would coincide with notch2 of a 3-notch blade; but tbh a standard-sized razor blades with three notches are rare on their own, you won't find such a thing in the STANLEY catalog. The safe-carry inserts of the TPT are 3-notch "blades", the safety inserts of the TPT Slide are 2-notch blades.

To what extent can a 1-notch, 2-notch, 3-notch, and 4-notch blade be safely used in either tool?
Good question. We will include the IRWIN 4POINT, a segmented 4-notch blade product, in our measurements. On the TPT there are three "configurations" possible, easy to understand:

TPT:

4-notch blade, deployed in notch4: 6.8mm
4-notch blade, deployed in notch3: 13.2mm
4-notch blade, deployed in notch2: 19.5mm
4-notch blade, deployed in notch1: 25.7mm​

4-notch blade (clipped), deployed in notch4: 0.2mm (not usable)
4-notch blade (clipped), deployed in notch3: 6.5mm
4-notch blade (clipped), deployed in notch2: 12.8mm
4-notch blade (clipped), deployed in notch1: 19.1mm
(From these numbers we can deduct that the clipped IRWIN segment has a length of ~6.6mm and that the distance between the notches is ~6.3mm)​

3-notch blade, deployed in notch3: 9.1mm
3-notch blade, deployed in notch2: 15.0mm
3-notch blade, deployed in notch1: 20.8mm
(Apparently the distance between the notches on the 3-notch blade is ~5.9mm)​

On the TPT Slide there are five configurations possible. It's getting more complicated? You betcha:

TPT Slide:

3-notch blade, held in notch1, deployed in position0: 0.0mm
3-notch blade, held in notch1, deployed in position1: 7.0mm
3-notch blade, held in notch1, deployed in position2: 17.9mm
(Apparently the distance between the two positions is ~11mm)​

4-notch blade, held in notch1, deployed in position0: 1.0mm, ouch!
4-notch blade, held in notch1, deployed in position1: 12.4mm
4-notch blade, held in notch1, deployed in position2: 23.1mm​

4-notch blade, held in notch2, deployed in position0: 0.0mm
4-notch blade, held in notch2, deployed in position1: 6.0mm
4-notch blade, held in notch2, deployed in position2: 17.0mm​

4-notch blade (clipped), held in notch1, deployed in position0: 0.0mm
4-notch blade (clipped), held in notch1, deployed in position1: 5.3mm
4-notch blade (clipped), held in notch1, deployed in position2: 16.1mm​

4-notch blade (clipped), held in notch2, deployed in position0: 0.0mm
4-notch blade (clipped), held in notch2, deployed in position1: 0.0mm
4-notch blade (clipped), held in notch2, deployed in position2: 9.9mm​

The good news is that yes one can use a 4-notch blade (clipped or not) or a 3-notch blade in the TPT Slide, and the theoretical range of values is comparable:

TPT: 0.2, 6.5, 6.8, 9.1, 12.8, 13.2, 15.0, 19.1, 19.5, 20.8, 25.7
TPT Slide: 1.0, 5.3, 6.0, 7.0, 9.9, 12.4, 16.1, 17.0, 17.9, 23.1

 

[kreisler]

I've lost you by now?

Exactly.
That was my point.

In practice, setting a desired particular exposed edge length on the TPT Slide is more complicated, less intuitive and would involve a switch between configurations. On the TPT, everything is clear and the procedure straight-forward. And more importantly, typically you work with a longer exposed cutting edge (TPT's 25.7 or 19.5mm, versus TPT Slide's 17.0 or 16.1mm), that's the take-home message. In theory the TPT Slide's max cutting edge length could be 23.1mm but believe me nobody makes use of that in practice and you would imagine why.

The Nail File / The Cutting Ruler.
On the TPT Slide the millimeter-spaced vertical grooves at the bottom edge of the tool are more pronounced and can be used as wood file, for example. On my TPT unit the grooves are very shallow. Yesterday i filed ten finger nails with these shallow grooves. Worked really well, I can recommend it.

The bottom edge is basically a 4.0mm-wide nail file, if you will. Also suuper easy to clean.

Moreover you could use the bottom edge as cutting ruler for making short straight cuts; for this functionality one has to take out the blade and hold it in the other hand. The point being, you cannot use a regular key as cutting ruler or as nail file.

The Finish.
The stone-washed finish is fantastic because it totally hides prior marks, markings, from the production process, and it hides subsequent scratchings from everyday carry.

On the TPT Slide I had carefully removed the stone-washed finish through pre-polish grinding and I was surprised that it unveiled laser burn markings on the "Ti"-label side; of course, then i had to continue grinding until the laser burn markings were gone, at which time the "Ti"-label was ground away too. Clearly, whatever imperfections or irregularities (like scratches, laser burn markings, or similar) are present in the finish, they appear to be gone after the stonewash tumbling process. Like magic.

And, as mentioned, it is a scratch-resistant finish in the sense that one cannot see new scratch marks from your regular keys. After much wear and tear though, the stonewash finish will slowly wear off. Maybe owners could post photos of their worn TPT? In contrast, a mirror-polished finish would let you see all fingerprints, micro-scratches (starting from 0.1μm grain size), and the slightest surface irregularities, and would also make the grip slippery.

I enjoy the mirror-polish on my TPT Slide, the idea for going through with it arose after i had modded and stropped the screwdriver head to a mirror finish. But from now on my TPT Slide unit is benched for show and tell.

Potential issue.
Can or will the sliding of the blade in the tool degrade, dull the razor edge? Not more or less compared to other keychain retractable razor blade tools i'd say, it's a common issue. The answer is yes it can and it will, depending on how you deploy/retract the blade. Whenever the sharp edge slides against the titanium channel bottom, the edge gets dulled. Hence it is good practice to avoid letting the razor edge slide on the channel bottom.

For this purpose one can hold the tool upside down and (with your left hand) pull the blade in direction of gravity, thus ensuring clearance for the razor edge in the titanium channel. Then (with your right hand) press the button and finally (with your left hand) deploy/retract the blade gently, while holding it down at the same time such that the razor edge wouldn't get in contact with anything titanium. It take some practice and care to slide the blade in and out without letting its edge touch the titanium channel 'bottom', the clearance is less than 1.00mm; it's very doable, though.

Of course, you don't have to do it this way, sooner or later something else would dull the razor edge and then the careful deployment/retraction method would become futile. This controlled method is easier to do on the TPT than on the TPT Slide, nobody would do it on the TPT Slide tbh, it would defeat the purpose of having/using a slider button! I retired my TPT Slide, so I wouldn't know if auto-dulling is an actual issue in RL practice; probably TPT Slide owners wouldn't notice or care anyway. Full-size retractable carpet cutters (and folding utility knives) don't suffer from this potential issue because their blade is secured to the slide/holder and that slide/holder is guided with guaranteed clearance for the razor edge.

Conclusion.
The weight difference between TPT and TPT Slide is noticeable in your hand but doesn't matter on your keychain, both tools do disappear in your pocket, especially on a keychain. Knowing both products, if i had to take a purchase decision between the two, personally I would not hesitate to pick the TPT over the TPT Slide. A month ago I had to uproot a tiny bush for cemetery maintenance and i came across a half-inch diameter thick root which i decided to carve'n cut with the TPT Slide. Much cutting force was involved (as you could imagine), i had gloves on (i always do when i work outside), and i had trouble not to press the slider button during my cutting efforts, so the blade retracted on me multiple times. That was a key experience pun intended. I don't use my keychain utility blade very often or everyday tbh but when/if i do, i don't want to be limited in my action range. The TPT is still new on me but i believe that it allows me a wider range of cutting tasks with its four deployment positions, longer exposed cutting edge, and possibility of a firm grip. It also costs $$ less. I don't know if the TPT will be discontinued in favor of the newer model, once stock has run out. Probably sales of the TPT have been dropping, simply because the product is almost 3.0 years old and the TPT Slide was introduced as the new improved iteration. But my review should have made it clear that, personally, I'd prefer the original TPT any time ymmv. I am going to keep the TPT Slide as mirror-polished showpiece in a Lumintop jewellery gift box to be touched with velvet gloves only, nice usage of a tool, kreisler!

 

[kreisler]

This controlled method is easier to do on the TPT than on the TPT Slide, nobody would do it on the TPT Slide tbh, it would defeat the purpose of having/using a slider button! I retired my TPT Slide, so I wouldn't know if auto-dulling is an actual issue in RL practice

This and next week I am still busy with buying and testing new utility blade/knife purchases. And for the TPT/TPT Slide i might have found the perfect utility blade product , namely the STANLEY® No.5192™ (spoken "stanley fifty-one ninety-two blade") which is afaik the only concave non-hook blade in the catalog (current catalog SKU's are 0-11-952 and 1-11-952, depending on the packaging format). After seeing a detailed photo/scan of the product, i couldn't believe the "60mm" blade length spec and it was hard to get a personally verified re-measurement confirmation of the spec from the EU retailers/distributors/manufacturer.

So i went ahead and bought a 10-pack of the 0-11-952 from a local retailer. Each pack contains 5pcs of the blade in a blister package:

Shuffling every other pack upside down is the way to cram and fit 10 packs in the small paperboard box.

The blades are manufactured in England, UK. Most EU retailers and distributors did not have them in stock and my gut feeling tells me that it won't be long until they're discontinued:

It was clear to me that, if the blade length was really 60mm, it would fit nicely in the TPT.

I finally understood why i had doubts about the spec in the first place. While the left half does look longer than the right half, i did not take into account that the right half was shorter than a standard blade's right half:

So the total length could still be 60mm and, once inserted in the tool, the right half would look pretty normal, like a standard blade's right half in the tool. And it does yay:

Then i had the idea to place the two blades together, aligned. Well, a picture is worth a thousand words :

Btw i measured the average blade thickness to be 0.64mm; depending on where you measure, the blade thickness is indeed 0.65mm as per spec. Finally it is time to see the fitment in action. The blade has two notches, so two deployed positions are available on the TPT, sweet!

And why do I think that the 5192 blade is perfect for the tool?

Because i have tested so many standard razor blades (i.e. with straight edge) and in many everyday cutting situations the cutting performance of a concave blade is unmatched. As a rule of thumb, whenever you do a draw-cutting motion (as opposed to push-cutting), a concave blade does a better securer cutting job (cf. scythes, belt cutters, geman potato knife, serrated edges, geman chain saw principle, karambit, etc). The Stanley blade also works well for push-cutting tasks, as long as you push in a controlled way, say in a straight line. Of course, for arm-swinging cuts (like slashing with a sword) you'd want a convex or straight blade but that's not what you do with such a small keychain gadget or is it?

Last but not least there is zero potential for auto-dulling. The concave edge does not make contact with the bottom of the titanium channel, the edge doesn't ride/slide along the titanium bottom. And i can confirm that the edge stays so much longer razor sharp

Well well. If i had to cut a carpet on a concrete floor with the TPT, i'd use a draw-cutting motion duh but in this situation the concave blade would be as wrong a blade as a convex blade; clearly, draw-cutting a carpet on concrete is done most effectively with a straight razor blade! So the perfect blade shape rather depends on the cutting situation than on the knife or the blade holder.

My argument is, the TPT is a blade holder, a very small blade holder at that. And most of the everyday cutting tasks which i encounter ymmv are done better, securer, faster, fail-safer with the concave blade.

What i frequently cut with the TPT :

• cutting open a tetra pak
• cutting out a cutout from a sheet of paper/cardboard/sticker/tape/film (okok, here the Stanley 5192 is not suitable, you got me!)
• cutting open and or peeling fruits (oranges, tangerines, chestnuts, etc)
• cutting up heavy duty cardboard boxes for recycle bin or for cutting tests/fun
• cutting open plastic/foil/paperboard Green Dot food packagings to be trashed later
• cutting down jolly green baby branches of garden cr*ps
• (list to be updated/expanded, my pleasure)

All of the above listed cutting tasks can be done, pretty well!, with a straight razor blade. Yet believe me that the concave blade performs the task even better. For example, cutting open a tetra pak of fruit juice: with a straight blade you would most certainly push-cut a corner of the pak (or try to slice-cut and then possibly slip off halfway because the material is tough to cut and your blade comes pre-dulled). In contrast, with a concave blade you'd have a choice! Either push-cut the corner (in a secure way since slipping off is impossible) or, mother's preferred method, draw-cut the corner like you would halve strawberries without a board.

So no, with the TPT i don't do swinging arm slashings (→convex blade) or carpet cuttings (→straight blade), sorry .

Whenever you cut something with the TPT (draw- or push-cutting, doesn't matter), try to imagine if you weren't better off with a razor sharp concave blade for the task. With enough realistic imagination, you'd come to same conclusion of this post:
the Stanley #5192 is the perfect choice for the TPT!

(EDIT: for my/your easy reference/refinding, this post can be found thru the short-URL: https://bit.ly/concavestanley, e.g. when you have forgotten the Stanley number and want to use the number in one of your posts/quotes or simply want to place an order)

 

[kwackster]

Wonderfully detailed review, thank you.
(I only have an old Superknife with a Lenox Gold blade)

 

[GIRLYmann]

What an amazing review!
Any more details and i would
have to go for coffee breaks
just to let it all sink in
But great job with the photos too.
As for the products themselves,
I dunno, but there must
be a more efficient way
to deal with the use
of disposable blades.
Imo, its just too much of a waste
of resources in producing
short life span disposable items
I would rather see something
in use which doesn't regularly
cause more ecological Impact
Then necessary on this
already overburdened world

 

[kreisler]

K kwackster Thx for your kind words! I've looked into the Superknife, seems to be a product with a considerable track record, nice! So is yours the one with the screw to tighten down the blade?

G GIRLYmann Thx also! You guys are the first feedback ever since i posted the review 6 months ago
Standard utility blades rust and get dull really fast, under common working conditions. I don't dispose of the lightly used ones but gather them on a magnet , and every once in a while i resharpen a small batch (say 3-5pcs in a 25min session) back to life, sharper than ex-factory. I have a perfect blade holder for the resharpening task. It's a nice exercise and a fun challenge to practice my straight edge sharpening skills. Resharpening the Stanley #5192, which is the only blade i accept in my keychain blade holder (TPT or QT), is yet on another level of challenge . Fortunately the #5192 edge stays sharp because it never touches metal of the surrounding (titanium, stainless steel) 'chamber/cage'. Which is your backup EDC blade?

 

[Brhowser87]

I appreciate all the reviews I've done on these utility blades. I don't always comment on reviews but I always read. It's great how detailed ur reviews are and all the pics. Reviews are always much better with a few pics. At least so u don't have to search for a pic of what your reading about.

Great reviews thanks

 

[GIRLYmann]

Good to know that you
care enough to resharpen
disposable blades
Its something that i do
with my not so compact
Olfa craft knife

It works with its own peculiar kirdashi shaped
stainless steel replacable blade;
and it rigid enough for sharpening.
So that's a big plus in my books.
Mainly because its uneconomical
to be buying replacements blades
which can't be revived ;-)

 

[kreisler]

Brhowser87 Thanks for your kind feedback, appreciated! Mind you the valuable TPT's were sponsored review units so i was forced and happy to put some efforts into the work, hence for the QT review i felt less inspired, here a photo for you anyway

G GIRLYmann I know this video haha! Is that you in the video? Your Olfa Craft Knife looks very functional, great quality i can imagine. My proud utility knife is more suitable for everyday carry though, imho.

 

[Brhowser87]

Brhowser87 Thanks for your kind feedback, appreciated! Mind you the valuable TPT's were sponsored review units so i was forced and happy to put some efforts into the work, hence for the QT review i felt less inspired, here a photo for you anyway

G GIRLYmann I know this video haha! Is that you in the video? Your Olfa Craft Knife looks very functional, great quality i can imagine. My proud utility knife is more suitable for everyday carry though, imho.

Lol thanks but you didn't have to do that.

 

[GIRLYmann]

Ah, you give me too much credit.
it was a random link of visual reference.
You're absolutely right of course;
that olfa is no key chain dangler
As you probably may have noticed,
it has no pocket clip...
Discrete carry is not an atribute here.
But at least i don't think its something
which one could easily loose; for i m sure
someone would scream out in alarm,
should it decide to accidently
slip out of the picket and crash dive
on to the ground...
so Wow! That's a spectacular ig gallery, btw. deeply Impressed!

 

[kreisler]

(btw, the pics posted above doht display anymore, might be a forum thing because, when i click on Edit Post, the pics do appear in my editing screen)

mini story time (instead of posting a explains-it-all-pic).
today i wanted to tighten 2 loose screws which hold the counter parts of a large "door knob" together: its design comes in as a 2-part metal construction (assembly) due to manufacturing cost reasons, and the 2 countersunk phillips screws are hard to access (with only 30mm clearance above the screw head ), once the door knob assembly is fixed to the expensive wood door with easy-to-access hex head bolts.

I didn't want to unbolt the knob from the wood (→ wood threads). Hence i had to put up with the 30mm clearance and find a way of squeezing in a 90°-angled phillips head screwdriver. None of the 1/4 proxxon ratchets fit, nor did my old Vinox bit holder (total tool height 38mm). I doht own the Vinox bit ratchet but i remembered owning the TPT, whose bit holding capability i never made use of before.

short story long, in this instance the TPT was the only tool in my household to do the trick ftw. The height of a bit is 25mm or is it? With the bit sunk in the Phillips screw head, i could even stabilize the bit's position with a squeezed in index finger. I managed to tighten the screw hard, securely without the bit slipping off the Phillips head. That was nice and impressive.

First time i ever used the TPT bit holder feature for anything! And, as mentioned, no other tool (in my household) could have accessed and tightened those two Phillips screws. I thought that was worth sharing. If dis post gets 3 Likes, i'll take photos of the door knob situation and add them to this post, for viewers who prefer colorful pics to imaginative texts .

EDIT: actually this experience —of how useful a slim bit holder can be— lead me to buying a dedicated bit ratchet set, something similar to the popular ICON set. best personal buy in 2022!!