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◄ Project Zebra: A song's not a song 'til you sing it

The design attempts to bypass the question of whether a small multitool with handles should be primary based around pliers or scissors by doing both at very little extra size or weight. Nextool are a Chinese company founded in 2005 and this recent offering is roughly equivalent to the discontinued Leatherman Squirt PS4, a Gerber Dime, or Nextool’s Mini Sailor model, except the scissors are larger and depending on exactly what you're comparing it to there’s a can opener and a file included. Personally I'd rather have a tiny wood saw or serrated blade than the can opener, which is probably possible since the tool is assembled with torx screws.

I've seen some feedback suggest that quality control is variable and that the springs inside the pliers/scissors are prone to snapping, but they're cheap and cheerful and something this size will never replace a large tool anyway. Going rate is about £13.50 + VAT including delivery on AliExpress either from resellers or Nextool.

Personally I went with the red scales as a SAK callback and because it's more sheeple-friendly than bare metal, and keep it with a bullet style space pen, torch, some lengths of hacksaw blade, toothpicks, spare battery and original style Swiss+Tech Screwz-All full size screwdrivers. The latter aren't common now, but either old stock or good KOs can also be found cheaply on AliExpress. I also made a neon paracord fob for the Mini Flagship for easy location of both it and the wallet the stuff's all tucked into, sealing it with superglue. This works as well as melting the cord and I highly recommend Ever Build's medium viscosity Superglue GP for everyday tasks if you've only ever used disposable mini tubes. It has a decent workable time (obviously depending on what materials it's being used with) and the container barrel may need drilling out occasionally but it keeps for a long time.

I haven't given up on SAKs and still have a Waiter tucked into my actual wallet, but the Nextool is fine for around the house and more convenient in terms of small pliers than what I was using (a S+T Micro-Tech pair mainly for the screwdrivers)... because often you want to use a screwdriver and a pair of pliers together, so having them in separate tools makes sense.

At about 80g the Mini Flagship is still light (for context that's four times as heavy as a Classic SD SAK) but may not be a good idea to add to car keys as any extra weight can damage the ignition.

For more information, I thoroughly recommend Jools' site which has lots of comparison photos with other tools, and the same for a good range of other pocket friendly tools.
https://threepointsofthecompass.com/2022/01/15/knife-chat-which-to-choose-scissors-or-pliers-why-not-have-both-with-the-nextool-mini-flagship-multi-tool/
https://threepointsofthecompass.com/2023/02/04/knife-chat-the-nextool-mini-sailor-keychain-multi-tool/

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