multi-tool; opening tool?

[galadriel]

Greetings, all!  I have a tool I found in with some other inherited tools.  It looks like it's made pretty much to open screw caps of various sizes and to pry lids off.  Can anyone tell me more about it?  It doesn't seem to have any markings besides "Made in Hong Kong."

I can see you can grab a small screw cap with the end that's usually pliers, and you can grab larger screw caps with the openings in the handle. The handles easily separate into two pieces, and reattach.  The end of one handle is like a broad flathead screwdriver (I assume for prying), and the end of the other is a bottle opener.

Have I missed anything?  Is there anything more to it?

Thanks!

[Papaw]

You have just what you think you have. Millions of them have sold in Dollar Stores. It is pretty far out of our normal field of reference. We usually only deal with old, antique, and vintage tools.

[galadriel]

Okay then, thanks :)  It was in with a bunch of quite old (and wonderful, but easy to identify) tools that we got from my husband's grandfather, so I was just trying to find out more about it.  I appreciate the reply!

[scottg]

Yeah marked Hong Kong its not very old.
  But the tool looks fairly thick, so its not very new either.
It probably came from the 5 and dime, but it might have been sold hand to hand too.
Its possible someone set up on the sidewalk under a canvas awning and hawked these.
    I always did like a pitchman.
"Step right up!"

 Oh did you notice it has a 3rd opening for the smallest caps?? Its near the hinge.
  yours Scott

[kxxr]

If you are thinking of putting it up on eBay, it may do very well ($10 - $15 possibly) There is a very active collector group for all of these kinds of tools regardless of provenance. It's one I haven't seen before, but as the fellows say, there are many and they pop up everywhere. A quick scroll through the 'multitool' completed listings on eBay might prove of interest to you. That's an unusual one that is not seen often.

[galadriel]

Oh, no! "Grandpa's" tools are safe with us; we love tools.  Hand tools, power tools, old tools, new tools...  This is just the only one we didn't really recognize.

I wonder if it'd work to open PVC cement jar caps; those always stick after they've been used once.  They're not one of the tool's exact sizes though.  I'll have to try it next time I'm plumbing and see if one of the sizes works.  Hey, wouldn't that be a nice bonus.

[Papaw]

I wonder if it'd work to open PVC cement jar caps;

I bet it would.

[scottg]

Maybe, but I suspect you would have to take a file to the jaws and sharpen them up.
 
   I have to use Chanellocks, with sharpened jaws, and sometimes a vise to hold the can!
 (if you grip it just at the bottom in a wood vise, you can hold it without crushing it totally.)

 Of course 70% of the time it has all dried out anyway, sigh.
 I think PVC glue should come in single use sized cans. Little bitty cans all with dauber tops, in a 6pack. 
 yours Scott

[1930]

Not sure why this is not commonly known and I learned it thru trial and error but if you simply store your can of glue upside down so that the air will not get at it it will not harden. I have had a can last for many months this way until I eventually used it all up and had to buy another.

I had also tried to store them in ziplock sealed bags before and that only worked unless it was again stored upside down.

[Papaw]

I'll have to try that trick. Only way I've ever gotten around it is to buy two cans and leave one unopened until the next plumbing job, then buy another new can to save.

[geneg]

Not to steal a thread from the neat multitool, but I use the upside down method with my wood glues.  Gorrilla glue especially.  It is no longer a one time use purchase.

[m_fumich]

Those things are great in the kitchen for opening every kind of jar imaginable.

[1930]

Not to steal a thread from the neat multitool, but I use the upside down method with my wood glues.  Gorrilla glue especially.  It is no longer a one time use purchase.

Too late for my gorilla glue but good to know, I may not have thought to try it with other glues

[keykeeper]

Personally, I think that tool is a crab/lobster/shellfish cracker tool with a bottle opener incorporated into the handle.

[m_fumich]

What would be the purpose in that? The small end would fit something like a ketchup and the large end would fit pint jars or possibly larger jars. I've never seen shell fish crackers combined with anything. I've never had to stop cracking crab legs to open a bottle of ketchup either.