Ah, that is a little pet trick of mine: I open bottles with (almost) ANYTHING at hand: PET bottles, knives (the spine, not the edge), snuff boxes (delicate, but can be done with JUST the right technique), lighters (OK, but wear out quickly), fire extinguishers and the unopened multitool itself.

For me it is far quicker to open the bottle with the closed multitool than to flip out the bottle opener.

This little trick isn't difficult: Your left hand firmly closed around the bottle neck creates a pivot point and the whatever-that-has-a-hard-enough-edge object held in your right hand act as a lever (wikipedia). But it takes a bit of practice to get the feel of it, and apply the force in just the right direction.

The trick is also dependent on the glas quality of your local brewerey. Glas bottles of poor quality may chip or break easily if the cork is flipped off by unorthodox application of force. Where I live we use bottles that are required to be washed and refilled maybe 20 times before being remelted. Those bottles are pretty robust.



A file is pretty darn hard to substitute, so if you need one you really want one. But after 15 years or so of MT use I haven't used the file. Ever. No matter how hard I try to justify it being there "just in case" I can't come up with a sound reason for being on my "required" list. Your mileage obviously differ.


I haven't used the awl either (or perhaps I have, once or twice, or my friend did - can't remember right now). But if I need an awl I think I usually will be able to do without or improvise.