# Atwoods



## paulr (May 17, 2008)

I like the idea of these small cool tools and I keep looking at CPFMP posts for them, but I haven't seen one yet that I think I'd really use much. What is the fascination with them about? Anyone have particular favorites, especially in the smaller ones?


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## powernoodle (May 17, 2008)

I guess I prefer the micro card, but in all honesty they mostly have more aesthetic appeal than practical usage for me. I still like 'em, though.


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## HoopleHead (May 17, 2008)

paulr said:


> I like the idea of these small cool tools and I keep looking at CPFMP posts for them, but I haven't seen one yet that I think I'd really use much. What is the fascination with them about? Anyone have particular favorites, especially in the smaller ones?


 

atwoods are elegant in their simplicity, a fine combination of form and function. very collectable with lots of different models and styles available. i went for "users" and thus kept just the ones i would use regularly, and sold off the rest. bladed atwoods are rarer and harder to get usually. even the newer ones will be tough to get, youll have to be refreshing at the right time. expect to pay a premium on the 2ndhand market for them. 

my favorite is the Prybaby XL and Mini Prybaby XL. then the V-Notch Booger. the others i kept are a 1st gen Bermuda Triangle in blue, and a flat Ti gasbaby in my wallet.

great stuff, love the tools and the innovation and quality and durability. its just the supply thats lacking  prepare to get hooked!


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## FrogmanM (May 18, 2008)

I wouldn't mind picking up a prybaby, however does the gasbaby feel "less solid" since it has the hex/oxygen holes worked into the body?

Mayo


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## HoopleHead (May 18, 2008)

FrogmanM said:


> I wouldn't mind picking up a prybaby, however does the gasbaby feel "less solid" since it has the hex/oxygen holes worked into the body?
> 
> Mayo




the "flat Ti" ones are only suitable for small jobs, as stiff as they are for as thin as they are, they are still not strong enough for "real" prying tasks. however, even the gasbaby with all its holes is strong enough for pretty much anything. i definitely prefer the gasbaby (G2 Mini especially) over the standard ones.

but my fave is still the XL, that "Xtra Leverage" really goes a long way!


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## Monocrom (May 18, 2008)

Atwood tools are works of Art that can come in handy in certain situations. But they are so wildly popular that prices are through the roof.

I would have loved to own a prybaby. But most likely will be getting a mini prybar from CountyCom or perhaps modifying one from Home Depot.


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## FrogmanM (May 18, 2008)

I guess its like some of these custom torches on CPF, don't look at the price, just take the plunge...:green:

been snooping round EDCF and I would like to make a keychain separate from my car/house and I think a Gasbaby would be awesome!

Great info on usage Hoople! I am a sucker for Ti(like everyone else!) however steel sounds like the way to go, as I am only getting ONE Atwood.

Mayo


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## paulr (May 18, 2008)

I can't think of the last time I wanted to pry something (other than tiny stuff like staples or split rings, for which a pocket knife is fine), so I don't know what I'd do with a prybaby. Any other suggestions?


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## Monocrom (May 18, 2008)

paulr said:


> I can't think of the last time I wanted to pry something (other than tiny stuff like staples or split rings, for which a pocket knife is fine), so I don't know what I'd do with a prybaby. Any other suggestions?


 
Using an Atwood tool, instead of fingernails, to open the blades on traditional folding knives.


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## Aloft (May 18, 2008)

I have a few Atwood articles, and as previous posters attest, they are as much works of art as they are practical tools. I have a couple "Skeeter" knives, a couple prybabies, and two of his "Tactical Whistles". All seem to be first class construction as well as practical for their intended use. I don't see myself using some of the more specialized tools that he offers, but they still have an undeniable "cool factor". Also, when I emailed Mr. Atwood with some questions, he was very quick to respond with very thorough answers.

That being said, Atwood tools are not cheap. That's been a topic of debate on these forums IIRC, as well as some other gadget forums whose membership has a special relationship with such stuff. "To each his own", I say ... I've never been sorry I bought my Atwoods. Another thing about Atwoods is that it seems that if you are not "in" on a buy of one of his production runs, you probably won't find what you seek; they sell out fast! He seems to make what he wants, when he wants ... I'll say this is the right of the artist to self-expression, but it can be frustrating for someone who just wants one tool. More mainline tools like knives or plain prybabies seem very scarce in availability. I checked his website today, and when I clicked on the "Available Tools" page, all that was 'available' was ... "International Shipping"!

He posts a blog, IIRC, and on it he lays out his plans for future production. That's probably the best way to "lie in wait" to get a tool you might want before they're all sold.


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## Aloft (May 18, 2008)

paulr said:


> I can't think of the last time I wanted to pry something (other than tiny stuff like staples or split rings, for which a pocket knife is fine), so I don't know what I'd do with a prybaby. Any other suggestions?



Paulr ... I keep a small prybaby on my keychain. It's been very useful for prying up staples, fixing the Mother-in-Law's wheelchair, and various other prying tasks. But I was surprised how many times the bottle opener got used ... far more than I ever thought. Yep, there are still some beer bottles that DON'T have twist off tops yet! For the prying though, I don't carry a knife, since I work at the airport, and that's a no-no. And I've forgotten a few times that I had a small knife in my pocket (Atwood's "Skeeter", in fact), and had to go to that small Mail Station and pay $$ to mail it back home to myself. The Prybabies look just like regular bottle openers and don't attract any attention.


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## paulr (May 19, 2008)

I agree that a bottle opener is handy but I'm ok with a simple one or a SAK (although I usually don't have a SAK on me these days). I do like the Atwood concept and I'm financially ok with springing for one or two interesting ones. I'm just not captivated by the tiny pry bar. Maybe I lack imagination but I don't think I'd use it much. So I'm wondering what other ones are out there.


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## da.gee (May 19, 2008)

I find, like when I began to carry flashlights, that you find uses for the tool that you may not have considered. I have a G2 Mini Pry Baby, and it has come in handy many times. Mostly for the bottle opener but several times using it as a screwdriver or prying open a small battery door on some device etc. It is so small as to be not noticed in the pocket so I don't even think about it. 

I had a cool Ti psychedelic Atwood tool (don't remember which one) but sold it. I'm not a collector.


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## maxray (May 19, 2008)

I have a Nibble and a Sharkbite. I really like the format of these tools - with the nod going towards the Nibble due to its smaller size. I don't EDC it, as my keychain and pockets are all full, but it is in semi-regular rotation...especially if I am headed to a party where a conversation-starting bottle opener might be appropriate! 

While the prying capabilities of this tool definitely exist - I usually have a County Comm Micro Widgy around. http://www.countycomm.com/WIDGYMICRO.htm


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## paulr (May 19, 2008)

I like the Nibble, thanks. I might keep an eye out for one.


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## HoopleHead (May 19, 2008)

paulr said:


> I like the Nibble, thanks. I might keep an eye out for one.


 

i assume youve browsed through the atwood site, and checked out the pics on the Home, Past Work and One of a Kind tabs?


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## paulr (May 19, 2008)

I looked at peteratwood.com for a while several months ago, but more recently it's been hung whenever I've tried.


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## the_Namja (May 20, 2008)

If you are really want something from Peter, you can always email him. Sometimes he has some "loose" tools that he has made but does not have enough to post on his website yet. He will gladly offer them to you.


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## HoopleHead (May 20, 2008)

paulr said:


> I looked at peteratwood.com for a while several months ago, but more recently it's been hung whenever I've tried.


 

http://www.atwoodknives.com/index.php


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## Sub_Umbra (May 20, 2008)

I don't have any Atwoods but I understand the appeal. I love everyday objects that are created thoughtfully enough to be *pets for the hands.*


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## V8TOYTRUCK (May 20, 2008)

Same with you Sub, I just came from EDCF and love the simplicity and build quality but I find it hard to convince myself that it will be more useful for my needs than a small SAK thats similarly sized. 

Trying to put together a nice minimalist keychain set-up.


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## paulr (May 20, 2008)

HoopleHead said:


> http://www.atwoodknives.com/index.php



Aha, thanks for the URL. Also I like Sub Umbra's description.


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## tino_ale (May 21, 2008)

the_Namja said:


> If you are really want something from Peter, you can always email him. Sometimes he has some "loose" tools that he has made but does not have enough to post on his website yet. He will gladly offer them to you.


I have yet to be convinced that sending an email directly to him whenever you want a tool that is not available is the right move to make at the time his stuff is sold in less than 10 minutes each time he posts a batch for sale. :green::thinking:

If everyone does that, he will receive more spam and unecessary emails than all of us together. It also kind of weird to state that "he will glagly offer them to you". :shrug:

I don't own an Atwood, but I've discovered them and have been seriously hooked by them recently. I started to search the internet for them. I discovered all the "phenomenon" surrounding Atwoods, from dozen of tools being sold in minutes from the second they are posted in his website, to all these "FS" offers in various forums as well as ebay offering them for twice or 3 times their original price (which is not low), if not more.

This whole thing has become ridiculous if you want my opinion. I absolutely love his stuff, it looks beautifull and first class quality, and he is certainly the first victim of his success. And the last to blame. But the supply/demand ration has become ridiculously low that now the price you pay for them is nothing more than a waiste of money. Or, you have deep pockets and that's great for you.

Still, I got sick of the phenomenon very, very fast and I finally bought the little tool I was looking for from another tool maker. I am very happy of my purchase. And I have stopped searching for Atwoods and I believe it's a good thing. Shame, but a good thing. Trying to grab to tool direcly from his site is either a kick-ss shot of luck either you are spending half of your time refreshing his page. I'm not willing to do that, no matter how great the tools are.

Cheers to atwood, the guy! Jeers to the people who buy from him with the unique intention to resale and make a profit.


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## the_Namja (May 21, 2008)

tino_ale said:


> I have yet to be convinced that sending an email directly to him whenever you want a tool that is not available is the right move to make at the time his stuff is sold in less than 10 minutes each time he posts a batch for sale. :green::thinking:
> 
> If everyone does that, he will receive more spam and unecessary emails than all of us together. It also kind of weird to state that "he will glagly offer them to you". :shrug:



I'm just sharing my past experiences that I had. That was how I was able to get my first Atwood tool. I really didn't know much about Atwood tools at that time, but on his contact page, it said to email to determine availability. So that was what I did. 

I am sure this would not be a good thing to do every time a person gets an urge to buy a tool. But I would think it is reasonable that if you really want something from an artist, you would try to contact them.

Peter is a great guy. He wouldn't mind selling one of his tools to someone who's been trying unsuccessfully to get one. He just doesn't like the idea that people buy from him just to resell and make a profit which takes away from others who's can't seem to get one for that very reason.


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## tino_ale (May 22, 2008)

At a time, it seems that some people have been buying several tools just to make a profit and resell them at a higher price. That really sucked but it seems that Atwood have been irked by that and has given a response.

If I don't mistake, the last few runs of tools were limited to one per customer. Not a bad idea IMO.

Yet, these batches have been sold in minutes. Okay, not 1 minute, but maybe 10 and much less than an hour anyway.

The reason why it has become impossible to get an Atwood is not these jerks buying in order to resell on ebay (or at least not anymore), but the supply/demain ratio. By now, even if every buyer is an "honest" guy interrested in his stuff and who really likes his work, there are just not enough of them made.

I personnally wonder why Atwood doesn't start to outsource most of his tools making, and at the same time continue to make some "one of a kind" handmade tools. I would not mind to get a CNC made Atwood tool, as long as the quality is still there!


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## bltkmt (May 22, 2008)

I have not yet been obsessed by them, but must admit that I love my Bottlebug. To me, it is the perfect keychain tool.


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## n4zov (May 22, 2008)

I can't think of a single reason why I "need" one of those tools, but they just have a certain appeal that makes me think I have to have one! I guess it is one of those guy things. It's hard to believe the Chinese haven't flooded the market with cheap knock-offs.............yet.


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## Monocrom (May 22, 2008)

tino_ale said:


> I personnally wonder why Atwood doesn't start to outsource most of his tools making, and at the same time continue to make some "one of a kind" handmade tools. I would not mind to get a CNC made Atwood tool, as long as the quality is still there!


 
Even if I could afford an Atwood tool, I'd never buy one that was outsourced. If Atwood didn't personally make it, it's not an Atwood tool. Sure, he could just put his name on it. But a label is one thing, and an actual Atwood tool is something else.


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## tino_ale (May 22, 2008)

Monocrom said:


> Even if I could afford an Atwood tool, I'd never buy one that was outsourced. If Atwood didn't personally make it, it's not an Atwood tool. Sure, he could just put his name on it. But a label is one thing, and an actual Atwood tool is something else.



Really funny how we can have totally different approach oo:

I could not care less whether the tool has been made by himself or someone else or a machine. Only the actual result matters to me. If it's up to my standard and liking, perfect! I could not care less about the name, to me a tool is a tool and I'm not buying it for it's origin or prestige, only for what it is.


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## xcel730 (May 22, 2008)

Atwood's tool are nice, but too hard to pick them up without paying a premium. I was lucky and got a G2 Mini GasBaby from Atwood directly. It's been on my keychain for some time. I use it infrequently, but when I do use it, I'm glad I have it and not using my knife as a prybar. There are other alternative as well. JDR makes some neat little keychain prybars, Ray Kirk makes a pretty neat damascus key fob. I wrote a brief review of Ray Kirk's damascu key fob over at EDCForums. I may get flammed for this, but Gerber recently came out with the Gerber Artifact that replicates peter atwood's prybaby.  I bought it for $10. It's not too bad, but the tip doesn't work that well as a screwdriver. It's nice to throw it in your car though.


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## Cuso (May 22, 2008)

tino_ale said:


> This whole thing has become ridiculous if you want my opinion. I absolutely love his stuff, it looks beautifull and first class quality, and he is certainly the first victim of his success. And the last to blame. But the supply/demand ration has become ridiculously low that now the price you pay for them is nothing more than a waiste of money. Or, you have deep pockets and that's great for you.
> 
> Still, I got sick of the phenomenon very, very fast and I finally bought the little tool I was looking for from another tool maker. I am very happy of my purchase. And I have stopped searching for Atwoods and I believe it's a good thing. Shame, but a good thing. Trying to grab to tool direcly from his site is either a kick-ss shot of luck either you are spending half of your time refreshing his page. I'm not willing to do that, no matter how great the tools are.
> 
> Cheers to atwood, the guy! Jeers to the people who buy from him with the unique intention to resale and make a profit.


That pretty much sums up my relationship to Atwood delicacies ... Got a couple of them , but only went around showing them off to unbelievers that where amazed at the quality but not fond of the price. Ended up selling all of them. I sure wish Peter would release some of the "old" tools..


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## xcel730 (May 22, 2008)

I was one of the lucky ones to be able to pick up a G2 gasbaby directly from him. I see that the g2 gasbaby go for over $100 sometimes on eBay and CPFM. I can't sell me cause it's not in mint unused condition. I wanted to get his whistle, but he said he's not making them anymore. I searched on CPFM and eBay and they cost over $100 :huh: I gave up in my search.


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## greenLED (May 22, 2008)

While I recognize the effort Peter puts into designing and making these...

I must be the only one who doesn't see the use for them. I had a prybar and something else and ended up giving them away. Not my piece o'pie, I guess.

I'll stick to my lights, thankyouverymuch.


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## Monocrom (May 23, 2008)

tino_ale said:


> Really funny how we can have totally different approach oo:
> 
> I could not care less whether the tool has been made by himself or someone else or a machine. Only the actual result matters to me. If it's up to my standard and liking, perfect! I could not care less about the name, to me a tool is a tool and I'm not buying it for it's origin or prestige, only for what it is.


 
The quality and the name go hand-in-hand. If you care about the result, you look for the name. That's the way it is for all most items. How happy do you think BMW owners would be if they learned that the company planned on saving money, by having KIA design their new fuel-efficient engines? (Just as an example).


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## tino_ale (May 24, 2008)

As a general statement I'm certainly not going to deny that "Quality and name go hand-in-hand". As a general statement, yes.

Yet I was talking about Atwook outsoursing some of his not one-of-a-kind production. Sure to maintain the same quality he would have to outsource to some serious shop and make sure the details are taken care of.

But com'on, we send people in space and we make things like micro-processors. It's not like an Atwood tool was a complex item to make. I do not believe one second that the same quality that he does by hand cannot be reached by a more automated process for a comparable price. At the same quality, volume would actually bring price down. Saying otherwise is mystification IMO. These tools have a great appeal, great design, but are amond the most simple tools you can think of. Don't tell me there only one person on earth that can make them properly.



Monocrom said:


> The quality and the name go hand-in-hand. If you care about the result, you look for the name. That's the way it is for all most items. How happy do you think BMW owners would be if they learned that the company planned on saving money, by having KIA design their new fuel-efficient engines? (Just as an example).


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## paulr (May 24, 2008)

tino_ale said:


> But com'on, we send people in space and we make things like micro-processors. It's not like an Atwood tool was a complex item to make. I do not believe one second that the same quality that he does by hand cannot be reached by a more automated process for a comparable price. At the same quality, volume would actually bring price down. Saying otherwise is mystification IMO. These tools have a great appeal, great design, but are amond the most simple tools you can think of. Don't tell me there only one person on earth that can make them properly.



I don't think it's purely an issue of ensuring the end product's quality; it's also a matter of authenticity. If you buy a painting by a famous artist, you expect that the artist actually personally painted the painting, not hired someone else to do it even if the end result is just as good. Atwoods are actually pretty cheap compared to other (more complicated) custom knives, e.g. an Elishewitz folder may run into the thousands. Now there are collaborations between custom knifemakers and production shops, so (e.g.) Benchmade makes some much less expensive implementations of Elishewitz designs that in principle work just as well as the originals. That people are willing to pay 10x more for the real thing has not much to do with the end product quality, but rather, it's because they understand that they're not just getting a utilitarian cutting implement, but also a work of human creativity, and they want it to carry in it the most direct path to the creativity's source.


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## da.gee (May 25, 2008)

On a positive note, I discovered a new use for my Prybaby today...divot repair tool (golf). Works very nicely. Does Atwood make irons? My iron play needs and infusion of something.


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## souptree (Jun 3, 2008)

paulr said:


> I like the idea of these small cool tools and I keep looking at CPFMP posts for them, but I haven't seen one yet that I think I'd really use much. What is the fascination with them about? Anyone have particular favorites, especially in the smaller ones?



These are two of my favorites. In fact, aside from folders, they were my two ultimate Grails when I started collecting Atwoods and I somehow managed to snag them both. 

The top one is an early Keyton one off in Devin Thomas Reptilian. The bottom one is a one off KeyKutter in Mike Norris Raindrop. That one is on the one of a kind page on Peter's site.


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## HoopleHead (Jun 3, 2008)

that keycutter is stupendous! youve got great taste soup :thumbsup:


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