Dan Kitchen reviews the BCB Mini Work Tool at Toolmonger:

The BCB Mini Work Tool looks like a miniature version of the ATAX tool that Toolmonger [photopress:BCB_miniwork_tool.jpg,thumb,alignright]featured a few weeks ago. This credit card-sized piece of stainless steel integrates 11 tools in its simple frame, including a knife, saw, bottle opener, flat screwdriver, and a hole that can be used as a wrench.

BCB Miniwork Tool

[BCB Survival USA]

Eric Dykstra at Toolmonger has posted about the ATAX

- a new type of multitool – although – I’m guessing – it has its origins in credit-card sized flat or or flatt-ish multitools. Learn a bit more, and the design innovations seem quite impressive – not merely a larger version of the smaller think.

[photopress:ATAX_designed_by_Ron_Wood.jpg,thumb,pp_image]

I’m not going to improve on Dykstra’s copy:

When you’re trying to outrun the retched remains of humanity on your way to Bartertown you just can’t pack that much gear. The ATAX multi-purpose survival axe will likely give you the most bang for your survival buck. With this little wonder you can cut down a tree, shoot an arrow at a deer, skin that deer, tell time, and estimate distance, as well as single-handedly rebuild a just and noble human civilization.*

Badass survivalist Ron Wood, whose badassedness rivals that of even Chuck Norris himself, designed the ATAX. You can either use it as a knife or lash it to a stick and use it like an axe. The high-carbon steel main blade measures 4-1/2? with the tool’s overall length coming in at 5-1/2?.

With the various metrics laser-etched on the blade, you can tell time (like with a sundial), measure angles, and judge distances. With some slingshot tubing, you can turn the ATAX into an arrow launcher for hunting game. The micarta handle conceals a small storage area for various survival items like matches and twine and MacGyver brand paper clips.

If you can’t remember all the uses, the ATAX actually comes with an instructional DVD to show you how to use it. As Mad Max can tell you, survival doesn’t come cheap — the ATAX runs about $150 to $200.

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Leatherman has introduced the Skeletool and skeletool CX:

The Skeletool has a removable

pocket clip – so it can be used with or without a sheath.

The Skeletool CX has carbon-fiber handles; Erik Sofge, in his Popular Mechanics review (link below) says that it’s got a particularly comfortable grip – no small asset for a tool that, almost by definition, one uses in less-than-ideal conditions. The CX also has some attachable bits stored inside the tool. (I’m not entirely sure how they both end up the same weight – this may be the result of my misreading the specs )

Link to Erik Sofge’s review at PopularMechanics.com.