Gerber Artifact - What's a RPG without an Artifact?

Oh the memories of various artifacts listed in many fantasy based role playing books.  Most of the best ones had all sorts of neet functions.  Remember the Rod of Seven Parts?  Anyone?  Am I showing my age here?  Classic Dungeons and Dragons items.  Well, we all know there's no real magic items... but in this case, we have an artifact by name that does a whole lot of useful things in one very small package, the Gerber Artifact Pocket Tool.  Bonus to this, it's probably a hell of a lot cheaper than the magical versions.


This particular item might look familiar from my post a few days ago Pocket of Holding - Blackhawk pocket pack in the collection of various items.  I've kept this on me for a couple years now, and it comes in handy in the strangest of times.  It's quite small at ~4 inches long, and very lightweight.

You'll notice the right side has a small phillips head screwdriver head, as well as a loop for a split ring or other lanyard to attach to a keychain or the like.  The screwdriver head has surprised me at how versatile it can be, with the exception of not being able to turn screws that are very recessed in objects/devices.

The other end of things functions as a bottle opener, a prybar, and 2 different sized flat head drivers.  The prybar head is angled enough to do it's job on small things, yet still not so protruding that it gets in the way for carry.  But WAIT!  There's MORE!

You'll notice that the handle also conceals an exact knife blade, which is very well recessed inside of the tool, and stiff enough that it does not come open spontaneously when attached to your keychain or in your pocket.

Once open, a spring metal lock engages keeping the knife portion reasonably locked in place.  It's an exacto knife people... you will NOT be using the locked blade as a climbing piton.  Right?
Push it in and it unlocks easily.

Fully extended, it's a little over 5 inches, and rather easy to handle for finer cutting tasks.

The blade is not permanent, and the tool actually ships with a small easy to carry safety container with spare blades.  The blade is easy to change out with a simple plastic piece holding it in place.  Again, you hopefully aren't using this with such force that it could break the plastic.

The down side, this is often exposed to the elements, and while not "wet", there's moisture in pockets.  This will almost always cause some slight surface rust on the exacto blade.  No big deal since these are very replaceable.

BUT WAIT!  THERE'S MORE!
Not only do you get an exacto knife, bottle opener, 2 flathead screwdrivers, a phillips head screwdriver, a keychain hole, AND a prybar, for one low price you also get the ability to use screwdriver bits at NO EXTRA COST!
That's right... standard screw bits fit nicely and are very easy to turn using the bottle opener.

Sadly the driver bits don't stay by themselves in place, but for most uses, it's good when you dont have your usual tools, or perhaps carry a Belkin 6-piece Mini Screwdriver Set in your bag to compliment this handy artifact.

The beauty of this tool, there are many various pocket style prybars out there, some in titanium for a small fortune such as the Stiletto FB7S 7-1/2-Inch All Titanium Multifunctional Flatbar at ~$65...  or various Atwood titanium pry-bars, all very fine tools, but often over $100 each.  Sure, if you work on MRI machines... you NEED titanium.  For the rest of us, I'm sure anyone would find this little thing useful, for fixing things, cutting items for artwork or crafts, or simply popping open a bottle of goodness.  The Gerber Artifact Pocket Tool is quite the find, especially at usually under $10.