Tools for Tinkering: 3 Essentials for DIY Dominance

This article was produced in partnership with Gerber

DIY-ing is often associated with a bevy of specialized tools—for good reason. Electronics aficionados need good drivers and precision tool sets. Gearheads need a wide array of sockets—with backups for all the ones they misplace. Knife aficionados require an assortment of stones to bring to bear the best of blades. However, not every project takes place on the workbench.

Every tinkerer needs adaptable allies that can sit in their pocket and come to the rescue when the perfect tool isn’t right at hand. Fortunately, Gerber offers a number of carry companions that bring innovation and availability to DIY. We’ve lined up three real-deal companions for the ‘round-the-house project managers, in-the-field fixers, and daily doers.

From beefy slip-lock pliers and a best-in-class driver to a blade that can handle everyday tasks—we’re breaking down what makes them standout picks.

The Customizable Companion: Center-Drive

Gerber’s Center-Drive multitool features a best-in-class bit driver that makes quick-fix tasks expedient and easy. If a cycling crash calls for a hex key adjustment to the handlebars, the twist of a screwdriver to placate derailleurs, a prying tool to pop off a tire, and pliers to bend a broken spoke out of the way, Center-Drive can do it all in a pinch.

Speaking of which, those spring-loaded pliers can be deployed with one hand by either the slide of a thumb or the flick of a wrist. Boasting arguably the best driver of any multitool on the market, Center-Drive makes assembling your friend’s new oversized entertainment center a far less hare-brained endeavor. There’s an additional bit holder in the tool’s handle and a compartment in the sheath for an entire strip of extras to ensure maximum usability.

Doing light maintenance on your favorite pocket knife or disassembling a fishing reel for cleaning doesn’t have to require breaking out the precision tool set. Just as removing the single screw on an outlet cover while painting your bedroom shouldn’t require halting progress to fetch the screwdriver from the garage.

Center-Drive’s 3.25-inch knife is one of the largest and most capable 420 HC steel blades on any multitool. What’s more, it can be customized, color-coated, and laser etched with a variety of preset patterns or original texts and images through Gerber’s customization engine. Add to that over a dozen other tools whose loadout, coatings, and color scheme can be tailored, and Gerber’s Center-Drive makes for a constant customizable companion that keeps many of a tinkerer’s favorite tools right at hand.

[From $155; gerber.com]

The Capable Carrier: Dual-Force

Availability at the expense of capability is why many multitools end up stashed away in a vehicle’s center console instead of in the field. Dual-Force is the multitool for when the rubber meets the road—and leaves it for dirt paths, farmed fields, and backcountry switchbacks.

Much of the country will soon be in rodent season, when mice and rats relocate their nests for cold-weather protection. Half-inch galvanized steel hardware cloth makes a fantastic barrier to potential home entry points, but it often requires being wired into existing frames, bent around obstacles, or screwed into place. Chicken wire fences are great for vegetables, but for actual chicken coops and animal enclosures, welded steel wire works much better.

All these tasks and more go by considerably quicker with a good pair of pliers. With two-position slip-lock pliers reinforced with laminated steel, Gerber’s Dual-Force has you covered, delivering twice as much torque with a more closed grip. The pliers are beefy enough to remove greasy fasteners under a car—or to enable the perfectionist who would stop mowing their lawn halfway through to pry off the bolt and sharpen the blades. They can easily work hardware cloth and welded steel wire, and remove nails embedded into planks during home renos.

Dual-Force also features a 3.25-inch locking blade, an easy-to-use center-axis driver, and a saw blade capable of cutting PVC or removing branches. The multitool comes with two extra bit holders that are easily deployed even with thick gloves. Its crosscut file is also aggressive enough to realign an axe or maul’s edge mid-work after a missed swing—and its chisel tip serves as a nimble scraper of paint and sealant.

With a robust suite of tools, Dual-Force is a capable carrier for those who wear their Carhartts with knee pads and keep a chopping block in the yard.

[$110; gerber.com]

The Acute Associate: Assert

A folding knife might not have to deal with the chopping forces placed on a machete or camp knife, or the wear and tear of cutlery, but it does have a steep challenge: Do all of my regular tasks well enough.

A capable companion should be nimble for trimming loose threads and opening envelopes. It should have the edge retention to withstand regularly cutting abrasive packaging like cardboard—with edge geometry both fine and stout enough for occasional DIY projects like cutting rubber tubing, drywall patches, and carpet. For the outdoor-inclined, a folder should be lightweight and small enough to fit into the small hip belt pockets of a camping pack, or file away into a crowded fishing chest pack.

Gerber’s Assert meets all these expectations and then some. At under 4 inches when folded, and weighing in at less than 2 ounces, the 3-inch Assert fits into even the most crowded packs as a lightweight line cutter and trail tool. The blade’s thin profile makes it a deft all-around slicer and its S30V steel holds a durable edge through Amazon packages and DIY applications alike.

For tinkering projects like this writer’s ongoing paludarium (combination terrarium and aquarium) build, it’s a perfect option for slicing neoprene mats and plastic egg crates for reinforcement, carving foam backgrounds, cutting filtration pads, trimming moss mats, and breaking down all the boxes of plants it takes to recycle a tossed-out aquarium into a slice of living room nature.

Aquariums aside, Assert also offers some of the most budget-friendly customization options for a premium steel knife. The thumb stud’s position can be adjusted to fit the user’s hand—or removed entirely, so the blade can be deployed via a thumb hole. Between the options of thumb-opening and wrist-flicking the knife with the lock depressed, it’s always easy to bring the blade to bear. Additionally, Gerber offers a customization engine that enables you to personalize the blade, handle, and hardware to fit your preferences.

Overall, with personalization possibilities and a profile slight enough to forget it’s in your pocket, Assert makes an acute associate ideal for cutting through a variety of projects down to size at home, in the office, and on the trail.

[$175; gerber.com]

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By: Ian Graber-Stiehl
Title: Tools for Tinkering: 3 Essentials for DIY Dominance
Sourced From: www.mensjournal.com/gear/best-tools-diy-projects
Published Date: Wed, 06 Sep 2023 12:00:00 GMT

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