Saturday, November 24, 2007

The mother of all Swiss army knives

It weighs nearly 3 pounds, has 87 tools with at least 115 uses, costs $1,200 and has been included in the 2008 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.

The bristling behemoth of a Swiss Army knife has a dozen or so blades, saws and cutters; a dozen or so screwdrivers; and the toothpicks, key rings, magnifiers, fish scalers and nail files sometimes found on combination penknives.

But it also includes a laser pointer and a flashlight.

"Basically, they took every implement they ever put in a Swiss Army knife and combined them in this one piece," said Jennifer Voss, spokeswoman of Wenger North America, the American distributor.

The knife, manufactured by Wenger in Delemont, Switzerland, looks like a bunch of different pocketknives placed side-by-side and soldered together.

And it has a wrench just for the spikes on a golf shoe; a tool just for opening the case of a watch; and a screwdriver specifically for gunsights.

And if that isn't enough, it also includes a tool to push a cuticle, measure a tire tread, clean a golf club or adjust a bicycle spoke.

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