Victorinox Spartan Black.

I carry at least one Swiss Army Knife with me every where I go (except a plane, of course). This 3 1/2 inch all-purpose tool is suitable for your pocket, glove compartment or tool box. This knife has dozens of uses for a do-it-yourselfer, a gardener or a camper.

This little wonder has a large and small knife, a corkscrew, a punch, a can opener with a flat blade screwdrive on the end, a bottle opener with a flat blade screwdriver on the end and what purports to be a wire stripper on the side (I have never used that), a key ring, tweezers and a toothpick. This knife is water resistant and made of high quality components.

I tend to use the knives on the pocket knife more than any other tools. After that I find that the combination of one of the knives and the tweezers are useful for splinters and thorns, and thus the tweezers often become the third most useful tool. I must admit that occasionally I use the toothpick, particularly when real toothpicks are not available.

The smaller screwdriver blade is small enough that it can also fit into a Phillips head screw. I have even been able to use the flat blade on some small internal hex head screws. I have never used the corkscrew, and I have used the punch as an awl. The can opener blade has yet to be used on this knife as well.

The difficulty with carrying tools is that they can fill your pocket very quickly. This small Swiss Army knife is small enough to fit into a purse or a pocket and yet large enough to be useful. While the larger Swiss Army knives have even more and larger tools and blades, they are also harder to carry. Of course this particular knife will not replace a tool box, but I find it amazing how many tasks I can accomplish with the simple tools available in this gem.

I received this knife as a gift from a Swiss business associate back in 1998, and have carried it nearly every day since. I have to say that I am truly impressed with the amount of abuse this little tool can stand up to as it's been dropped countless times and overtorqued more often than I care to admit, but has never failed to spring back open ready for the next task.

I can't tell you how many times a friend has brought a bottle of wine to a picnic or some remote location only to suddenly come to the panicked realization that he/she forgot the corkscrew. You wouldn't believe the gratitude as they hear the cork being removed by the unassuming little corkscrew on this knife.

One small tip: sharpen the blades from time to time. A minute on a standard cutlery sharpening steel is all it takes to have these little blades ready for some serious work.

I have carried a Spartan since I got one as an anniversary present in 1967. Some I have lost, a few I gave to friends, and one I vaporized a screwdriver blade by a stupid action I won't describe here.

But none has ever given me trouble and I keep coming back to get one. The combination of two screwdrivers, a canopener, corkscrew and awl (plus two blades: I keep the small one very sharp for fine work and the larger one is used on routine jobs) is great and since they added a toothpick and tweezers I have found those helpful too.

Once again I have mislaid my friend on a job, so it is time for my next Spartan.