Description
The EKO is waterjet by a US vendor from domestic 6/4 titanium. The rough blanks are shipped to me and hand-finished entirely in-house. The blank is stone washed in a ceramic tumbling media before the blade is machined on my Haas CNC mill. I could have skipped all the tedious hand-finishing by milling the blade first and tumbling the key afterwards. I tried it and it worked great. However, I love the aesthetic contrast between the stone washed finish and the shiny milled surfaces.
For boxes, it's a big step up from getting glue all over your house key or going all feral on a box with your wild animal teeth. The EKO makes it look easy.
For bottles, you can skip the lighter trick, the two bottle trick, the bang it on the edge of your friends counter and break a big hunk out of it trick. You get the idea, use the EKO and you might get invited back next time.
OPERATING NOTES:Â With a little practice and even less muscle you can open bottles in one shot. It's just physics mate. However, you might spill some beer the first couple tries so practice before you don your evening wear. It's a little key, don't expect to dazzle like a bar tender without putting in some practice. Here are my tips for awesome opening:
- Hold the bottle around the shoulder, not at the middle.
- Pull your arm (the one holding the bottle) tight against your body
- Push down with your thumb until the "blade" contacts the bottle cap
- Then pull up with the key ring to dislodge the already "peeled" cap
- Enjoy
The "easy" way is to pry the cap twice. Just push down with your thumb until the blade contacts the cap, then move around the cap 90 degrees (you took geometry right?) and repeat. You won't even break a sweat.
HOW SHARP IS THE BLADE?:Â Compared to an actual knife, it's not sharp at all. However, if you are hopelessly accident prone and have a history of trouble with things like butter knives, safety scissors, and letter openers...I recommend you stay away from the EKO.
First, the actual edges of the "blade" are completely squared off and do not come to a sharp point like a knife or scissors. The tape-cutting action relies on the geometry of the tanto-point to pierce the tape, not the sharpness of the blade. That said, it's as close to sharp as I felt comfortable making it while being 99% certain that you aren't going to cut yourself by accident.
Second, the tip of the key has been deliberately rounded off so there is very little risk of stabbing your finger on it (unless you are made of Play-Doh) while fishing in your pocket or bag for your keys.
IS THAT 1/4" HEX COMPATIBLE?:Â If you must know, yes. However, that's just supposed to be the Prometheus logo. I made it 1/4" compatible to prevent the flood of well meaning suggestions to make it so.