Saturday, December 8, 2012

The Venerable Ice Pick

I write frequently about the multiple-use tools we have on board. Multiple-use tools save room in the precious little storage space we have on Kintala. Our ice pick is one of the most used tools on board. It gets used for ice (a no-brainer), for testing cakes and muffins, for making holes in leather and heavy fabric and sails for hand sewing, for lining up holes while fastening things together, and I suspect (although I can't verify this from personal experience) that it would make an adequate weapon if you were surprised by pirates. The one in my galley cupboard is one that I was given by my father, one that we used camping as a family for the 30 years that my family camped, and it's still held up remarkably in spite of a serious amount of abuse. I can't vouch for the specific model that I show here as the one I own is no longer available, but I'm a little intrigued by the safety cover which mine does not have, a feature that might have spared me a pricked finger or two while rummaging around in that particular drawer. The nicest thing? They're dirt cheap, something that you can't say for most tools of any use on board a sailboat.