The Day of EDC Victory

[Towanda]

Used my LM Wave tonight to fix the latch on a public restroom stall door, so that I could securely close the door and do the needful.


Sent from my phone via messenger owl.

[Silent Kube]

Kind of a prep fail edc victory combo pack. After our last hand operated can opener broke on us, I picked up a battery powered opener and never bothered to replace the hand operated one. (Prep fail)

Today the gf was cooking dinner and the batteries in the opener died. I went to get new ones and found out I was out. (Prep fail 2)

I got my edc bag and pulled out a P-51 (The can opener, not the plane) it opened the can just fine. I think it's the first time I've ever had to actually use it, but it's good to know it works if I ever need it.

[Towanda]

One set each of metric and SAE folding hex keys: about $10.

The looks on my male lab partners' faces when I used those keys to remove a tool from a CNC lathe in class tonight: Priceless.

[Winston Smith]

Not exactly daring, but coming out of school today someone asked me for a jump. I had my jump box, so instead of taking 15 minutes to maneuver the car and cables between the other vehicles, it took 2 minutes to get started, I helped someone out, and stayed on schedule for the day.

[chubbly1]

I work in a factory so I can't have as much EDC stuff that I want to everyday, but I make do with a few chosen things.

I always have a flashlight (used to be an AA Maglight but is now a Streamlight Stylus Pro), my SAK (a Champion Plus), and a Gerber LST (for cutting anything not food related).

I'm a forklift driver and work at night so the flashlight comes in handy when checking the dock clamps before driving onto a truck to offload something. And it would also come in handy if we lost power (has happened twice in 14 years) because it is dark in the plant with no windows.

The Gerber LST is used for cutting packing tape or cardboard, or pretty much anything that is dirty, as it cleans easily in the sink.

The SAK is the only EDC that I have a good story about, so here goes. I was sitting in the lunch room a couple years ago, reading a book and eating my lunch, when I heard someone say my name. I looked up and saw about 5 fingers pointing my way from a table about 20 feet away. The talking continued for a few seconds and then a friend of mine got up from the table and came over to me and told me what happened. A new hire had bought a fruit cup (the metal kind with the pull tab)from the vending machine and the tab broke off. Everybody told her to come over and ask me to open it with my SAK, but she was too shy, because she didn't know me and didn't want to bother me while I was reading. My friend had brought over the fruit cup with her, so out came the SAK can opener. The lady got her fruit cup and she did say thank you before she left to go back to work. But it did make me feel pretty good the rest of the day.

[allofthemonkeys]

My gas station sells some old style soda in glass bottles with real tops, not the twist off. We have a bottle opener, but when we need it, naturally it's gone. So when a customer asked if my coworker could open it, he couldn't find the opener, so I grab my multi-tool and viola, open bottle.

[Bruno_GO]

I was in a regular day of college classes.
The college is very far from the downtown and because of that there are only the lights of the college itself.
It was around 9 p.m. and I was with my friends out of class in a break-time.
FOR A BIZARRE COINCIDENCE we were talking about my EDC, preping and all this stuff AND, AS USUAL, they're laughing on me because I used to carry a little flashlight (MagLite Solitaire) and a pocket knife (CRKT M-16) and making comments about guns and my BOB/INCH bag.

And then, some minutes later the power OFF in all college. We wait some minutes and do not return. I got my Solitaire and walk to the parking lot with a feeling of redemption.
Details: two beautiful girls come with me holding in my arms.
The same guys who were laughing now were asking: "Hey Bruno, wait for us to walk down the stairs."
From that day to now, they stop laughing and start thinking (off course there is some of them that will never think about NOTHING).

P.s.: Sorry about the grammar mistakes, Im brazilian.

[angelofwar]

Quit smoking...but, a coworker was mentioning "Man, I forgot my lighter..." (wanting to go smoke)...I busted out my Pelican Survival "Tin", took out the Bic, and wha-la!. It's not so much a victory when people have to borrow my EDC items (knife/lights), but when I have to bust out my "survival" kit or my FAK that I carry in my back-pack, it's definitely an EDC victory!

http://zombiehunters.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=87349

[wolf_from_wv]

I used the flashlight on my belt the other night at work when the power went off to find my way back to the full-size flashlights in the back corner of the room. Also had my headlamp that I had forgotten to take out of my bag. Used a tablet to connect to the wireless to see how long the outage would last.

[Dogan]

Buddy of mine, next to me, taking a test, says he has SUCH a headache. I say hey, I've got excedrin. You want some? He does, takes it, headache gets better, finishes the test with an A. Not much, but it felt good.

[ex_ethereal]

Last thursday I had an EDC fail, followed immediately by an EDC win. I got a call from my folks, suns out so come bbq and get some good family time in. My old man is a scout leader so I decide to help him out by de-barking some new walking sticks he's got leaning against the house while I wait for him and my sister to get home from work. Also jumped on the chance to try out the new knives I got for Christmas. After about an hour of whittling, I bust out my trusty s&w half serrated EDC to trim a couple branches. So there I am, sawing away, and I must have turned the stick to get a better angle on the cut and BAM! Knife finishes off the branch and my thumb in one fell swoop... Yes, I was cutting towards myself. And yes, I know better(?). Basically took a nice fillet off from right behind the nail to half an inch past the middle joint. Big meat flap was hanging on by a thread. Removed a piece of bone from the joint and knicked extensor tendon. Of course, the basket of first aid supplies they have had as long as I can remember had nothing in it but dog medicine... Thank god I grabbed my EDC bag when I headed over. Busted out the FAK, gauzed it up and wrapped it, grabbed a towel and hollered at my mom that I needed a ride to the ER. Her response? "You guys and your knives!" So: big fail, small win, 9 stitches, and several days of berating myself for being a dumbass. Have some pictures but not sure what the rules are for bloody stumps. Moral of the story is pocket knives really can be dangerous so for fuckssake be careful!

[angelofwar]

Buddy of mine, next to me, taking a test, says he has SUCH a headache. I say hey, I've got excedrin. You want some? He does, takes it, headache gets better, finishes the test with an A. Not much, but it felt good.

Pain meds are a regular in my EDC FAK...no shame in dat game!

[ex_ethereal]

[img]http://img.tapatalk.com/d03620e4-854d-609f.jpg[/img]
Pics cuz it did happen.

[slannesh]

Pics cuz it did happen.

Fucking OW.

That looks like it hurt like a mofo man. Sorry you mangled yourself.

[ex_ethereal]

Yeah, real buzzkill. But, lesson learned I'm just glad it happened in town instead of in the boonies somewhere. Clearly I need to add a suture kit to the FAK, but I can't imagine trying to fix that myself.
*edit* Actually didn't feel anything for about 45 minutes and still only hurts when I fail to keep it immobile.

Back on topic, I got my sister a sweet "think pink" 3" folding Kabar for Christmas, and everytime I see the pocket clip I feel better. Best 30-whatever dollars I every spent. That counts as a win, methinks...

[KnightoftheRoc]

Yeah, real buzzkill. But, lesson learned I'm just glad it happened in town instead of in the boonies somewhere. Clearly I need to add a suture kit to the FAK, but I can't imagine trying to fix that myself.
*edit* Actually didn't feel anything for about 45 minutes and still only hurts when I fail to keep it immobile.

Back on topic, I got my sister a sweet "think pink" 3" folding Kabar for Christmas, and everytime I see the pocket clip I feel better. Best 30-whatever dollars I every spent. That counts as a win, methinks...

suture kit= good idea.
getting trained in how and when to actually use sutures = great idea

sorry about your injury, but imagine for a moment, if it had been more severe, and you were alone, possibly shifting into shock- would you be ABLE to suture yourself in that condition (even assuming your dominant hand is uninjured)?

Tools are great, and make life easier, but even the best equipment can be next to useless if you don't know how to use it correctly.

[silentargus]

EDC win #1: The setting was my sister's wedding, this past October. She and my brother-in-law rented a lovely farmhouse for the occasion, fully stocked with everything needed to prepare a whopping good post-marital feast... except a functional can opener. Enter the Leatherman Sideclip, my faithful back-pocket companion since I joined the Boy Scouts. The opposition? Twelve cans of sauces and dices and slices and other assorted easy-open-tabless foodstuffs... and one mean-spirited something whose easy-open tab popped off before the top did. Leatherman triumphs (and gets a well-earned deep cleaning). Can opener provided.

EDC win #2: Guess who was the only one at the above wedding who remembered both the CCW permit and the hardware that went with it? Thankfully nobody tried to crash the party, and the party was in a state where I'm legal to carry, but the bride totally could have stashed a piece under that dress somewhere too. Instead, I hear the following words about an hour before the guests start showing up: "You have something with you, right?" Can opener and event security provided.

There were two other prep wins provided courtesy of the stuff in my Jeep. It is amazing the sorts of things people who do know better don't keep in their cars- in this case, tape and jumper cables. Since this is about on-body stuff, though...

EDC win #3: Present date, my hotel room. Microwave and leftovers present and accounted for. Silverware? Not so much. Want to guess how easy it is to make a fork and spoon with a Leatherman, a paperclip, and the lid of the restaurant's take-home box? Midnight snack with full set of silverware made practical courtesy of multitool.

I've stopped counting the number of win moments I've had with a notepad and pen. Seems like everybody else on Earth uses smartphones for taking down notes these days. It might be an old-fashioned practice for someone of my generation, but I haven't ever had the battery in my spacepen die when I needed it. Pen refills are much cheaper and more compact than battery chargers for mobile devices. Come to think of it, I've had plenty of uses for the mini-ruler and thumbdrive I carry in the same little zipper case with my notepad, pen, and refills.

Note to the rest of the population: 'emergency' is what happens when you forget to bring little useful pocket-sized things and run across a silly problem that you can't solve with your phone or keys (unless you have useful little things attached to your keys too). The smug satisfaction of being able to do in two seconds what someone else took ten minutes figuring out why they couldn't do feels better than it probably should.

[EBuff75]

I've lost track of the number of times that I've pulled out a knife, multi-tool, or flashlight, usually to the rolled-eyes of my friends and family who need it. It all dates back to my first SAK, which I received as a high school graduation gift. Never knew how handy something like that was until then, and since then, it's been my go-to gift for graduates.

Probably my favorite EDC win was a few years back at a bar. Some friends and I were at a local bar one Friday that has a rooftop deck open during the summer. We're chatting over our drinks when an inebriated girl loudly announces that she's lost her hairband and starts looking around on the floor, along with several people nearby. Well, there's hardly any light (see where this is going?) and the floor is dark colored, so most of them looked around for a bit then gave up. I let it go for a moment, then wandered over and asked what her hairband looked like. Turned out that it was one of those small rubber band type of things and to make matters worse, hers is clear.

I didn't have my EDC flashlight yet, but I did have (and still do) a Photon II on my key chain. I pulled it out and pointed it toward the floor while I looked for a reflection. It only took about 3-4 seconds to see a glint and I bent down and picked up the missing hairband, then turned and handed it to her. She was a bit surprised that 1) I had a flashlight with me, even if it was just a little one and 2) I was able to find it that quickly. So, she put it back in her hair and then had a friend take a picture of us together, after which her group disappeared on their way to the next "adventure"!

And, since I'm sure some people will ask, no, I didn't get her number or anything like that. She didn't quite seem to be my type (drunk, self-absorbed airheads aren't my thing) and I preferred to be the strong, silent type who just rides off into the sunset (moonset?) after saving the day.

[Dogan]

Last night: Dead truck (not mine), jumper cables (EDC in my car), light, leatherman. It wasn't the battery, it was the coil. Guess how that got put in? Light, leatherman and about ten minutes.

[squinty]

Nicely done, Mr. Dogan!
The victories my Wave has racked up over the years are too numerous to recount. Nobody should leave home without a halfway decent multitool on them.

[Smü]

Last night's dog walk at around 7.30 pm in darkness. Me and the dog strolled around in the local forest / park when we saw a flickering light 50m ahead of us. A Lady's dog had gone astray and she was trying to find him "lighting up" the bushes with her iPhone (wtf?). I lighted up the bushes with my Hokus Focus (win 1) and when we saw his eyes reflecting the light, she got some treats from me (win 2) to lure her dog back to her.

She had the guts to ask "why do you carry flashlight around?" ...

[Towanda]

For some reason, Panera was a madhouse when I went there around 2:00 today for some lunch and study time after my speech class. They forgot to put a fork on my tray, so instead of going back and fighting the crowd at the pick-up counter, I simply pulled out my To-Go Ware set and used the fork from that.

[angelofwar]

MAJOR EDC win today...well, I wouldn't call it an "EDC" item, but I keep my Pelican Survival Kit in the bottom of my pack that I take to work every day.

Anyways, I'm at the revenue office, and as I pull up, and older guy had the hood popped open on his truck, and was peering around the engine block, trying to figure out what was wrong. I asked what was wrong, to see if I could help him out. Me and him start troubleshooting the electrical problem he was having...his truck had a safety feature on it where if it was started with-out the FOB, it would cut all power off. After filtering everything out, he commented "Maybe it the battery" (refering to the one in the FOB). We looked at it, it was a 2016 Coin Cell. I knew I had either a 2016 or 2032 coin cell in my survival kit as a spare for my Inova Micro-light, also in the kit. He was kind of thrown back by my comment, I mean, who carries random coin cells on them? But, I busted out the kit, opened it, and it was indeed a 2016. Put it in his FOB, fired his truck up, and was able to get home.

Saw him later at the DMV (he had just bought the truck, and was registering it), and he gave me a second "Thanks a bunch". He offered to pay for it, but I told him I got them super cheap in Iraq when they were closing one of the exchanges, and just told him to "Pay it forward".

On a side note, the Karma must have carried forward, as neither the revenue office or the DMV noticed my tags were 6 months behind...paid my road tax, but ended up saving $150'ish in late charges :0)

[Rebel Pariah]

I love this thread... MEGA BUMP..

I am thinking about redoing this thread in my chapter forum aswell...
aswell with an EDC FAIL