Reviewed: Zippo 4-in-1 Woodsman

Price: $79

The Zippo 4-in-1 Woodsman is the kind of tool that makes you think, "Huh. Clever." At first glance this is clearly a hatchet, with the blade protected by that orange plastic cover. On the backside of the handle you'll find a hard plastic mini-mallet, which Zippo intends owners to use to drive tent stakes. At the bottom of the handle is a square metal loop designed to help you pull out those tent stakes (just make sure you've got the plastic cover on the hatchet blade before you do this). And then there's the fourth talent of the 4-in-1, the one that requires the most setup labor: It will become a wood saw.

To convert from hatchet to bow saw, pry open the plastic bottom end where the stake-pulling loop is located. The saw blade will slide out from inside the handle (the Woodsman comes with two blades). There are small holes at each end of the saw blade. You'll hook one side onto the small circular post that also holds the screw used to tighten and loosen the hatchet blade's plastic cover. The hole on the blade's other side hooks onto a metal piece attached to the plastic end. When you close that plastic end and lock it down, it pulls with enough tension to hold the saw blade in place.

Got that?

While the saw conversion isn't exactly intuitive, it becomes rather routine after going through the motions a few times?I could do it in 30 to 60 seconds without rushing it to the point that I'd probably cut myself on the saw teeth. Unfortunately, though, the process reveals the downside of the Woodsman's plasticky construction: When first playing around with this thing, I hooked the first hole (rather than the second) on the saw blade; when I tried to lock the blade in place, a small piece of plastic broke off, unable to take the extra tension. (It didn't hurt the functionality any, but still.) Also, the instructions seem to think you can attach the saw blade to the hatchet end without having to remove the orange hatchet blade cover. Really, you'll need to fully open the cover and lock it back down every time you take the saw blade on and off.

That said, you wouldn't need to switch up the tool's setup all the time. And it's easy to imagine the 4-in-1 Woodsman making the chores of pitching your tent and tearing it down and then collecting firewood just that much more convenient. Plus, it just feels cool to carry around a hatchet that could convert to a saw at a moment's notice.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/how-to/blog/reviewed-zippo-4-in-1-woodsman-15610363?src=rss

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