The Jimmytronics Sardine Utility Knife Fits on Your Keychain

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This Spring-Loaded Titanium Utility Knife Fits on Your Keychain

Made from lightweight and incredibly strong titanium, the Sardine is super compact yet still checks all the utility knife boxes.

By Sean Tirman

Published January 25, 2024

Well, it looks like 2024 is shaping up to be the year of utility knives. First, we came upon the unique, hardware-free Zero from Rivery CNC. Then, it was the cyber-styled EDC Monster Phantom 2 flipper. And now we’ve got a third contender, just a few weeks into the year, in the Jimmytronics Sardine. And wouldn’t you know it: this new one is just as unique as the other two.

Crafted by Jimmytronics, a small brand founded by two longtime friends obsessed with EDC, the Sardine is both incredibly ingenious and deceptively simple. Pair its innovation with its rock-solid construction and discreet silhouette and it might just end up being one of the best utility knives released in recent years, especially for everyday carry usage.

Spring-loaded deployment and a Verti-Lock make the Sardine a fidgeter’s dream

If you’re familiar with utility knives, you’re probably aware of slider deployments: typically a small button or lever connected to the blade that the user pushes to extend the blade. Usually, these deployments require constant pressure to keep the blade extended, and once released, they snap back into the handle, courtesy of an attached spring. Well, the Sardine utilizes a similar idea and combines it with a more EDC-friendly locking mechanism.

The ingenious Verti-Lock makes the Sardine a fidgety pleasure to use while remaining safe and secure.

Called the Verti-Lock, the mechanism is pretty ingenious. You simply slide the blade forward, and the little ovular button slots into place toward the top of the handle, keeping the knife extended in use and not requiring that constant pressure. Then, when you’re done, you tap the ovular button on the opposite side of the handle and the blade automatically retracts back into the handle. It’s a clever design that merges convenience and security and makes this knife a fidgeter’s dream.

The Sardine benefits from great design and superb materials

The novelty of a new deployment/locking mechanism is only as strong as the construction of the knife on which it’s found. Thankfully, The Sardine has an excellent design and materials, as well. For starters, it’s made of solid titanium, which makes it both incredibly strong and remarkably lightweight — perfect for a keychain knife, which the Sardine most certainly is, measuring up at just 2.36″ in length (closed). For reference, that’s roughly the same size as some keys.

The Sardine’s tiny 2.36″ length makes it perfect for keychain carry.

The whole thing is held together with a quartet of Torx screws and there’s only a handful of parts in total, which makes The Sardine pretty resilient and easy to maintain — ideal for a utility knife. It also helps that the removable, replaceable blades within it are X-Acto #11, the most trusted, standardized and dimensional stable blade made in the USA.

Jimmytronics’ Sardine is live on Kickstarter right now and has already beat its funding goal by nearly double, but there’s still plenty of time to secure one for yourself. Pricing starts at $45 for a single Sardine and goes up from there.