First Aid Gear – Uncle Bill’s™ Sliver-Gripper (top), Swiss Army® tweezers.

Gear – Tweezers

Swiss Army® tweezers — 0.9 grams

Tweezers are the right tool for the job, when the job is pulling some tiny sliver or thorn from wherever it’s painfully hiding. Fortunately, it’s a relatively infrequent little task, but I’ve rarely walked very far without meeting a brier patch along the way. This “insurance” tool should be considered for your first aid kit.

One of my favorites is the simple one-piece precision Uncle Bill’s, which, along with its many imitators is available at hardware stores. A typical one weighs 3.7 grams. Another choice is the classic Swiss Army tweezers long a favorite gadget in their knives. They are much smaller than Uncle Bill’s, but, with a good firm grip, have always served their purpose for me. I pulled mine from a SwissCard™ Lite (Victorinox™), also the source of my preferred scissors. At 0.9 grams (yes, less than one!) there’s little reason to leave one behind.

Bottom line:

On my next walk I’ll carry the micro-sized Swiss Army version in my first aid kit. Available at REI.

For a more robust, multi-person kit, I’d upgrade to Uncle Bill’s.