Cardsharp Credit Card Knife – Open Your Mail With Ease!

Months ago I saw a preview of the second generation Cardsharp knife by a company called Sinclair. I had never heard of Iain Sinclair or his credit card knife, but the concept looked interesting. A small, portable blade that – when closed – easily fits inside of a wallet’s credit card slot. Now, that sounds great, right? Everyone needs a sturdy, useful blade. Unfortunately, the Cardsharp version 2 meets neither of those criterion.

Now, before I dive into the slew of things that I dislike about the blade, I’ll start off by mentioning what I believe is the Cardsharp’s one redeeming quality: it’s very sharp. Iain Sinclair chose the name well, as that’s about the only thing going for it. If you need to rapidly and effectively open letters, the Cardsharp is the perfect choice of weapon. Well, that’s not completely true. The Cardsharp is anything but rapid.

As you slowly unfold the contraption for the first time, you’ll probably notice that it’s rather, well… flimsy. Based on the description and images on the Sinclair website, I expected a rigid hilt and lock, and sadly that just isn’t the case. The entire polypropylene body flexes so substantially that I can’t imagine any practical real world applications for it. Aside from the previously mentioned letter opening, what else would you possibly do with this? Defend yourself? Nope, the blade would probably snap in half. If you have a real hankering for slicing paper, this is perfect. For anything else though? Not likely.

Cardsharp 2 Credit Card Knife

This envelope was no match for the power of the Cardsharp 2 utility knife. As quickly as your hands can move it, this blade will slice through paper like a sharp knife through… paper.

As you may notice, the Cardsharp looks weak and flimsy. My gripe is solely with the construction materials and build quality, and it’s such an easy fix to make a mediocre product a great and useful one. Make the entire thing out of a combination of steel (for the blade), and aluminum or graphite for the frame. I believe that either material would be more durable, more rigid, and simply look better.

Sadly, if I had to use one word to sum up the Cardsharp, it would be “cheap”, and I don’t mean the price. At $25 USD for the Cardsharp, I recommend spending your money on a letter opener instead. It will do the exact same thing, and cost a fraction of the price.