Max Knives MKB4R — Tactidrink bottle opener, red anodised aluminium

Overview

The MKB4R, known as the Tactidrink, is not a knife: it is a bottle opener, a solid piece cut from coral-red anodised aircraft aluminium. The body forms a hook, and that hook is what opens the bottle. The rest of the piece is pierced with several holes of differing diameters, one of which carries a cord. It measures 10.5 cm long by 6 mm thick and weighs 31 g. Bastinelli design.

Anodised aircraft aluminium

So-called aircraft aluminium is an alloy chosen for its balance of lightness and mechanical strength: at 6 mm thick, the piece stays rigid while weighing only 31 g. Anodising is not paint. It is an electrochemical conversion of the surface: the aluminium's natural oxide layer is thickened and coloured within the material itself. The upshot is that the red does not flake off the way a lacquer would, and the surface copes better with everyday rubbing, in a pocket or on the end of a cord.

Technical specifications

Material: anodised aircraft aluminium, coral red. Length: 10.5 cm. Thickness: 6 mm. Weight: 31 g. Flat hook-shaped body, pierced with several holes of differing diameters, one of them carrying a cord. The opening function is carried by the hook itself, cut from the solid: there is no added part, no mechanism and no assembly.

Care

An anodised aluminium piece asks for very little. Rinse it under clean water after contact with a sugary drink, dry it, and you are done. Steer clear of alkaline degreasers of the industrial sort, which eat into the anodised layer and dull the colour. A soft, slightly damp cloth is enough to bring the surface back. Wash the cord separately in warm soapy water and refit it once it is dry.