Make My Keys Interesting!

June 29, 2007 12:31 AM

Help me find cool / useful / interesting keyrings...

I have two sets of keys - one set for house and office and another set for my car. I want to add a keyring to each of them so they are easier to locate in the depths of the Tom Bihn bag I carry them around in.

Rather than adding a boring fob, I thought this would be an opportunity to add something useful and/or interesting.

So HiveMind, what do you carry on your sets of keys? Bonus points for UK availability.

Oh and BTW, I am a chap, so lipstick holders etc need not apply!

posted by mooders to Shopping (13 answers total)

Useful: white LED torch, USB drive, bottle opener

Decorative: monkey's fist knot, carabiner

I use a USB drive loaded with SSH keys.
posted by Leon at 12:55 AM on June 29, 2007

I, too, have two sets of keys. On each one my distinctive keychain is a combination animal and bottle opener. Neat looking, plus they open bottles. They're a blue shark and an orange moose.
here's a picture of a very similar shark.
and here is a not-so-similar moose (mine has the bottle-opener part between the back and antlers, not in between the antlers. you can't even tell it's a bottle opener, actually. the only thing that gives it away is that the closest antler is funy looking)

IIRC, I got them on an impulse rack at CVS (of which I don't know the UK equivalent). But you can get 'em online pretty easily, I imagine. They come in every flavor from green gecko to grayish rhinocerous. Anything they can cleverly stick a bottle opener on, really.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 1:02 AM on June 29, 2007

Also, I have a carabiner on my keys, because I keep them clipped to my belt loop and tucked into my back pocket, janitor-style. If you're going for not-too-flashy, different colored carabiners could work. However, "seen the keys with the big blue shark on 'em?" always works alot better than "seen the keys with the subtle blue carabiner?"
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 1:05 AM on June 29, 2007

Third comment, sorry: I have no idea why posting replies at 4am makes me really partial to the term "'em." So you know. Disregard.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 1:07 AM on June 29, 2007

Don't forget that, unless you plan on clipping to your belt loop, Schneider-style (which at some points in my life, like when I carried the keys to ten different car washes, I have), you don't want anything that's gonna make the keys uncomfortable in your pocket. I realize, yes, they're in you bag mostly; but if you've got a huge wad of pointy things in your pocket, even only occasionally, it's gonna suck.

That said, my current keyring accessories are a bottle opener, a Leatherman Micra, and an old radiator-shop fob that is 1) BRIGHT fucking yellow and 2)rubbery so I can sort my keyrings in the dark.
posted by notsnot at 4:28 AM on June 29, 2007

My keyring is a bottle opener I bought for 5c at the Salvation Army store 15 years ago. Best 5c I ever spent.
Alsonice is my Utilikey.
posted by bystander at 5:26 AM on June 29, 2007

Are you a car nut, how about a 1/6th scale replica of a 283/327 cu in Chevrolet timing cover? So cool I had to dig through my history to find it:
timing cover
posted by raildr at 6:17 AM on June 29, 2007

I am anxiously awaiting the release of this (provided I don't have to drop more than a c note on it).
posted by CRM114 at 7:27 AM on June 29, 2007 [2 favorites]

Screw eyes (or eye screws) of the appropriate size can make a keyfob out of many, many things.
posted by fidelity at 7:30 AM on June 29, 2007

ThinkGeek carries quite a few amusing gadgety keyrings, from tools to cables to ways to annoy.
posted by nelleish at 7:39 AM on June 29, 2007

Assuming you aren't opposed to all fobs, just boring ones: I carry a custom keyring that is sterling-on-brass with one's initials. It was a gift and bit of a splurge (even back then), but it's also lasted for ten years and the metals have aged nicely. And because it's made by an obscure small-town Texas jeweler, you won't see this one coming and going. The back is an enormously simple hook-and-eye mechanism that makes adding or taking off keys a snap. (I think they need to update the online catalog though as the fob shape is actually a rectangle, not an oval.)
posted by pineapple at 7:58 AM on June 29, 2007

My keyrings have usually had a whistle on them. The standard silver ref. whistle is a little bulky, so I recommend finding a skinny tube one at REI or the like.

Whistles are good for emergencies, like when you're lost in the woods, or in a sketchy part of town or need to play capture-the-flag *right now*.
posted by lorimt at 9:46 AM on June 29, 2007

Compass keyrings. Lots around - ebay, or a purple "loch Ness" one, a 99p one with a thermometer too, or a £25 one.
posted by paduasoy at 5:38 AM on July 1, 2007