Say goodbye to split fingernails. Mainers are reinventing the keychain

Hallelujah.

Zootility Tools out of Portland wants to remake the keychain. You know, the little spiraled metal ring that you have to sacrifice a fingernail to every time you want to put a new key on?

Yeah. So Zootility Tools — which makes pocket-sized, laser-cut items like bottle openers, combs and functional knives out of its 8,000-square-foot shop hereĀ — is proposing a new design for the age-old keychain.

The company put its idea up on the online fundraiser website Kickstarter, and with 11 days still to go in the campaign as of this writing, more than 400 people have pitched in and offered to donateĀ more than $11,000. That’s almost triple the amount Zootility Tools set as a goal.

The company is calling its new take on the device the “keyround,” and you can watch how it keeps keys clamped without clipping your nails in the Kickstarter video below:

Seth Koenig

About Seth Koenig

Seth has nearly a decade of professional journalism experience and writes about the greater Portland region.