Coz he's already got one but refuses to use it!
Why a Swiss Army Knife.
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That is a very kind thought but I already have what I am informed is a “Spartan” or “Tourist” (I haven’t measured it)
Dear @Megatramp
If I found it useful I’d use it.
I don’t carry any alternatives either. This is NOT a criticism of Victorinox, neither am I being perverse. Neither am I in any way criticising those who find the Swiss Army knife useful or enjoy owning one.
I just saw that the Swiss multi-tool was so very popular here and wondered why?
I’ve had many informative answers for which - thanks to all.
Dear @Megatramp
If I found it useful I’d use it.
I don’t carry any alternatives either. This is NOT a criticism of Victorinox, neither am I being perverse. Neither am I in any way criticising those who find the Swiss Army knife useful or enjoy owning one.
I just saw that the Swiss multi-tool was so very popular here and wondered why?
I’ve had many informative answers for which - thanks to all.
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As a person who wears a carpenters toolbelt with a good few full sized tools on it every working day I don't really need a swiss army knife.
A hammer, tape measure, catspaw nailbar, stanley knife, very nice double fulcrum end cutting pincers, roofing square, various pencil, lumber crayon marking stuff, and nail punches do most of my carryable tool uses.
I have a slipjoint knife with very good blade steel in my back pocket cos my stanley knife often cuts plasterboards and I don't feel like changing blades too often.
At home/walking the dog its the same slipjoint knife a d sometimes secateurs to clear brambles (brambles never sleep during summer) off paths.
I quite like the idea of a swiss army knife and have owned several during my life, maybe if they held a better edge I'd bother with em but the steel just isnt that good on the main blades.
I don't care that you can sharpen em on yer front step, they just don't hold that good an edge for long even doing basic cutting tasks.
I had a Leatherman Fuse that a mate gave me and although it had a pretty good blade steel I gave it to another mate cos I just never used it.
A hammer, tape measure, catspaw nailbar, stanley knife, very nice double fulcrum end cutting pincers, roofing square, various pencil, lumber crayon marking stuff, and nail punches do most of my carryable tool uses.
I have a slipjoint knife with very good blade steel in my back pocket cos my stanley knife often cuts plasterboards and I don't feel like changing blades too often.
At home/walking the dog its the same slipjoint knife a d sometimes secateurs to clear brambles (brambles never sleep during summer) off paths.
I quite like the idea of a swiss army knife and have owned several during my life, maybe if they held a better edge I'd bother with em but the steel just isnt that good on the main blades.
I don't care that you can sharpen em on yer front step, they just don't hold that good an edge for long even doing basic cutting tasks.
I had a Leatherman Fuse that a mate gave me and although it had a pretty good blade steel I gave it to another mate cos I just never used it.
@Megatramp
But it DOES say Hubtex which is my absolute favourite advanced fork lift truck maker.
Edited to add:
My other Swiss Army knife has Monsanto on it which is something that I wouldn’t brag about.
But it DOES say Hubtex which is my absolute favourite advanced fork lift truck maker.Edited to add:
My other Swiss Army knife has Monsanto on it which is something that I wouldn’t brag about.
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I dunno, gives the countryside a lovely orangey hue!@Megatramp
Edited to add:
My other Swiss Army knife has Monsanto on it which is something that I wouldn’t brag about.
This is why I carry the SAK in a pouch on my belt. To be fair and honest I carry two SAKs - the other one is a Signature - and a Leatheman Charge, and a bunch of other stuff all in pouches on my belt. The SAK is what gets used the most, followed by the Leatherman, many times every day. I suppose I'm outdoors a lot, and I tinker with things a lot.
In my case the SAK is an "Officier Suisse", which AFAICT is identical to the Tinker shown in your photo except that instead of the pliers it has a saw. I wouldn't swap my saw for your pliers for all the tea in China but then I do have the Leatherman. Actually to be honest I have about a dozen Leathermans (Leathermen?) but the Charge is the one I carry on my belt. It used to be a Victorinox SuperTool instead, but the velcro on the pouch became a bit of a liability and I was scared of losing it. I replaced the pouch with something from Leatherman with a press-stud, but then it was never comfortable on my belt. I always sort of regret that because the pliers on the SuperTool are streets ahead of those on the Charge. OTOH the Leatherman interchangeable bits are fantastic. There are about fifty double-ended bits in my belt pouches. I use some of them rarely, a lot of them often, a very few of them daily. In the pouch with my Victorinox Signature is a Leatherman screwdriver bit extension with a ratchet. My sister bought it for me for Christmas a few years ago and TBH at the time I thought it was silly, but I put it in the pouch, more to please her than for myself, and to my great surprise I've used it much more than I ever expected. Wouldn't want to be without it now.
Pretty much my way of doing things too. Fix the thing and carry on enjoying the day. I like Victorinox knives so I always have at least one on me but I carry multiple tools to help fix/adjust/pillage the parts that keep my old vehicles running. Some combo of what's below.
Sounds like yours is a Fieldmaster, unless it has a corkscrew in which case it's a Huntsman.
That photo looks a lot like the left-hand side of my desk.
Yes, the "Officier Suisse" is pretty much the "Fieldmaster" with a different name stamped on the larger blade.
My wife is the one who has a corkscrew on her SAK. And her Leatherman. And her Wenger. And...
Great question. It has been heartening to read the many responses to this and all the love for the humble SAK. I duly concur and absolutely love my little collection of SAKs.
It's the one item that has come on every single camping adventure that I've been on (I've got a fair few camps under my belt now!). I usually rotate between my SAK Huntsman, Hiker and Forrester and I favour a SAK over anything else for a myriad of reasons.
Fundamentally, it does everything that I need a cutting tool/multi-tool to do. It is quite often the only cutting tool that I take on a bushcrafty/camping adventure regardless of the time of year. In the winter, I quite enjoy the challenge that this presents in terms of processing wood, crafting camp essentials and proving that you really don't need to wander into camp wielding the classic Nessmuk trio of tools as your de minimis!
My most used tool is almost certainly the tweezers which are so often called in to action to remove splinters. The saw is really handy and the knife blade(s) are easy to maintain. My SAK generally lives in a small pocket sized pouch which also contains a ferro rod/scraper, lighter, tinder and a small torch and I find that a really handy system to carry on my adventures.
I've considered getting another type of multi-tool such as a Leatherman, but they're bulky, more expensive and I invariably draw the conclusion that I don't need anymore than the tools already offered up by the SAK. Plus, I'm not sure that many Leathermans have tweezers, let alone a tooth pick. Oh and you've gotta have the cork screw so that you can get into your Chateauneuf du pape otherwise you really will find yourself in a spot of bother!
Carrying a SAK - in my case, an alox Farmer X - is an entrenched habit. Yes, I know that the tools are a bit of a compromise but it is so handy having that small range of implements readily available in my pocket. By and large, they perform nearly all the tasks I push their way.
I do have a Leatherman - the one without the blade - but hardly ever use it; it just feels a bit too 'industrial' and not 'personal' enough. I have also tried other SAK-style variants but always seem to return to Victorinox; that's probably just down to familiarity.
I would love a better steel on the main blade and, perhaps perversely, I would love food manufacturers to use tins without ring-pulls as the tin-opener on the SAK is a thing of utter genius!
I do have a Leatherman - the one without the blade - but hardly ever use it; it just feels a bit too 'industrial' and not 'personal' enough. I have also tried other SAK-style variants but always seem to return to Victorinox; that's probably just down to familiarity.
I would love a better steel on the main blade and, perhaps perversely, I would love food manufacturers to use tins without ring-pulls as the tin-opener on the SAK is a thing of utter genius!
That's odd. Nothing wrong with mine - when I saw your post I snipped up some 80gsm paper with them (they live on my desk) to make labels for pots of plum jam. Still cutting perfectly after probably 25 years.And if it's anything like the two I have the misfortune to own, no scissors!
Maybe you should talk to Leatherman about their warranty? They've been very good to me on the I think two occasions I've had cause to use it. One of the bits in the hex key set was round instead of hexagonal (they sent a new bit, from Germany as I recall, by return of post no questions asked) and a spring in the wife's Juice broke (I returned it and they replaced the entire tool).
I guess being so small the Micra might not withstand abuse so well. Any possibility?
You're right, they do cut paper and card quite well but I don't very often. On cord, plastic, ties, rubber etc. that I do use scissors for, they just flex sideways. Bit disappointing when that's their main trick.That's odd. Nothing wrong with mine - when I saw your post I snipped up some 80gsm paper with them (they live on my desk) to make labels for pots of plum jam. Still cutting perfectly after probably 25 years.
Maybe you should talk to Leatherman about their warranty? They've been very good to me on the I think two occasions I've had cause to use it. One of the bits in the hex key set was round instead of hexagonal (they sent a new bit, from Germany as I recall, by return of post no questions asked) and a spring in the wife's Juice broke (I returned it and they replaced the entire tool).
I guess being so small the Micra might not withstand abuse so well. Any possibility?
My Mrs. has the same problem on her Juice, spring on the corkscrew. Still works thankfully coz it's the tool she uses most!
If it's tinned veg you're after, opt for the value range for not only does the product tend to be less adulterated with un-needed sugar or salt, they tend to come in cans that require the use of a good old tin opener.
I have a Leatherman, the Juice Xe6 that I back in the day (2001) considered a potential replacement for a SAK. A fine tool when it was new to be well pleased with it until it aged a bit to first find the irritatingly wayward corkscrew and later on taking out of it's pouch I was presented with six bits of metal I certainly didn't remember putting in the pouch, to be disgusted to find the thin bits of metal were broken back springs, to understand they had broken in storage.
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