I’m not sure if this will be of any interest to anyone but I thought I would share impressions of my favorite knife, the Victorinox Soldier's Knife 08 (bottom). This is the actual model which is currently issued to all Swiss and German soldiers. I’ll also compare it to another popular Victorinox model, the Hiker (top) which has an almost identical tool set but only costs £30 compared to £50 for the Soldier’s knife.
The Soldiers knife is the tool which I use for almost all of the jobs I do when out in the field. I’ve tried several fixed blade knives from Mora, Helle and Fallkniven as well as other standard sized SAK’s and a Victorinox Spirit X multi-tool. After many years of trial and error with these other knives the Soldier 08 is the one that I've settled on for my everyday go to working tool because it offers the best compromise between convenience, portability and tool set for my specific needs which consists of general field jobs and maintenance around the horses paddocks.
As you can see from the photos the Soldier 08 is larger than a regular sized SAK and feels a bit more durable as a result. It has an ergonomic shaped handle which is more comfortable to hold and the plastic scales on the side are made from a gripy non-slip material which is helpful too. Compared to the Hiker which weighs 77g the Soldier's knife is almost double the weight at 131g but this difference feels less noticeable in the hand than the numbers suggest it should. However it does feel significantly larger and the curved shape fills the palm much better.
The blade on the Soldier’s knife is an unusual one. It’s a regular straight edge for the first one-third of the length then changes to serrated for the last two-thirds towards the tip. The tip is also slightly rounded rather than being a needle point. This sounds like a terrible design and to be honest I would still prefer if it had the non-serrated blade from a Victorinox Forrester M Grip but the one it has still functions well and the serrations probably do help slightly when cutting cord.
The blade also has a handy thumb loop which enables it to be opened easily with one hand. It’s a locking blade and the mechanism is optimized for left rather than right-handed use when closing. This works perfectly for me as I’m left-handed but it will make it slightly awkward for anyone wanting to one-handed close the knife with their right hand. I’ve seen a Youtube video showing that it can be done but it’s definitely easier with the left hand so that's something to bare in mind if you’re right-handed.
The blade has a 1mm micro-bevel which has only been ground on one side (the right side when viewed from above). This it makes slicing slightly easier when the knife is held in the right hand rather than the left but it does still work well enough in the left hand too. However as I’m left handed and always hold it in my left hand I've now added a second micro bevel of about 0.25mm on the left side of the blade by swiping a chefs steel down it a few times. This was dead easy to do and only took about 60 seconds. After having done this slight modification it now slices equally well with either hand so is something I suggest worth considering for anyone else who owns this knife.
The rest of the tools consist of a can opener, a 3mm flat screwdriver, a lockable 7mm flat screwdriver/pry bar, a Phillips screwdriver, a bottle opener, a wire stripper, a reamer and a wood saw. These look and function pretty much identically to the same tools which are found on a regular size SAK such as the Hiker. Side by side you can see that some of the tools on the Soldier 08 are a fraction larger and as a result they're probably a fraction more robust. But in reality they feel identical to use. The locking mechanism on the blade and pry bar do add a little extra welcome reassurance though.
Other than the shape of the blades the only difference in the tool set between the Soldier and the Hiker is the Hiker has a second, smaller pen blade in addition to its main big blade and it also has the pull-out tweezers and toothpick which are found on most other SAK’s. Apparently the reason Victorinox have not included tweezers and a toothpick on the Soldier 08 is because the non-slip material used for the scales wouldn’t allow for it although I can’t really see why that would make a difference? Another thing that I’ve noticed is the saws on both of these SAK’s have a slight burr on the edge of the teeth. It doesn’t seem to effect their sawing ability so it’s not a big deal but it shouldn't be there and I think the quality control at Victorinox should have picked up on it.
I’ve also bought the matching nylon belt pouch which is designed to go with it. The quality of this pouch is what you would expect from Victorinox, it feels sturdy and I expect it will for last for many years before it wears out. The belt attachment uses a large Velcro pad and is double folded to help secure it in place. The Velcro loop enables you to be able to attach and remove it from your belt without needing to undo the buckle which is handy. It can be a tad fiddly to put on but feels secure once done up and despite being Velcro feels like it would never accidentally come undone.
I do like the belt pouch, it works well. The flap which secures the knife in the pouch is held in place with Velcro but again this is large and feels secure enough for me not to worry me about accidentally loosing the knife in the field. It also makes that loud ripping sound Velcro does every time you open it which would act as an extra warning if ever it got caught on a branch or something and was opened unintentionally. However this loud ripping noise would be far from ideal for anyone (such as an actual soldier for example) who would prefer to stay silent when removing the knife from the pouch. When using it I’m able to easily open the flap, pull out the knife, flick open the blade, use the knife, close the blade again and replace the knife all with one hand in a fluid motion which makes working with the knife feel natural.
When I first bought it I was initially unsure that I would like the serrated blade and was concerned that I might not be able to sharpen it. Turns out those fears were completely unnecessary. The first few times I sharpened the blade I simply run a chefs steel down the 'wrong' side of the blade a few times (as mentioned earlier). This is a simple and easy way to get the blade back to paper slicing sharp. Now that I’ve re-sharpened it using this method several times and have created a second, partial micro-bevel on the left side of the blade I’ve started using a Victorinox knife sharpener tool to resharpen it instead. These knife sharpening tools are available in two different sizes, the normal full size one and a tiny little portable one (which is shown in the photo above). I own both of the sharperners and find the small one fits nicely in the serrations of the Soldier’s knife. It takes a while to do because I have to slowly run the sharpener along the curve of each serration a few times in each direction but this is a really easy, idiot proof method for sharpening the blade to a satisfactory level. Sure it's not going to be the sharpest blade ever but it's more than good enough for what I need and will still pass the paper slicing test without ripping.
Between the Soldier 08 and the Hiker models which is the better knife/tool? Well neither are really. It’s more a horses for courses situation and would depend on your specific use case. For me I definitely prefer the Soldier’s knife as I don’t notice the extra weight on my belt but I do much prefer the one handed opening/closing function of its larger locking blade and appreciate its improved non-slip grip material. However for anyone such as a backpacker carrying lots of other camping equipment or even a soldier carrying heavy mission critical gear who would benefit from a more compact light weight tool I think the Hiker would be the better option. I’m nowhere near tough enough to be a soldier but if I was one I think I would prefer to carry the Hiker over the Soldier 08. The Hiker is just as useful in the real world but it has the added benefit of tweezers and a toothpick and I imagine when carrying a heavy backpack every extra gram saved would be welcome.
I really like the Soldier's knife a lot and there's a good reason why I use it more than anything else. By design all knives have to be optimized for some things and compromised for others so no knife could ever be perfect at everything. But for me and the majority of jobs that I tend to do the most, the Soldier 08 is the most complete knife that I've used. It may not be the absolute best tool for any one specific job, but it's ability to be able to do such wide range of different tasks well is for me what makes this the best knife that I've used. Also unlike other more expensive knives which can cost so much that it puts you off using them, the Soldier 08 is cheap enough that it can be properly used and abused like a working tool should be without needing to worry about replacing it if it ever got damaged. Of course these knives have fantastic build quality like all Victorinox do and they feel like they will probably last for a lifetime.
The Soldiers knife is the tool which I use for almost all of the jobs I do when out in the field. I’ve tried several fixed blade knives from Mora, Helle and Fallkniven as well as other standard sized SAK’s and a Victorinox Spirit X multi-tool. After many years of trial and error with these other knives the Soldier 08 is the one that I've settled on for my everyday go to working tool because it offers the best compromise between convenience, portability and tool set for my specific needs which consists of general field jobs and maintenance around the horses paddocks.
As you can see from the photos the Soldier 08 is larger than a regular sized SAK and feels a bit more durable as a result. It has an ergonomic shaped handle which is more comfortable to hold and the plastic scales on the side are made from a gripy non-slip material which is helpful too. Compared to the Hiker which weighs 77g the Soldier's knife is almost double the weight at 131g but this difference feels less noticeable in the hand than the numbers suggest it should. However it does feel significantly larger and the curved shape fills the palm much better.
The blade on the Soldier’s knife is an unusual one. It’s a regular straight edge for the first one-third of the length then changes to serrated for the last two-thirds towards the tip. The tip is also slightly rounded rather than being a needle point. This sounds like a terrible design and to be honest I would still prefer if it had the non-serrated blade from a Victorinox Forrester M Grip but the one it has still functions well and the serrations probably do help slightly when cutting cord.
The blade also has a handy thumb loop which enables it to be opened easily with one hand. It’s a locking blade and the mechanism is optimized for left rather than right-handed use when closing. This works perfectly for me as I’m left-handed but it will make it slightly awkward for anyone wanting to one-handed close the knife with their right hand. I’ve seen a Youtube video showing that it can be done but it’s definitely easier with the left hand so that's something to bare in mind if you’re right-handed.
The blade has a 1mm micro-bevel which has only been ground on one side (the right side when viewed from above). This it makes slicing slightly easier when the knife is held in the right hand rather than the left but it does still work well enough in the left hand too. However as I’m left handed and always hold it in my left hand I've now added a second micro bevel of about 0.25mm on the left side of the blade by swiping a chefs steel down it a few times. This was dead easy to do and only took about 60 seconds. After having done this slight modification it now slices equally well with either hand so is something I suggest worth considering for anyone else who owns this knife.
The rest of the tools consist of a can opener, a 3mm flat screwdriver, a lockable 7mm flat screwdriver/pry bar, a Phillips screwdriver, a bottle opener, a wire stripper, a reamer and a wood saw. These look and function pretty much identically to the same tools which are found on a regular size SAK such as the Hiker. Side by side you can see that some of the tools on the Soldier 08 are a fraction larger and as a result they're probably a fraction more robust. But in reality they feel identical to use. The locking mechanism on the blade and pry bar do add a little extra welcome reassurance though.
Other than the shape of the blades the only difference in the tool set between the Soldier and the Hiker is the Hiker has a second, smaller pen blade in addition to its main big blade and it also has the pull-out tweezers and toothpick which are found on most other SAK’s. Apparently the reason Victorinox have not included tweezers and a toothpick on the Soldier 08 is because the non-slip material used for the scales wouldn’t allow for it although I can’t really see why that would make a difference? Another thing that I’ve noticed is the saws on both of these SAK’s have a slight burr on the edge of the teeth. It doesn’t seem to effect their sawing ability so it’s not a big deal but it shouldn't be there and I think the quality control at Victorinox should have picked up on it.
I’ve also bought the matching nylon belt pouch which is designed to go with it. The quality of this pouch is what you would expect from Victorinox, it feels sturdy and I expect it will for last for many years before it wears out. The belt attachment uses a large Velcro pad and is double folded to help secure it in place. The Velcro loop enables you to be able to attach and remove it from your belt without needing to undo the buckle which is handy. It can be a tad fiddly to put on but feels secure once done up and despite being Velcro feels like it would never accidentally come undone.
I do like the belt pouch, it works well. The flap which secures the knife in the pouch is held in place with Velcro but again this is large and feels secure enough for me not to worry me about accidentally loosing the knife in the field. It also makes that loud ripping sound Velcro does every time you open it which would act as an extra warning if ever it got caught on a branch or something and was opened unintentionally. However this loud ripping noise would be far from ideal for anyone (such as an actual soldier for example) who would prefer to stay silent when removing the knife from the pouch. When using it I’m able to easily open the flap, pull out the knife, flick open the blade, use the knife, close the blade again and replace the knife all with one hand in a fluid motion which makes working with the knife feel natural.
When I first bought it I was initially unsure that I would like the serrated blade and was concerned that I might not be able to sharpen it. Turns out those fears were completely unnecessary. The first few times I sharpened the blade I simply run a chefs steel down the 'wrong' side of the blade a few times (as mentioned earlier). This is a simple and easy way to get the blade back to paper slicing sharp. Now that I’ve re-sharpened it using this method several times and have created a second, partial micro-bevel on the left side of the blade I’ve started using a Victorinox knife sharpener tool to resharpen it instead. These knife sharpening tools are available in two different sizes, the normal full size one and a tiny little portable one (which is shown in the photo above). I own both of the sharperners and find the small one fits nicely in the serrations of the Soldier’s knife. It takes a while to do because I have to slowly run the sharpener along the curve of each serration a few times in each direction but this is a really easy, idiot proof method for sharpening the blade to a satisfactory level. Sure it's not going to be the sharpest blade ever but it's more than good enough for what I need and will still pass the paper slicing test without ripping.
Between the Soldier 08 and the Hiker models which is the better knife/tool? Well neither are really. It’s more a horses for courses situation and would depend on your specific use case. For me I definitely prefer the Soldier’s knife as I don’t notice the extra weight on my belt but I do much prefer the one handed opening/closing function of its larger locking blade and appreciate its improved non-slip grip material. However for anyone such as a backpacker carrying lots of other camping equipment or even a soldier carrying heavy mission critical gear who would benefit from a more compact light weight tool I think the Hiker would be the better option. I’m nowhere near tough enough to be a soldier but if I was one I think I would prefer to carry the Hiker over the Soldier 08. The Hiker is just as useful in the real world but it has the added benefit of tweezers and a toothpick and I imagine when carrying a heavy backpack every extra gram saved would be welcome.
I really like the Soldier's knife a lot and there's a good reason why I use it more than anything else. By design all knives have to be optimized for some things and compromised for others so no knife could ever be perfect at everything. But for me and the majority of jobs that I tend to do the most, the Soldier 08 is the most complete knife that I've used. It may not be the absolute best tool for any one specific job, but it's ability to be able to do such wide range of different tasks well is for me what makes this the best knife that I've used. Also unlike other more expensive knives which can cost so much that it puts you off using them, the Soldier 08 is cheap enough that it can be properly used and abused like a working tool should be without needing to worry about replacing it if it ever got damaged. Of course these knives have fantastic build quality like all Victorinox do and they feel like they will probably last for a lifetime.
Last edited:
