Are you a Swiss Army Knife owner?

[mr dazzler]

I had a genuine sak many years ago, the saw was useful to cut rod rest's and catapult's, and two different sized blades were good. But overall it felt flimsy and gadgety, That is all I remember using out of 7 or 8 blades was it?? I mean corkscrew's, toothpick's?. I never took chablis and chicken with me when I went out to fish As with jaedadaih I too was not much good at sharpening then (never thought to bother well you dont when your little do you ) I never have had the desire to get another since then. I recently retired a sheffield lamb foot knife that has been with me since about 1986, it was basically worn out. I replced it with an opinel, but again it too has a slightly flimsy feel. I like solidity and strudyness

 

[Andy B]

I have had a champ since I was 9 and have proably used it most days. The old fella has never let me down and is now 21 years old.

Oh the adventures we have had.....

Cheers

Andy.

 

[Andy B]

I have ahd mine sine age nine and the old fella has never let me down.

Its now 21 years old.

Oh the adventures.

 

[TyroTarper]

I have 3 Vics: one called a Camper which I have had for at least 20 years and is still going strong and in very good nick & sharp. The Camper has the usual 2 blades, bottle & can openers and a saw. Nice and light, does the job for me as a knife to carry all the time and on short trips in the field.

I have another, no idea of the name as I was given it along with all the rest of the kit for a Survival kit (big holster, whistle, maglite, compass, thermometer, etc etc etc ) , which is larger but has a wood & metal saws, wood & metal files, magnifying glass, chisel, grab hook, etc which again is going great guns after about 6 years. With the exception of the metal file & saw I've used all the tools at one time or another. A tad heavy but my choice for longer trips.

Finally a Swiss Army Card complete with a small led light, blade, screwdrivers, scissors,magnifying glass, pen, etc. This lives in my wallet and is just really useful on a day to day basis.

I've flirted with Leathermans of various shapes and sizes but I always find them a bit heavy and not so nice to use although the Micra is a nice light piece of kit for lightweight backpacking where the main uses are opening packs of sealed food, minor repairs to thermarests & tents.

But I always come back to a SAK!!

 

[tim wakefield]

I recently returned to S.A.K. after years away and have been surprised at how many times a day I use it's various tools the only one I haven't used is the can opener. until a few years ago I used the hunter but this time I opted for the climber mainly because I didn't realise it didn't have a saw.Anyway that just means I need another knife.

 

[BIG-TARGET]

I've been carrying my SAK's alot more. Especially since I'm 44, and don't forsee being involved in any bloodsoaked meelees, or hacking an airfield out of the amazon, in the likely future.

 

[Yonderer]

My daughter turned 10 today and received her first SAK. A Victorinox "Driver", which, except for a textured handle, is the same as my Recruit. She's absolutely thrilled with it.

 

[addyb]

Hey, that's pretty cool. I use a Driver/Recruit as my EDC and have been doing so for years. It's a great little knife and I use mine every single day. I hope your daughter likes it as much as I enjoyed getting a Bantam from my Father when I was about six or seven years old. And come to think of it, I still it tucked away somewhere.

Adam

 

[Osprey]

I have carried a SAK for many years and have had and lost several different models. I think my favourites have been the spartan, the aluminium-handled farmer and the climber. I tend to prefer the knives with no more than three layers as the larger models seem too awkward to handle effectively. I find all the tools useful apart from the hook thingy which I don't think I have ever used!
They are handy items for carrying for use every day and don't frighten folk. On our family holiday this year we canoed down the Ardeche river in France, we flew from Aberdeen Airport and my daughter had forgotten about a Spartan SAK which was in the rucksak she was using as cabin luggage Given the media hysteria this sort of thing has generated recently, I thought that we would be in some trouble Luckily the security staff were wonderful and provided a jiffy bag for us to post the offending article home without any fuss
Cheers,
Doug.

 

[addyb]

Osprey,

The "hook thingy" makes a very useful tool when its forty below zero in the middle of winter and you're on a bivoac on a mountain summit trying to tie your frozen climbing boots to your frozen feet.

Oh, and it also makes for an excellent parcel-carrier, provided of course that your postman/woman/person still wraps packages in twine.

Adam

 

[Osprey]

Thanks Adam, so that's what it is for ! I'll try and remember that, but given global warming I think I might wait a long time to experience 40 below in Scotland
Cheers,
Doug

 

[addyb]

Hey, come on over to the Frigid Icy North of Canada and join me for an escapade up a mountain. Peaks here are a dime a dozen. Heck, I've got one that overlooks my city. I can look out the windows at work and get quite the eyeful!

 

[nickg]

I have carried a champ for the last 25 years and it has never let me down. It lives in my bag at work and my bergan in the woods - I have used EVERY gadget on it over and over again. I have lost the mini screwdriver which is a shame as I use it to to tighten the arms of my sprcs frequently and the little compass on the ruler in the pouch is now black.
Couldnt live without it

Cheers
Nick

 

[British Red]

Plenty of spares places will do you a new one Nick - and tweezers, toothpicks and all the other bits

For the record I use a weirs model - The Huntsman Lite - it has abuild in little LED torch which is a nice touch as is the tiny biro. I've used almost all the tools on it although blade, saw, scissors and awl (okay and the bottle opener) are the most used.

Best thing about it is the pouch (cheers topknot) - worn every day I'm not in the office (when the knife in my pocket is my Trevor Ablett)

Tell me thats not the nicest SAK pouch you've ever seen?

Red

 

[Schwert]

I have quite a few SAK's...mostly Camper's which I used to get free from a Science supply house, but varying from the tiny Classic up to the large Safari and Mauser.

I carry the Farmer daily now though....near perfect in my view for size and tool diversity.

This knife is always my pocket knife of choice. I bet I have used the bottle opener the most, but the awl, saw and main blade all run a close second, the can opener handy at work for soup cans. Really a grand knife design, it is not too thick with good grippy alox scales and good overall snap.

The other bits are part of my Swiss Perfection set.....

The Sigg stainless steel 600mL flask with stainless cup, a nicely made flask/cup.

And the Caran D’Ache (Wenger Swiss Army branded) ballpoint. It has about the only ballpoint filler that I can stand to use…smooth, no blob line. The shape is good and comfortable, the metal body durable. The nice red color is also a winner.

 

[appletree_man]

I have four genuine SAKs at the moment.
2 Victorinox Spartans, a Victorinox Hiker, a Victorinox Rambler, and a couple of junk cheapo copies (they were freebies).

I'd like to get a Wenger or two soon, just to compare.

I took the scales off one of the Spartans, I was surprised how comfortable and natural it feels with just the metal sides to grip.
I'm smoothing off some of the hard edges, so it should feel even better in use.

 

[elma]

I have a couple the officers model is my EDC

Ian

 

[Martyn]

One of my favorites is a sak rucksack, but I find the saw one of the most useful things on sak's and most of em are not exactly brilliant. So I shelved my otherwise much loved rucksack in favor of a Wenger ranger scout which has a much, much better saw blade...

As you can see, the ranger has a much bigger saw and while not exactly a Bacho Laplander, it is very useable. Much better than the saws on the victorinox. The only problem with the wenger is I'm not very keen on the rest of the knife. But the saw wins the day.

However, much to my delight, wenger have just updated their ranger series to what looks like a much better design, while keeping the good saw. So I have just ordered a new ranger 55....

Now that looks perfect to me, like a hybrid between the rucksack and the ranger with the best bits of both.

See the rest of the new ranger series...

http://www.wenger-knife.ch/knife/Sport_Knives_Ranger/NewRanger.html

 

[appletree_man]

I was going to replace the rather pointless toothpick on my Victorinox Spartan, with a Victorinox pen. Will it slot right into the toothpick space, or does the pen only fit on certain models ?

I can't get a reply from Victorinox about this.

 

[Chris G]

Appletree_man - ISTR that the pen, being wider and thicker than a toothpick, has a slightly different plastic bit at the top (grey?) which is a different size and as such won't fit in the slot.
Chris