If you know the models well, which Swiss Army Knives (Victorinox brand) do you use the most? Why?

I have maybe 15-20, and some are duplicates, in case I lose or damage one.

Depending on how I'm dressed and what the day probably holds, I've come to rely on either the little Executive or the basic Spartan for most trouser carry. Sometimes, the former official Swiss issue model called the Soldier until they adopted a new model for issue. Don't recall the new name for the old Soldier. You can still get it.

The thickest I can trouser carry is the Camper. Adds a saw to the Spartan format. The Huntsman or Climber require a belt pouch.

A SwissChamp in a fine leather SOS Kit goes in my briefcase, and I do use most of the tools on it. The compass and other items in that pouch are useful, too.

I normally have a lockblade folding knife in a pouch on my belt, so that deals with anything requiring a larger knife. But I have a German Army knife made by Victorinox that sometimes fills that role. It can also be trouser-carried.

The tiny Classic resides in my inside jacket pocket, handy to reach when seated without contorting to reach a pocket.

So, which Victorinoxes do you use most? Do you have a preference in handle colors? (Not all handles come in a selection of colors. Some are limited to just red or red or black. The Classic probably has the most colors, of which I favor dark green or blue. I may add a yellow one. I have a Camper in white, no longer imported.)

I have a Tinker which I like. I found a Camper sitting on a rock near Cardwell MT in 1973 still sharp no rust but one scale is pink from the sun. I used to watch e-bay or other places for good sales and take several to scout camp each year.

I carry the red handled Hunter model with the corkscrew and scissors. I always hqave it with me. My wife carries an identical model in her handbag. Sometimes I carry a Buck 110 on my belt when I think I'll need a larger knife.

Charlie

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SWCA # 2294

I have about a dozen of the Victorinox brand but only carry either the Boy Scout logo'd Tinker or Huntsman, depending on if it is dress clothing [Tinker] or jeans/khaki/tactical [Huntsman].

I use an old Champion (32 yrs old) almost daily. My "dress" knife is an Officers Model, Also have an odd ball model that has a red led and a ball point pen in it (don't recall the model). I love the knives!

Anyone want to post photos? (I don't have a digital camera.)

The Classic - the small one with a knife blade, scissors, toothpick and tweezers. And whatever that file blade is called. I've had it so long the logo is mostly worn off.

I thought I had lost it a couple of months ago, and was sad for two weeks until a friend found it in his car. Happy Day.

I had already bought a new one, so now I have spare. The new one is very slightly smaller than the old one.

Trekker is the model that I use the most. Very handy knife and especially so when camping or hiking.

Out
West

I have about 25 of them and the one in my pocket 99% of the time is my Soldier. It does everything I need it to do.



When I get dressed up I carry my Blue Farmer or Red Cadet




I also have an ALOX classic on my key-chain. I have a dozen of the Victorinox Swiss Army watches, and a full set of Victorinox kitchen cutlery.

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

I normally either carry a Pioneer or a Tinker. On Sundays I carry a Sportsman after an embarrassing incident when we had trouble finding a cork screw for the communion wine.

About 6 years ago my daughter said she wanted a Swiss Army knife for her 12th birthday. She's left handed and after doing a lot of net searching I found a knife shop in Tenn that said they had left handed Travelers in stock. If fact, they told me they were closing them out because they couldn't give them away. They didn't quite give them to me but I bought the 6 remaining knives for $100 delivered. Now that she graduated High School this year I can say that she carried that knife in her purse every day since her 12th birthday.

A couple weeks ago I came across a nice Trooper for all of $7, so of course I couldn't resist.

My best purchase on SAKs though was about 8 years ago. A Big Box type hardware store was relocating to a larger location and apparently decided to not move anything. Going in the last weekend I found a box of Victorniox Tinkers with clear red handles. There was no price marked on them and when I asked the manager the price he said "Hows $5 sound?". I think there was 22 knives in the box and I took them all. That was my standard Christmas present for years.

Tinker and Huntsman. I've told this story before, but for the benefit of youse guys who haven't heard it.
Was at Wal Mart about 10-12 years ago. They had a bunch of Tinker and huntsman knives marked for closeout at $9.99. I asked how many they had and was tolf 4 tinkers and 5 Huntsmans. I said "I'll take them all." My daughter has lost a couple to the TSA but by and large, they are scattered around so I am never without one when I need it. I loves me some Swiss Army Knives. If I had to pick, it would be the Huntsman because of the scissors.

WOW I just read the post above. $5.00 SWEET-I'd have bougth them all too!!!

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Forum consigliere

For me it all stated when I was a CUB Scout, then a Boy Scout.
Having a "Utility" knife has proven to be very useful to me over the years.

I have a couple of different Swiss Army Knives. My favorite, sorry I do not know the name or model number, but I always want one that has the scissors, and a wine opener. It also has the normal regular blade, a bottle and can opener, a leather punch, small screwdriver and mediium screw driver and what they call a package carrier...
I have the very small screwdriver for eyeglasses in the wine cork screw and it has a toothpick and tweezers in the handle. It also has a small blade as well.

I have used Swiss Army knives to totally gut, skin, and butcher deer and wild pigs. I NEVER leave the house, without my Swiss Army Knife.

I carry 2 other knives 100% of the time as well, but I always have my Swiss Army...

I have a fair number custom hunters but love my super Tinker with black scales. I believe it cost me $25.00. The other knife I carry is a custom Wayne Hendrix with a semi skinner 3/1/2" blade and black Micarta scales. Both are great knives. Sonora

Not only did they make good gifts but ALL of our vehicles has a Tinker in the glove box.

A few years ago I went to Smoky Mountain Knife Works when they were having a sale and bought up several Tinkers for that very purpose. In the Jeep there is even one in the front and back.

I have 3 huntsman knives......keep one in my shaving kit, one in my car and one in my truck. Always carry one in my pocket when hunting, camping, hiking etc....great knives and I've had an occasion to use each of the tools.

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

Same as Bullet Bob, the classic little penknife with two blades (sharp and "file/screwdriver"), scissors, tweezers and toothpick. In fact I have several just in case I can't find or lose one, I have a supply to go to....

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

I paid retail price for several and got a few as gifts, but hit the jackpot at the big Dallas Market Hall gun show last year.

A man had three or four big buckets of confiscated SAK's from an airport or courthouse and depending on size, they were selling from $3.00 to $10.00. I pawed through the lot and bought maybe ten, during the course of several shows.

They range from the little Classic to a model that must be a Champion or something very close. Most are Spartans.

Some have company or college logos on them. One is a Wenger brand with the name of a famous investment firm on the handle.

It took serious looking to find examples that weren't all scratched up, but I found some, although I had to polish light scratches off of some blades. I'm still working on some, using Simichrome polish, but it is working. (If the scratches and scuffs were very bad, I rejected that knife.)

Even at average prices, Victorinox knives are very good values. But I sort of hit the jackpot on those used ones. I even bought a new SOS Kit for the Champion. It went in a tacklebox; the one bought new with a SwissChamp is the one in my briefcase.

I did have to sharpen several and had a custom knifemaker regrind edge bevels on a couple. And the knife shop at Willow Bend mall in Dallas honed a few. That's an exceptional store, run by a couple whom I've known for years. I probably wouldn't trust regrinding an edge to a typical mall cutlery store, which normally relies on teenage help not too sure of what they're doing. I haven't been in that store for awhile; hope they're doing well. They have a good selection of merchandise, including Vic. knives.

I also have some paring and sandwich knives from Vic. I got some at that store and a few from Randall, who used to sell them in addition to his handmade knives. He may still do that. Those have the Randall name on the blades, but are obviously Victorinox sandwich knives. (About five-inch blades, serrated, with rounded points.)

I have Case and Camillus Scout knives, but they're much heavier in a pocket and have fewer tools.

I got my first swiss army knife when we were in Germany in the 80's.
My wife bought this giant grandfathers clock and the store delivered it and set it up. A couple of days passed and we got a call from the store and the only person who spoke passable english asked if we had found a knife laying around. One of the workers laid his swiss army knife down on the job and was trying to find it. Four years pass and it is time to move back to Texas, movers dissassemble the clock and there is the knife!! I tried to contact the store but they had gone out of business. So 30 years later I still have it.

The Climber used to be my every day knife. I have three or four of this model stashed on various motorbikes. I rarely carry it any more. For the last fifteen years or so, a Leatherman Micra has always been in my pocket. I usually carry a larger knife as well, sometimes a Victorinox Mauser German Army knife that recently resurfaced after sitting in a basket of keys for years.

My daughter just returned from Europe and gave me a Victorinox that she purchased in Lucerne. I will have to check for the name on the little box.

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GMC-USN, Retired/1978 to 2001

While on vacation in Mexico 1/78, I bought a "Camper", it is different than any other camper I've seen. It may have been an older mod. but I always thought of it as the Mexican model. The wife has a SAK of some sort in the the belt case with small tape measure (3' Stanley) and a mag-lite "Solitare" connected to the case. For our 20th Anniversery, I gave her the one that has like a 108 functions, it is about 2" thick and comes with the pouch. About 3 years later the purse got stole of her sholder, next May will be #35 maybe I'll replace it. Ivan

I too had the pleasure of digging through a box of TSA confiscated SAKs.

My $10 choice was the Cybertool 34. A rather larger knife, but as a computer geek it has all the tools I need to get my job done.

Attached Images

cybertool34.jpg (54.2 KB, 23 views)

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Dave

I have a victorinox Bantam and a black handle Cadet and i love them both.

I carried a Officers model in a sheath for many years (decades) and it got used a lot. I was a construction worker and those little tools came in handy many times. As a welder I was always using the tweezers to remove errant pieces of wire wheels and other chards of metal from my body.

I replaced it with a Leatherman and then when a new model Leatherman came out updated to the newer model. As of today one Leatherman resides in the glove box of my 4x4 truck the other in the glove box of my Vette. The old Swiss resides in a place of honor in my Specialty drawer of my mechanics 6' tool box.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

I have carried an Executive in my pocket everywhere I went since I was a junior in high school. (No one really cared back then, unless you were being stupid with it.)

I like them so well I usually buy one any time I see one if the price is even remotely reasonable, mainly because someday I won't be able to get one.

I used to have a Director, which is similar. Somehow, I lost it and I believe it may be the only pocketknife I have ever lost.

I keep one of the bigger models in the car, usually a Tinker, and when I used to travel on my motorcycle, I would take a Champion model along, too - which of course is way too big to put in a pocket. Getting back to the Executive, folks are always curious about the "orange peeler" blade. It actually works quite nicely.

There is usually a Classic or Companion in my pocket and there is a Cadet in a jacket or coat pocket.

I prefer those with Alox (aluminum) handles

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

That orange peeler blade also has a screwdriver tip, of course. And the nail file blade will often turn Phillips-head screws.



Ivan-

How does your knife differ from other Camper models? I've seen some that have a tent symbol and the word, "Camping" on one scale. Most seem not to. Maybe that was just a temporary marking.

I've never seen a Boy Scout marked one that had a corkscrew. Always the Phillips-head screwdriver option instead.

I used to have a model with the space shuttle on one scale. It was supposedly the same model issued to the shuttle astronauts. I published an article on their knives years ago, from the earliest Project Gemini and Mercury astronauts.

An astronaut to whom I spoke on the 'phone mentioned that his SAK had so many useful tools that he found it preferable to going after separate tools. It would also be useful for survival if they'd crashed in a remote area. One astronaut mentioned carrying a little Classic in his flight suit. The larger Randall Model 17 Astro knife was limited to Mercury and Gemini astronauts, with a very few spares made for NASA. The Case machete is also no longer used, to my knowledge.
If the shuttle astronauts had sheath knives, I don't know what. I don't recall them mentioning any.

I was please beyond words when the groom gave his groomsmen the Swiss Army Spartan as a gift. I repaired many computers and printers with this tool. And when I was married, my groomsmen received Swiss Army knives.

Attached Images

spartan.jpg (41.0 KB, 13 views)

I've carried my Huntsman for over 30 years. At least, I think it's an early Huntsman...it doesn't have the hook, but has everything else. I don't think they make one exactly like it these days. Every blade and attachment get regular use, especially the scissors and the screwdrivers. I've got several others...one with the USB thumb drive...but the old Huntsman is the one that is my EDC. Sometimes I'll also carry my Victorinox multitool, a Spyderco Emerson-wave Endura, or more frequently a Kabar Bob Dozier-designed 'Phat Bob' if I want a more substantial blade close at hand.

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Rick, W0FG
CTR2 68-72

I've got 6-7 of them, a champion, couple of classics. and some other models. My favorite is the Picknicker it is a Lock blade style a quite a bit longer than the Champion and has a good corkscrew which comes in handy from time to time.
I have head many over the years since my Dad brought me one back from and overseas trip when I was 11. I have given some away but lost far too many.
Steve W

Only one. Officer Suisse. I use it for important things.
Opening boxes.
Fixing broken fingernails.
And most Important. Opening BEER!

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Field Researcher. IGC

Ever see a French Army Knife?



Years ago , Sportsmans Guide was selling these used Victornox German Army surplus knives for something like 2 for $20.


I bought a half-dozen of them. I keep one in each vehicle , tool pack on my bike and in my toolbox at work. From the prices I've seen them bring lately , I wish I'd have bought a few more.

The old one:



Had that one for over twenty years now. Long ago lost the pick and the tweezers.

The latest one:



Has a lock for the blade but it's too bulky for pocket carry. Still pretty nice though.

Is there an on-line source for SAKs and other knives? Shopping the stores in El Paso is a losing experience: all they have is a few blister-packed SAKs and these are either too small or too large for my needs..

I've got an old small 2-blade model I picked up somewhere as a kid and a Troubleshooter model Marlboro cigarettes used to give away years ago.



Both need a cleaning, which I will do soon, thanks to this thread reminding me.

Cyrano-

Sure. I'm seeing ads for one source on this board. A Search will produce other dealers. And Swiss Army brands will sell direct, if you check their site. May not have the cheapest prices, though. But they sell replacement toothpicks and tweezers and belt pouches.