List the five you think you need most. Avoid duplicates, although I see the need. I have about 20 and all see some use, depending on the day's likely needs.

Let's see if any model gets the most votes.

Spartan

Executive

Hunter

SwissChamp

Older German Army or red Safari, same basic knife

Cadet
Cadet
Cadet
Companion
Companion

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Sceva
OGCA SWCA NRA

Older Explorers with the grey plastic magnifying REAL GLASS 8x lens.
Climber, which is essentially an Explorer minus the magnifying glass

Both have those scissors. As a photographer, those 8x magnifyers mimic the magnification of a 35mm negative blown up to 8x12". And I could cut the film after processing with the scissors. In a pinch, a mustache trim too.

My first Explorer, which I still have, was given to me by a neighbor on my paper route, when they came back from Switzerland visiting relatives.

The usual arrangement over the years has been a Classic SD in an inside coat pocket, a Spartan in right trouser pocket, and SwissChamp in a briefcase.

Unless a gun is on the belt, a lockblade folder goes there in a black pouch.

A little Classic or Exec provides scissors and nail file without getting out the thick Champ in its SOS kit. Spartan does most basic SAK tasks.

Others offer saws and better awls and corkscrews.

I once tried seeing if a Spartan could be replaced with a thicker model. Absolute limit was the Camper, which added a saw. If I may need a saw, I usually carry a larger knife.

My favorite is the Spartan.

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How God has blessed us!

I have owned a bunch of them since my Dad brought one back from a business trip for me in the late 1950's. I have lost many but still have several, from the huge Champion, with black bolsters, down to a very small one with a cutting blade and a nail file bade with thin red aluminum bolsters. Great knives, I have lost many but never broken one.

I think I have a couple in the console of the car. I don’t know what models.

Hunter
Hiker
Officer
Equestrian
I only own 4!

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There are no bad pig parts!

Unfortunately, I only have one, an Explorer I got for my birthday over 30 years ago from my parents. I had the scales replaced with some rosewood scales several years ago. Mine has the gray plastic magnifying glass. I found it pretty useful, but I've stopped carrying it because of its sentimental value. I now rely on Leathermans for my multitool needs.

Here are some I had in my desk and dresser drawers there are probably more in various tackle boxes, car and boat.
Steve W

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Screw the favorites, I want to see the craziest! A friend's dad in the late 90s had a truly massive SAK with all the tools on it, at the time it was badass, now I realize it lacks any utility, but a few beers deep I'm sure it'll be rad again and I'll get an amazon notification.

SAKs in general rock.



Red one in this I got as my first ever knife sometime when I was in cubscouts. Blue one was one of the best birthday gifts I've ever received from a broke college girlfriend to a broke college me, I wasn't into SAKs at the time but man what a correct choice.



Had no other pics of this one, but it's an Alox cadet and finds its way into my pocket on the reg. I wish some of the more feature dense models would use the Alox scales, much nice knife to hold.

I gave a little one to my honorary nephew that had a Star of David on it.

I have little ones for the Cleveland Indians and Cleveland Browns.

I have but one, the "Camping" model. A fine unit.

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No baby we aint

1. Automotive. I brought one back from Switzerland in 1972. It was the only SAK that was my primay carry for any length of time. I especially liked its Philips head screw driver and metal file/saw. I think it was the width of a Camper. Unfortunately it was stolen before 1980 and a replacement is not easy to find.

2. I'll have to hunt for the model name of this big boy. It's 5" closed. It has a one hand opening blade, a wood saw, Philips head screw driver and Victoronix's obligatory can and bottle openers. The bottle opener is basically a flat head screw driver most of the year but is handy during the summer. While Texas Star substitutes his can opener for a Philips head screw driver when the knife has a real Philips head screw driver it's worthless. When I look over my fruit trees and decide a small branch is best pruned off I use its saw. Length makes saws more effective, hence its big size.

3. Picnicker. My car came with one in its door pocket. It's 4 3/8" closed and has a sliding button on the side for unlocking its spear blade. I've used this one more than expected. It's good for preparing road side grocery store meals. Some days restaurants and fast food have no appeal. It's no concern locally but after reading Washington's murky knife laws I thought it prudent to quit leaving it in the car all the time.

4. Locksmith. I want one. For me it would be an enlarged Automotive. One of these days I'll find one that is convenient to buy.

5. Sorry Texas Star but my favorite gadget knife is a Camillus made Remington R4243 Camp Knife. They're 4 3/4" closed, have a clip master, an awl, a flat head screw driver tool with bottle opener tool for the summer and the blade I use most often, a sheep's foot. Neither a clip master nor the more important sheep's foot are available in Victorinox's product line. This big scout/utility/camp knife fits nicely in a standard Folding Hunter pouch.

Tinker Small - the finest combination of function and form.

Tinker Deluxe - a little too large for already crowded pockets, but it has scissors! Also, there's got to be something more useful than the hook.

Cadet Alox - nice, but I wish they'd swap out the nail file for a small knife blade

I love the SAKs because they're completely socially acceptable. In all cases, I wish they'd use better steel for the knife blades. The other tools are fine as-is.

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low speed, high drag

The Waiter

Only one I’ve ever purchased is the German Army Trekker. Everything you need, nothing you don’t need. I’ve given several away over the years.

I've had two SAKs that looked like a Fieldmaster, except instead of having a saw, they had a fish scaler. There was also a silver fish inlay in the handle. I bought two SAKs from the Austrian Army base in the Prizren province in Kosovo. One is the one-hand Trekker multi tool with the front edge of the knife blade serrated. The second has a plain knife blade with a sliding lock on the side. This one has a corkscrew, which made me very popular at our picnics.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I had customized credit card SAK's made for our 35 Anniversary. Like a dummy, I thought I could carry it in my wallet. I put the final remains back in the original box! I carry a Tinker everyday. I have a Camper I bought in Mexico 1/78, that I only carry when camping. I have about a dozen Executives in first aid and emergency kits scattered around my existence.

A 8 to 10 function SAK and a roll of electrical tape are the basics to modern survival.

BTW: I bought a bag of 10 eyeglass auxiliary screwdrivers and screwed one into every SAK cork screw the wife and I own. The kids had some Chinese knock offs, the cork screw is a different twist rate and the little screwdriver won't fit!

I have friends from Australia and South Afrika that do ministry and missionary work, based on their reports I send a SAK with every long and short term missionary our church sends out. My request to them is the ask God to show them who to bless with it as a gift. When my Mother-in-Law was in Belize, a local young woman (17y.o. mother of 2)had been a guide and interpreter in some villages, had been a great help to a 70 y.o. American woman. So on the last night in country, Mom gave her SAK to the young woman. The girl let out a squawk and ran away. She ran to the next village and back to retrieve a picture she had drawn with crayons of a SAK she was believing God for. All 14 features on the knife and drawing matched! She had drawn the picture a week before Mom had left OHIO! But the strange thing/small miracle is, that knife is not a catalog item! It was a small batch knife that was a test sample, and came from my collection, because my supplier was one knife short on my order for the mission team, So I let mom have my favorite knife knowing she would give away! (The tools and SAKs I send with the mission teams is how I send my presence all over the world!)

Ivan

Saved my money and bought my first sak when I was 14, from the Kittery Trading Post, the victorinox Hiker. Just something about that shiny red really drew me to those knives. I sat at KTP for quite some time agonizing over which one I should buy, I could only afford one (but not the Swiss champ). It came down to the camper or the hiker, the hiker won out because I thought the philips screwdriver would be more usefful than the corkscrew. Still have it today.

I later acquired an LL Bean branded Wenger, Sportsman? From a friend for $10. I like the locking blades on the Wengers.

About 10 years ago I finally bought myself the coveted Swiss Champ, I love that knife and find it to be quite useful. I’ve since bought the champ for all 3 kids. I keep it in the camper now. Funny that Ivan mentioned the replacement eyeglass screwdriver, I lost mine on our last camping trip and need to replace it!

Christmas mornings I alway be sure to have a sak in my pocket to help the kids with opening packages and putting together toys, etc.

I also have a blue Swiss Card. It sits down in a drawer in my basement workshop/reloading room. I never use it, but it sure is a cute little thing. There is an SD in the console of my truck. Also have a money clip version somewhere.

I always look forward to receiving my Smokey Mountain Knife Works Christmas catalog, I page through it cover to cover, but spend most of my time drooling over the sak’s.

Here’s my 5:
Hiker (sentimental reasons)
Swiss champ
Wenger sportsman
Classic SD
SwissLite, which is an SD but includes a light, used to keep it on my key chain but I lost it. Christmas is coming...

Tinker
Tinker (I had two , gave one to son )
Super Tinker
Super Tinker (I have two)
Spartan ... sitting on desk , I'm looking at it now .

Those are my favorites
Gary

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Certified Cajun
NRA Member

I have 50 or 60 copies of Victorinox and over the years I have used some and some are still new.
The ones I use the most are:
Classic
Spartan
Hunter
Champion (discontinued model)
Swiss champion
Victorinox-Mauser
Hercules

Have several, including a SwissChamp, (don't carry it, Leatherman's handier). Favorites are,
Evo 11, currently in my pocket.
Pioneer. ALOX handles, almost indestructible.
Tinker. Everything you need, nothing you don't.
Any model that doesn't have that blankity-blank corkscrew.

I am a Tinker guy. That's all I have carried for years.




So



Tinker
Tinker
Tinker
Tinker
Tinker

Over the course of the last 50 years or so I have had 4 officer models.

Found them to be good to have along, especially at work. Compact but quite versatile! Those little tweezers have removed literately hundreds of metal bits and pieces out of my skin. The last years I worked construction I replace them with a Leatherman.

Now that I'm retired I keep one Swiss in 2 of my vechicles, the Leatherman in my normally daily driver because you never know.

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14 S&W Revs none with locks!

From bottom to top.

Cannot remember the name of the first. I have it for so long.

Cannot remember the name of the second either, but it's the "military issue" and is dated 94(1994). It is the soldier 1961 I just found out

The third is the "soldier 08"

The forth is the "Camper red"

The fifth is the "Spartan wood"

The sitxh is the "huntsman wood"

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Expect the unexpected

We're all different. I much prefer the corkscrew to the Phillips screwdriver. The larger corkscrews on German lockblade hunting knives or larger SAK's work better, but I've opened wine with the standard corkscrews on the Spartan, Camper, and Wengers. And corkscrews will also pick apart knots.

The screwdriver tip on the can opener turns what Phillips screws I encounter.

I have a friend whose words almost exactly mirror Donn's . . . he gave me an Executive back when I was an executive.

Me, I'm kind of amazed at how useful the Spartan's corkscrew is when I'm traveling. I am happy to take it along anywhere, (it doesn't freak out anyone at any Customs - and actually may imbue other tools I'm importing with an aura of familiar reasonableness) unlike this inherited pre-War Henckels that stays at home.

Plus, there's this!

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How God has blessed us!

I stick out my tongue at you, Senhor.

If only I had a dollar bill for every wine bottle I opened with the SAK corckscrew.

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Expect the unexpected

@ donn.

Just so you know how we really feel about a corckscrew, and beer bottle openers, in a pocket knife.

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Expect the unexpected

1. Alox Electrician. Straight-edged short sheepsfoot and a very good awl in addition to the spear and screwdriver/bottle opener. Two-row knife. Three springs and it is getting too fat for my pocket.
.
Alox because I carry lots of the plastic french tickler toothpicks, and my Micra has a tweezer. Micra has better scissors, too, so I don’t have to suffer SAKs broken scissor springs. No can opener, but if I am at home, I will have a can opener. When it fails, I can use a can opener from another SAK, or stab the can with my KaBar.

2. Alox Farmer. Three rows, but it has the saw, which I like to have in the woods, and the can opener, harder to sub for in the field.

3. Cadet. I would prefer alox, but I paid six bucks for mine on closeout at Home Depot. Got one for my grandson, too. Everything you need, nothing you don’t.

4. My missing Wenger. Has the good scissors. If I could find it, I could retire the Micra, but probably wouldn’t.

5. Mauser-branded Victorinox GAK. Cool knife. Not common, kind of expensive to replace, so I don’t often carry it. Also a bit too big to carry comfortably.

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Not in jail.

If you ever watched that video by the crazy Russian, you would know how easy it is to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew.

Of course, kids 45 and under all know how to open a beer bottle with a Bic lighter. If they drink wine presumably it comes from a box.

The task that truly separates humans from lower mammals is the ability to open cans. That was the basis for the symbiotic relationship between Vic and Blood in “A Boy and his Dog”. Vic opened cans of food for his telepathic dog. Blood sniffed out, erm, female companionship for his human.

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Not in jail.

I started opening wine bottles way before we dreamed of internet and videos.

I can open a beer bottle with a stone if need be. My father could open them with his teeth. I'm not that tough.

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Expect the unexpected

In high school, I used to open them with my 🦷. It was a great party trick. In later years, I found out how expensive crowns were.

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Not in jail.

We don't seem to be getting any clear favorite.

But the Spartan does well and many want a SwissChamp around, although not for daily carry.

As usual, some like corkscrews; some don't. Americans on average drink less wine outside the home than Euros. They usually have corkscrews at home. I hope.

We have a corkscrew around somewhere (see below), If I'm thinking about a bottle of wine, I grab a SAK! Call me a barbarian, call me a boy scout, either way you will still be calling me to open your bottle of wine!

One Sunday at church a few years ago, people came and got me out of the meeting. They were getting communion ready, and the communion "wine" was in a corked bottle, they figured I would have a way of opening it. My wife enjoys wine much more than I do, so that thrift store she calls a purse, has a very nice corkscrew in it most of the time! I was glad to obvert the crisis with communion!

Ivan

I do have a big corkscrew at home. But I always carry a SAK with me anyway.

And... they are not the only knife I have with a corkscrew either.

Open.


Same folded.

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Expect the unexpected

I like the Officier Suisse.
Never met a beer or wine bottle it couldn't open.
It's large enough to feel substantiative in use, but compact enough to slip into a pocket. Unobtrusive until needed.

Jim

PS: Mario, I like those Laguiole knives from France. I used one of their folding steak knives with the bumble bee on the lock button. Nice balance!

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I tend to like them too. maybe that's why I have 4 of them But the one I showed is the only one with a corkscrew

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Expect the unexpected

Hmm, I would have guessed the bottom one is Canivete Italian! Perhaps you know better!

Favorite carried every day for the last 25 years is the Craftsman now marketed as the Handyman....only difference is the Craftsman has a phillips screw driver on the back and the Handyman has a corkscrew.
Victorinox Handyman in red - 1.3773

Minichamp in red or Alox
Victorinox Midnite MiniChamp in red - 0.6386
Victorinox MiniChamp Alox in silver - 0.6381.26


Large size...Workchamp
Victorinox Work Champ in red - 0.8564


Handy accessory...love mine...really easy to get out of the pocket..
Mad Blacksmith City Dweller Pen-Cap Lanyard System (Milled Black) - Blade HQ

Compact
Executive
Classic
Mini Champ
Champion

LOL.

I don't know about the Italians. But in Portugal with wine regions all over. From North to South and West to East. that pocket knife(canivete in Portuguese) fits like a glove.

It wasn't I who did the meme. But I approve it.

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Expect the unexpected

I have German lockblade hunting knives, a Puma No. 943 and an older, larger Henckels. They have sspear and saw bladees and corkscrews. The Puma saw has a screwdriver tip and will open bottles.

Good for a hiker or hunter to slice sausage, bread, and cheese, and open wine. Nice stag scales and German silver bolsters.

But I carry them in belt pouches or a coat. SAK's in reasonable sizes are true pocket knives.

I also like some with Alox handles. Mine is the former Soldier, dated 83, a gift of the Export Director at the time. More rugged than those with plastic handles, but no tweezers or toothpick.

Because the colored anodizing wears off, I prefer the basic silver scales.

I have one I carry every day

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That's a Classic SD, with Irish shamrock logo. Various handle colors and symbols are made.

Keys and coins badly abrade knives, so I wear only a handkerchief in my knife pocket.

This is one feature that I strongly dislike:
The saws in folding knives are already so short that sacrificing any length of teeth for a bottle opener or gut hook is stupid. Oh well, not everything is designed to my taste and a few 5" folders are made with saws that have teeth for the full length of their saw blades.

The most common one is a good knife that I have not previously seen mentioned on this forum, the Case XX-Changer. If you carry the whole kit in its pouch it's bulky and heavy but the knife and one extra blade in a slip both fit in a standard folding hunter pouch. Basically it's a more versatile Buck 110 which is a knife that gets truck loads of love here.

Taking your thread back to SAK the Victoronix I listed as my #2 favorite SAK is another. It's bottle opener is a separate tool. That's better designing. All the hand saws out in your shop are long for good reason.

My daughter and I went to the Swiss Army knife tourist trap store in Lucerne and bought top of the line knives with our names on them. Just as a memory from that fantastic trip that knife - now deep in the safe - has to be my favorite as for the other four, one of these:

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Only have one, never carried it. A gift from my Daughter from their trip to Europe.

Have a blessed day,

Leon