A recuring theme I see in many posts on this forum is that most of us carry several knives, and for many of us, one of those knives is a Swiss Army Knife. And I have further noticed that the SAK's often end up being the "using" knife. The recent thread- "Do you use your Knife" is just one example.
Problems with (most) SAK's- Wenger or Victorinox -
main blades are wimpy- slow to open.
many don't lock
Aluminum liners too weak.
Sciccors screws can come loose
Plastic scales can come off
pocket lint attractors
The first time I saw an ad for the Swiss Buck, I got pretty excited. Of course, it turned out that the Swiss Bucks were just a re-styled SAK.
I bought a utility Remington a couple of years back, but it is big and heavy, its crude construction and poor quality give me no joy. I have one of the Victrinox lock blades, it is a better knife than most of the
others, at least the scales are Zytel. It is a big large, and the first one I owned had suffered severe deformation of the aluminum liners after I used (abused?) it to loosen a phillips screw on a friends kayak, to re-adjust the seat position. The knife pretty much saved the trip for her- but it was only a week or two old. I had to replace it. I also have a Pioneer- with anodozed aluminum scales and brass liners. It is my all around favorite "using" knife- stronger than any other SAK. But that still does not address all my complaints. And it does not have a phillips screw driver.
I am not suggesting SAK's are crappy knives- I believe you get a lot for your money with a SAK. I love them, and have more in my collection than any other single type knife. But sometimes they are too light, and not totally reliable.
So am I the only knut who has every wanted a swiss army type knife with ATS-34 blades and G-10 handles? Or maybe a micarta handle, with a thumb stud, and a teflon M2 blade. With a screw driver that will let you apply some serious torque without deforming the knife. As a minumum I would want 2 sizes of flat screwdrivers, a phillips, an awl, a beer bottle opener (don't forget that tool!) a can opener, and at least one cutting blade. I would want such a knife to be small enough
to sit nicely in the pocket of casual pants. It could have an open back- or at the least, some through- openings to make it faster to dry out, and easier to blow out with compressed air.
Have I missed anything on the market like this? Does anyone else feel a need for a high quality swiss-army type knife? Any manufacturers/ designers reading this? Is the new Spyderco going to fill this niche?
I won't say that the price could be "no object", but wouldn't such a product be able to sell at a pretty high price? I'd certainly pay 10 times more than what I paid for the last SAK I bought- if I thought it
might be the last general use knife I would have to buy for a while.
Hope I wasn't too long winded here-
------------------
-DanV
[This message has been edited by DanV (edited 10 March 1999).]
Problems with (most) SAK's- Wenger or Victorinox -
main blades are wimpy- slow to open.
many don't lock
Aluminum liners too weak.
Sciccors screws can come loose
Plastic scales can come off
pocket lint attractors
The first time I saw an ad for the Swiss Buck, I got pretty excited. Of course, it turned out that the Swiss Bucks were just a re-styled SAK.
I bought a utility Remington a couple of years back, but it is big and heavy, its crude construction and poor quality give me no joy. I have one of the Victrinox lock blades, it is a better knife than most of the
others, at least the scales are Zytel. It is a big large, and the first one I owned had suffered severe deformation of the aluminum liners after I used (abused?) it to loosen a phillips screw on a friends kayak, to re-adjust the seat position. The knife pretty much saved the trip for her- but it was only a week or two old. I had to replace it. I also have a Pioneer- with anodozed aluminum scales and brass liners. It is my all around favorite "using" knife- stronger than any other SAK. But that still does not address all my complaints. And it does not have a phillips screw driver.
I am not suggesting SAK's are crappy knives- I believe you get a lot for your money with a SAK. I love them, and have more in my collection than any other single type knife. But sometimes they are too light, and not totally reliable.
So am I the only knut who has every wanted a swiss army type knife with ATS-34 blades and G-10 handles? Or maybe a micarta handle, with a thumb stud, and a teflon M2 blade. With a screw driver that will let you apply some serious torque without deforming the knife. As a minumum I would want 2 sizes of flat screwdrivers, a phillips, an awl, a beer bottle opener (don't forget that tool!) a can opener, and at least one cutting blade. I would want such a knife to be small enough
to sit nicely in the pocket of casual pants. It could have an open back- or at the least, some through- openings to make it faster to dry out, and easier to blow out with compressed air.
Have I missed anything on the market like this? Does anyone else feel a need for a high quality swiss-army type knife? Any manufacturers/ designers reading this? Is the new Spyderco going to fill this niche?
I won't say that the price could be "no object", but wouldn't such a product be able to sell at a pretty high price? I'd certainly pay 10 times more than what I paid for the last SAK I bought- if I thought it
might be the last general use knife I would have to buy for a while.
Hope I wasn't too long winded here-
------------------
-DanV
[This message has been edited by DanV (edited 10 March 1999).]