Has anyone ever had a defective Swiss Army Knife?

Jack Black said:
There are regular posts on this forum from members who have purchased knives with various defects. Sometimes these problems can be easily sorted out, or are merely cosmetic, other times they can be quite serious. In terms of factory-made knives, faulty knives seem to sometimes be sent out irrespective of price, though we are perhaps more forgiving with less expensive ones.

I've probably had at least twenty Swiss Army Knives over the years, made by both Victorinox and Wenger (mostly Victorinox), and apart from a blunt main blade on a relatively recent Wenger, I've never been able to find the slightest fault with any of them. SAKs are churned out by the thousand, sent out all over the world, and sell for relatively little. Their reliability is legendary and many are in regular use for years.

I can't recall seeing anyone posting about a defective SAK, but maybe that's just because they're so inexpensive. So I'd be interested to hear people's opinions on this, if you've ever had a faulty SAK, and if defects really are rare, what are they getting right that other manufacturers could learn from.

Jack
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Jack Black said:
There are regular posts on this forum from members who have purchased knives with various defects. Sometimes these problems can be easily sorted out, or are merely cosmetic, other times they can be quite serious. In terms of factory-made knives, faulty knives seem to sometimes be sent out irrespective of price, though we are perhaps more forgiving with less expensive ones.

I've probably had at least twenty Swiss Army Knives over the years, made by both Victorinox and Wenger (mostly Victorinox), and apart from a blunt main blade on a relatively recent Wenger, I've never been able to find the slightest fault with any of them. SAKs are churned out by the thousand, sent out all over the world, and sell for relatively little. Their reliability is legendary and many are in regular use for years.

I can't recall seeing anyone posting about a defective SAK, but maybe that's just because they're so inexpensive. So I'd be interested to hear people's opinions on this, if you've ever had a faulty SAK, and if defects really are rare, what are they getting right that other manufacturers could learn from.

Jack
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I have a Victorinox missing the orange peeler, it has a second nail file instead.
 
Have only had a half dozen or so. Only defect I can think of is tweezers with uneven prongs with one small Victorinox.
 
The only defect mine have is a tendency to get lost. The most recent ones I’ve purchased were from a decade ago, in clamshell packaging, and only opened within the last month. The saw still goes through green saplings or fallen limbs as quickly, the knife blades still comes super sharp and hold an edge as long as or longer than expected for the steel used. No sak could ever be my “only” knife but it’s nice to have at least one for a backup to a variety of other tools.
 
It seems like all the wenger's my dad has owned lose the snap on all of their blades. He is not abusive to them so I always wondered why they lose snap. I haven't had that happen on any sak's of mine but I also don't have any wengers.
 
I would be embarrassed to say how many Victorinox SAKs I own...if I knew how many I own. Let’s just say it’s less than 100.

I think.

I do, however, know that of all the Victorinox knives I’ve owned—and the dozens I’ve given away—I’ve never had a defective one.

I’m sure there must be a few sub-par knives out there, as everyone makes mistakes, but their quality control is truly remarkable.
 
I bought the Pioneer X right after release, and while maybe not defect, it did not have the same standard as my other SAKs:
- If I closed the knifeblade slowly, it didn’t snap all the way shut, I had to push it in to get the point below the scales
- Some of the tools (can’t remember which) had a very hard pull to open

I think I googled it at the time, and found someone who mentioned the same problems on another forum, it was something with a crack or weakness in the backspring. I haven’t seen a lot of talk about this, so I either had bad luck, or they quickly fixed the probleem
 
My Hiker's main blade is very slightly warped, warped enough that a small part of the blade dulls itself every time the blade is closed. I have to close it very, very gently. I consider it a defect as my other three SAKs don't do this.

Also, my Solo Alox has an extremely stiff back-spring. That said, I haven't used it all that much so I didn't give it much opportunity to "break in". However, once again, none of my other SAKs are this stiff.
 
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TheChunk91 said:
It seems like all the wenger's my dad has owned lose the snap on all of their blades. He is not abusive to them so I always wondered why they lose snap. I haven't had that happen on any sak's of mine but I also don't have any wengers.
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I don’t know if this is true about your Dad’s but I find that I don’t baby my SAK knives like I might some of my others. I throw them in any pocket or backpack. I use them on anything and everything and then don’t clean them as well as I should. Simply put, they get dirty. It’s actually a testament to how well they’re made that all they get is a lazy blade. A good cleaning in hot soapy water, maybe WD40 and then some compressed air, along with a little oil and mine is as good as new.
 
joeradza said:
I don’t know if this is true about your Dad’s but I find that I don’t baby my SAK knives like I might some of my others. I throw them in any pocket or backpack. I use them on anything and everything and then don’t clean them as well as I should. Simply put, they get dirty. It’s actually a testament to how well they’re made that all they get is a lazy blade. A good cleaning in hot soapy water, maybe WD40 and then some compressed air, along with a little oil and mine is as good as new.
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He doesn't baby his knife but he takes good care of his tools. I eventually got him to be more careful with treatment of his edge since I'm always sharpening for him. I have tried everything I know and I can't bring the snap on those knives back, doesn't seem to bother him though. If it were mine I would have thrown it by the wayside long ago.
 
TheChunk91 said:
He doesn't baby his knife but he takes good care of his tools. I eventually got him to be more careful with treatment of his edge since I'm always sharpening for him. I have tried everything I know and I can't bring the snap on those knives back, doesn't seem to bother him though. If it were mine I would have thrown it by the wayside long ago.
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Oh well it was just a thought. Mine seem to get 'gunked' up more than usual.
 
I had a corkscrew stretch out , probly not the fault of the knife in that case .
It opened a lot if bottles before that happened .
Sent it back and they repaired it no problems
 
My only issue with SAKs, Victorinox in particular, is with the relative vulnerability of their cellidor covers to damage by solvents like isopropyl alcohol. In this day & age, a more durable material could be used (Delrin, etc) for this, which wouldn't be as susceptible to damage by common household solvents. I've had more than one Vic SAK wind up with distorted or warped cellidor covers after absent-mindedly wiping them down with IPA, or using IPA to flush moisture out of them. And once the cover is distorted or warped, other issues surface, like a loosening of the cover's hold on the toothpick, which risks being lost because it won't stay in place. I even had one with an embossed, perfect print of my thumb on the cover, after it'd been softened by IPA.

This is the sort of thing I consider a defect of design/engineering, as opposed to just a manufacturing goof. I realize the cellidor covers are integral to the history of Victorinox SAKs; but, I keep wishing they'd upgrade it for something a little more robust.
 
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Obsessed with Edges said:
My only issue with SAKs, Victorinox in particular, is with the relative vulnerability of their cellidor covers to damage by solvents like isopropyl alcohol. In this day & age, a more durable material could be used (Delrin, etc) for this, which wouldn't be as susceptible to damage by common household solvents. I've had more than one Vic SAK wind up with distorted or warped cellidor covers after absent-mindedly wiping them down with IPA, or using IPA to flush moisture out of them. And once the cover is distorted or warped, other issues surface, like a loosening of the cover's hold on the toothpick, which risks being lost because it won't stay in place. I even had one with an embossed, perfect print of my thumb on the cover, after it'd been softened by IPA.

This is the sort of thing I consider a defect of design/engineering, as opposed to just a manufacturing goof. I realize the cellidor covers are integral to the history of Victorinox SAKs; but, I keep wishing they'd upgrade it for something a little more robust.
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:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
I wish it was possible to like a post more than once. I'd give this one a plus 250. Easy.

The plastic scales have always been a sore point with me, and way I prefer the alox like the pioneer and cadet in any SAK bigger than a 58mm. The last cellidor scaled SAK I had, dropped from my pants pocket at mid thigh level while I was getting dressed one morning and a full 1/3 of the scale broke off on the bathroom floor. The old cellidor was bad enough for chemical damage, but somewhere in the past several years Victorinox made the newer plastic scales a hollow casting to save money. When my SAK handle broke off, it was right over the 'hollow' spot and I saw the material was tissue thin. I guess Victorinox didn't mind giving the customers a more fragile product so they could save a bit of money on material.

With all kinds of synthetic material on the market, Victorinox needs to step up and put a more durable material on the SAK's instead of a dated material that has been thinned down and made even more fragile. Even going back to the solid cellidor would be an improvement. I never had an old SAK break a scale like the new stuff if dropped.
 
I have a Victorinox, Tinker, I think, with the Swiss cross on the wrong side. Other than that, I’ve never seen a defective SAK.
 
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