Impressive...most impressive...

Thank you for this video!

But honestly, I am not surprised much by the results. The knife industry has taken a lesson form the automobile industry, and the gun industry and others. That is the over dose of hype, smoke and mirrors, and sheer bull hockey for the sake of increased sales. All the new wonder steels of the month are not designed for your benefit, but for the artificially stimulated sales. They know that the dyed in the wool knife nuts if offered a "new" and better steel, will rush out to buy it, no matter if they already have a half dozen knives that will do the job. This means money for the knife company and money for the maker of the "new" wonder steel of the month. Its a cheap racket.

I've been using SAK's since 1969, and while I went through my insane knife nut stage in my 30's and 40's, It all faded for me when I finally realized that none of the wonder knives I had bought including Randall's, and other high end respected customs, simple did the job better than a SAK or my Buck knife. In fact, one fall hunt, it became clear my Randall small hunter was out cut by my friend's little Swedish Mora.

Think ab out this; back in the 1800's, those carbon steel butcher knives that were shipped west to be sold at frontier trading posts were such a simple step that the SAK steel is a wonder steel by comparison. BUT...they skinned everything from beaver to grizzly, and cut wood for shelter and lento's, cut everything the old mountain man needed. Same for the plain old Russell's Barlow knives a generation later. No fancy steel there, but they got it done. Now the modern knife nut thinks of he doesn't have the magnacut or ABC, or XYZ, or whatever wonder steel the knife manufactures and their shills, the knife magazines, are pushing, they are under knifed.

It's nice to see a real world view and test like this. For most my life, I've had a SAK in the pocket teamed up with a Buck 301 stockman, or a Case peanut in either CV or True Sharp, and so far I've cut everything I needed.
 
I saw this vid in my feed.
My first thought was: "Doesn't VIC use 1.1441 KRUPP for their blade steel?"
I did notice Sir Filex did say "1441" for the SAK blade steel in the vid.
(difficult to believe "1.1440"was a typo, considering the location of the "1" and "0" keys ... at least on the keyboards i r used to.
R the keyboards in his location laid out differently?)

I never heard of 1.1440 (AKA: "X55CrMo14" according to a websearch.)
Apparently 1.1440 has a Cr content of 0.60 to 0.75%.
The Cr for 1.1441 is "Max. O.08%" (which I presume is a typo. 🙄 0.08% carbon is LOW carbon. 1.1441 is a HIGH carbon steel. Several Euro knife makers, including PUMA use 1.1441 Krupp for their blades. I doubt a high end knife company like PUMA would use a low carbon steel blade. 🙄)

Not surprising the simpler steel held up.
Tho IMHO 36° inclusive is a bit ... obtuse ... I wonder how much better the SAK would have done at say 22 to 25° inclusive.
The keener the edge angle, the longer thee blade stays "sharp" ... or "usable" if you prefer.

I have D2, "M360" (allegedly M360, anyway), CPM154, S-30V, and (on/in a 70th Anniversary Buck 110) MagnaCut blades.
My most carried are 1095, 440A, and 420HC. I've never felt "under knifed" when using the simple steels.
 
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.6-.8 is low or medium carbon depending on the source definition. I don't think anyone defines that as high.
 
Victorinox steel is very good,but they should have options in 14c28,which is also easy to sharpen,very durable and holds edge little better...
 
It's a good video and points out why I feel people often over estimate their needs. That said, on a short enough test everything will appear to be equal. See other longer test to get a better understanding of how steels perform relative to each other. My SAKs were never edge holding kings, by any stretch.
 
SharpBits said:
It's a good video and points out why I feel people often over estimate their needs. That said, on a short enough test everything will appear to be equal. See other longer test to get a better understanding of how steels perform relative to each other. My SAKs were never edge holding kings, by any stretch.
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Yes!

I think it's a human trait we constantly over estimate what we need to get it done. No matter if it's the knife nut that thinks we need a 8 inch blade made out of some miracle metal capable of chopping down a giant redwood or prying open a tank hatch or the deer hunter who thinks he needs a .338 Lapua.

As for long term tests, in the 57 years I've been using SAK's, and that incudes some hunting in my younger days, lots of camping both backpacking and canoe camping, and everyday life raising three kids and working as a machinist, I've yet to have a SAK come up short. Thats why I the end, I ended up going totally SAK.
 
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Victorinox uses DIN 1.4110 stainless steel. It's extremely corrosion resistant, extremely tough, and easy to sharpen. It's not capable of extreme hardness or extreme edge retention and wear resistance, but it's more than good enough for a hard-use field expedient tool, which is what a Swiss Army Knife was always intended to be, in the first place.

As I always say, a knife is only as good as it is sharp, and in the field, toughness, corrosion resistance, and ease of sharpening with field-expedient sharpening tools and methods are the most important considerations.

Younger folks who never owned a knife before the late 1990s tend to disdain the old standbys, but those of us who are older have used for decades to very good effect the steels that are today looked down upon as being "budget" or "low grade" steels, compared to modern, exotic powder metallurgy steels.

That video was a pleasure to watch, because it confirms what I already knew, but very few believed.
 
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ShaiHulud said:
This is why I dont feel victorinox has to rush and jump on the super steel groupie bus. They have zeroed in on their edge geometry and heat treatment and turned it into a scientific art
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True to a very great degree! But, also Victorinox has another thing going for it; Name brand recognition world wide. It's right up there with coca-cola, Exon, Bic. This is not to be taken lightly. Consider how many people, actually the bulk of people these days that do not even carry a knife. The bulk of humanity in most urban/suburban areas of the world, don'y bother to carry a knife because it's just not that important. To us it is, BUT...we are the 1% of humanity that is the neurotically obsessed knife nuts who care about blade steel, or sturdy blade locks that will pry open a tank hatch or double for a broadsword. Most knife users of the world are only interested in "good enough", and looking in the knife drawer most peoples kitchens will bear that out. Heck, most tradesmen these days don't even bother with a real knife, they just use a 6.99 husky or Stanley utility knife. Gets dull, just put a new blade in.

So, of the average member of the great unwashed masses who gets the idea he needs a pocket knife for the upcoming camping trip or picnic, or hiking/birdwathcing trip, he walks into a sports store, sees all the similar looking life in the case with prices of 100 dollars and up, with names he has no recognition of, and then sees the SAK's. 'Hey" he thinks, "I know Swiss Army Knives, they'er supposed to be good. Heck they even had a TV show they stared in." So he buys a SAK at a small fraction of the price of one hand wonder tactical knives with XYZ1234 wonder steel, and he's happy. It opens snack wrappers, pops bottle tops, cuts what he needs to cut, and costs what a chain restaurant lunch for two would be. It works, he's happy, and it didn't cost what the knife the guy at work talks about that has no use other than cutting.

Victorinox is the Bic pen of pocket knives. They would be very foolish to kill that market nitch.
 
All above good points. People arent buying a 150$+&^ knife because they need an indispensable tool, if they need one for a trade or craft or the like they will go with what they recognize and heard of and victorinox achieved that over the last century or so. Back then when there were only slipjoints and fixed blades "everyone" didnt walk around with a fixed blade because of the what if, sure, some did I'll bet, but ill also bet most just grabbed one the ubiquitous easily affordable jack knives or single blade folding knives for the "good enough", and they lived much rougher lives than most people today.
In my opinion the mistake is think victorinox is playing with is dabbling in the modern knife market with the implementation of the pocket clip on the synergy (and maybe the model itself) due to brand recognition amd being all over the place from inside submarines to Everest, to space, they dont really need to compete super hard with the ocean of super steels and locks because among other reasons, they also have one thing the other knives don't have: tools
And I can tell you the other folks who carry pocket tanks also carry saks, often at the same time
 
jackknife said:
True to a very great degree! But, also Victorinox has another thing going for it; Name brand recognition world wide. It's right up there with coca-cola, Exon, Bic. This is not to be taken lightly.
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These comments in your post remind me of the last two SAKs that I purchased. I bought both of them at brick & mortar stores here in town. Both cashiers were elderly women. Most likely working part time in their retirement.

The cashier at Scheels said “Every boy should have one’’. The cashier at Menards said “Mcgyver’s favorite tool”.

It caught my attention that both of them felt compelled to comment. They could have simply said nothing.
 
Railsplitter said:
These comments in your post remind me of the last two SAKs that I purchased. I bought both of them at brick & mortar stores here in town. Both cashiers were elderly women. Most likely working part time in their retirement.

The cashier at Scheels said “Every boy should have one’’. The cashier at Menards said “Mcgyver’s favorite tool”.

It caught my attention that both of them felt compelled to comment. They could have simply said nothing.
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Thats what I mean. Theres not that many products I can ahem that no matter where in the world you are, will have instant recognition. Like Bic. I am a pipe smoker and need a lighter that really works. I love Bic's because they are reliable, and I can see how much fuel is left in them so I know when to buy another on standby. I'v had no trouble finding Bic lighters in Canada's maritime provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, the U.K,, France, and Costa Rica. SAk's are like that, a world wide reputation for reliable performance at a decent price. I've used a SAk in the U.k., France, Germanywith the only recognition is one of a positive note on it being the "Swiss Army knife".

Here's a true incident; We know the U.K. has some of the most restrictive knife laws. But in June of 1997, my wife and I were in England just touring around. One nice sunny day, that one in five days where the sun comes out and it's just soooo green and beautiful, we had an impromptu picnic in Hyde Park in London. Had some bread and cheese, a thermos of Earl Gray Tea, some cookies that they call biscuits over there. We were on a nice bench with a view of the Thames River that winds through London. While we're eating and drinking some tea, my SAK, a spartan, was laying on the bench open as I had just sliced some cheese. A pair of Bobbies walked by and looked us over and one commented, "Ah, a Swiss Army knife, handy little items aren't they?" with a smile. That was it. One of The London Met's finest smiled in approval at a SAK in the heart of one of the most knife restrictive places in Europe. Somehow, I have a have a hunch that if it had been a spyderco or bench made or such, the reaction may have been different.

SAK, the pocket knife that if it gets any attention, its positive.
 
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jackknife said:
True to a very great degree! But, also Victorinox has another thing going for it; Name brand recognition world wide. It's right up there with coca-cola, Exon, Bic. This is not to be taken lightly. Consider how many people, actually the bulk of people these days that do not even carry a knife. The bulk of humanity in most urban/suburban areas of the world, don'y bother to carry a knife because it's just not that important. To us it is, BUT...we are the 1% of humanity that is the neurotically obsessed knife nuts who care about blade steel, or sturdy blade locks that will pry open a tank hatch or double for a broadsword. Most knife users of the world are only interested in "good enough", and looking in the knife drawer most peoples kitchens will bear that out. Heck, most tradesmen these days don't even bother with a real knife, they just use a 6.99 husky or Stanley utility knife. Gets dull, just put a new blade in.

So, of the average member of the great unwashed masses who gets the idea he needs a pocket knife for the upcoming camping trip or picnic, or hiking/birdwathcing trip, he walks into a sports store, sees all the similar looking life in the case with prices of 100 dollars and up, with names he has no recognition of, and then sees the SAK's. 'Hey" he thinks, "I know Swiss Army Knives, they'er supposed to be good. Heck they even had a TV show they stared in." So he buys a SAK at a small fraction of the price of one hand wonder tactical knives with XYZ1234 wonder steel, and he's happy. It opens snack wrappers, pops bottle tops, cuts what he needs to cut, and costs what a chain restaurant lunch for two would be. It works, he's happy, and it didn't cost what the knife the guy at work talks about that has no use other than cutting.

Victorinox is the Bic pen of pocket knives. They would be very foolish to kill that market nitch.
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I love my modern wonder tacticals with magic steel, as much as I adore my classic knives with basic steels. I've worked some jobs where edge retention was a big deal to me, for instance I was a hunting guide in southern Argentina and sometimes had to go through dozens of boars and deer. Some of the guys who worked with me used basic carbon steel knives and took little sharpening breaks, not a big deal. I just prefered a blade that could go on cutting all day long. Other than very specific situations like that, a SAK and a Mora can probably handle all my needs just fine.

I agree wholeheartedly about SAKs being fantastic for people who just want a decent pocket knife and aren't into our hobby. I own a tattoo parlour and also work with art galleries and museums. A lot of the artists and curators who work with me have seen me use SAKs or other multitools when setting up shows, fixing stuff, etc. and have begun to buy their own. Usually simple single or double layer models (SAKs are pricey when compared to most Argentine salaries). They trust the brand, find it handy and know that they can use them anywhere.
 
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