Lessons of the Swiss army knife

S

ShaiHulud

Joined
Jul 21, 2022
Messages
1,178
As I heard it been said, it doesn't have to be long, just sharp. I have found that the swiss army knife is a wise teacher, it's humbling in it's lessons, and giving in it's knowledge. It can perform penetrative and puncturing jobs when done carefully, and it can complete a mariad of tasks others seek after a locking knife to do, again - when done carefully.
This isnt a lecture, rather a compilation based on experiences. I have found great use in the small swiss army knife blade found on some models, the pen blade on the classic, just as much. The large blade on these models do what I feel I shouldn't insist on the pen blade to perform --- so of these two blades, I find they "do it all" [for me] a Spartan and a classic, i dont need a 100$+ dedicated folder. I only wished I learned this I'm my early 20s, because I'd have so much for money now and I have a lot of regret in that instance, but it's what I paid for in exchange for the lessons it taught me.
Any stories/lessons of your own?
 
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Mine taught me a lesson, just 35 years too late…

In retrospect, my Fieldmaster would have been the perfect companion for barracks life. Having just a few personal items, and no access to civil society to acquire more, meant lots of making-do, and struggling with small mundane personal tasks. Poking, prying, scraping, cutting, screw-driving - everything got done with a knife blade, or whatever one happened to have on hand. I think about this each time I reach for mine for some small task around the house.

Having a larger locking knife would still have been important to have, especially for meal prep and camp chores during extended periods out in the field. I never felt under-knifed in the field with just my Case Mako lockback, but if I had to do it all over again, I would definitely make sure to have a Swiss-Army style knife, if only just to keep in my locker on base.
 
Over a lifetime, I've had several lesions of the SAK. Some just small repairs for convenience, some a bit more important. A few of those lessons come to mind.

We were on vacation in Key West one time, and my son-in-law and I went fishing. far from home, a rented boat and gear, what could go wrong? Yeah.

We get out on the Florida straits, and the little outboard on the stern is running a bit rough. But it gets us out there so we go to fish. We have bait, rods, and some tackle in the rented boat. One of the reels is non functioning due to being gummed up and neglected. I'm a little pissed, but it happens. Soooo, take out the little classic I had mailed to myself where we were staying at the Southernmost Guest House, and go forward. Take out the little Phillips screws and dig out gunk jamming up the little gears. Use the SD tip, and the tweezers to scrape out and a bit of rag with some gasoline on it.

Get the thing cleaned out, take the golf pencil I always carry to take notes on a bit of paper folded up in my wallet, and use the knife blade to scrape off some graphite to use as dry lubricant, seal up the reel and replace the screws and fish. Vacation saved, so we thought. Catch some nice bonefish out on the flats for dinner when we meet up with the girls that evening, and after a few hours start home.

Pull starter and motor grumbles very grudgingly to life. Then quits. Pull again and serval more times, get some seconds of sputtering and then nothing. Key West is 90 miles from Havana, but at this point its a blue line on the horizon. Havana is maybe 86 or 87 miles now. Soooo...

Take off motor cover, use SD tip to take off carburetor housing and find a gunked up carb. Being a pipe smoker, I always have a few pipe cleaners folded in half tucked in my tobacco pouch. Ungunk the fuel intake, and check the gas can/tank sitting in the bottom of the stern. Dirty fuel left over form the Spanish American war. Use classic blade to cut off a corner of bandana to fold over and secure of the fuel intake with fishing line as a makeshift fuel filter. We make our way back toward key West, and by this time I'm in a fine Irish Temper. Give the rental place hell, and I dump some of the gas right out on the cement in front of the office to show the idiot the contaminated gas, and how I used a bandana for a gas filter. Then I give him hell over the fishing reel that I had to work on, while on a fairly expensive vacation, in which I had no plans to end up in Cuban territorial waters. He ends up apologizing and giving us a very deep discount and we accepted. After all, we did come back with some some nice fish for the grill out by the patio.

But...some nice big knife with a blade, no matter what kind of lock, would have been totally useless. Out on the water, some miles from and, we had what was on us. That was it. Yes, a nice sharp blade was needed, but more importably, Phillips driving ability was needed more. Tool as well as knife. Drifting away from land was a sobering experience. If we missed Cuba, the next stop, if we survived that long, was Venezuela or Columbia the other side of the Caribbean.

It was a valuable lesson of having a small tool that is ALWAYS on you. My old man told me that once you go out your front door in the morning, you never know what you will run into before you will make it home again. Carry few things with you that fit into your lifestyle. A sharp little blade is handy, but with the world we live in, some tool capability is needed. A dedicated knife is too useless in general. Most of us are not commandos, SEAL's, secret squirrels, or jungle guides. We need to open a package, cut a pice of sting, trim a rough nail, pluck a splinter, or dig a burr out from between the dogs paw pads. All of which a large lock blade knife is totally useless for. And for cutting open those packagers, some miracle steel of the month is just not needed. In fact, I like a steel that I can, when needed, strop on the bottom of a coffee mug after breakfast.

I only wish I'd learned all that while I was still young. Could have saved myself a lot of money on the silly knife collecting thing.
 
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jackknife said:
Over a lifetime, I've had several lesions of the SAK. Some just small repairs for convenience, some a bit more important. A few of those lessons come to mind.

We were on vacation in Key West one time, and my son-in-law and I went fishing. far from home, a rented boat and gear, what could go wrong? Yeah.

We get out on the Florida straits, and the little outboard on the stern is running a bit rough. But it gets us out there so we go to fish. We have bait, rods, and some tackle in the rented boat. One of the reels is non functioning due to being gummed up and neglected. I'm a little pissed, but it happens. Soooo, take out the little classic I had mailed to myself where we were staying at the Southernmost Guest House, and go forward. Take out the little Phillips screws and dig out gunk jamming up the little gears. Use the SD tip, and the tweezers to scrape out and a bit of rag with some gasoline on it.

Get the thing cleaned out, take the golf pencil I always carry to take notes on a bit of paper folded up in my wallet, and use the knife blade to scrape off some graphite to use as dry lubricant, seal up the reel and replace the screws and fish. Vacation saved, so we thought. Catch some nice bonefish out on the flats for dinner when we meet up with the girls that evening, and after a few hours start home.

Pull starter and motor grumbles very grudgingly to life. Then quits. Pull again and serval more times, get some seconds of sputtering and then nothing. Key West is 90 miles from Havana, but at this point its a blue line on the horizon. Havana is maybe 86 or 87 miles now. Soooo...

Take off motor cover, use SD tip to take off carburetor housing and find a gunked up carb. Being a pipe smoker, I always have a few pipe cleaners folded in half tucked in my tobacco pouch. Ungunk the fuel intake, and check the gas can/tank sitting in the bottom of the stern. Dirty fuel left over form the Spanish American war. Use classic blade to cut off a corner of bandana to fold over and secure of the fuel intake with fishing line as a makeshift fuel filter. We make our way back toward key West, and by this time I'm in a fine Irish Temper. Give the rental place hell, and I dump some of the gas right out on the cement in front of the office to show the idiot the contaminated gas, and how I used a bandana for a gas filter. Then I give him hell over the fishing reel that I had to work on, while on a fairly expensive vacation, in which I had no plans to end up in Cuban territorial waters. He ends up apologizing and giving us a very deep discount and we accepted. After all, we did come back with some some nice fish for the grill out by the patio.

But...some nice big knife with a blade, no matter what kind of lock, would have been totally useless. Out on the water, some miles from and, we had what was on us. That was it. Yes, a nice sharp blade was needed, but more importably, Phillips driving ability was needed more. Tool as well as knife. Drifting away from land was a sobering experience. If we missed Cuba, the next stop, if we survived that long, was Venezuela or Columbia the other side of the Caribbean.

It was a valuable lesson of having a small tool that is ALWAYS on you. My old man told me that once you go out your front door in the morning, you never know what you will run into before you will make it home again. Carry few things with you that fit into your lifestyle. A sharp little blade is handy, but with the world we live in, some tool capability is needed. A dedicated knife is too useless in general. Most of us are not commandos, SEAL's, secret squirrels, or jungle guides. We need to open a package, cut a pice of sting, trim a rough nail, pluck a splinter, or dig a burr out from between the dogs paw pads. All of which a large lock blade knife is totally useless for. And for cutting open those packagers, some miracle steel of the month is just not needed. In fact, I like a steel that I can, when needed, strop on the bottom of a coffee mug after breakfast.

I only wish I'd learned all that while I was still young. Could have saved myself a lot of money on the silly knife collecting thing.
Click to expand...
When I carried a large locking knife, by large I don't mean what people here or there carry but, say a kershaw, they're generally 3 to 3.5. They are not monsters, but they also don't arrive very sharp, so it takes some doing to get them to swiss army standards but even then they aren't. I find now that a swiss army knife classic, or esquire, really --- have to be apart of the load out. At first I fought it but I found the little pen blade did more cutting than my other dedicated folders unless I went out of my way to ignore the classic, like a child giving someone (thing) with more wisdom the silent treatment for rebellious sake. I now have only small blades. None under 3 inches and I made sure of that, with the exception of a generous gift from a well known individual here, which I believe is 3 inches. Having a Spartan or tinker, a micra (on order) and a classic I do not find I'm missing out on the latest and greatest over pricest benchmade or spyderco
 
Not as cool as Jackknife’s story, but 2 stories come to mind for me. The first was about 7 years ago. My family and I were South of Cancun on vacation and my oldest who was 13 at the time got a pretty big splinter in his foot. I had my SAK Compact with me and was able to use the needle and tweezers to remove the splinter after sterilizing the needle with the small bic lighter I also had on me. I guess it did sort of save the day.

The second story has actually happened multiple times. While on vacation at a VRBO, I used the Compacts blade for food prep as the kitchen knives at our place will rarely cut hot butter.

You don’t always have to carry the larger size SAK with needle in the handle, but I would always carry some type of a needle on me with a pockey piece of wire. A safety pin and a paperclip will work just fine. Carry those two things in your wallet, a small bic lighter, and a SAK classic/rambler…there isn’t much you can’t do in a pinch.

But thinking back, my Compact has been a good friend….

On a side note, a new watch arrived today. Not saying I’ll sell my “nicer watches” but I am going to wear this new watch daily. Part of my continued simplification process. A $36 Analog Timex Expedition Scout with Indiglo. Black Case with olive nato strap. It may not be an auto or solar powered or a nice wind up watch…I’m guessing the battery will only last 3 years, but…it tells time, tells the date, lights up at night, feels comfortable, and I won’t be afraid to wear it while working on the car, garden, etc. Timex and Casio are the SAK of the watch world.

Time to go work on that garden…
 
I don't have any cool stories like J jackknife , but I carry an SAK almost everyday. I usually use all the tools except for the main blade. I use the scissors the most, followed by the bottle opener and can opener. My biggest issue with an SAK is the handles are too short for my XL/XXL hands, but I'm not using them for an extended period of time.
 
shopdoc said:
...On a side note, a new watch arrived today. Not saying I’ll sell my “nicer watches” but I am going to wear this new watch daily. Part of my continued simplification process. A $36 Analog Timex Expedition Scout with Indiglo. Black Case with olive nato strap. It may not be an auto or solar powered or a nice wind up watch…I’m guessing the battery will only last 3 years, but…it tells time, tells the date, lights up at night, feels comfortable, and I won’t be afraid to wear it while working on the car, garden, etc. Timex and Casio are the SAK of the watch world...
Click to expand...
Was right with you until you mentioned Casio. Had two of those, won't buy any more. Neither was treated roughly. Both died after a year. Both times had to hunt for the one jeweler in town (first one went out of business) who had the proprietary drivers so I could have the batteries replaced. In both instances the batteries were fine; the watches themselves were dead. Went back to Timex and haven't looked back since. These days I don't even bother with a watch at all.
 
Tafkaag said:
Was right with you until you mentioned Casio. Had two of those, won't buy any more. Neither was treated roughly. Both died after a year. Both times had to hunt for the one jeweler in town (first one went out of business) who had the proprietary drivers so I could have the batteries replaced. In both instances the batteries were fine; the watches themselves were dead. Went back to Timex and haven't looked back since. These days I don't even bother with a watch at all.
Click to expand...
That stinks. The two Casios that I wear are solar protreks. One of them I’ve had for over 10 years and still works great. Ill admit, most days a watch is not needed but I still feel weird without one.
 
jackknife said:
Over a lifetime, I've had several lesions of the SAK. Some just small repairs for convenience, some a bit more important. A few of those lessons come to mind.

We were on vacation in Key West one time, and my son-in-law and I went fishing. far from home, a rented boat and gear, what could go wrong? Yeah.

We get out on the Florida straits, and the little outboard on the stern is running a bit rough. But it gets us out there so we go to fish. We have bait, rods, and some tackle in the rented boat. One of the reels is non functioning due to being gummed up and neglected. I'm a little pissed, but it happens. Soooo, take out the little classic I had mailed to myself where we were staying at the Southernmost Guest House, and go forward. Take out the little Phillips screws and dig out gunk jamming up the little gears. Use the SD tip, and the tweezers to scrape out and a bit of rag with some gasoline on it.

Get the thing cleaned out, take the golf pencil I always carry to take notes on a bit of paper folded up in my wallet, and use the knife blade to scrape off some graphite to use as dry lubricant, seal up the reel and replace the screws and fish. Vacation saved, so we thought. Catch some nice bonefish out on the flats for dinner when we meet up with the girls that evening, and after a few hours start home.

Pull starter and motor grumbles very grudgingly to life. Then quits. Pull again and serval more times, get some seconds of sputtering and then nothing. Key West is 90 miles from Havana, but at this point its a blue line on the horizon. Havana is maybe 86 or 87 miles now. Soooo...

Take off motor cover, use SD tip to take off carburetor housing and find a gunked up carb. Being a pipe smoker, I always have a few pipe cleaners folded in half tucked in my tobacco pouch. Ungunk the fuel intake, and check the gas can/tank sitting in the bottom of the stern. Dirty fuel left over form the Spanish American war. Use classic blade to cut off a corner of bandana to fold over and secure of the fuel intake with fishing line as a makeshift fuel filter. We make our way back toward key West, and by this time I'm in a fine Irish Temper. Give the rental place hell, and I dump some of the gas right out on the cement in front of the office to show the idiot the contaminated gas, and how I used a bandana for a gas filter. Then I give him hell over the fishing reel that I had to work on, while on a fairly expensive vacation, in which I had no plans to end up in Cuban territorial waters. He ends up apologizing and giving us a very deep discount and we accepted. After all, we did come back with some some nice fish for the grill out by the patio.

But...some nice big knife with a blade, no matter what kind of lock, would have been totally useless. Out on the water, some miles from and, we had what was on us. That was it. Yes, a nice sharp blade was needed, but more importably, Phillips driving ability was needed more. Tool as well as knife. Drifting away from land was a sobering experience. If we missed Cuba, the next stop, if we survived that long, was Venezuela or Columbia the other side of the Caribbean.

It was a valuable lesson of having a small tool that is ALWAYS on you. My old man told me that once you go out your front door in the morning, you never know what you will run into before you will make it home again. Carry few things with you that fit into your lifestyle. A sharp little blade is handy, but with the world we live in, some tool capability is needed. A dedicated knife is too useless in general. Most of us are not commandos, SEAL's, secret squirrels, or jungle guides. We need to open a package, cut a pice of sting, trim a rough nail, pluck a splinter, or dig a burr out from between the dogs paw pads. All of which a large lock blade knife is totally useless for. And for cutting open those packagers, some miracle steel of the month is just not needed. In fact, I like a steel that I can, when needed, strop on the bottom of a coffee mug after breakfast.

I only wish I'd learned all that while I was still young. Could have saved myself a lot of money on the silly knife collecting thing.
Click to expand...
Out on a boat off the coast of Key West, pipe in hand, fishing for bonefish…what a great day! I mean minus the part where you almost ended up on a deserted island talking to a volleyball named Wilson.

I hope everyone learned a very valuable lesson from this post. Smoking a pipe saves lives! Without those pipe cleaners, things may have ended up differently…
 
shopdoc said:
Not as cool as Jackknife’s story, but 2 stories come to mind for me. The first was about 7 years ago. My family and I were South of Cancun on vacation and my oldest who was 13 at the time got a pretty big splinter in his foot. I had my SAK Compact with me and was able to use the needle and tweezers to remove the splinter after sterilizing the needle with the small bic lighter I also had on me. I guess it did sort of save the day.

The second story has actually happened multiple times. While on vacation at a VRBO, I used the Compacts blade for food prep as the kitchen knives at our place will rarely cut hot butter.

You don’t always have to carry the larger size SAK with needle in the handle, but I would always carry some type of a needle on me with a pockey piece of wire. A safety pin and a paperclip will work just fine. Carry those two things in your wallet, a small bic lighter, and a SAK classic/rambler…there isn’t much you can’t do in a pinch.

But thinking back, my Compact has been a good friend….

On a side note, a new watch arrived today. Not saying I’ll sell my “nicer watches” but I am going to wear this new watch daily. Part of my continued simplification process. A $36 Analog Timex Expedition Scout with Indiglo. Black Case with olive nato strap. It may not be an auto or solar powered or a nice wind up watch…I’m guessing the battery will only last 3 years, but…it tells time, tells the date, lights up at night, feels comfortable, and I won’t be afraid to wear it while working on the car, garden, etc. Timex and Casio are the SAK of the watch world.

Time to go work on that garden…
Click to expand...
I carry a Spartan every day... Doesn't do most of my cutting but when you need to dig out a splinter, the Lander 2 is a bit large...lol. constantly tightening screws around the house with it and taking things apart at labs when I test products.
I'm interested to hear about your experience with the Timex... I have had one for 3 years now, had to send it to the Philippines for warranty work and the indigo stopped working both times within a month.... Timex has gone downhill badly IMHO. Hopefully yours is better than mine.
 
shopdoc said:
Out on a boat off the coast of Key West, pipe in hand, fishing for bonefish…what a great day! I mean minus the part where you almost ended up on a deserted island talking to a volleyball named Wilson.

I hope everyone learned a very valuable lesson from this post. Smoking a pipe saves lives! Without those pipe cleaners, things may have ended up differently…
Click to expand...
I don't know about a deserted island, but the wind was blowing us south, and south of Key West is Havana. At the worst, after Cuban customs cleared up how we got there, maybe some nice real Cuban cigars, some good rum, some Cuban jazz like the buena Vista Social club? Maybe I should have let nature take its course? 🤨
 
Brian_in_indiana said:
I carry a Spartan every day... Doesn't do most of my cutting but when you need to dig out a splinter, the Lander 2 is a bit large...lol. constantly tightening screws around the house with it and taking things apart at labs when I test products.
I'm interested to hear about your experience with the Timex... I have had one for 3 years now, had to send it to the Philippines for warranty work and the indigo stopped working both times within a month.... Timex has gone downhill badly IMHO. Hopefully yours is better than mine.
Click to expand...
Ill let you know. Fingers crossed.
Most of my patients are 65 plus. I always see what is on their wrist and the great majority have a Timex on. Im always excited when I see something besides an apple watch (what my younger patients wear for the most part).

I also ask about pocket knives of course. My favorite patient is in his mid/late 90s. WW2 vet with some fascinating stories. When I asked him he laughed and said “A knife? Oh, just my little Swiss Army pocket knife”. You could tell he was not a knife guy but did have a classic in his pocket.

Not to get too far off topic but a couple of his stories. Mind you, this little old man is 5’6” and only weighs 150 pounds. Comes in dressed very nice every visit with his fedora with a feather and his wife in arm with her little hat sitting to the side.

One story was how there were always two things they would get off the German soldiers. Chocolate and a dark bread. He told me the chocolate was this very hard dark chocolate with vitamins. So hard that he broke his tooth eating it. He told me it was hell trying to find a dentist, but eventually they found a German dentist in the basement where everyone lived since the upper levels of the homes were destroyed. He told me the entire time the dentist was working on him he had his gun pointed at the doctors belly because he didn’t trust him and sadly they were so used to killing by that point. I had been taking care of this man for years before he told me any stories, and it was so surreal hearing the stories from this sweet old man.

One other story was about walking across France and what a treat it was to find eggs at a French farm. They would cook them in their helmet
 
jackknife said:
I don't know about a deserted island, but the wind was blowing us south, and south of Key West is Havana. At the worst, after Cuban customs cleared up how we got there, maybe some nice real Cuban cigars, some good rum, some Cuban jazz like the buena Vista Social club? Maybe I should have let nature take its course? 🤨
Click to expand...
Good point! Maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to praise the Swiss Army Knives! Kept you from having a good time. 😂
 
jackknife said:
Over a lifetime, I've had several lesions of the SAK. Some just small repairs for convenience, some a bit more important. A few of those lessons come to mind.

We were on vacation in Key West one time, and my son-in-law and I went fishing. far from home, a rented boat and gear, what could go wrong? Yeah.

We get out on the Florida straits, and the little outboard on the stern is running a bit rough. But it gets us out there so we go to fish. We have bait, rods, and some tackle in the rented boat. One of the reels is non functioning due to being gummed up and neglected. I'm a little pissed, but it happens. Soooo, take out the little classic I had mailed to myself where we were staying at the Southernmost Guest House, and go forward. Take out the little Phillips screws and dig out gunk jamming up the little gears. Use the SD tip, and the tweezers to scrape out and a bit of rag with some gasoline on it.

Get the thing cleaned out, take the golf pencil I always carry to take notes on a bit of paper folded up in my wallet, and use the knife blade to scrape off some graphite to use as dry lubricant, seal up the reel and replace the screws and fish. Vacation saved, so we thought. Catch some nice bonefish out on the flats for dinner when we meet up with the girls that evening, and after a few hours start home.

Pull starter and motor grumbles very grudgingly to life. Then quits. Pull again and serval more times, get some seconds of sputtering and then nothing. Key West is 90 miles from Havana, but at this point its a blue line on the horizon. Havana is maybe 86 or 87 miles now. Soooo...

Take off motor cover, use SD tip to take off carburetor housing and find a gunked up carb. Being a pipe smoker, I always have a few pipe cleaners folded in half tucked in my tobacco pouch. Ungunk the fuel intake, and check the gas can/tank sitting in the bottom of the stern. Dirty fuel left over form the Spanish American war. Use classic blade to cut off a corner of bandana to fold over and secure of the fuel intake with fishing line as a makeshift fuel filter. We make our way back toward key West, and by this time I'm in a fine Irish Temper. Give the rental place hell, and I dump some of the gas right out on the cement in front of the office to show the idiot the contaminated gas, and how I used a bandana for a gas filter. Then I give him hell over the fishing reel that I had to work on, while on a fairly expensive vacation, in which I had no plans to end up in Cuban territorial waters. He ends up apologizing and giving us a very deep discount and we accepted. After all, we did come back with some some nice fish for the grill out by the patio.

But...some nice big knife with a blade, no matter what kind of lock, would have been totally useless. Out on the water, some miles from and, we had what was on us. That was it. Yes, a nice sharp blade was needed, but more importably, Phillips driving ability was needed more. Tool as well as knife. Drifting away from land was a sobering experience. If we missed Cuba, the next stop, if we survived that long, was Venezuela or Columbia the other side of the Caribbean.

It was a valuable lesson of having a small tool that is ALWAYS on you. My old man told me that once you go out your front door in the morning, you never know what you will run into before you will make it home again. Carry few things with you that fit into your lifestyle. A sharp little blade is handy, but with the world we live in, some tool capability is needed. A dedicated knife is too useless in general. Most of us are not commandos, SEAL's, secret squirrels, or jungle guides. We need to open a package, cut a pice of sting, trim a rough nail, pluck a splinter, or dig a burr out from between the dogs paw pads. All of which a large lock blade knife is totally useless for. And for cutting open those packagers, some miracle steel of the month is just not needed. In fact, I like a steel that I can, when needed, strop on the bottom of a coffee mug after breakfast.

I only wish I'd learned all that while I was still young. Could have saved myself a lot of money on the silly knife collecting thing.
Click to expand...
Very good bit of work there. Good on you.
 
I’d say I’m starting to learn from the SAK. I’ve had a classic on me for probably 3-4 years now, and I refuse to go without it. When I flew back home with only a carry on a while back, the first thing I did was buy a new classic for the month I was there. At the same time, I still love my locking folders, and always carry one as my primary knife. While those do get used more than the SAK, it’s usually for stuff like opening mail or cutting string, or just playing with. All of which can be done with a SAK. But when it actually comes time to need a tool, it’s not usually the big folder that’s needed. Once I find the SAK that’s best for me, I wouldn’t be surprised if I drift away from locking folders like jackknife drifted from the coast.
 
storyofmyknife said:
I’d say I’m starting to learn from the SAK. I’ve had a classic on me for probably 3-4 years now, and I refuse to go without it. When I flew back home with only a carry on a while back, the first thing I did was buy a new classic for the month I was there. At the same time, I still love my locking folders, and always carry one as my primary knife. While those do get used more than the SAK, it’s usually for stuff like opening mail or cutting string, or just playing with. All of which can be done with a SAK. But when it actually comes time to need a tool, it’s not usually the big folder that’s needed. Once I find the SAK that’s best for me, I wouldn’t be surprised if I drift away from locking folders like jackknife drifted from the coast.
Click to expand...

It was SAK's that made me drift away from all other knives in general. Over the years that I was a bonafide knife nut, time and time again I had need of a SAK, and so always had one in my bag, or in the glove box of the car, or in another pocket. Time and time again, the SAK saved me from some situation where nothing else would do because of the tool capacity. A conked out Vespa motor scooter on a dirt road a long walk from anywhere, a control grip of a electric trolling motor on a canoe come apart at the far end of a long and winding lake with a long paddle back home if I don't fix it, a conked out motor on a boat out on the Florida Straits, all situations where a dedicated knife would be as useless as tits on a boar hog.

As I went though the aging process of life, I just wanted to be having less stuff in my pocket. I grew more to appreciate the freedom of Maximum Minimalism. The freedom of having what you need with you, but not being weighted down. A lot of my love of this approach is rooted in my love of backpacking, but being partial disabled by some service related injuries to my right foot and ankle, so needing a cane and a very light pack. Under 30 pounds, more like 25 pounds. I needed to go ultra light backpacking if I was to continue my love of getting out there. Cutting corners like a monocular instead of even compact binoculars. A SAK in the pocket instead of a large locking blade folder that has less capability. Selling off the Randall 14 that had been my woods knife before the construction accident while serving in the army engineers. The big fixed blade was a ridiculous piece of gear, I just didn't realize it before.

Later, being married with children, the SAK became indispensable. With three small kids, there was a need to 'fix' something every single day. Small battery compartments needed to be opened, toys fixed, meals made on the run while out someplace. Hungry kids are an instant demand. The SAK opened cans, popped off bottle caps, sliced small dinner rolls for on the go sandwiches of deli meats or cheese. SAK scissors snip off straws that are too long sticking out of the sippy packs, or cutting open plastic packs of something for the kids. As the kids got older and learned to fish, there was a need for a small sharp knife by the river bank. There were splinters to be plucked out of little fingers, bandages to be trimmed out of the gauze pads for all the scrapes and owie's from playgrounds.

After is was all said and done, two of my three kids are devoted SAK carriers with no interest in any other knives. My Daughter, Jessica, carries a classic on her keys, and she is a fanatic. Won't even consider another pocket knife. My son, John, is as much a fanatic as anyone. He travels a lot for his job, Europe, South America, and has a classic that travels in his checked bag. Just too handy to go without.

Looking back on it all, I can say with total honesty, I never had need of any other knife for 99% of what I needed. Occasionally, it will be messy, so my old Buck 102 woodsman will clean fish, do camp cooking, where a folder would be hard to clean under field conditions. Any small fixed blade like the woodsman, a Mora, or even a Victorinox paring knife in a sheath would do. But the SAK in a pocket or on a keyring, will do for most of what people in urban/suburban environments will need.

My only regret is, that it took me so many years to drift away from the knife nut silliness.
 
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I agree with yalls lessons wholeheartedly. I find pliers to be a very useful tool that a SAK doesn't have and carry a leatherman surge to fill my pocket tools role. I also supplement others, like in the summer I carry a leatherman juice xe6 but I add a corkscrew eyeglass driver from a SAK and I add a pair of SAK tweezers I trimmed the plastic end off and slide it in under the serrated knife too. The juice is much more like a SAK with pliers. Although it is also perfectly ok to carry a regular knife in addition to a SAK, i always do. They are not mutually exclusive. Sometimes a larger knife is the better tool for the job and I leave my multitool of choice in my pocket.
 
And yes I realize I'm stirring the pot playing devils advocate. But sometimes these threads seem like you can't enjoy SAKs properly if you still own or use any other knives. I've owned 3 actual SAKs over the years and always found them to be useful but too much of a pain to dig out the blade with two hands using a nail nick. To me it fits more of a multitool role than a main knife roll.
 
elevator man said:
And yes I realize I'm stirring the pot playing devils advocate. But sometimes these threads seem like you can't enjoy SAKs properly if you still own or use any other knives. I've owned 3 actual SAKs over the years and always found them to be useful but too much of a pain to dig out the blade with two hands using a nail nick. To me it fits more of a multitool role than a main knife roll.
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That's why I did what I ultimately ended up doing. Redirecting my knife use entirely by switching to slipjoints. I only ever thanked the locking mechanism when I was doing something stupid, elsewise, if you use the knife as a knife, not as a hammer, screwdriver, chisel, axe, you'll find that you will fancy locking knives less and less. So away I did with all my folders with locks, I have a fixed blade to do what I shouldn't do with a swiss army, and believe me, the use differences isn't very much. Like others have said, "I'm not a bushcrafter, hunter, operative. I spent years convincing myself I need this or that just in case. Wish I didn't. Now all my knives are under 3 inches and don't have locks
 
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