Most useful (yet practical) Swiss Army Knife?

[King of the Cheese]

Which SAK do you personally find to be the most useful, balancing capability with practicality/ease of carry? You can choose from any of them, just would like to hear your thoughts as to why you chose a particular knife.

For me, I always have a classic SD or mini-champ on my keychain, and a cadet in my pocket. Sometimes I’ll carry a Spartan but if I had to pick “useful yet practical” in one knife, I’d go with the mini-champ. It has all of the essentials in a tiny package. I have the alox, but the version with tweezers and toothpick might be more “useful”.


Which would you pick?

 

[Hyesouljah]

I’d go with a Pioneer X. It’s the perfect size for just about anything and has all the most useful tools for me at least. Although the scissors aren’t as useful as you’d expect, maybe I just need to make them sharper

 

[awjones]

Always liked the Tinkerer, and Super Tinkerer, no use for a corkscrew

 

[91bravo]

Farmer for me.

 

[Enzo’s Woodshop]

I usually carry a Leatherman Wave+, but lately have been trying to use my SAKs more. For about three months I’ve been carrying a Victorinox Huntsman, which I bought a year or two ago. I prefer the Fieldmaster, which is the same thing but with a philips-head screwdriver instead of the corkscrew, but I bought this Huntsman instead because it features the logo of survivalist/woodsman/author Kevin Estela, who I have respect for.

Overall, I find the Fieldmaster/Huntsman array of tools to be the most optimal SAK setup for what I do. I only occasionally use the knife blade, and mostly use the SAK for its other tools.

I always have a sturdy fixed-blade with me. For the last few weeks that’s been my Buck 124 Frontiersman, and for the seven years prior to this, it’s been my Buck 119 Special. I pretty much exclusively use the fixed blade for cutting tasks, and the SAK blade only gets used occasionally, when there’s a reason to save my main blade from unnecessary heavy edge wear (ex. cutting sheets of sandpaper in my woodcarving shop, cutting down cardboard boxes, etc.). I use my fixed blade for extensive whittling on a daily basis, and like to maintain a hair-popping edge on it.

Below, I’ve included photos of the Huntsman I carry, along with the mid-1980s Huntsman my grandfather passed on to me when he died. You can see the range of tools this SAK includes, as well as some minor differences between the modern version and the mid-‘80s version.

 

[jbmonkey]

this one. has blades, saw, scissors, Phillips screw driver, flat head, can opener, bottle opener, toothpic, tweezers, hole punch not opened in pic and that hook thing for carrying string packages...that i dont care about. has every tool I use often and doesn't take up much room in the pocket, and that why I carry it.

dont remember which model it is..but I've owned bunch and this one stays in my pocket daily.

 

[Enzo’s Woodshop]

jbmonkey I believe that’s a Fieldmaster.

It’s like my Huntsman, but better (The Fieldmaster has that useful screwdriver in place of the Huntsman’s not-so-useful corkscrew).

 

[jbmonkey]

jbmonkey I believe that’s a Fieldmaster.

yep thats it.. thanks. I always just pick them by tools and never paid attention to the names.

since i looked it up and saw the names.....I used to carry the camper, but didn't have the scissors and Phillips head, and use them all the time, and had a corkscrew and didnt need that. so switched to this one years ago.

although the camper wasn't bad size wise either, just less tools i use and had ones I dont use.

also used to carry the climber, but fieldmaster has the saw and Phillips head and no corkscrew and that won me over.

 

[King of the Cheese]

I wonder.. does anyone use their tweezers and toothpick? I can’t remember ever using them on any of mine. Maybe that’s why alox wasn’t all that risky of a move for them?

 

[DocJD]

For hiking or advanced forest bathing : RangerGrip 178

Nice big locking blade and great 4" saw .

 

[Wild Willie]

For all of the perceived bulk, I have found the swisschamp to be my favorite pattern thus far. Rides fine in my lfp.

 

[Enzo’s Woodshop]

I wonder.. does anyone use their tweezers and toothpick? I can’t remember ever using them on any of mine. Maybe that’s why alox wasn’t all that risky of a move for them?

I use the tweezers all the time for splinter removal. I’ve got a big nice pair of tweezers in my medkit but it’s always so much more convenient to access the SAK tweezers.

 

[GAGL]

my Farmer X in its natural habitat, the swiss mountains:

https://flic.kr/p/2mKVh58

Farmer X is the ultimate SAK for me. The Farmer X has a thicker blade and bottle opener than the huntsman, which it is often compared to. Also has the reamer on the front which makes it so much more functional to me.
Since i live on the country side, a saw is a must.

Alox scales are a must too, broke a couple of the cellidor ones in my 30 years of SAK-use. I don't have a use for the tweezers because they are bad at being tweezers and toothpicks i can make myself with my knife

The knife is a bit on the heavy side but feels good in use.

I wish i could find one of the alox ones that only have a large blade and a saw...

 

[Lee D]

I wonder.. does anyone use their tweezers and toothpick? I can’t remember ever using them on any of mine. Maybe that’s why alox wasn’t all that risky of a move for them?

Tweezers occasionally, toothpick never. Reusing a toothpick is gross imo. As for the question, for me the mini champ and rambler are probably the most useful (as long as I’m carrying a larger knife) but the Hercules would be the last SAK I’d ever get rid of…large locking blade and a ton of tools.

 

[Alberta Ed]

Oficer's Model, with the saw and the corkscrew. Plus a tiny screwdriver which fits inside the corkscrew.

 

[K.O.D.]

Love me the super tinker. I dislike corkscrews, a philips head driver is much better IMO.

 

[King of the Cheese]

Love me the super tinker. I dislike corkscrews, a philips head driver is much better IMO.

Yeah now that you mention it I don’t think I’ve ever used the corkscrew. But I can see how that might be important for Europeans being the knife is made in Europe.

Whadya say, GAGL .. is the corkscrew a big deal over there?

 

[Knives&Lint]

My 3 essential tools in an SAK are scissors, cap lifter, and fingernail file. If I were going to choose a 4th, it would be some kind of dedicated package opener.

It's hard to beat the Alox minichamp for the size, which is about the same size as the cellidor Rambler (another 58mm favorite). I threw a little Rovyvon light on mine which also serves as a makeshift pocket clip, and I carry it more than I ever thought I would.

I also carry the compact quite a bit. The pen and the addition of the file to the hook are a nice touch.

Another favorite of mine that you rarely hear mentioned is the old Wenger Traveler. It's much like a Vic Sportsman with scissors. Plus, the Wenger can opener works well for opening packages. I even like the chain that comes on it for use with a pocket clip. I picked mine up like new on the Bay for next to nothing, tracked down some replacement scales, and know I carry this one all the time.

 

[GAGL]

Yeah now that you mention it I don’t think I’ve ever used the corkscrew. But I can see how that might be important for Europeans being the knife is made in Europe.

Whadya say, GAGL .. is the corkscrew a big deal over there?

People here drink a lot of wine, so i'd say the corkscrew still has its place.
i keep my corkscrew SAK in the kitchen drawer. Wifey got us a proper corkscrew but i'll use my SAK instead, out of principle

 

[jmh33]

Tinker or Super Tinker!!
John