Most useful (yet practical) Swiss Army Knife?

Pig Iron2 said:
Always have a Compact and a Lumintop Tool AA on the keychain, weighs nothing and can do lots of stuff.
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I love the AA size for flashlights. Sure, AAA is super small and light. However, AA can get a great balance of performance and battery life. Do you power it with Eneloop Pro?
 
Hyesouljah said:
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
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Agreed but I do find the scissors super useful!

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I like my tourist a lot- it’s my most abused knife and in fact has a broken scale. My only critique is 84 mm scales aren’t as prevalent as the more popular 91 mm so my options are a little more limited. I might be talked into an alox, but I use the tweezers, toothpick and pin for various tasks, often times splinter removal.
 
Hmmmm.... Do I really have to pick? 🥺😕💔

I guess for day to day, the most practical for me is the Evolution series s18. It's the best of both worlds. Wengers' locking blade, frame spring serrated scissors and nail file, WITH Victorinoxs' can opener and sharpened awl. Very compact and ergonomic, with the same basic tools set as a Fieldmaster. What's not to love?

For going outside a little more, I'd switch to the 111mm Trekker. Just more sturdy. Longer handle for leverage, and easier to clean.

Something that just bugs me about most saks, and probably doesn't effect performance at all, but I don't like it, is the way some of the blades are bent or ground at an angle to fit next to each other. That's why I've never been a fan of the Stockman design. But the Evo s18 has a straight blade. That's also one reason I usually favor the 111mm knives. I have the Evo s18 in a pocket now, and a 111mm Adventurer in another.
 
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Pioneer x and pioneer/soldier are the ones I usually use. I always carry an alox mini champ too, that one is also very useful.

The evo 18 has the most optimal tool selection, but it doesn’t have the robustness or the best awl that the alox models have.
 
I like the Walker.
Whenever we were in the woods taking the dog out, the most used tool was the saw on my 9 year old sons multi tool.
I was a bit envious, so got the walker, and yes the saw is very useful.
 
Spartan and Rambler for me. Ultimate combo. Though if I really had to (non permissive environment, etc) I could stretch to living with the minichamp on my keychain and nothing else, though for the life of me I've no clever ideas for using the spoon thingy, My cuticles don't need pushing, I don't use nasally fitted substances and I prefer drinking oranges to eating them. :)
 
Here are my main three, though I have several other models:

Deluxe Tinker w/+Scales does about anything I would need (I don’t have any need for bigger pliers like a Leatherman, and if I ever do, I’ll have actual tools on me). If I’m not carrying it, it’s in my bag/car/somewhere close.

I keep a Rambler on my keys which doesn’t get a ton of use as the former is usually nearby - the nail file is probably the most used ‘tool‘ on it and the small Phillips opens a lot of battery compartments for the kiddos.

Lastly I have a Farmer that switches out for the Tinker if I am doing any yard work or most other ‘outdoor’ activity.

Side note: I’ve been thinking about switching out the Rambler for an Alox MiniChamp on the keys; adding a few tools that I’d like and deleting the double up on scale tools.


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Haven't had a chance to read the thread,but any Swiss army knife is better than none. To pass on some info, look up installing a flint in the handle.I can't remember the guys name (jungle survival guy 1990's) wrote an article in one of the knife magazines. He suggested using shoo goo to fasten the flint, but in my experience it only lasted about a year. Good old JB weld has lasted decades on multiple knives. What I have also done is on the sak that have the cork screw I removed it and replaced it with a piece of magnesium. JB welded in place.
 
You can put a rather large piece of magnesium in place of the corkscrew, round the edges(just by practicing using it as a fire starter) and it's much more svelte than that corkscrew. That and the flint winning combo. What about that bottle with a cork? If you got good chompers you know what to do. Or use a screw, run it through a piece of wood for a handle. Or take your knife and cut the cork flush with the top of the bottle,push remaining cork through neck with a stick and save the part you cut off to re cork the bottle.
 
Paratrooper06 said:
Just picked this one up today! Cyber tool medium! Dang the name is deceiving because this is really a McGyver knife if I’ve ever seen one.

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Paratrooper06 said:
The rambler is probably my next one.. and then perhaps a cyber tool small.
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The Medium (34) is a chunk. Before getting the 29 (S) I carried a 41, but only by connecting a dangler to my belt loop so it wouldn't ride in the bottom of my pocket. If my memory serves me, this was before Leatherman combined the Squirt S4 and P4 into the PS4, meaning I didn't need scissors or pliers on the SAK if I put the PS4 on my keychain (and I don't need the saw).

Those driver bits sure are handy though, aren't they?
 
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