My Victorinox Soldier collection

M

martineden

Joined
Jun 26, 2007
Messages
621
Hello all,
I thought you could be interested to see my small collection of Victorinox Soldier. From left to right:
- Soldier Modell 1908: my Soldier is from the period 1943-1950
- Soldier Modell 1951: mine is from 1956
- Soldier Modell 1961: mine is from 2006
- Soldier 2008: mine is from 2011





My collection cover the period 1908-actual date, but lack about the very first Soldier, the Model 1890, which is the same of the Model 1908 but whit wood handles. It’s quite hard to find out one Modell 1890 in good conditions, but who knows? Maybe some day. At the moment, I’m fairly happy about my small Soldier’s bunch :-)

Have a nice day,
Alfredo
 
I have a thing for SAK's, both old and new; thanks for the pics of your collection!! Do you carry the two on the left very often?

I have one from '43 that I got as a very generous gift from a fellow member here. I carry it almost every day.
IMG_2558.jpg
 
Hi,
no, I didn't carry mine, except in some rare occasion :-)
Iteresting Soldier you have there, what about the mark FN on the handle?
 
Very nice to see your collection of Soldier's Alfredo. I was going to say, could perhaps 'F.N.' be Fabrique Nationale, but since it's a little uneven, another guess is that maybe it's just the initials of an owner. These are just guesses though, not backed up by any knowledge.

Here's my Victorinox Mauser Officer's Knife from 1982

 
martineden said:
Hi,
no, I didn't carry mine, except in some rare occasion :-)
Iteresting Soldier you have there, what about the mark FN on the handle?
Click to expand...

I haven't got a clue at the moment. It could be the previous owner's initials maybe...

I am happy to finally be able to see what a full clip blade looks like on one of these; the blade on mine has been sharpened a lot.
 
Alfredo - that´s a nice collection. Congratz on that classic knives! :) As well as all the other traditional Swiss Army Patterns shown here.

I have the same knife like Jack, but mine is made by Vic... and was always wondering why they added a corkscrew to that knife... Soldiers shouldn´t drink during service ;) :D Imo a phillips screwdriver would be a better tool for those tasks.

But however - they are great
 
I'm sure this thread has brought back some happy memories to you Andi! ;)
 
Yes Jack, it did. When I was in the german army, we had the very same knife like I have nowadays. We had to give the knife back to the army. So after leaving, I bought my own one. Until this year young german men had to go to the army for service - or making some civil service (hospitals, kindergarten etc etc).

I remember, I had one made by Robert Klaas, Solingen. But it must have been lost during time - I believe I lost it somewhere in the woods while searching for mushrooms...
 
Humppa said:
Yes Jack, it did. When I was in the german army, we had the very same knife like I have nowadays. We had to give the knife back to the army. So after leaving, I bought my own one. Until this year young german men had to go to the army for service - or making some civil service (hospitals, kindergarten etc etc).

I remember, I had one made by Robert Klaas, Solingen. But it must have been lost during time - I believe I lost it somewhere in the woods while searching for mushrooms...
Click to expand...

That is so MEAN! My dad told me that when he had to go in the British army in the 50's, they were issued with uniform (only 2 shirts), but 2 years later they were expected to hand it back in in the same condition, or pay to have it replaced out of their really tiny wages!

That's sad you lost your knife Andi. Is it not possible to replace it? I very occassionally see a German army knife for sale.
 
Well - the army doesn´t like to give things away, it seems. ;)

I still have my Victorinox GAK, it rests in my drawer very nicely cared and oiled. Unfortunatelly the Robert Klaas one was older and would now be a collectors item... :mad:
Maybe someday a knife like the R. Klaas can be found again...

Alfredo - your two older ones are in great condition to their age. They look close to new (to me). Wonderful pieces of histroy. Do you know which material the handle is made of? It looks a little like Delrin to me.
 
That's good you have the Victorinox Andi, but a real shame about the other. I think the ones I've seen here are the Victorinox ones, but maybe I'll look more closely the next time I see one :thumbup:
 
They don't let you keep the knife? That's a shame. As Jack probably knows, here they can even keep the assault rifle :p

Alfredo, the two old ones are in excellent condition, especially the scales. Most of them are banged up and shrunk/cracked.
I have no idea what the markings on the scales mean. I've read that they put some of them on after repairs etc, but I haven't found a list of what they actually mean yet.
 
sturzi said:
They don't let you keep the knife? That's a shame. As Jack probably knows, here they can even keep the assault rifle :p.
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LOL! :D Andi, you should have asked to join the SWISS army! :D
 
I know that very well, Silvan :D

In Germany there´s a term: "Switzerland doesn´t need an army, Switzerland is an army!" :p
 
neeman said:
I gave mine away .....

I have to learn not to regret these giving aways, 20 years later ....
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Hopefully it's still being well used :thumbup: I got mine in 1982, and it's had a lot of carry, it was my sole EDC for nearly a decade, but it still pretty much looks like new. A shame they're not still made.
 
Possible that it was produced at the same Fabrique Nationale ( Belguim origin ) as the FN rifle ?
 
Slither said:
Possible that it was produced at the same Fabrique Nationale ( Belguim origin ) as the FN rifle ?
Click to expand...

What do you mean exactely? Sorry, about that stupid question - but it´s a little unclear to me.

The knives for the Swiss Army was made by Victorinox and some were made by Wenger.
 
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