Realizing a SAK IS traditional has helped

S

shopdoc

Joined
Mar 24, 2020
Messages
155
Ive spent a lot of time on facebook knife forums but, being a physician, reading most anything on my facebook feed right now has some relation to COVID and I get enough of that stress at work. So this is my first post here. Trying to stay off social media.

I’ve gone through most of the knife collecting phases over the years. My first being a single blade scrimshaw Schrade with a rabbit scene. Wait, I suppose it was actually a single blade no name slipjoint when I was 5 (have a scar on my thumb still from when I was trying to hollow a stick out to make a blow dart with this knife). Then my Cubscout knife...a Camillus? Then the aforementioned Schrade. This was my pocket knife and small game hunting knife. Funny how I didnt need a fancy hunting knife back then.

Over time I got caught up in the one handed openers. PM2, Griptilian, Sebenza, you get the picture. A few years back I stumbled onto Opinels which handled my cutting jobs better than my Sebenza. Boy that ticked me off. Around the same time I became enamored with traditional knives again. Mostly Case and GEC. And then I discovered SAKs. It wasn’t that Id never owned one...I just never consistently carried one. My God, it’s the perfect knife! Cutting food, tightening a cupboard screw, taking off switch covers when it’s time to paint, opening battery covers, cutting shirt tags off for my boys with scissors. Truly my most useful knife. But here’s the issue; Im in the stage of life where I look back and try to recapture my youth. Wishing for a simpler time again. At least that’s how I remember it. Carrying a Case slipjoint brings that back. Then I realized, my SAK Pioneer is a traditional. Been around for a long time in basically the same style. Same with my Climber. And that helps.
 
SAKs are great knives and full of nostalgia for a lot of people. Also they are useful, practical, and fun. I carry a Super Tinker and it is my only knife I have at the moment and it does everything I need.

Glad your Swiss Army Knife is helping you through this rough time. Thanks for your service as well!
 
shopdoc said:
Ive spent a lot of time on facebook knife forums but, being a physician, reading most anything on my facebook feed right now has some relation to COVID and I get enough of that stress at work. So this is my first post here. Trying to stay off social media.

I’ve gone through most of the knife collecting phases over the years. My first being a single blade scrimshaw Schrade with a rabbit scene. Wait, I suppose it was actually a single blade no name slipjoint when I was 5 (have a scar on my thumb still from when I was trying to hollow a stick out to make a blow dart with this knife). Then my Cubscout knife...a Camillus? Then the aforementioned Schrade. This was my pocket knife and small game hunting knife. Funny how I didnt need a fancy hunting knife back then.

Over time I got caught up in the one handed openers. PM2, Griptilian, Sebenza, you get the picture. A few years back I stumbled onto Opinels which handled my cutting jobs better than my Sebenza. Boy that ticked me off. Around the same time I became enamored with traditional knives again. Mostly Case and GEC. And then I discovered SAKs. It wasn’t that Id never owned one...I just never consistently carried one. My God, it’s the perfect knife! Cutting food, tightening a cupboard screw, taking off switch covers when it’s time to paint, opening battery covers, cutting shirt tags off for my boys with scissors. Truly my most useful knife. But here’s the issue; Im in the stage of life where I look back and try to recapture my youth. Wishing for a simpler time again. At least that’s how I remember it. Carrying a Case slipjoint brings that back. Then I realized, my SAK Pioneer is a traditional. Been around for a long time in basically the same style. Same with my Climber. And that helps.
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They are made with updated tools, and materials in some cases, which give them a updated fit and finish and modern *look* but it is worth remembering the general designs have been around for longer than many of us. Victorinox being around for over 100 years and having produced the soldier (the pioneer's brother) for about 60 years, they are very traditional designs. They are not what think off when I refer to "traditional knives" (e.g., Opinel, MAM, etc.) but I fully agree with you.
 
Doc, welcome to the forum! Here’s how I view Victorinox as being traditional. In the states I picture farmers working in the fields with a Schrade or Ulster in their pockets. Hunters working a timbered draw with a Marbles or a Western on their belt. A factory worker, teacher, mechanic or salesman with a Case in their pocket.

But in the Western part of Europe, starting in Switzerland and stretching out, I see those same people with some type of Swiss Army Knife in their pockets. Working fields, in the mountains, factories, schools, all the same things that were being done in the states but with a different knife. While the fixed blades may have been of another manufacture I could see a lot of Wenger and Victorinox (and previous names) being used.
 
Vic and Wenger have been making knives since the late 1800's. All slip joint until recently. Can't get much more traditional than that. They didn't catch on in US until TV show MacGyver. Vic produces more knives than any other company in world. More in one day than entire US output in a year.
Rich
 
315 said:
Doc, welcome to the forum! Here’s how I view Victorinox as being traditional. In the states I picture farmers working in the fields with a Schrade or Ulster in their pockets. Hunters working a timbered draw with a Marbles or a Western on their belt. A factory worker, teacher, mechanic or salesman with a Case in their pocket.

But in the Western part of Europe, starting in Switzerland and stretching out, I see those same people with some type of Swiss Army Knife in their pockets. Working fields, in the mountains, factories, schools, all the same things that were being done in the states but with a different knife. While the fixed blades may have been of another manufacture I could see a lot of Wenger and Victorinox (and previous names) being used.
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That is exactly my line of thought. I read, maybe on here, people mentioning how in Europe their grandpas carried a SAK. I’ve read the Victorinox history...I know that they’ve been around as long as Case...but it just never penetrated my brain (until recently) that they truly are traditional knives. Why does that matter to me? I’m not really sure, but it does.
 
What’s interesting to me is all the knives they produced that I’d never seen before. They made a buffalo horn single blade, so essentially a Solo before Alox came along. I’d love to take a tour of the factory just to see some of the older knives produced. While I have more stockman knives than I could ever use, if I absolutely could only take one with me it would be a Swiss Army Knife.
 
315 said:
What’s interesting to me is all the knives they produced that I’d never seen before. They made a buffalo horn single blade, so essentially a Solo before Alox came along. I’d love to take a tour of the factory just to see some of the older knives produced. While I have more stockman knives than I could ever use, if I absolutely could only take one with me it would be a Swiss Army Knife.
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Many mornings, I look at my bedside table that holds way too many knives and choose 1 or 2. Somedays I have something more serious to do or am traveling and its time to choose a knife that just works. When I took the family to Mexico, I brought my Compact. It came in very handy when my son had a splinter in his foot. I used the pin and tweezers to remove. A single bladed tactical folder would most definitely not have been up to the job.
 
Hi Doc, hang in there... and thanks for helping people through these trying times.


I love SAK knives. They are so useful and easy to carry that I regularly gift them. Plus, they are easy to have personalized messages or words printed on them.

I carry a SAK or multi tool every day, usually with an larger EDC.
 
shopdoc said:
Many mornings, I look at my bedside table that holds way too many knives and choose 1 or 2. Somedays I have something more serious to do or am traveling and its time to choose a knife that just works. When I took the family to Mexico, I brought my Compact. It came in very handy when my son had a splinter in his foot. I used the pin and tweezers to remove. A single bladed tactical folder would most definitely not have been up to the job.
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And that doc, is why SAK's sell many more knives than any three of the modern one hand wonders combined. They just flat out work.

Exactly 51 years ago, I got my first SAK. It was a more equipped version of the old Boy Scout knife my dad gamma at age 12 when I was a Boy Scout. I don't know any knife more traditional than a Boy Scout knife. When I joined the army, they issued me an all stainless steel scout knife from Camillus.

I had other knives, but they all were 'augmented' by the SAK. My old Buck 301 stockman that I carried for 25 years was a great knife, but it was just a knife. I always had a SAK in the pack, or in the other pocket. It took a very long time, but late in life I finally had the light bulb go off over my head and the epiphany that I don't need to carry two knives. The SAK gives me two knife blades, and a few basic tools that let me deal with those odd unplanned events that sometimes screw up your day if you're not prepared. Remember the Boy Scout motto; Be Prepared.

I've long forgot all the times a SK in the pocket saved the day, like when my Vespa motor scooter conked out dead on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Or the time an electric trolling motor control fell apart at the far end of a very long and winding lake, and my SAK helped me put it back into operation. Saved me a very long paddle against the wind. Or the time a fishing reel needed some work on a lakeshore. Or the time...and so on.

A knife is a nice thing to have. But a dedicated knife is just a shallow one trick pony with little or no real world versatility. Too narrow a mission window. I like to say a SAK is a small bundle of solutions to life's everyday problems. It's been a while now since I've bothered to carry a dedicated knife. I'm a total SAK person nowadays. The only item that I like as well is my little Leatherman Squirt.

SAK's; they've been around since 1890, have stood the test of time. And they make the small problems of life a minor annoyance instead of a day ruiner.

And doc, don't under estimate the smaller SAK's. I used a tiny classic to repair the door latch mechanism on a Sears Kenmore clothes drier. The little screw driver on the nail file blade worked very well on the small Phillips screws holding the door together. Lets see a tactical do that!

Now I'm an old fart living my retirement in Georgetown Texas, and I do more fishing than ever before, and I try to fit a good deal of pure loafing into the activities. I don't often carry a full size SAK's anymore, but my Executive is always in my pocket and has cut bait, trimmed fishing line, worked on a gummed up reel on the banks of the san Gabriel river, and dealt with small Phillips screws using the spear shaped tip of the nail file blade. The tweezers have removed a thorn from between our dogs paw pads. The scissors are used every day for something. Very handy little pocket tool that fits in the coin pocket of jeans with room left over.
 
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jackknife said:
And that doc, is why SAK's sell many more knives than any three of the modern one hand wonders combined. They just flat out work.

Exactly 51 years ago, I got my first SAK. It was a more equipped version of the old Boy Scout knife my dad gamma at age 12 when I was a Boy Scout. I don't know any knife more traditional than a Boy Scout knife. When I joined the army, they issued me an all stainless steel scout knife from Camillus.

I had other knives, but they all were 'augmented' by the SAK. My old Buck 301 stockman that I carried for 25 years was a great knife, but it was just a knife. I always had a SAK in the pack, or in the other pocket. It took a very long time, but late in life I finally had the light bulb go off over my head and the epiphany that I don't need to carry two knives. The SAK gives me two knife blades, and a few basic tools that let me deal with those odd unplanned events that sometimes screw up your day if you're not prepared. Remember the Boy Scout motto; Be Prepared.

I've long forgot all the times a SK in the pocket saved the day, like when my Vespa motor scooter conked out dead on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Or the time an electric trolling motor control fell apart at the far end of a very long and winding lake, and my SAK helped me put it bak into operation. Saved me a very long paddle against the wind. Or the time a fishing reel needed some work on a lakeshore. Or the time...and so on.

A knife is a nice thing to have. But a dedicated knife is just a shallow one trick pony with littler no real world versatility. Too narrow a mission window. I like to say a SAK is a small bundle of solutions to life's everyday problems. It's been a while now since I've bothered to carry a dedicated knife. I'm a total SAK person nowadays. The only item that I like as well is my little Leatherman Squirt.

SAK's; they've been around since 1890, have stood the test of time. And they make the small problems of life a minor annoyance instead of a day ruiner.

And doc, don't under estimate the smaller SAK's. I used a tiny classic to repair the door latch mechanism on a Sears Kenmore clothes drier. The little screw driver on the nail file blade worked very well on the small Phillips screws holding the door together. Lets see a tactical do that!

Now I'm an old fart living my retirement in Georgetown Texas, and I do more fishing than ever before, and I try to fit a good deal of pure loafing into the actives. I don't often carry onto fly full size SAK's anymore, but my Executive is always in my pocket and has cut bait, trimmed fishing line, worked on a gummed up reel on the banks of the san Gabriel river, and dealt with small Phillips screws using the spear shaped tip of the nail file blade. The tweezers have removed a thorn from between our dogs paw pads. The scissors are used every day for something. Very handy little pocket tool that fits in the coin pocket of jeans with room left over.
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Looking at the Executive, I notice there is no bottle opener. Are you able to use the nail cleaner as a makeshift bottle (beer) opener? If so, Ill grab one and take it for a spin around the block.
 
shopdoc said:
Looking at the Executive, I notice there is no bottle opener. Are you able to use the nail cleaner as a makeshift bottle (beer) opener? If so, Ill grab one and take it for a spin around the block.
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I open beers with the nail file tip. I did this also for the many yeas I carried a Vic classic with the SD tip on the nail file.

I push the spear shaped tip of the nail file OR the screw driver tip of the orange peeler up under the edge of the cap. Then twist gently. Gently! Its really soft metal, so a lot of force is not needed. Do this, then move the screw driver tip a bit and do it again. After a few twists the top is now loose enough to just pop off with thumb pressure. I also have used a house key, butt of a Bic lighter and tea spoon. Theres so many ways of opening a bottle that I don't worry about having a dedicated opener on me. Its way more important to me to have Phillips and flat screw capability than bottle opening. And I do like to have scissors on hand. I think the sd tip of the orange peeler works a bit better for opening a bottle. Bit thicker metal at the tip.

The executive is my EDC pocket knife for those little cutting jobs that pop up. If I thing I'll be needlng more tool capability then I'll add my Leatherman squirt to my pocket. Growing up, I guess I learned from watching my dad deal with life using his minimalist approach to things. His EDC was a Case peanut, a Sear's 4-way keychain screw driver, and the P-38 in his wallet. For many years I carried the same setup, and it did well. But like a lot of knife nuts I got seduced by the shiny blades and lost my way for a while. I became one of the obsessed knife nuts. Only after a long while did I say the heck with it, and sold off and gave away most my accumulation of knives that I didn't need. I went back to my dad's style of what I called maximum minimalism. Case peanut, sears keychain screw driver, and P-38 from my army days.

The Case peanut was replaced as the stiffly sprung little slip joint with snappy half stops became a PITA to use for an old arthritic retiree. Victorinox spring pressure is way easier for my to deal with. So the executive is the Case peanut size pocket knife with a few extras for my EDC. It serves as mostly a cutting tool, with its two blades, scissors, and a strange little serrated blade on the orange peeler that actually is handy sometimes on small zip ties and stripping wire. I took a small mill smooth file and put a small flat on the tip of the nail file so it fits small Phillips screws better.

With the executive in my coin picket and a Leatherman squirt in my left pocket for the dirtier work, I feel well equipped for life American suburbia. I've been carrying the squirt for 5 years now, and I'm surprised at how attached I've become to it. I've stopped carrying the sears 4-way screw driver, but my old army P-38 Is still in my wallet for the sentimental value it has t me. Been there since I was a young troop.
 
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jackknife said:
I open beers with the nail file tip. I did this also for the many yeas I carried a Vic classic with the SD tip on the nail file.

I push the spear shaped tip of the nail file OR the screw driver tip of the orange peeler up under the edge of the cap. Then twist gently. Gently! Its really soft metal, so a lot of force is not needed. Do this, then move the screw driver tip a bit and do it again. After a few twists the top is now loose enough to just pop off with thumb pressure. I also have used a house key, butt of a Bic lighter and tea spoon. Theres so many ways of opening a bottle that I don't worry about having a dedicated opener on me. Its way more important to me to have Phillips and flat screw capability than bottle opening. And I do like to have scissors on hand. I think the sd tip of the orange peeler works a bit better for opening a bottle. Bit thicker metal at the tip.

The executive is my EDC pocket knife for those little cutting jobs that pop up. If I thing I'll be needlngmore tool capability then I'll add my Leatherman squirt to my pocket. Growing, I guess I learned from watching my dad deal with life using his minimalist approach to things. His EDC was a Case peanut, a Sear's 4-way keychain screw driver, and the P-38 in his wallet. For many years I carried the same setup, and it did well. But like a lot of knife nuts I got seduced by the shiny blades and lost my way for a while. I became one of the obsessed knife nuts. Only after a long while did I say the heck with it, and sold off and gave away most my accumulation of knives that I didn't need. I went back to my dad's style of what I called maximum minimalism. Case peanut, sears keychain screw driver, and P-38 from my army days.

The Case peanut was replaced as the stiffly sprung little slip joint with snapped half stops blame a PITA to use for an old arthritic retiree. Victorinox spring pressure is way easier for my to deal with. So the executive is the Case peanut size pocket knife with a few extras for my EDC. It serves as mostly a cutting tool, with its two blades, scissors, and a strange little serrated blade on the orange peeler that actually is handy sometimes on small zip ties and stripping wire. I took a small mill smooth file and put a small flat on the tip of the nail file so it fits small Phillips screws better.

With the executive in my coin picket and a Leatherman squirt in my left pocket for the dirtier work, I feel well equipped for life American suburbia. I've been carrying the squirt for 5 years now, and I'm surprised at how attached I've become to it. I've stopped carrying the sears 4-way screw driver, but my old army P-38 Is still in my wallet for the sentimental value it has t me. Been there since was a young troop.
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I appreciate the info and love the minimalism. I typically have a Rambler in my watch pocket regardless of what is in my left pocket. And in honesty, the Rambler could handle 99% of my needs. I just purchased an executive and will EDC that only for 30 days as a fair trial.

What I usually do is have the Rambler as above and then a larger SAK or a GEC/Case in my left pocket. I used to have an issue with my left pocket knife falling out, but then I read a story. A story by a gent named Jackknife whose father would stuff a hanker-chief over the knife to keep it snug. As a hiker, I have found a zillion uses for a Buff and started carrying daily in my left pocket which keeps my knife snug. Perfect! It is now possibly my favorite daily carry. Here are just some of the duties it (my Buff) has been called upon to perform:

Hanky

Clean up a coffee spill in my car

Washcloth

Balaclava during trick or treat when it was colder than expected

Hat to protect my scalp from burning when hiking in AZ when I left my regular hat at the rental by accident.

Cushion under someones head when I had to perform CPR on them laying on a concrete sidewalk.

Ill still carry my Buff of course, but as soon as my Executive arrives, Ill leave the other knives at home for a bit.
 
shopdoc said:
I appreciate the info and love the minimalism. I typically have a Rambler in my watch pocket regardless of what is in my left pocket. And in honesty, the Rambler could handle 99% of my needs. I just purchased an executive and will EDC that only for 30 days as a fair trial.

What I usually do is have the Rambler as above and then a larger SAK or a GEC/Case in my left pocket. I used to have an issue with my left pocket knife falling out, but then I read a story. A story by a gent named Jackknife whose father would stuff a hanker-chief over the knife to keep it snug. As a hiker, I have found a zillion uses for a Buff and started carrying daily in my left pocket which keeps my knife snug. Perfect! It is now possibly my favorite daily carry. Here are just some of the duties it (my Buff) has been called upon to perform:

Hanky

Clean up a coffee spill in my car

Washcloth

Balaclava during trick or treat when it was colder than expected

Hat to protect my scalp from burning when hiking in AZ when I left my regular hat at the rental by accident.

Cushion under someones head when I had to perform CPR on them laying on a concrete sidewalk.

Ill still carry my Buff of course, but as soon as my Executive arrives, Ill leave the other knives at home for a bit.
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I think you will be very impressed with the executive. I carried a 58mm SAK for many years, but always had to keep a larger knife on hand to cut a sandwich in half, cut a snack in half to share with my better half. Then I go the executive and discovered that the bigger blade of the exec could handle cutting my wife's burger in half like she likes it. The second knife became unneeded. With the exec in a coin pocket and the other needed stuff like small flashlight, two bandannas, hand sanitizer, and a P-38 in the wallet with a couple safety pins, you'll be good to go. Bandanas are soooo handy and light, I carry two them. One gets dirtied up, you still have a cleaning for whatever. Dust mask, emergency bandage, wet neck rag in hot Texas summer.

Good luck. I hope you find the executive as good an EDC as I did!:thumbsup:

You are right of course, the small 58mm SAK can handle 99% of the suburban needs. The executive is like 99.9%.:D

edit to add; I still miss my Case peanut. Damm this whole aging process!!!!
 
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I love my little brown peanut but lately my recruit has been getting called on more. Mainly for the screwdrivers. I have other bigger saks with more tools but i like my recruit the most because my kids got it for me for Christmas a year after they gave me my peanut. The recruit has the tools i use most and nothing more in a very light but tuff package.
 
jackknife said:
I think you will be very impressed with the executive. I carried a 58mm SAK for many years, but always had to keep a larger knife on hand to cut a sandwich in half, cut a snack in half to share
with my better half. Then I go the executive and discovered that the bigger blade of the exec could handle cutting my wife's burger in half like she likes it. The second knife became unneeded. With the exec in a coin pocket and the other needed stuff like small flashlight, two bandannas, hand sanitizer, and a P-38 in the wallet with a couple safety pins, you'll be good to go. Bandanas are soooo handy and light, I carry two them. One gets dirtied up, you still have a cleaning for whatever. Dust mask, emergency bandage, wet neck rag in hot Texas summer.

Good luck. I hope you find the executive as good an EDC as I did!:thumbsup:

You are right of course, the small 58mm SAK can handle 99% of the suburban needs. The executive is like 99.9%.:D

edit to add; I still miss my Case peanut. Damm this whole aging process!!!!
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I’ll probably miss my medium Case stockman. SAK makes much more sense, but gosh darnit!

Safety pin?? Genius. I was just thinking how I’ll miss the pin in my larger SAKs if I switch to an Executive. Safety pin in my wallet will fix that.

Any rec for a woods gun? Nothing big caliber. Something easy to carry.
 
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