The Tinker is my favorite SAK. I just bought a nice one that is different from the norm. It is factory "modified" and it has an American Eagle on it. It is a fine looking translucent blue.
It is part of the Victorinox Wildlife Series (“Created with the outdoorsman in mind”). Other knives in the series have the following animals: Turkey (Hiker), Deer (Huntsman), Bass (Angler). I think the Eagle looks the best – lucky for me it comes on the Tinker.
This knife is what Victorinox calls a “modified” Tinker. Other than the eagle, the only modification from a standard 91mm Tinker is that the awl is replaced with a small screwdriver.
My Take: (rating scale: 5 stars = best)
Appearance: 5 stars. Beautiful. It looks classy. It has the American Eagle which looks very nice. With the translucent blue and the eagle, and the fact that it is a SAK, this is a sheeple friendly knife. (You might detect a little pixelization on the eagle in my pictures – that is an artifact from my scanner and is not on the image on the knife.)
Fit and Finish: 3 stars. It is typical Victorinox high quality except for two items: 1) The end of the small, thin, screwdriver hits on the “bump” of the key-ring eyelet base when the screwdriver is closed. Maybe it was designed this way on purpose but it just doesn’t look right. If the screwdriver was 1/8” shorter it would be fine. 2) The finish on the exposed portions of the liners is not smooth in all places. They were not polished enough and some tool-mark chatter remains. This is only noticeable if you look closely and is purely cosmetic. I have seen similar on some of my other Tinkers.
The two blades open and close with no rubbing and all tools snap open and close with typical Victorinox crispness.
Out of the box sharpness: 2 stars and 4 stars. The edge on the big blade had a burr on about half the blade. A strop would not correct this. I had to go to the Sharpmaker.
The small blade was not too bad. A few passes on a strop left it good and sharp.
Functionality: I would give a normal Tinker 4-1/2 stars. This “modified” Tinker drops down to 2-1/2 stars for me because of the modification. On the standard Tinker, the awl is one of my favorite tools. I use it quite a bit. With this knife you not only loose the awl but it is replaced with a small screwdriver that is not significantly small enough to be helpful. It is not small enough to work on eye glasses screws. (It would, however, be small enough to use as a “tweaker” for electronic components which may make this knife very desirable for some people.) The tip is 0.105” x 0.025” in the cross section. This is not much different than the 0.120” x0.025” screwdriver tip on the end of the can opener (though it is much longer).
Value: 5 stars. This was $16.99 from Smoky Mountain Knife Works and they threw in a free Victorinox cordura sheath. Smoky Mountain Knife Works says the Wildlife Series is exclusive to them. I am thinking about buying one or two more for Christmas presents.
--SAK
It is part of the Victorinox Wildlife Series (“Created with the outdoorsman in mind”). Other knives in the series have the following animals: Turkey (Hiker), Deer (Huntsman), Bass (Angler). I think the Eagle looks the best – lucky for me it comes on the Tinker.
This knife is what Victorinox calls a “modified” Tinker. Other than the eagle, the only modification from a standard 91mm Tinker is that the awl is replaced with a small screwdriver.
My Take: (rating scale: 5 stars = best)
Appearance: 5 stars. Beautiful. It looks classy. It has the American Eagle which looks very nice. With the translucent blue and the eagle, and the fact that it is a SAK, this is a sheeple friendly knife. (You might detect a little pixelization on the eagle in my pictures – that is an artifact from my scanner and is not on the image on the knife.)
Fit and Finish: 3 stars. It is typical Victorinox high quality except for two items: 1) The end of the small, thin, screwdriver hits on the “bump” of the key-ring eyelet base when the screwdriver is closed. Maybe it was designed this way on purpose but it just doesn’t look right. If the screwdriver was 1/8” shorter it would be fine. 2) The finish on the exposed portions of the liners is not smooth in all places. They were not polished enough and some tool-mark chatter remains. This is only noticeable if you look closely and is purely cosmetic. I have seen similar on some of my other Tinkers.
The two blades open and close with no rubbing and all tools snap open and close with typical Victorinox crispness.
Out of the box sharpness: 2 stars and 4 stars. The edge on the big blade had a burr on about half the blade. A strop would not correct this. I had to go to the Sharpmaker.
The small blade was not too bad. A few passes on a strop left it good and sharp.
Functionality: I would give a normal Tinker 4-1/2 stars. This “modified” Tinker drops down to 2-1/2 stars for me because of the modification. On the standard Tinker, the awl is one of my favorite tools. I use it quite a bit. With this knife you not only loose the awl but it is replaced with a small screwdriver that is not significantly small enough to be helpful. It is not small enough to work on eye glasses screws. (It would, however, be small enough to use as a “tweaker” for electronic components which may make this knife very desirable for some people.) The tip is 0.105” x 0.025” in the cross section. This is not much different than the 0.120” x0.025” screwdriver tip on the end of the can opener (though it is much longer).
Value: 5 stars. This was $16.99 from Smoky Mountain Knife Works and they threw in a free Victorinox cordura sheath. Smoky Mountain Knife Works says the Wildlife Series is exclusive to them. I am thinking about buying one or two more for Christmas presents.
--SAK
