I came across this neat little knife in the bargain bin at the knife shop. You can find them on-line and in stores for about $25. It has all the classic things you've expected from a Swiss Army Knife, and a locking blade in a compact size. Here are the specifics...
Handle Specifications and Impressions: The S10's handles are 3.4" long, not counting the keyring. They are made of contoured red plastic, and the left handle has Wenger's cross logo. The knife is .6" thick. The liners are stainless steel, as are the backsprings. The keyring is a standard .5" stainless steel split ring. The tweezers are stainless1.5" long, and are held on the left (the side with the cross logo) side, while the plastic toothpick is 1.5" long and in the right side of the handle. Unlike Victorinox knives, the toothpick and tweezers are held inside the handle, between the handle scales and the liners; while Victorinox's toothpick and tweezers are held on the outerside of the handles. This contoured handle is great; it just feels more comfortable than the standard smooth, flat plastic that Victorinox uses.
Blade: The main blade (you get two) is 2.6" long with a 2.3" cutting edge. It's drop point. The steel is stainless. There's a nail nick on the left side of the blade, as well as Wenger's markings on the tang: WENGER above "Delemont" above "Switzerland" above "Stainless". There's a crossbow logo there also. The right side of the blade tang has the Wenger "W" above the word WENGER. This blade locks open via push-button mounted on the handle just under the blade tang. It says LOCK, just in case you thought it was something else. The lock pushes the backspring out, allowing the blade to close. The same tension from the backspring keeps the lock engaged. If this is incorrect, please let me know; I didn't disassemble the knife. The blade came very sharp; not quite shaving sharp, but sharp enough for general chores. It became shaving sharp after about 15 minutes on a cermic. Every time I established a good edge, burrs would form and I just couldn't get them off without pulling off some of the wire-edge. Cutting into a piece of cardboard solved this problem, as it removed the burrs and wire edge, and my blade was now extremely sharp.
Small Blade: The smaller blade is a clip point, 1.75" long with a 1.5" cutting edge. There are no markings, but it has a nail nick in the right side. This blade came extremely sharp out of the box, and required no honing or stropping. It doesn't lock. That's all about there is to say about the small blade. It's made of the same steel as the larger one.
Can Opener: What would a Swiss Army Knife be without a can opener? This one is 1.5" long, and has a nail nick on the left side. It's mounted next to the larger blade. It had a very nice grind to establish the cuttig edge, and this was brought to a better point with a diamond stone. It penetrates can easily, and doesn't require frequent resharpening. I use it to strike the flint to get a fire going more than anything else.
Bottle Opener: Mounted on the left side and next to the small blade. It's 1.25" long and the flathead scredriver tip is .2" long. There's also a channel for a wire stripper, and a bottle opener. You get a nail nick here also. Thruth be told, I have never used this tool. It is nicely made and I'm sure it holds its weight, but I've never had a use for these.
Punch: What's the difference between a punch and a reamer? A reamer is sharpened; a punch is not. Cool. This is mounted on the back side of the handle, and is 1.6" long. It opens in the T-handle position. This was not sharp at all and there wasn't a very usable point on it. I put a point there, but left the rest unchanged. The nail nick faces left. This tool is most useful as a marlin spike (ie. to pick knots loose).
Corkscrew: Again, this is mounted on the back side of the handle, next to the punch. It's 1.45" long, with 1.35" of it being useable as a corkscrew. The rest is the tang. It opens into the T-handle position. I've used the corkscrew to open bottles, pick knots apart, pick small locks, and clean under my fingernails. It does all of them nicely. I added a Victorinox micro screwdriver to it (the kind that threads into the corkscrew) to add versatility.
I showed this to my father-in-law, who grew up with Victorinox and knew of no other SAKs other than the cheap $4 flea market rip-offs. He loved the locking blade much like I did, and called this knife a "neat little summbitch" and wanted to buy it immediately. Knowing that I can buy a standard-sized SAK that locks really made me happy, and I think this will be a good addition to anybody's collection or EDC line-up. Give it a shot.
You can check out the S-10 at... http://www.wenger.ch/scripts/Modules/Products/listOne.aspx?idProducts=158&idn=164
Handle Specifications and Impressions: The S10's handles are 3.4" long, not counting the keyring. They are made of contoured red plastic, and the left handle has Wenger's cross logo. The knife is .6" thick. The liners are stainless steel, as are the backsprings. The keyring is a standard .5" stainless steel split ring. The tweezers are stainless1.5" long, and are held on the left (the side with the cross logo) side, while the plastic toothpick is 1.5" long and in the right side of the handle. Unlike Victorinox knives, the toothpick and tweezers are held inside the handle, between the handle scales and the liners; while Victorinox's toothpick and tweezers are held on the outerside of the handles. This contoured handle is great; it just feels more comfortable than the standard smooth, flat plastic that Victorinox uses.
Blade: The main blade (you get two) is 2.6" long with a 2.3" cutting edge. It's drop point. The steel is stainless. There's a nail nick on the left side of the blade, as well as Wenger's markings on the tang: WENGER above "Delemont" above "Switzerland" above "Stainless". There's a crossbow logo there also. The right side of the blade tang has the Wenger "W" above the word WENGER. This blade locks open via push-button mounted on the handle just under the blade tang. It says LOCK, just in case you thought it was something else. The lock pushes the backspring out, allowing the blade to close. The same tension from the backspring keeps the lock engaged. If this is incorrect, please let me know; I didn't disassemble the knife. The blade came very sharp; not quite shaving sharp, but sharp enough for general chores. It became shaving sharp after about 15 minutes on a cermic. Every time I established a good edge, burrs would form and I just couldn't get them off without pulling off some of the wire-edge. Cutting into a piece of cardboard solved this problem, as it removed the burrs and wire edge, and my blade was now extremely sharp.
Small Blade: The smaller blade is a clip point, 1.75" long with a 1.5" cutting edge. There are no markings, but it has a nail nick in the right side. This blade came extremely sharp out of the box, and required no honing or stropping. It doesn't lock. That's all about there is to say about the small blade. It's made of the same steel as the larger one.
Can Opener: What would a Swiss Army Knife be without a can opener? This one is 1.5" long, and has a nail nick on the left side. It's mounted next to the larger blade. It had a very nice grind to establish the cuttig edge, and this was brought to a better point with a diamond stone. It penetrates can easily, and doesn't require frequent resharpening. I use it to strike the flint to get a fire going more than anything else.
Bottle Opener: Mounted on the left side and next to the small blade. It's 1.25" long and the flathead scredriver tip is .2" long. There's also a channel for a wire stripper, and a bottle opener. You get a nail nick here also. Thruth be told, I have never used this tool. It is nicely made and I'm sure it holds its weight, but I've never had a use for these.
Punch: What's the difference between a punch and a reamer? A reamer is sharpened; a punch is not. Cool. This is mounted on the back side of the handle, and is 1.6" long. It opens in the T-handle position. This was not sharp at all and there wasn't a very usable point on it. I put a point there, but left the rest unchanged. The nail nick faces left. This tool is most useful as a marlin spike (ie. to pick knots loose).
Corkscrew: Again, this is mounted on the back side of the handle, next to the punch. It's 1.45" long, with 1.35" of it being useable as a corkscrew. The rest is the tang. It opens into the T-handle position. I've used the corkscrew to open bottles, pick knots apart, pick small locks, and clean under my fingernails. It does all of them nicely. I added a Victorinox micro screwdriver to it (the kind that threads into the corkscrew) to add versatility.
I showed this to my father-in-law, who grew up with Victorinox and knew of no other SAKs other than the cheap $4 flea market rip-offs. He loved the locking blade much like I did, and called this knife a "neat little summbitch" and wanted to buy it immediately. Knowing that I can buy a standard-sized SAK that locks really made me happy, and I think this will be a good addition to anybody's collection or EDC line-up. Give it a shot.
You can check out the S-10 at... http://www.wenger.ch/scripts/Modules/Products/listOne.aspx?idProducts=158&idn=164
