SAKs good quality?

B

Bungwrench

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I've only recently began to find swiss army knives again in my life. After looking at a few and comparing them to some of my other slippies, they seem like they are really good quality. I am now considering one of the Alox models. I didn't want to put this in the Multi-tool forum because I wanted the opinion of other slippie people on SAKs.
 
Swiss Army Knives are very durable. The blades and springs are very difficult to rust. If your model has asaw it will work very well. For the price, I'd say they are great! I EDC a friendy scaled Spartan.
 
SAKs are incredible quality. They put to shame lots of other knives costing several times as much.
 
My EDC is a Victorinox Soldier. It's simple, high quality,
light weight and strong. Also, contrary to popular belief it holds
a pretty decent edge. It outshines knives I have that are much more expensive. The other good thing is I'm not worried about messing it
up if I need to or losing it. For a little over $20 it won't hurt me to get another.
 
All of the SAKs I've handled have been very good quality. Also I've known a lot of people who have carried the same SAK for many years - the knives don't deteriorate with use.

I like both the Victorinox and Wenger models. The Wenger tend to be less common, so that's mainly what I own.

-Bob
 
Yep, what they said. I've had a multilayer Wenger for years, and just got a Vic Soldier yesterday (used, v. clean, eBay, $15 shipped). The Soldier has a thicker main blade and spring, and is most similar to the knife issued to the Swiss Army.

I also have an "Aitor" (Spanish) knockoff that I've had for 30+ years. It has a weak joint now, but I used it all through high school and beyond.

They're all exceptional values, and I can't remember ever reading a post indicating a bad unit. That is, their QC must be very stringent.

-- Sam
 
Sak's are just great, I will always have one around no matter what else I carry. And considering the huge production numbers, its amazing quality for the price.

Victorinox makes about 35 million knives a years, according to an article in Knife World some time back. The Victorinox factory is one of the most up to date facilities in the world. Very few QA problem knives slip through in spite of the fast automated pace of the latest CNC machines they use.

The stainless steel they use is pretty decent, and I think it compares to the Case stainless which is unjustly maligned. If its sharp when you leave the house in the morning, it will get you through the day with no problems. Just for yuks a couple of years ago, I took a Case stainless pocket knife, a sak, an Opinel, a Case CV, and a couple other knives and did an semi-scientific test in my kitchen. Karen thought I'd lost my mind, but I had cardboard, 5/8th inch hemp rope, and newsprint. I did the same cutting with all knives, and no differences showed untill over 75 cuts in the coragated cardboard 15 inches long. After every 10 cuts I would stop and clean off the blades to look at the edges under a 10X magnifier. At that point all knives would still cleanly slice newspaper. By 100 cuts my hand was killing me, but some minor differenses were showing. All knives would still cut the hemp rope in one pass, but a couple were grabbing on the newspaper. It took a deliberate effort to show up the differenses.

But the true beauty of a sak is not the cutting, its the fact that you can really fix things in a pinch with one. I've dropped out the ceiling fan in our upstairs bathroom for maintanence with the phillips on my tinker, Fixed the throttle cable on my Vespa PX150 motorscooter, fixed the back door with it, pulled a few ticks off Pearl the wonder corgi with the tweezers, and so on. A sak is a good thing to have around.
 
I simply don't understand how some people can be without SAKs.

As already said: decent steel, good quality, pocket-friendly, does the job without any fuss, they're cheap AND they are sheeple friendly.
Ok, aestethically not all people think they're the best (me included), but hey, I won't leave them at home because of that.

/ Karl
 
The SAK is a great knife for the money! They cut very well & are easy to maintain. I EDC the Alox Soldier model... tough as nails IMHO.
 
I've been carrying Vic SAK's for 20 years they are incredibly sturdy (both celidor and Alox), versatile ,easy to sharpen and hold a great edge! I started with a recruit and now recently i've been carrying the 111mm frame size (either my OH Trekker or my Rucksack) and the Alox's.The Alox Soldier i have is about the sturdiest slipjoint i've ever seen. And this week I just ordered another SAK, an Alox Farmer from Felinevet.
For me the OH Trekker or the Farmer coupled with a Leatherman Micra will fufill all my edc needs.
Really you can't go wrong with a SAK.
:)
 
SAKs are great. I wish slipjoint manufacturers like Queen, Case, Eye Brand, etc. had Victorinox's consistency and quality control. They also have an incredible warranty.
 
Holy moley! I never would have guessed. Makes me want to buy only SAKs for their utility purposes and never look back.
 
I carry a V-nox Cadet and wouldn't leave home without it. :)
For the longest time I thought there was no better pocket knife than the stockman. To answer your question yes the SAKs are very good quality, and the alox model I carry is very comfortable to carry in the pocket. You will not even know it's there until you want it.
 
There seems to be a thriving cottage industry and hobbyist market for rehandling SAKs with nicer materials too, if that's your bag.

-- Sam
 
One thing I thought Victorinox should do is to have a 2nd tier of knives
that are more expensive but have nicer attributes.

Could you imagine a Soldier with a BG-42 blade or an Explorer with Stag Handles and nickel silver bolsters! Maybe even different blade shapes, clip,
sheepsfoot, etc. With their quality control knife knuts would flock.
 
All this talk about good SAK's is making me want more right now! :)
 
Bungwrench said:
Holy moley! I never would have guessed. Makes me want to buy only SAKs for their utility purposes and never look back.
Click to expand...

Hush that kind of talk on our poor inocent ears!:D

Don't get me wrong, I like saks. But a sak will never have the apeal of a nice old aged stag stockman, or a bone barlow, or any othe vintage traditional.
 
i carried a Vic Fisherman all through college. this was before multitools and such. great quality and it'll handle 99% of anyone's cutting needs and will have a few other uses thrown in. :)

of course i have tacticools and vintage knives, but i could 'get by' just fine with a SAK.
 
I have a 9 of SAK's. The my Alox is my favorite. It is much stouter than my other ones. Overall it is just beefier in every aspect. I store them everywhere: glove box, hunting pack, shaving kit, survival kits... I use them all the time.

SAK's are like Mora's - utility at a value and while I'm a big fan of the SAK's and use them, I just like the look and feel a traditional slipjoint.
 
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