SAK's in literature.

J

jackknife

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
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I don't know if we've ever covered this in this sub forum. At my age, I have trouble recalling what I had for lunch yesterday. But one good thing about being retired, I get to read. I've always loved a good book, and who-done-it's in particular. So far in my retired life when I'm not out fishing, woods rambling, or riding my Vespa, I've managed to work my way through some mystery writers. Robert Parker's Spencer series, James Lee Burke, some Clive Cussler's, and lately Tony Hillerman's novels dealing with the who-done-it set in the desert of the Southwest. His prime protagonist is Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn of the Navajo police. Taking place in the rugged terrain of New Mexico and Arizona, Leaphorn uses a pocket knife on many occasions, for many things. Hillerman has it as a Swiss Army knife. Never says what model, but there it is.

I've noticed that in Clive Cussler novels the protagonist Dirk Pitt also uses a Swiss Army knife in many of the harrowing adventures. Again, no mention of model, but it seems like some prying, some cutting, some disassembling things from bombs to faulty air compressors, fictional heroes find a SAK as handy as us mere mortal individuals plodding on with our lives.

SAK's, not just for the real world!:D
 
I like a good Tony Hillerman or Clive Cussler novel. If Tom Sawyer was written in 1976, instead if 1876, he probably would have wanted a SAK instead of a barlow.
 
I'm an amateur writer and for many of my short stories I have my leading man character carry a Swiss Army Knife.
 
Don't forget the McGyver TV series. He always had a SAK to get
him out of trouble or problems.
Rich
 
Rich S said:
Don't forget the McGyver TV series. He always had a SAK to get
him out of trouble or problems.
Rich
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I'm just reading James Lee Burke's latest, Wayfaring Stranger. The main character, Weldon Holland, at one point opens a beer with his pocketknife, which could be a SAK, since he is a WW2 vet, but since that takes place in the late 1940's or early 1950's it could easily be a scout knife or something else.

In the early Dave Robicheaux novels, I seem to remember him carrying a Puma pocketknife, but in later books he is also opening beers with the opener on his knife. I can't recall if Burke is ever specific about the make.
 
iSaur said:
I'm just reading James Lee Burke's latest, Wayfaring Stranger. The main character, Weldon Holland, at one point opens a beer with his pocketknife, which could be a SAK, since he is a WW2 vet, but since that takes place in the late 1940's or early 1950's it could easily be a scout knife or something else.

In the early Dave Robicheaux novels, I seem to remember him carrying a Puma pocketknife, but in later books he is also opening beers with the opener on his knife. I can't recall if Burke is ever specific about the make.
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James Lee Burke is one of my favorite writers. I worked my way through all the Robichaeux and Holland books, and even read his daughters works. Not bad stuff either. But no, I don't recall ever having him specify what kind of knife Robichaeux carried, but hinted it may have been a scout or SAK pattern.
 
iSaur said:
I'm just reading James Lee Burke's latest, Wayfaring Stranger. The main character, Weldon Holland, at one point opens a beer with his pocketknife, which could be a SAK, since he is a WW2 vet, but since that takes place in the late 1940's or early 1950's it could easily be a scout knife or something else.
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OK, I just read a couple more chapters of Wayfaring Stranger, and Holland refers to his Queen knife (end of Chapter 26). So, not a SAK. All we know is that Burke has good taste in knives.

In William Gibson's novels, there are many references to knives. I wouldn't be surprised to find a SAK in there somewhere.
 
I'm a big fan of Tony Hillerman's books, mainly because he transports you to the western settings. Lt Leaphorn has always lugged around a Buck 110. I don't recall him carrying a SAK, maybe after retirement? I'm going to have to go back through and re-read the novels.

Thanks for the opportunity! I have some if you want to borrow them, I think I have all of them. I'll look for some extras for you. I believe that the 110 was first showcased in Dance Hall of the Dead or one of the first Leaphorn novels. He might've switched to a SAK later on.
 
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silenthunterstudios said:
I'm a big fan of Tony Hillerman's books, mainly because he transports you to the western settings. Lt Leaphorn has always lugged around a Buck 110. I don't recall him carrying a SAK, maybe after retirement? I'm going to have to go back through and re-read the novels.

Thanks for the opportunity! I have some if you want to borrow them, I think I have all of them. I'll look for some extras for you. I believe that the 110 was first showcased in Dance Hall of the Dead or one of the first Leaphorn novels. He might've switched to a SAK later on.
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It was one of the latter Leaphorn books, were he was indeed retired and "looking into' a case by someones request. He needed to use a screw driver on something. It's been man-years, but I think I've read all of Hillerman's Leaphorn novels, and now I'm slowly working my way through the James Paterson/Alex Cross novels. It's neat that James Paterson is so familiar with my Hometown of Washington D.C., and many of the stories settings are places I'm actually familiar with. Unlike a lot of authors, I feel that Paterson has really been there checking out the place because he's sooo accurate inks narratives. Un fortunately, Alex Cross doesn't carry a knife. :eek:
 
Did you say Alex Cross doesn't like knives, in an earlier post last year? What the heck is that? How does he make dinner?
 
I also read a lot of mystery, suspense, detective, thriller, etc. novels. I haven't read any Hillerman, but my wife is a big fan of him. I recently read The Hit by David Baldacci. I don't think Baldacci is a great writer; his plots are pretty good, but his dialogue and characters are not. But he's a popular author, so I can always find his stuff at the local library, and I've read many of his books. Anyway, in this book, our hero Will Robie is a CIA assassin with a heart of gold and he's trying to get into the bad guys' headquarters on the second floor of a brick building, so he starts climbing the side of the building. Here's a quote from page 342:

"He kept going, slipped twice, nearly fell once, but his hand finally gripped the ledge outside a darkened window and he lifted himself up and perched on the narrow space. The window was locked.
He pulled out his Swiss Army knife, which the security checkpoint had missed, and a few seconds later passed through the open window …
He shuffled across the hall and over to the other doors. He pulled his knife, a poor weapon against guns, but all he had …
The door was locked. But with his knife it was unlocked ten seconds later."

I have several SAKs, but none of mine have the lock picking tool! I wonder what model that is? ;) And I wonder how the very capable international bad guys missed the knife at the security checkpoint, when TSA seems to find lots of SAKs!

An author whose books I really love is John Sandford. I've read all of his Lucas Davenport and his Virgil Flowers books (many of them more than once). In a book called Winter Prey, a young girl shoots Davenport in the neck with a .22, and a surgeon named Weather uses "a jack knife" to perform a tracheotomy while Davenport is lying in the snow next to his snowmobile (several books, and at least one break-up, later, Lucas and Weather get married). In subsequent books, the physical description of Davenport which is given when he first appears in a book always mentions the jackknife scar on his throat.

Anyway, great thread, Carl. :thumbup: I was planning to try starting a knives in literature thread on the traditional forum, but I guess I don't have to now. (Great minds think alike, eh?)

- GT
 
Hey GT, yeah, I've read two of Baldacci's books, included the one you mention, The Hit. I haven't read anymore. Too many other good mystery writers out there.

But… and this is not a defense of him, but I have unlocked a few things with my SAK. If you use the tweezers by inserting just one leg of the tweezers, and jiggle it back and forth in the lock, I've had mediocre results. If one had better knowledge of the inside construction of the lock, then it gets better. A friend of men who is a locksmith by trade, showed me that a lock pick is just a very flat flexible piece of metal. Chet showed me how to use the tweezers leg, but my skill level is not near his, and my success rate pales to his. He can take a lock pick and undo a lock almost as fast as with a key. He took the tweezers from his little Vic classic and unlocked a file cabinet, a Master brand padlock, and the sliding patio door lock on an Anderson slider. Me, not so well.:( But I did learn to unlock police handcuffs with the toothpick or tweezers fro a SAK, or the filler from a ball point pen. :)
 
In Stephen King's novel Desperation, there is a villain (a possessed cop) who uses the small blade on a SAK to slit a bag of dope or something. In fact, I'm guessing Stephen King most likely carries a pocketknife of some kind, because he mentions pocketknives in a lot of his books, though always briefly. In Under The Dome, the main protagonist carries a SAK, and later, after he loses it, has to borrow a wood-handled pocketknife from an older man.

There are other books whose authors I can't remember the names of, that mentions SAKs...one novel about a haunted house has an ill-fated character who uses a SAK to chip ice or something. Another was by a British (Welsh?) author whose villain used a "Swiss Army pen knife" as his weapon of choice. This latter author probably knows very little about knives. You can probably tell I like horror novels. :)

Jim
 
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jackknife said:
Hey GT, yeah, I've read two of Baldacci's books, included the one you mention, The Hit. I haven't read anymore. Too many other good mystery writers out there.

But… and this is not a defense of him, but I have unlocked a few things with my SAK. If you use the tweezers by inserting just one leg of the tweezers, and jiggle it back and forth in the lock, I've had mediocre results. If one had better knowledge of the inside construction of the lock, then it gets better. A friend of men who is a locksmith by trade, showed me that a lock pick is just a very flat flexible piece of metal. Chet showed me how to use the tweezers leg, but my skill level is not near his, and my success rate pales to his. He can take a lock pick and undo a lock almost as fast as with a key. He took the tweezers from his little Vic classic and unlocked a file cabinet, a Master brand padlock, and the sliding patio door lock on an Anderson slider. Me, not so well.:( But I did learn to unlock police handcuffs with the toothpick or tweezers fro a SAK, or the filler from a ball point pen. :)
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This is a little off-topic since I don't remember any knife content in these books, but I did enjoy Baldacci's Camel Club books about Oliver Stone.

And the info about using tweezers to pick locks is very interesting, Carl! I learn so much hanging around these forums. My wife just rolls her eyes every time I say something like, "Hey, you know what I learned on Blade Forums today?" But I'll bet she'll be excited to learn that there are Tony Hillerman fans here, and I'll have to ask her if she remembers anything about Leaphorn's pocket knife.

- GT
 
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