Swiss army knives and the Korean War.

M

mg357

Joined
May 31, 2012
Messages
281
I am an amateur writer and i have this idea for a short story that is set during the Korean War. Basically the leading lady in the story is a member of the military reserve and she is called up for active duty service during the war and her husband has to stay at home and take care of the house.
But i have hit a big problem Which models of swiss army knives were available between 1950 and 1953? if anyone here on the forum would please help me with this i would appreciate it very much. the reason i am asking for this information is because the leading man in the story carries a victorinox swiss army knife as his EDC Knife.
 
Last edited:
Hi!

Did you ever try out that site http://www.sakwiki.com/

It´s some kind of an online encyclopedia on SAKs. I think, you might find some interessting facts about that great knives.

(maybe they also have a historical area)

Kind regards
Andi
 
Unfortunately the Victorinox catalog at SAKWIKI is labeled "1950s" and that doesn't really help you. Many things changed in the course of that decade, even in conservative Switzerland.

Also, the old Soldier knives (military production) are much better documented online than old Officer knives (commercial production). But if the SAK in your story is only a character tag (Sherlock Holmes's pipe) then you needn't know everything, just enough to avoid anachronism.

First I would check some of the blogs on SAKWIKI's links page here:

http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Website+List

Mario's Swiss Army Knives has photos of old commercial production, like this 1943 Spartan with horn scales:

DSC_0103.JPG


DSC_0106.JPG


You should take a look at p. 9 of Victorinox's Everything You Need to Know about Multi-tools and Cutlery. It is an 11 MB download here:

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CGAQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fb2b.victorinox.ch%2FA219%2FManual_english.pdf&ei=OR7eT6NokqDyBMr2yckK&usg=AFQjCNEOkcJRDHAPf4JBXGaxHwWXXbMyEA

If you don't want the download, the link below takes you to a page with a link ("click here") which displays p. 9 in your browser window where you can zoom in on it.

https://7090a624-a-78e87ce8-s-sites.googlegroups.com/a/multi-tool.org/museum/victorinox-catalogs/victorinox-everything/Victorinox_Everything-9.jpg?attachauth=ANoY7crWshxOTzUqK90WpbPBfYachbh3TdPZkge8d7L32K4hqnMvpMgS8s3EZ_De6DDwAJA95Tp-lfW7KWfICUdPEsXPeFXieZ-rzEfHDrJtB918jZjhhQxKu-eHAGWSfeSBL4Y28hLRl30tyazVTtDAoiOIc2WE4PxNmAKnY47Hes4LPuhjGDTH6BOcl5ggnkCuE3cqsyp4gWVp17d-UVd9zKT73rqRos3dyKxI-57UUXmYKZ5I4lWWmTINTrj524T92AnKxmZyzHVPwVF43nKjaKTo-g-MFg%3D%3D&attredirects=0

If your male lead is a soldier in Korea and not the husband back stateside, he must be a non-conformist and possibly an eccentric (they are not synonymous). Most army personnel in the Korean War would have carried a "demo knife" AKA U.S. Military Knife (United States Government Spec. ML–K–818D).

http://www.donrearic.com/demoknife1.html
 
Last edited:
Piso Mojado said:
Unfortunately the Victorinox catalog at SAKWIKI is labeled "1950s" and that doesn't really help you. Many things changed in the course of that decade, even in conservative Switzerland.

Also, the old Soldier knives (military production) are much better documented online than old Officer knives (commercial production). But if the SAK in your story is only a character tag (Sherlock Holmes's pipe) then you needn't know everything, just enough to avoid anachronism.

First I would check some of the blogs on SAKWIKI's links page here:

http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Website+List

Mario's Swiss Army Knives has photos of old commercial production, like this 1943 Spartan with horn scales:



If your male lead is a soldier in Korea and not the husband back stateside, he must be a non-conformist and possibly an eccentric (they are not synonymous). Most army personnel in the Korean War would have carried a "demo knife" AKA U.S. Military Knife (United States Government Spec. ML–K–818D).

http://www.donrearic.com/demoknife1.html
Click to expand...
I agree,he wouldn't be carrying a SAK.:eek::)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top