Swiss Army Knives

Daniel Moore

Daniel Moore

Joined
Jul 28, 2003
Messages
2,790
Hey Hey. I absolutely love Swiss Army Knives. I'm 14, and I love my Gerber partially serrated AR 3.25 lockback, let's just say there are some places where I question if it can follow me...nowadays a 14 year old weilding one of those doesn't look good.

Anyways on to the wonderful world of Victorinox:

I have a few models: The Cybertool, the Tinker, the Classic, and my EDC the Explorer. All of the Victorinoxes I ever owned have one characteristic. When I open the large blade, no matter how carefully I do it, even when brand new, it rubs against the small blade (or in the classic's case, the nail file). The result? An angled line of scratches horizontally, very densely placed. One of my friends said "You must not be opening it carefully enough." I refrained from kicking his ass with my Pine Ridge, and instead asked "What kind of knife is useful, if the only way you can keep it in good condition is if you baby it?". I never liked the mirroring of the stainless steel on Victorinox's, and prefer a satin finish, because the scratches look awful. Does anybody else have a Swiss collection, who's noticed this flaw? I know it's always useful, but I like my EDC to look nice :)
 
Hey, welcome aboard!

I just took a look at my EDC Tinker and though it does seem to do the same thing you mentioned (the Large and Small blades do make contact) I have absolutely no wear on either blade bacause of it. It MIGHT (might, mind you) help if you opened the knife and tried to bend the blades in the other direction slightly, but there's so little room to play with you'll probably end up with the blades rubbing somewhere else instead.

If it really bugs you email Victorinox. Their CS dept is top notch.

Good Luck,

-John

PS - I agree, there should be no need to baby a usin' knife!
 
I have noticed the scratches in the past, but I just pulled out my current carry and no scratches. What I am carrying now is the Adventurer model. It has no small blade and the large blade has its own private spring channel and liners.

The Adventurer has been my EDC for about 10 years. It has a locking 3.25" blade which offers some modest self defense potential (particularly since I keep it razor sharp). It works very well as a folding hunting knife. Other than having one large locking blade instead of two smaller non-locking blades, the Adventurer has the same tools as the Tinker. This is a really good mix of tools for me. The Adventurer is only two spring channels thick and is very light weight. The longer handle provides a really comfortable grip for knife work.

I like the mirror finish on the blade. Yes it does show scratches, but the smoother finish cuts more effectively in stiff media. For example it is a lot easier to cut through something like a plastic trash can with a mirror finish blade. If you get something like a chamois polishing cloth and put a little jewelers rouge or green buffing compound on it you can help maintain that mirror finish.
 
It's am SAK, made to be rode hard and put up wet. Scratches? Hell, my hiker is for beating up on boxes and the odd task around the house. I expect it to be beat up and real good.

Using knives get scratched and dull. Dull we can take care of.

I've never had anyone say anything to me about the scratches on the hiker when it's been handed to them to use for the moment.

If it doesn't have scatches, it's not being used enough.

Brownie
 
Big Victorinox fan here... I've never had that problem. I'd send the knife in for service if it was me.

For the record most of my SAK blades are sharp but look like crap.

Doesn't bother me in the least. :D
 
All of my blades are sharp and scratched:

Fisherman (20+years)

Ranger

Mini-Champ

Signature Lite II

Swiss Card

Trailmasder

Alox (Red) Pioneer

Spartan (now my son has it)

Hiker
 
This problem is common with SAKs and other slipjoints in general. There really isn't much to do about it other than being very careful or finding a model with only one blade. It's just the nature of the beast, I'm afraid.
 
Scratches give it personality. About the only way to avoid blade to blade contact is to either go with only one blade or have all blades open from the same end.

Paul
 
It's pretty hard to find a good slipjoint that doesn't rub. In fact, the only non custom SJ that I have that doesn't is my Buck 303 Cadet. Like it was said, it's just the nature of the beast. Use it and don't worry about it :D
Matt
 
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