Talk me into / out of buying a Victorinox Fieldmaster

[sitflyer]

1. I never had an SAK before.

1. I shouldn’t let the internet influence my purchasing decisions.

Thoughts?

Toss a coin, heads you buy it, tails you donate the money to charity.

 

[Shrub]

I don't understand the OP.
How is this even up for questioning?
You've never had a Victorinox/sak!!?!??!
You poor thing...

All of your "against" reasons are pure nonsense that sound like you've got a nagging girlfriend wanting you to save money to buy her something! Lol

Regarding reason #4, your worst reason of all, man up, stick it in your pocket. Give it a few weeks and then cry in remorse that you had to do without for so many years.

Really though, the Fieldmaster is one of the best models they make for being outside. I also love the Ranger, Explorer, Hunstman, Farmer, Farmer X, 84mm Walker and the 111 mm Trekker...
Give it a try. Worst case, you can always give it to a random young man learning about knives and outdoors if you don't like it. That's even better than giving to charity imo.

 

[mrknife]

All of the above fourteen are reasons to buy it.

well when you put it that way... sold!

 

[joeradza]

You missed one important reason to buy it. After you carry it for a while you'll find less of a need to keep buying more knives. Happy wife, happy life.

 

[Just Tom.]

Thanks everybody. Sorry to have started this thread and then bailed, but I wound up being really busy today. I will read and respond a little later I hope.

 

[Quiet]

I mean, it's roughly forty bucks. It's a tremendous amount of tool for the money, and you said in your OP that "I've never needed one before", which I read as "I didn't KNOW I needed one before."

Get it, you won't regret it.

Signed,

A guy with entirely too many SAKs....and always looking for more!

 

[Modoc ED]

What the heck's the sense of having a thread about a Fieldmaster SAK without having a picture of one in the thread?



Personally, although I have a Fieldmaster, I wouldn't get another. Instead. I'd get a Huntsman, which I also have a couple of.



I much prefer the corkscrew of the Huntsman over the Philips Head screwdriver of the Fieldmaster.

 

[afishhunter]

I went with the Huntsman.
I need a corkscrew even less than I need a phillips screwdriver.
(my bicycle multi tool has a Phillips Screwdriver, I had it, a bit screwdriver and set of bits in my bicycle tool bag, now in my rollator's tote/shopping bag, so I always have screwdrivers with me.)
In the 20 odd years I've had the Huntsman, I don't recall using it to pop a cork ... Not even when I was a stand-by not great bartender.
However, the "eyeglasses" screwdriver that mounts inside the corkscrew... I do wear glasses ... get new ones every 10-15 years ... Having that tiny screwdriver has come in handy a couple times.

IMHO, If you have the Huntsman, get the Fieldmaster, (or another Huntsman) maybe with different covers/scales.
One SAK isn't enough. "N+1" is fitting/applicable.

Or if you want ALOX, a Farmer X with woodsaw and scissors. You'll be giving up the back tools, useful toothpick, and pretty much gripless tweezers (which can be replaced by a second toothpick), though.

I've found the scissors quite useful. For example: Your better 99/100 has a loose thread, or a wild hair that needs trimmed. If you go after said thread or hair with scissors, no one in the vicinity gives a second or greater look.
Go after the same thread or hair with any knife blade ... you might just have some 'splainin to do.

 

[Modoc ED]

If'm gonna tell you guys and gals why a corkscrew is so important. This experience I'm about to relate to y'all is probably only a once in a lifetime happening but here it is. Several years ago while deer hunting with a group of guys back in Virginia around 1975 or so, one of the guys got to itching one of his eyes. It wasn't a regular eye, it was a wooden eye. His folks couldn't afford a real glass eye so they had a wooden one made with the iris and all painted on with shiny, lacquer paint. Well, by rubbing that wooden eye he got it cock-eyed (pun intended) in his eye socket and couldn't straighten it to save his soul - gave him the appearance of looking up to the left. Anyway, I took out my SAK knife with the classic SAK Corkscrew and proceeded to work the point and first two curls of the corkscrew into his wooden eye. One of the guys got behind him and held his head by his ears while I stepped over him to allow for a good straight pull and pulled that wooden eye right out of his eye socket with a Pop. We smoothed out the hole where the corkscrew had been inserted and he popped the wooden eye back in his eye socket none the worse for wear.

If this tale hasn't made any of y'all cockeyed, it should have.

 

[mrknife]

When I was in the scouts, saks were must have. I eventually accumulated a tinker, champ, a classic, the small two blade pocket pal, the single aloxes. You really cant go wrong with saks. theyre fun, functional and if you lose one or give one away, its not the end of the world. This is before my true single blade phase. but you can see by the accumulation of saks it was heading that way.

 

[B1GSHOT]

I decided to get a SAK for the first time this month. I now have four. There are competing schools of thought when it comes to them... One is to keep it lean and mean- just the stuff you really need so it's light and small. The other is that if you're going to get a SAK, the only reason is to get a McGuyver toy with a million different tools. One knife doesn't solve both problems. I lean towards wanting a lot of fun tools. I have a Swiss Champ XLT with all the bells and whistles; a Woodsman Lite with my favorite feature set; a Spartan Lite with a pared down set of tools that isn't too pared down; and a Midnight Mini Champ, which is an engineering marvel- so many tools in such a tiny little knife.

The Fieldmaster is a good choice. That has just enough to be really useful.

 

[Just Tom.]

when I tried a few years ago to decide what was the SAK with the best combination of tools for me, the Fieldmaster was my conclusion.

I agree. I have no need for a corkscrew. I wish the Fieldmaster had something else in place of the cap lifter and parcel hook, but besides that it seems like the most useful combination.

Felix Immler has a lot of fun videos around the SAK.

I recently discovered his channel, and he deserves much of the blame for my current predicament.

As far as camping goes, it should be illegal not to have a SAK when you’re camping….you wouldn’t want to break the law, would you??

I’m such a rebel though, you have no idea. I cut the tag off a mattress once.

Everybody needs at least one SAK... That's reason enough.

On one hand, I feel like I should have one at least once in my life, but on the other hand I kind of enjoy the fact that I spent SO much time outdoors in my youth and young adulthood, and still manage to get out occasionally, and always got by with just a simple lockback or slipjoint. Denying the usefulness of a SAK and stubbornly insisting on making do with one or two plain blades suits my contrarian nature.

Toss a coin, heads you buy it, tails you donate the money to charity.

A third option, which I am leaning towards, would be to buy the knife and then spend the equivalent amount on charity to assuage my guilt…

All joking aside, I do agonize somewhat over discretionary purchases for myself (not for family members). I have a very easy way to give money directly to folks for whom $40 can mean the difference between gnawing hunger or adequate food for a month. No overhead. Not everybody has these types of connections, and I would be a fool not to take advantage of it.

 

[JohnDF]

Denying the usefulness of a SAK and stubbornly insisting on making do with a single blade suits my contrarian nature.

I actually don't see the need for a SAK for the outdoors.
Not a lot of screws out there, most cans have pull back lids these days, and the saw is too small to really be useful.
So ya, a traditional pocket knife, a saw, and a hatchet would be far more practical.
But that still doesn't mean you shouldn't buy one... in fact the knife gods demand it.

 

[Just Tom.]

So ya, a traditional pocket knife, a saw, and a hatchet would be far more practical.

Agreed. Here is my current camping combo:


Not shown is the Oskard toothpick-style fish knife which stays in the little waterproof case I use as a tackle box.

The green Mikov knife will likely be replaced by one of those little P-38 keychain can openers on the next trip.

The saw is one thing I do wish I had in the past, when I really could have used it on many occasions. Now it is more of a luxury - less hunting around for branches small enough to break with your knee or foot.

I also already have this, if I choose to bring it:

 

[T.J. H]

Buy it. SAK’s are great, you don’t have one yet, you can afford it, and life’s too short.

 

[Sevoflurane]

You listed way more reasons than I ever thought about for a knife. It's reasonably priced so why not? I'm reading this and have ended up with one in my cart. I need to stop reading..

 

[315]

If'm gonna tell you guys and gals why a corkscrew is so important. This experience I'm about to relate to y'all is probably only a once in a lifetime happening but here it is. Several years ago while deer hunting with a group of guys back in Virginia around 1975 or so, one of the guys got to itching one of his eyes. It wasn't a regular eye, it was a wooden eye. His folks couldn't afford a real glass eye so they had a wooden one made with the iris and all painted on with shiny, lacquer paint. Well, by rubbing that wooden eye he got it cock-eyed (pun intended) in his eye socket and couldn't straighten it to save his soul - gave him the appearance of looking up to the left. Anyway, I took out my SAK knife with the classic SAK Corkscrew and proceeded to work the point and first two curls of the corkscrew into his wooden eye. One of the guys got behind him and held his head by his ears while I stepped over him to allow for a good straight pull and pulled that wooden eye right out of his eye socket with a Pop. We smoothed out the hole where the corkscrew had been inserted and he popped the wooden eye back in his eye socket none the worse for wear.

If this tale hasn't made any of y'all cockeyed, it should have.

Ed, you had me in the beginning but as the story went on it reminded me of the stories Grandad told me as a kid. Loved it!! And ya just never know….it could happen

I’m such a rebel though, you have no idea. I cut the tag off a mattress once.

But if you had cut the tag off with the scissors from a Fieldmaster….it could almost be like a scene out of McGyver

 

[Just Tom.]

But if you had cut the tag off with the scissors from a Fieldmaster….it could almost be like a scene out of McGyver

Even though I was 19 years old when the show came out, I never saw McGyver, and had no idea what it was about. I was overseas in 1988 the first time I heard someone ridiculed for “trying to be like McGyver” or something like that, and I had to have it explained to me. They were amazed that as an American, I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about.

I have still never seen it, but of course I get the reference.

 

[5K Qs]

If'm gonna tell you guys and gals why a corkscrew is so important. This experience I'm about to relate to y'all is probably only a once in a lifetime happening but here it is. Several years ago while deer hunting with a group of guys back in Virginia around 1975 or so, one of the guys got to itching one of his eyes. It wasn't a regular eye, it was a wooden eye. His folks couldn't afford a real glass eye so they had a wooden one made with the iris and all painted on with shiny, lacquer paint. Well, by rubbing that wooden eye he got it cock-eyed (pun intended) in his eye socket and couldn't straighten it to save his soul - gave him the appearance of looking up to the left. Anyway, I took out my SAK knife with the classic SAK Corkscrew and proceeded to work the point and first two curls of the corkscrew into his wooden eye. One of the guys got behind him and held his head by his ears while I stepped over him to allow for a good straight pull and pulled that wooden eye right out of his eye socket with a Pop. We smoothed out the hole where the corkscrew had been inserted and he popped the wooden eye back in his eye socket none the worse for wear.

If this tale hasn't made any of y'all cockeyed, it should have.

Hey, wait a minute!
ED, isn't that an episode in the TV show Friends??

- GT

 

[rhino]

I have had a hankering for a Victorinox Fieldmaster lately, and I’m not sure if I should indulge it or not.

Arguments for buying a Victorinox Fieldmaster:

1. It seems kinda cool.
2. I can afford it.
3. I deserve a treat now and then.
4. Swiss army knives are cultural icons.
5. It would be fun to fool around with when camping.
6. I never had an SAK before.
7. Of the SAK options, it seems like the best combination of tools.

Arguments against buying a Victorinox Fieldmaster:

1. In all the years I spent doing outdoor activities I never actually needed one, so why now?
2. $40 bucks would be better spent on charity.
3. I have too many knives already.
4. I probably won’t actually carry it day to day, since I seemed to have settled on my EDC.
5. I shouldn’t let the internet influence my purchasing decisions.
6. Many of my previous knife cravings have eventually faded without being fulfilled.
7. Never pictured myself as a Swiss army knife kind of guy.

Thoughts?

Regardless of which you buy, you need an SAK, as do all others!

Given that, I think you would be better served with the Huntsman, which is the same as the Fieldmaster except with a corkscrew instead of the back side phillips screwdriver.

Here is why:

o Because of its location and length, the utility of the back side phillips is limited. I have experienced numerous situations where it would not work on a specific screw because obstacles that wouldn't allow the screwdriver to reach.
o The can opener on Victorinox SAKs works well a both a small slotted screwdriver as well as a phillips. In fact, in my opinion it is a superior phillips driver to the back side phillips. You can get it into tighter place and it works on a wider range of sizes.
o The corkscrew is useful for things other than uncorking bottles. It will carry the tiny screwdriver or other tool, specially designed tinders and ferrocerium rods, etc. It will also help you untie knots or even fasten your knife to a stick if you need more reach to use the knife or saw blade.