- Joined
- Feb 25, 2001
- Messages
- 6,676
It’s been awhile since I stopped by last. To be truthful, I just haven’t had too much to say. I’ve now been carrying a SwissChamp daily for almost three years running. And while change is sometimes a slow gradual process, recent events stimulated a rather large change. Small in comparison to most of you, but large in comparison to my decidedly predictable life.
But first let me catch you up to speed, as you’ve all probably long forgotten about me. I’d been a knife collector for more than 20 years. Then what started as a bit of summertime fun, turned into the swift end to my collector status. I found THE KNIFE. That knife was the SwissChamp.
I made a few modifications to the knife, and deemed it the SwissTank MK1. That brought on a desire for a SwissChamp of a slightly different age, and the SwissTank MKII was born. But of course I couldn’t stop there, further refining my preferences with yet another slightly different vintage of SwissChamp, which brought on the SwissTank MKIII.
That 3rd iteration of the SwissTank was wonderful, and nothing changed for years. I happily used that knife every single day, carried day and night, my constant companion in all matters.
Then the inevitable happened, and I sort of misplaced the knife a few weeks ago. I actually knew where it was, accidentally left at my cabin in the mountains. But I had to live without the SwissTank for a bit of time, until I was able to get back to camp and pick it up.
So I pocketed my backup SwissChamp, a modern model with a glass magnifier inside of a clear plastic housing. That was quite a change, as all my SwissTanks had contained the old style of glass magnifier in the grey plastic housing.
Well, I quickly got to loving that new style of magnifier. So much easier to use than the old style glass. Maybe not quite as powerful in magnification, but so much clearer. But that fear was always in the back of my head, wondering if the glass lens would pop out of the housing, as was known to happen with that particular vintage of SwissChamp.
Eventually, I did manage to grab my beloved old SwissTank MKIII. And on my second day back with it, the corkscrew side scale fell off, when I dropped the knife on my garage’s concrete floor. Uggghhhhhhh……. And it wouldn’t snap back on.
So back in my pocket went the backup SwissChamp, while I decided what to do with the SwissTank’s loose aftermarket scale. I naturally did a bit of research, to see if the loose lens issue was still a problem, and it sounded as though Victorinox might have resolved the issue with a redesign of the housing.
Well, the latest version of the SwissChamp arrived at my door this morning. The lens housing has indeed been modified, and I can happily say that the lens is now quite unmovable.
I quickly tore off the cellidor scales from the new SwissChamp, and epoxied the micarta scales from the old SwissTank MKIII onto the wonderful new knife. While I was at it, I transferred over the leather fob as well, and replaced the precision screwdriver with a crazy new FireAnt tinder and striker. I also covered the FireAnt with some shrink tubing, as I’d seen done in a YouTube video, in order to protect the tinder.
I briefly played with some new colorful toothpicks and tweezers, but none of them quite agreed with me. In the end, I decided to stick with my age old grey tweezers and bone colored toothpick. Call me old fashioned.
So here I present to you, the SwissTank MKIV, my latest vision of the perfect SwissChamp. While I may have lost some Phillips screwdriver length, my aging eyes absolutely adore the new magnifier.
Will I make any more changes? Maybe. I’d really, really, like to replace the toothpick and tweezers with something yellow in color. More specifically, I’m looking into amber colored Ultem as a new material for the toothpick. Expensive stuff, but I definitely want to give it a go this summer. If it works out, I may try to replace the plastic on the tweezers with Ultem as well.
But first let me catch you up to speed, as you’ve all probably long forgotten about me. I’d been a knife collector for more than 20 years. Then what started as a bit of summertime fun, turned into the swift end to my collector status. I found THE KNIFE. That knife was the SwissChamp.
I made a few modifications to the knife, and deemed it the SwissTank MK1. That brought on a desire for a SwissChamp of a slightly different age, and the SwissTank MKII was born. But of course I couldn’t stop there, further refining my preferences with yet another slightly different vintage of SwissChamp, which brought on the SwissTank MKIII.
That 3rd iteration of the SwissTank was wonderful, and nothing changed for years. I happily used that knife every single day, carried day and night, my constant companion in all matters.
Then the inevitable happened, and I sort of misplaced the knife a few weeks ago. I actually knew where it was, accidentally left at my cabin in the mountains. But I had to live without the SwissTank for a bit of time, until I was able to get back to camp and pick it up.
So I pocketed my backup SwissChamp, a modern model with a glass magnifier inside of a clear plastic housing. That was quite a change, as all my SwissTanks had contained the old style of glass magnifier in the grey plastic housing.
Well, I quickly got to loving that new style of magnifier. So much easier to use than the old style glass. Maybe not quite as powerful in magnification, but so much clearer. But that fear was always in the back of my head, wondering if the glass lens would pop out of the housing, as was known to happen with that particular vintage of SwissChamp.
Eventually, I did manage to grab my beloved old SwissTank MKIII. And on my second day back with it, the corkscrew side scale fell off, when I dropped the knife on my garage’s concrete floor. Uggghhhhhhh……. And it wouldn’t snap back on.
So back in my pocket went the backup SwissChamp, while I decided what to do with the SwissTank’s loose aftermarket scale. I naturally did a bit of research, to see if the loose lens issue was still a problem, and it sounded as though Victorinox might have resolved the issue with a redesign of the housing.
Well, the latest version of the SwissChamp arrived at my door this morning. The lens housing has indeed been modified, and I can happily say that the lens is now quite unmovable.
I quickly tore off the cellidor scales from the new SwissChamp, and epoxied the micarta scales from the old SwissTank MKIII onto the wonderful new knife. While I was at it, I transferred over the leather fob as well, and replaced the precision screwdriver with a crazy new FireAnt tinder and striker. I also covered the FireAnt with some shrink tubing, as I’d seen done in a YouTube video, in order to protect the tinder.
I briefly played with some new colorful toothpicks and tweezers, but none of them quite agreed with me. In the end, I decided to stick with my age old grey tweezers and bone colored toothpick. Call me old fashioned.
So here I present to you, the SwissTank MKIV, my latest vision of the perfect SwissChamp. While I may have lost some Phillips screwdriver length, my aging eyes absolutely adore the new magnifier.
Will I make any more changes? Maybe. I’d really, really, like to replace the toothpick and tweezers with something yellow in color. More specifically, I’m looking into amber colored Ultem as a new material for the toothpick. Expensive stuff, but I definitely want to give it a go this summer. If it works out, I may try to replace the plastic on the tweezers with Ultem as well.
and vow to stick to my Huntsman(s)