Victorinox Electrician

coyote711

coyote711

Joined
Sep 19, 2009
Messages
1,679
This Vic Electrician may replace the Soldier for EDC. It's basically the same as the Soldier except it replaces the can opener/small screwdriver with an electricians blade. I don't need a can opener on a daily (or monthly) basis, and haven't had to deal with a small screw that the regular screwdriver/bottle opener wouldn't handle. (The screwdriver/bottle opener has a half stop just like the Soldier). The electricians blade is similar to a sheepsfoot/wharncliffe blade, and is used much more than the can opener/small screwdriver.

About the only downside I can see is that the small screwdriver on the Soldier will work "straight on" on a phillips head screw, which you are losing with the Electrician, BUT the regular screwdriver (on a Soldier or Electrician) will work on a phillips if held at an angle. There may be some instances where you don't have room to work with the angled approach, where the "straight on" approach would work. Other than that, I think the electricians blade is a great replacement for the can opener/small screwdriver!

Vic Elec..jpg Click to enlarge
 
I just bought one for my son who has just started his electrical apprenticeship. It is very nice.
 
Great choice there! I have a pioneer harvester (soldier plus saw and hawkbill blade instead of can opener) and really think the extra blade is quite handy.

Gotta love that alox.
 
This is probably my favourite Vic Alox knife. Every time I grab it I'm dumbfounded over how a knife this nice only cost me 23 bucks. Victorinox has some of the most consistent QC in the business and the fit, finish and snap rival some knives I have costing 4-5 times more. I could see this knife lasting my whole life with a bit of care and maintenance.

I have had Vics with the pruning and electrician blade and I think the electrician blade is the way to go in most situations. I'm a sucker for whancliff and sheepsfoot blades, so that could just be my personal bias shining through. I only wish there were more alox models available and more colours in regular production.
 
I find my self preferring Vic's because of the can opener, it works on some torx screws to
 
somniloquist said:
This is probably my favourite Vic Alox knife. Every time I grab it I'm dumbfounded over how a knife this nice only cost me 23 bucks. Victorinox has some of the most consistent QC in the business and the fit, finish and snap rival some knives I have costing 4-5 times more. I could see this knife lasting my whole life with a bit of care and maintenance.
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+1 on the above! :thumbup:

I think we all would like to have a "knife store", with a huge selection of many different brands, close enough to us that we could drop in anytime we felt like it. Then we could handle every knife we were considering, check it for F&F, etc. As it is, most of us order knives from an internet site. A lot of times this is nothing more than a crap shoot - you MAY get a knife you're satisfied with, or not. I've found Victorinox, GEC, and for the most part Buck, to be exceptions to this crap shoot. I have had nice knives from Case, darn nice, but QC is a little more inconsistent. For an inexpensive knife, it's hard to beat Vic's QC.
 
I have an Electrician, Electrician Plus (Adds a saw blade) and the aforementioned Pioneer Harvester. They're all nice, and the second blade is far more useful to me than a can opener. (That said, it'd be nice if these models had a combo can opener/bottle opener tool like the Compact and a few others.)
 
coyote711 said:
+1 on the above! :thumbup:

I think we all would like to have a "knife store", with a huge selection of many different brands, close enough to us that we could drop in anytime we felt like it. Then we could handle every knife we were considering, check it for F&F, etc. As it is, most of us order knives from an internet site. A lot of times this is nothing more than a crap shoot - you MAY get a knife you're satisfied with, or not. I've found Victorinox, GEC, and for the most part Buck, to be exceptions to this crap shoot. I have had nice knives from Case, darn nice, but QC is a little more inconsistent. For an inexpensive knife, it's hard to beat Vic's QC.
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I'm in the very same situation. There's nowhere nearby for me to go and handle knives I am interested, so they all come from the internet and this forum. I agree 100% though, Vic QC is legendary and I never worry about what state my new Vic knife will be in when it arrives in my mailbox. They are a model to others and their pricing is very competitive, given the quality of their products.
 
Electrician Plus!:thumbup::thumbup:--Gotta have the saw! My Farmer went to college with my son when I bought this one.--KV
 
happened upon this thread after talking about some vics in a different thread...one of the ones i'm considering is the electrician...basically between that, the soldier, and the farmer, but likely the first two. biggest question was the can opener/smaller screwdriver vs the sheepsfoot/wire scraper. some good feedback here.

is the sheepsfoot chisel ground? that's what i recall reading...the other post one person wrote back that the wire scraper section was chisel ground, but the flat section of the sheepsfoot blade is maybe sabre ground. if any or all are chisel ground, or they ground for right-handed use (ground edge/bevel facing up when held in right hand for use)?

thanks!
 
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I have two of them. One my wife gave me as a weddingpresent and one I bought as a beather, I tried to make the secound one reed but the coulour was not strong enough so now its sheckered. Inly reed in the dep parts of the handle, good enough, its no doubt its my knife anyway.
I like that they have 2 blades., and the electricians blade is basically a good sheepfoot. And the punch is great, The screwdriver is broad enough for the adjusting screws in a scope when shooting in the rifle, But mostly I pry with it. This is such a tactical knife in the way its strong enough to pry with and it has the rigth tool to pry with also as opposed to most folding prybars ive seen that keeps be made to look like a knife.

Bosse
 
kvaughn said:
Electrician Plus!:thumbup::thumbup:--Gotta have the saw! My Farmer went to college with my son when I bought this one.--KV
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+1 :thumbup:

I just wish it had a bail like on the Pioneer
then I would be in knife heaven
 
Like the OP I've never found myself using the can opener on any of my SAKs, so when replacing my old Soldier I looked at the other Alox models. However, instead of the Electrician with the electrician's blade I went with the Pioneer Rancher. I'm not certain they're even producing this model anymore, but it still can be found online easily enough. The Rancher is the same as the Soldier/Pioneer, but the can opener is replaced by a hawkbill pruning blade. Without a doubt it's the most effective blade I've ever used to defeat evil clamshell packaging. The reamer on the Alox models are far, far superior to the reamer on the plastic handled models. The Pioneer Harvester is the "Farmer" model of the Pioneer Rancher - adding a saw.

Whatever your preferred flavor, the 93mm Alox Victorinox knives are undoubtedly one of the best deals you can ever find in a knife. It's simply amazing that they can crank out so many of these knives every year, have such consistently excellent QC, and cost so little.
 
kvaughn said:
Electrician Plus!:thumbup::thumbup:--Gotta have the saw! My Farmer went to college with my son when I bought this one.--KV
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Yup. I have an Electrician & then discovered (& bought) the Plus.
The saw blade is a nice addition.
Think I have at least 9 or 10 SAKs...great knives.
 
thanks all - i'm not worried about missing the can opener as much as i am about missing the smaller screwdriver...still worth the trade to the electrician's sheepsfoot blade? something about that blade is appealing, although less so if it's chisel ground (especially if ground for lefty use as the only chisel ground blade i have experience was...why i don't know). i know it's a personal decision, but damn it's hard! haha.
 
beestokk said:
is the sheepsfoot chisel ground? that's what i recall reading...the other post one person wrote back that the wire scraper section was chisel ground, but the flat section of the sheepsfoot blade is maybe sabre ground. if any or all are chisel ground, or they ground for right-handed use (ground edge/bevel facing up when held in right hand for use)?
thanks!
Click to expand...

The blade itself is FFG. The wire scraper part has a chisel-ground edge bevel (If you're holding the knife in your right hand with the blade pointing away and edge down, the grind's on the left side), and the rest is normal with an edge bevel ground on both sides.
 
thanks randomlooker...that was the exact information i was looking for. i wonder if the scraper part is ground on the left side for pull cuts vs push cuts, or maybe so that on a push cut the edge doesn't slice to deep into the wire? i'm no electrician or edge geometry guru so that may be way off-base. anyways, i really appreciate it the help, same to everyone else! now to make a decision...the hardest part!
 
I belive most electricians to cut wire with the edge towards the hand and with support of the thumb and that way the shiselground blade becomes a righty. Mine is nowadays convexed at the very edge and isnt a whittlers blade anyway. Its thin and sharp and gets abused. Not to many worries about it.

Bosse
 
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