Victorinox Soldier

L

lacrosse11attack

Joined
May 24, 2010
Messages
319
Alright this is actually my first review on here or in general so feel free to give some constructive criticism.

Alright so the knife I'm reviewing is a Victorinox Soldier. Not the older model but the newer one. I really like this knife. I've been using this knife for quite some time. I got it from a friend that bought it before he deployed but never actually USED it. All in all I've had the knife for roughly 6-7 months. I love it. I wouldnt carry it on deployment myself but It's a great every day carry.

I was unable to find any legitimate stats on the knife so here are some off-hand ones. The blade is 3 3/4 inch from the lock to the tip, with a 3 1/4 inch cutting surface. The knife is a left handed liner lock. It has a 3 1/2 inch wood saw which is easily the largest saw I've seen on a pocket knife. It has a perfect bulky bottle opener/large flathead/wire stripper that is also held open by a strong liner lock. On the opposite end there is a meaty can opener/small screwdriver tip. On the other end of the knife is a dedicated large philips head screwdriver and an awl.

Pros: Strong liner locks
Finger hole makes for easy opening
Awl and wood saw are perfectly constructed
HUGE wood saw is a true destroyer.
Blade, despite the un-aggressive looking serrations it cuts fantastically
Bottle opener being locked open is a great idea

Cons: Many people will not like the left handed liner locks
Blade has no real tip to speak of
Blade, despite being almost identical to many spyderco's opens like a rusty one.
I know people who have cut themselves opening the awl

I hope I have helped somebody. Please be as mean as you wish with the constructive criticism as long as its helpful :)
 
Hi,

Pretty good review. I like to see photos too. :) Your measurements are nice to see also.

Personally, I prefer my Alox Soldier to the new model. A question, does your liner lock allow for vertical blade movement? I have a RescueTool, (same frame), that has about a 1/32" of vertical play when open. I actually contacted Victorinox and they replaced my first one because of it. But the second is just the same. So how is yours?

And as lefty, I'm all for more left-handed locks in this world!:D

dalee
 
lacrosse11attack said:
Cons:
Blade, despite being almost identical to many spyderco's opens like a rusty one.
Click to expand...

Perhaps something should be made clear here.

The Victorinox (new) Soldier is still basically a slip-joint knife with a lock for safety - so it has a backspring and instead of the usual lock-back mechanism, it uses a liner-lock.

This makes a huge difference once this is understood -
normal liner-lockers do NOT have backsprings - so there is no spring resistance to overcome when opening one-handed -
whereas on the Victorinox Soldier one has to overcome the backspring - just like a regular slip-joint.

This would explain the difficulty when opening -
the fact Victorinox makes very good (if not the world's best IMHO) slip-joints that "walk & talk" does not help in the one-handed opening.

Why they produced a knife with a liner-lock retaining their standard backspring - I do not know.

--
Vincent

http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
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http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://unknownvt.multiply.com/photos
 
dalee100 said:
Hi,

Pretty good review. I like to see photos too. :) Your measurements are nice to see also.

Personally, I prefer my Alox Soldier to the new model. A question, does your liner lock allow for vertical blade movement? I have a RescueTool, (same frame), that has about a 1/32" of vertical play when open. I actually contacted Victorinox and they replaced my first one because of it. But the second is just the same. So how is yours?

And as lefty, I'm all for more left-handed locks in this world!:D

dalee
Click to expand...

Not at all. The Knife I have locks up like a safe. (darn you nutnfancy). There is absolutely no blade play whatsoever.

As soon as my friend called and asked if i wanted it and mentioned left handed lock I didnt believe it. I'd never seen one before. I was speechless"

I'm actually gonna try and upload some photos as soon as I get the chance the only cameras I own though are on my phone and my mac.
 
UnknownVT said:
Perhaps something should be made clear here.

The Victorinox (new) Soldier is still basically a slip-joint knife with a lock for safety - so it has a backspring and instead of the usual lock-back mechanism, it uses a liner-lock.

This makes a huge difference once this is understood -
normal liner-lockers do NOT have backsprings - so there is no spring resistance to overcome when opening one-handed -
whereas on the Victorinox Soldier one has to overcome the backspring - just like a regular slip-joint.

This would explain the difficulty when opening -
the fact Victorinox makes very good (if not the world's best IMHO) slip-joints that "walk & talk" does not help in the one-handed opening.

Why they produced a knife with a liner-lock retaining their standard backspring - I do not know.

--
Vincent

http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://unknownvt.multiply.com/photos
Click to expand...

I really do think that even without the liner lock it'd still "lock" up very well. I was more or less looking for a way to compare the opening action and the best way I could think of was to compare it to a spyderco since the blade open somewhat the same
 
lacrosse11attack said:
I really do think that even without the liner lock it'd still "lock" up very well.
Click to expand...

Well, that simply is because the Victorinox is basically a slip-joint and they have many of this larger sized knives without the liner lock. So those need to stay open without additional locking safely.

lacrosse11attack said:
I was more or less looking for a way to compare the opening action and the best way I could think of was to compare it to a spyderco since the blade open somewhat the same
Click to expand...

Nope you did right - as long as you meant the standard lockback Spyderco -
however once again one has to understand a lockback is designed to open and lock mostly as smoothly as possible -
(except for perhaps some Gerbers with the deliberate safety indent in the middle)

Whereas Victorinox retained its normal slip-joint philosophy and made it so it would do the normal walk & talk, as well as actually having a stronger backspring for a bigger blade - as a two handed opening slip-joint it would be "very good" - but none of these help for one handed opening.

I am not doubting your description,
just trying to explain why it does the things you found.

--
Vincent

http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://unknownvt.multiply.com/photos
 
Last edited:
UnknownVT said:
Nope you did right - as long as you meant the standard lockback Spyderco -
however once again one has to understand a lockback is designed to open and lock mostly as smoothly as possible -
(except for perhaps some Gerbers with the deliberate safety indent in the middle)

Whereas Victorinox retained its normal slip-joint philosophy and made it so it would do the normal walk & talk, as well as actually having a stronger backspring for a bigger blade - as a two handed opening slip-joint it would be "very good" - but none of these help for one handed opening.

No need to be defensive - I am not doubting your description,
just trying to explain why it does the things you found.

--
Vincent

http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://unknownvt.multiply.com/photos
Click to expand...

I gotcha man. Thanks for the good points :)
 
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By laxer11attack at 2010-08-20

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By laxer11attack at 2010-08-20
 
Andrew Colglazier said:
Are these offered in a "plain edge"?

Thanks!

Andy
Click to expand...

The "One Hand Trecker" same knife but with the black scales, and maybe red too, is offered in p.e. This knife is an actual issue knife and the Swiss Army apparently wanted serrations. I've seen the OHT both ways but not the soldier. Also the OHT comes with the tweezers and toothpick but the soldier doesn't :rolleyes:
 
A have mine in a plain edge. But I made it myself. I think it´s not to buy in plain.

Greetz
 
mistwalker said:
The "One Hand Trecker" same knife but with the black scales, and maybe red too, is offered in p.e. This knife is an actual issue knife and the Swiss Army apparently wanted serrations. I've seen the OHT both ways but not the soldier. Also the OHT comes with the tweezers and toothpick but the soldier doesn't :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Ah. I have an OHT with serrations (I ground them off). Thanks for the info! :)

Andy
 
I have both the previous alox Soldier, the current One Hand Trekker (indeed, like the soldier but with tweeers and toothpick) and also an interesting variant called Dual Pro with a belt cutter instead of the saw. I like each of them, and the old alox soldier finds its way in my pocket more often than the other two.
I just wanted to highlight a quite remarkable alternative which I have as well: the FKMD ("Fox Knives Military Division") Survival camp tool. It has in essence th same functionality in a somewhat over the top way:

3781.jpg
3781.jpg


All tools are dual-lockable: liner lock plus an extra "lock on the linerlock". Main blade is N690, hence very good - often compared to VG10. Saw is diabolical. The multitool in the middle looks strange but works well.
It comes in a Molle-compaible pouch and in the other pocket there are a number of assorted bits and a two-sided screwdriver handle.
A pretty convincing package, but a bit cumbersome !
 
Blasphemy!! To call the new one "Soldier" is like calling Coors lite "beer". No class, no history. The Soldier (the REAL ones, the old wooden and fiber handled one, and the Alox Soldier) is the soul of Victorinox. The new soldier is a great (big) knife, they should just call it something else.
 
manowar669 said:
Blasphemy!! To call the new one "Soldier" is like calling Coors lite "beer". No class, no history. The Soldier (the real one, the Alox Soldier) is the soul of Victorinox. The new soldier a great (big) knife, they should just call it something else.
Click to expand...

I would tend to agree with you - I too regard the former Alox Soldier as the one - since it was basically issued officially to the Swiss Army in that form for nearly 50 years.

However the Swiss Army are now officially issued this version as reviewed - please see:

Victorinox Swiss Army - Soldier Knife

For those who miss the Alox Soldier - it can be found used -
or an alternative is the Victorinox Pioneer - which is functionally an Alox Soldier with keyring.

pioneervm53960sola02.jpg


--
Vincent

http://picasaweb.com/UnknownVincent?showall=true
http://UnknownVincent.Shutterfly.com
http://UnknownVT.Shutterfly.com
http://unknownvt.multiply.com/photos
 
I have a One-Handed Trekker and its one of my favorites. It is my "go-to" knife when working around the house. The screwdrivers can handle most simple projects. The saw works great when landscaping. The blade is deceptively sharp. I've actually cut myself with it.

Best $35 knife out there.
 
Dagon said:
I have both the previous alox Soldier, the current One Hand Trekker (indeed, like the soldier but with tweeers and toothpick) and also an interesting variant called Dual Pro with a belt cutter instead of the saw. I like each of them, and the old alox soldier finds its way in my pocket more often than the other two.
I just wanted to highlight a quite remarkable alternative which I have as well: the FKMD ("Fox Knives Military Division") Survival camp tool. It has in essence th same functionality in a somewhat over the top way:

3781.jpg
3781.jpg


All tools are dual-lockable: liner lock plus an extra "lock on the linerlock". Main blade is N690, hence very good - often compared to VG10. Saw is diabolical. The multitool in the middle looks strange but works well.
It comes in a Molle-compaible pouch and in the other pocket there are a number of assorted bits and a two-sided screwdriver handle.
A pretty convincing package, but a bit cumbersome !
Click to expand...

how much is the fox knife?
 
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