Wenger Vs. Victorinox

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keluangus

Joined
Jul 11, 2006
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My German friend just told me in no uncertain terms, that Wenger IS the official and original supplier of SAK to the Swiss Army. No Victorinox. And apparently, Wenger is filing a complaint of sorts again Victorinox on the latter's allegement that it is the real deal instead of Wenger. All this time I tot it was Vic... Is there someone who can clear this up?
 
Victorinox now OWNS Wenger, so I can't imagine the scenario your friend lays out. BTW, I've always heard that both Wenger and Victorinox supply knives in equal quantities to the Swiss army. Lastly, unless you're IN the Swiss army, who cares? Buy the better knife, period. You know, a Victorinox. :p
 
Your friend appears to be rather mis-informed.

Victorinox founder Karl Elsener won the first contract to supply the Swiss Army with knives in 1891. In 1893 a second company (not yet Wenger) Paul Boechat & Cie was awarded a second contract to share the supply of the same specifican knife as Elsener. Boechat & Cie was later purchased by Theodore Wenger and renamed Wenger.

Elsener was from the German part of Switzerland and Wenger from the French.

In 1908 the Swiss government decided to make the share of supply equal by awarding exactly half the contract to each manufacturer. It was then agreed between the two the Wenger would use the title "Genuine Swiss Army Knives" and Victorinox "The Original Swiss Army Knife".

Also as mnblade has pointed out Victorinox now owns Wenger. So the situation your friend describes would mean that Victorinox is complaining against itself!
 
keluangus said:
My German friend just told me in no uncertain terms, that Wenger IS the official and original supplier of SAK to the Swiss Army. No Victorinox. And apparently, Wenger is filing a complaint of sorts again Victorinox on the latter's allegement that it is the real deal instead of Wenger. All this time I tot it was Vic... Is there someone who can clear this up?
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Well, now, there's the problem. If your friend were Swiss, he would know better :D
 
I have several Wenger's & I see the quality is about the same between Wenger & Victorinox. It is an apple vs Orange question. Everyone has a choice here!
 
Both the Wenger STD Isue and the Victorinox Soldier are identical, even the same Shield is used.
The one difference these days is the Wenger STD Issue has a bail, which you can use as is, snip it off, or snip it off and put a lanyard on it.
The only difference I can see owning both is the awl is sharper on the Vic, otherwise both are great tools.
For me the ALOX models are better than the standard Celidor both use or Nylon on Vics Econo series.
Gatch has the right history on this knife as I know it.

Cheers,
Kap
 
While the Soldier model from both Wenger & Victorinox seem to be pretty much the same, due to military standardization no doubt, on the other models the can-opener design is different. Because I like to eat, the can-opener is very important to me and, IMHO, the Victorinox design is far superior. There are also differences in many (most?) of the other tools. I like the Wenger scissors better but don't really care that much for the scissors on either because I don't use them much. Etc., etc. As to which brand is better, I will leave that to people who know what they are talking about.
 
Does Wenger also use Celidor for the scales?

My first was a wenger version of the Vic Classic. I carried it on my keychain and it got ALOT of uses, but I noticed that the scale was chipping off the ends (especially at the hole where the toothpick went missing on day 2). After 1 year, the end of the scale on that thing was missing a good chunk.

I got a Vic Classic after that. I noticed that the Wenger version was little bigger than the Vic. Anyway, I abused the vic even more than the wenger and for a longer time and it is now in my drawer and it looks almost brand new (except for scratches on the scale and dulled blade).

Now I own a Huntsman that I got as a gift from a German friend from my old lab. The huntsman gets equal time with a Gerber Diesel as my EDC.

Anyway, what is Celidor and what is it made of?
 
Cellidor is bio degradable & made of some kind of plant material the last I heard. Those Europeans are finiky about such things.
 
pogo said:
Those Europeans are finiky about such things.
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What, as apposed to the Americans who don't seem to care much about the environment or the wastage of natural resources?
 
Wow! Ok, firstly I must admit I am the one who is poorly informed on the history of SAKs. But I am really happy to be duly filled-in by you chaps, because, you know NOBODY can tell anything to these Germans - they must be correct about everything over there, right? Ja? NEIN! Thanks for the ammo, people: firing squad tomorrow!
 
I just did some research.

Cellidor is tradename for Cellulose Acetate Butyrate. An amorphous, transparent thermoplastic that is NOT polymerized as most plastics are.

I take it amorphous means "not crystal", which is probably what gives rise to cellidor's impact resistance. Has very low polar solvent absorption, making it highly weather resistant, but being a cellulose ester modified by acids, it is easily attacked by organic solvents.

I remember 20 or so years ago, my dad got brake fluid or cleaner on the handle of his SAK, and it caused the cellidor to swell up and get all "mushy".

Whereas most plastics are monomers strung together into polymers, Cellidor is chemical modification of cellulose, which is already in a form of polymer in nature.

Interestingly, it is clear in color, and is used alot in plastic blister packaging and UV goggle lens (Cellidor is a.k.a. UVEX). I guess that explains how they have the transparent scales. Impact resistant tool handles are usually made of Cellidor (or Cellulose Acetate Butyrate).
 
thanks to the poster on the history of the official sak. I've always wondered about that. personally i've always liked the vic better. either brand is a very good knife. later,ahgar
 
I've owned several (ok many) swiss army knives, most victorinox and two wengers. I've never had a problem with the vics, but one of the wengers has consistently weak backsprings. Based on reading things here, it doesn't seem unusual for Wengers to have lower quality backsprings than Vics. I'll stick with Vics at least until the change in ownership changes the quality of knives produced in the Wenger plants.
 
Agreed! If unlucky enough to own, back spring problems do manifest itself in the long term for Wengers.
As for Swiss Military issued pocket knives, its my opinion that Government specifications makes certain that both Wenger and Victorinox churns out similar tools of similar quality.
Officer Knives are not government specified, those extra tool blades were a brilliant marketing idea to boost a larger market share or at least that's what I have come to know.
 
I've never had a problem with the vics, but one of the wengers has consistently weak backsprings. Based on reading things here, it doesn't seem unusual for Wengers to have lower quality backsprings than Vics.
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I prefer Victorinox over Wenger, but both are great knives and better than the majority of slip-joints in production.

However, concerning the backsprings...
I think that Wenger puposefully designs their backsprings "weaker" so that the blades are easier to open.
But that does not translate to "lower quality".
I have a chinese copy of a Swiss Army Knife and the quality is pure crap, but the backsprings are extremely strong.
In fact they are so strong that you practically need pliers to open a blade!
Basically anyone can make a strong backspring, but the real quality folders have just the right balance between "strong" and "easy-to-open".

My father, who is 72 years old, has weak fingernails that break rather easily, and he prefers the Wengers because they are easier to open than my Vics.
Just some food for thought.

Allen.
 
I've owned several (ok many) swiss army knives, most victorinox and two wengers. I've never had a problem with the vics, but one of the wengers has consistently weak backsprings. Based on reading things here, it doesn't seem unusual for Wengers to have lower quality backsprings than Vics. I'll stick with Vics at least until the change in ownership changes the quality of knives produced in the Wenger plants.
Click to expand...
I would go for the Victorinox any day as well. I have a Wenger Commander, and the backsprings are very weak- right out of the package. It is a very similar configuration to my Spartan, yet in lieu of a small knife blade, it has a nail file. The reamer is of a design that I don't care for as much. I also prefer vics can opener.

Recently, Wnger broke from the mold with its new Evo line, where they made more ergonomic scales an option, and those IMHO, do little (especially on an esquire (similar to Classic)) but take away from asthetics.
 
Is it just me, or do the Vic handles feel more solid than the Wegner handles? I always felt the Wegner's felt cheaper and less solid than the Vics which seem to be finished nicer and built more soundly.
 
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