Your Midget Knife

[Hickory n steel]

With SAKs, I think you can get one that is too small to be very functional. Classic size (58mm) is too small for me. On a key chain for a minimal use here and there might be okay, but you would really have to work at cutting a stick beyond pencil size. I am enamored with the 84mm size. It works really well for an edc for me and cuts most everything I need to cut. It is big enough to be functional but still fit inside a watch pocket and go un-noticed. I don' care for pocket bricks. A modern about this size would work too, but I do like the tools on the Small Tinker quite a lot and use them more than you would think.

I used to want a hand filling knife. I have them and they're ready for action if the need presents.

My grandfather would wholeheartedly disagree.
All he carried was a classic and handled any pocket knife task life threw at him.

While I do not find the size too small, the classic just does not scream knife to me with its narrow blade and much wider handle and all.
Were it a standard two blade pen in this size I'd have no problem carrying just that.
The Buck 309 lancer is great though and not much bigger.

 

[22-rimfire]

My grandfather would wholeheartedly disagree.
All he carried was a classic and handled any pocket knife task life threw at him.

I would guess that he didn't use a knife much. But that is just my opinion. As you said, the blade is too narrow not to mention flimsy feeling to me. Like everything else, opinions vary.

 

[jackknife]

I would guess that he didn't use a knife much. But that is just my opinion. As you said, the blade is too narrow not to mention flimsy feeling to me. Like everything else, opinions vary.

Maybe he used that knife more than you think. Before you go making judgements on how much he used his knife for, take a look at how much cutting you can do with a little box cutter.

As much as you may knock the classic, theres millions of people a year who buy and use them, and get by well with them. I've used a classic as a disposable travel knife for years, and got by well with one in Key West, Mammoth Lake, California, and places in Europe. Its cut key limes for gin and tonics, cut bait, opened beers, cut tabs off souvenir T-shirts and trimmed the end cap off of some nice Dominican cigars. At home it was a steady carry for over 20 years, and I can't count the times it was used to cut something in normal everyday life. The screw driver tip helped repair a Sears Kenmore clothes drier, the control on an electric trolling motor, a door job assembly in my Aunts home in Clearwater Florida, a fishing reel on a deserted lake shore, and aa carburetor on a rental Honda motor scooter.

For urban use the classic will handle 99% of what you need in day to day life in the wilderness of suburbia. Yes, we know the classic is just too small for your big hands and you say the classic blade is too flimsy. You make your point as much as another poster with his Opinel number 9 and Leatherman Micra. And on a forum thats what we do, express opinions. But don't insult the guys grandfather.

Being the most produced and sold little pocketknife on the planet, the classic must work for the millions of people who buy them. No, its not a knife to be dropped off in the Alaskan wilderness with, but it will do fine in any city in the world to open packages, cut plastic tags, string, trim nails, snipe stuff that responds better to scissors, and the small screw driver works on all the small Phillips screws that hold the world together these days.

Your opinion is just that, and you're entitled to it. But leave the snide cut at his grandfather out of it.

 

[eveled]

I keep a little SAK in my watch pocket. I forgot it’s there until I need it. It really does come in handy.

I always carry a larger knife (minimum a Buck 110). I’m often surprised how handy the little SAK can be.

 

[22-rimfire]

Maybe he used that knife more than you think. Before you go making judgements on how much he used his knife for, take a look at how much cutting you can do with a little box cutter.
<snip....same old stuff>
Your opinion is just that, and you're entitled to it. But leave the snide cut at his grandfather out of it.

Sorry grandpa, but I made no "snide cut" on anyone's grandfather. I hate it when you make stuff up. Good Day.

 

[Hickory n steel]

I would guess that he didn't use a knife much. But that is just my opinion. As you said, the blade is too narrow not to mention flimsy feeling to me. Like everything else, opinions vary.

He used the hell out of the little vic classic.
Wore them down to nothing then replaced them as needed.
Growing up a poor Missouri farm boy during the depression he learned how to get by with very little.

 

[22-rimfire]

Hickory n steel Good for him. Just a bit too small for me and the pivot isn't very strong or feel strong. I tried a Classic and gave it away, but I never used it enough to come close to breaking it. I still have a little Wenger on my desk (never carried) along with about 20 other knives.... We all develop certain expectations for the tools we use. My Dad wore a number of knives down to "nothing" but he sharpened them on a grinding wheel.

Getting by with fewer things is a good thing, I think.

 

[flatblackcapo]

 

[tinfoil hat timmy]

 

[JAB]

When I was working a retail/office job and couldn’t carry a pocket clip knife various Peanuts, Pens and Small Stockmen easily handled every cutting need that came up and they even garnered the occasional compliment from customers and co-workers.

As mentioned the Classic is just plain useful on a daily basis especially as a more discreet option when paired with a larger folder/fixed blade. Whipping out a Large Sebenza or Ultratech in the middle of the post office? Probably not a good idea but the friendly little red SAK attached to a keyring will not even raise one single eyebrow.

 

[22-rimfire]

.... Whipping out a Large Sebenza or Ultratech in the middle of the post office? Probably not a good idea but the friendly little red SAK attached to a keyring will not even raise one single eyebrow.

The larger SAKs are still pretty "friendly".

 

[JAB]

Absolutely. But I find them far too bulky to carry - hence the “midget” knife.

 

[tiguy7]

View attachment 1376204 View attachment 1376203 Here is another Japanese Sterling mini knife. You have to carry them to keep them from turning black.

 

[jackknife]

View attachment 1376004

Probably not a good idea but the friendly little red SAK attached to a keyring will not even raise one single eyebrow.

The very fact that its on a keyring, buys a certain amount of innocence.

In and around Washington D.C., most places have some sort of security standard. But, I've seen small keychain size knives used in public, often in a crowded environment, with not even a second glance. At the Smithsonian, and even at the Kennedy Center For The Performing Arts at intermission at a black tie event, a small Gerber mini LST was used to slice an egg role from the buffet table that had semi dull plastic knives. The little Gerber got no more attention than the SAK classic I used for the same purpose. The guy with the little Gerber and I even joked about for the price of the tickets how you have to bring your own cutlery to the Kennedy Center.

Keychain stuff flies under radar.

 

[JAB]

Yup. I’ve even made it into clubs that required a pat down at the door with it on my keyring without any issues (even after showing it to the bouncer.)

 

[jackknife]

Yup. I’ve even made it into clubs that required a pat down at the door with it on my keyring without any issues (even after showing it to the bouncer.)

Whats really funny is how my wife gets through airport security about 80 -90 percent of the time with a classic in her makeup kit. It must get lost in the jumble of lipstick/eye shadow/ and other stuff in there. I didn't know it until we went to Key West one time, and we were out on the beach and we go to unwrap the sandwiches we had brought. I had put on sunblock and fingers were too slippery to pull open the plastic mustard pack. Karen leans over and hands me a classic and says "try this." I ask her where the heck that came from, and she says it was in her makeup kit. Damm!. They nearly shook me upside down going through security and she waltzes right through with a little SAK. She did it coming home as well.

 

[Mikael W]

I have enjoyed reading this thread and several posters are giving solid opinions on why tiny pocket tools are worth carrying.
I'm in the same situation, as retirement approaches more rapidly for each day.

My prefered choices are the Leatherman Squirt and the Fällkniven U4 lockback.
I feel the Squirt is more robust than the Vic and it has the pliers.
The U4 lockback makes it more versatile than a slipjoint and the low weight is great in the pocket.

Regards
Mikael

 

[DocT]

I am enamored with the 84mm size. It works really well for an edc for me and cuts most everything I need to cut. It is big enough to be functional but still fit inside a watch pocket and go un-noticed. I don' care for pocket bricks.

I like the 84’s also. The Cadet is one of my favorite tools.

 

[22-rimfire]

I have enjoyed reading this thread and several posters are giving solid opinions on why tiny pocket tools are worth carrying.
I'm in the same situation, as retirement approaches more rapidly for each day.

My prefered choices are the Leatherman Squirt and the Fällkniven U4 lockback.
I feel the Squirt is more robust than the Vic and it has the pliers.
The U4 lockback makes it more versatile than a slipjoint and the low weight is great in the pocket.

Since I never used the blade on the Squirt, I don't know. But it is a shorter blade I believe, which wouldn't generally allow as much force to be applied to it cutting. Thinking seriously of dumping the Squirt for the Style PS which doesn't have a blade. I generally always have a knife on me anyway and as a result, the Squirt blade being small and short never gets used. The two above are a good practical combo.

Added: See Mikael W post below on the size of the two blades in question.

D DocT I need to pick up a Cadet and give it a try. The more the merrier.... I have a Bantam. I carried the Bantam as a second knife when I carried a larger slip joint like the GEC #42's. Since then, I have moved to smaller lighter knives in general. I have a couple GEC #14's (two blade versions) which would work this way now for me.

 

[Mikael W]

Since I never used the blade on the Squirt, I don't know. But it is a shorter blade I believe, which wouldn't generally allow as much force to be applied to it cutting. Thinking seriously of dumping the Squirt for the Style PS which doesn't have a blade. I generally always have a knife on me anyway and as a result, the Squirt blade being small and short never gets used. The two above are a good practical combo.

The Vic and the Squirt has the same bladelenght, but the Squirt has more bladeheight and the frame is more solid.
The Vic blade moves in the frame, while the Squirt blade doesn't move at all.
The U4 is a powerhouse in a truly small size and comes with laminated powdersteel, that hold the edge for a very long time.

Regards
Mikael