I'm taking your very sensible advice of getting a Swiss Army Knife in Switzerland. I went to the Victorinox store, and, man oh man, do they have Swiss Army Knives! A whole floor of them! They also do custom engraving on site -- they might even assemble a custom knife for you, though I'm not sure.

First, it is true, the giant SAK (Swiss Champ) exists! If you have 422 CHF burning in your pocket, it can be yours!



Now, amongst the myriad SAKs on the wall, which one should I get?



You know what, you may think I posted this message just to gloat about my proximity to a great store, and you may even be right. But I was really a little overwhelmed by all the possibilities -- many of which really seem kind of similar to me. I already have three Leatherman tools, so I'm not sure which hole/need the SAK would fill or satisfy. So what would you do if you could buy one SAK in this store? (Yes, I know, "Just one?" Things seem to be somewhere between 50%-150% more expensive here.)

By the way, Switzerland is a lovely country. Lucky for us Americans, many people are fluent English speakers (e.g., salespeople at the Victorinox store). We really ought to learn more languages!

Don't know about your tastes/needs/preferences, but if you do not have one, I recommend the "Tinker." I have had one in my pocket for 30+ years and it has gotten near daily use for that time. It has all the basics and is small and light enough to go in a suit pants pocket. Has the following:

Large knife blade,
small knife blade,
Phillips screwdriver,
large screwdriver,
small screwdriver
Bottle opener,
can opener,
wire stripper,
reamer/punch,
tweezers,
toothpick
3 1/2 inches long

Only missing a corkscrew, but I really don't need that in the US; if in France, you may want to add that to the list. . .

See if he has one of the Champions (not the Swiss Champ) from early to mid 80's that he'll part with. That is the widest SAK I found in the 91mm format that still fit in my hand and wasn't so wide as to be unusable. I had one in my kit when I toured France (Collioure, Versailles, Paris, Saint-Lunaire) back in the late 80's and it proved very useful for opening wine in the back yard of Versaille.


BTW, totally OT and unrelated, but I was listening to complete studio version of Dire Straits "Telegraph Road" so if there are any errors blame it on great Rock.

You are in great shape with L tools, which have surpassed SAKs in terms of real utility IMHO. But you can't go wrong with a Tinker, or if you want something a bit bigger, a Soldier.

A Soldier if the locking blade is not an issue. But those are so available in the U.S. -- get something less readily available.

I'm partial to the Stayglow Climber

http://www.swissknifeshop.com/swiss-army...W4XNRoCY2Xw_wcB

Bingley - Practical answer.

Although it's tempting to buy one of these tools with ten billion attachments ... I bet you will rarely use most of them. So the real question is ... which attachments actually do get used on a multi-tool?

I vote for the following ...

1. Pliers
2. Screwdrivers
3. Phillips screwdrivers
4. Knife
5. Saw (maybe)
6. Bottle opener

Therefore, my vote would be to choose a LARGE Victorinox that has excellent attachments that do those things.

I'm interested In other peoples' responses about the attachments.

When my dad passed away a few summers ago I became the custodian of the bulk of his very sizable knife collection. His SAK collection alone numbered around 335! My favorites are probably the Classic and the Farmer; the Classic is very small with fantastic scissors and the Farmer is about as big as I will ever carry yet it has the stuff I use most.

I have a ton of SAK's but very few are pocket friendly, so they stay at home. ("Is that a SAK in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" )

IMO, it's the magnificent saw that exponentially magnifies the power of a SAK. And solid ALOX handles give it the strength without being fat.

So, if I were in that store? I'd be looking for a solid alox handle of the Cadet size with blade and saw, not more than two blades thick. It's like a grown-up version of the "my first knife" series. I know these exist (or did) because I saw them on eBay a few years back. Word got around that there were dirty rotten shenanigans associated with this run so I backed off. But that's what I would actually carry, even in conjunction with a Leatherman, because it can do so much in such a small package.

BTW, you do realize that you must post more mouth-watering pics, don't you?

Not only are you forgiven, sir -- you may be in line for sainthood. I had no idea such a marvel existed!