Has Victorinox "lost their way"?

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jackknife said:
Interesting article. Victorinox has made a great recovery except in the U.S. market, which I find strange. Or maybe not, since most stores have gobs of those tactical knives in the case and few SAK's in stock. Maybe the U.S. knife market is too deep in fantasy for SAK's to sell well?
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Indeed. A SAK is more of a tool and Americans aren't wanting anything to do with work...

;)
 
EngrSorenson said:
That’s not a QC problem. That’s a problem inherent with almost any multi blade pocket knife. You’d just aghast to see the blade rub on GECs 5 times the cost! Then by virtue of including an abrasive file on thin stock, it’s only going to be worse.

Complaints like that are so small that the mere mention of it leads me to believe there’s just not enough real problems.
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I actually just checked both kids' classics. Neither of them rub the blade, despite my sons having gone through the wash and getting jammed under the agitator on a couple of occasions. Given that there's no liner between the file and blade, it seems that any bit of lateral pressure upon opening or closing would cause the phenomenon. Given that the tangs are right next to each other, it's a marvel of engineering that they don't do worse to one another. Wouldn't take much for grit and whatnot to cause issues with scratching either.

My rambler blade rubs the liner a bit too, but seeing as it bounces around in my pocket with a pair of pliers and a snuff box, not to mention getting used all the time, a few blade scratches are the least of my concern on something that costs less than lunch for 2 at McDonald's.
 
jackknife said:
Interesting article. Victorinox has made a great recovery except in the U.S. market, which I find strange. Or maybe not, since most stores have gobs of those tactical knives in the case and few SAK's in stock. Maybe the U.S. knife market is too deep in fantasy for SAK's to sell well?
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I can guarantee that to be the case, and pop culture doesn't help discourage this by the movies they make featuring tac-commandos taking out sentries using actual knives from real companies, etc. The show walking dead and others featured lots of pocket knives that are made in real life and people bought them up because of the show and others like it; it's a great marketing scheme
 
ShaiHulud said:
I can guarantee that to be the case, and pop culture doesn't help discourage this by the movies they make featuring tac-commandos taking out sentries using actual knives from real companies, etc. The show walking dead and others featured lots of pocket knives that are made in real life and people bought them up because of the show and others like it; it's a great marketing scheme
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YES!

Unfortunately, pop culture pollutes the minds of too many, and they can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality.
 
EngrSorenson said:
That’s not a QC problem. That’s a problem inherent with almost any multi blade pocket knife. You’d just aghast to see the blade rub on GECs 5 times the cost! Then by virtue of including an abrasive file on thin stock, it’s only going to be worse.

Complaints like that are so small that the mere mention of it leads me to believe there’s just not enough real problems.
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If you were familiar with the actual problem and how bad the scratching is, then you'd know better than to say that. It's definitely a QC issue. You'd know just by looking at it, which tells me you haven't seen it.

It's unavoidable as well. No matter how carefully you open or close the tools, the file scratches the living s🤬t out of the knife. This is not supposed to happen, and it fact doesn't happen on any of the older classics I've handled. I bought two brand new classics within a year of one another and they both had that issue. It's QC. There's no way around it. And the fact that I've never seen it on dozens of older classics, and suddenly two factory new ones have that issue, indicates either slipping quality control or the worst luck ever. Pick one.
 
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I think saying that QC is "slipping" based on a sample size of 2 out of however many million they make a year is a bit disingenuous. I looked at 2 today (one several years old, the other a couple of months) and neither had the problem... Does my statistically insignificant sample size mean that I have the best luck in the world, or that maybe QC isn't slipping? Pick one.
 
Guy McVer said:
And the fact that I've never seen it on dozens of older classics, and suddenly two factory new ones have that issue, indicates either slipping quality control or the worst luck ever. Pick one.
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Wild Willie said:
I think saying that QC is "slipping" based on a sample size of 2 out of however many million they make a year is a bit disingenuous. I looked at 2 today (one several years old, the other a couple of months) and neither had the problem... Does my statistically insignificant sample size mean that I have the best luck in the world, or that maybe QC isn't slipping? Pick one.
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Stated more concisely, you have picked the "worst luck ever" option. 👌

It's at least possible. I'll give you that.
 
Guy McVer said:
If you were familiar with the actual problem and how bad the scratching is, then you'd know better than to say that. It's definitely a QC issue. You'd know just by looking at it, which tells me you haven't seen it.

It's unavoidable as well. No matter how carefully you open or close the tools, the file scratches the living s🤬t out of the knife. This is not supposed to happen, and it fact doesn't happen on any of the older classics I've handled. I bought two brand new classics within a year of one another and they both had that issue. It's QC. There's no way around it. And the fact that I've never seen it on dozens of older classics, and suddenly two factory new ones have that issue, indicates either slipping quality control or the worst luck ever. Pick one.
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Well, as they say… pics or it didn’t happen.
 
EngrSorenson said:
Well, as they say… pics or it didn’t happen.
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Both were disassembled for the scales. They were alox, so I just ended up using them to build custom 58mm SAKs which I eventually posted pictures of in the SAK mod thread.

There was another bladeforums user who posted about this exact same issue though, and they included a picture.


You can see there are multiple deep scratches near the end of the blade. The contrast of the photo isn't the greatest because the reflected light kinda washes it out, but you can definitely see the scratches if you look, and you can tell that it's not normal.
 
jackknife said:
YES!

Unfortunately, pop culture pollutes the minds of too many, and they can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality.
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And as in the case of MacGyver, (as opposed to Guy Mcver), SAKs gained fame and popularity. Sales are usually based in fantasy. Even Victorinox tries to sell people on the fantastical ideas of the problem solving adventurer, but the difference is SAKs are genuinely useful in spite of the fact they don’t replace a proper toolbox.
 
Guy McVer said:
Both were disassembled for the scales. They were alox, so I just ended up using them to build custom 58mm SAKs which I eventually posted pictures of in the SAK mod thread.

There was another bladeforums user who posted about this exact same issue though, and they included a picture.


You can see there are multiple deep scratches near the end of the blade. The contrast of the photo isn't the greatest because the reflected light kinda washes it out, but you can definitely see the scratches if you look, and you can tell that it's not normal.
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…
… you’ve got to be kidding me.

$20 gets you the most compact, useful basic tool set in the world and there’s a few scratches on the blade from the tools rubbing and Victorinox QC is down the tubes?

This is exactly Jon Gadget’s core audience- it’s not Victorinox that has lost their way. Fans of the brand have lost their minds.
 
EngrSorenson said:
…
… you’ve got to be kidding me.

$20 gets you the most compact, useful basic tool set in the world and there’s a few scratches on the blade from the tools rubbing and Victorinox QC is down the tubes?

This is exactly Jon Gadget’s core audience- it’s not Victorinox that has lost their way. Fans of the brand have lost their minds.
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Why did you even ask for a picture in the first place? So we've gone from "it's not a QC problem" to "pics or it didn't happen" to "yeah but it's not a big deal anyway" and "it's not victorinox; it's the fans who have lost their mind".


Why should I even bother at this point...
 
Guy McVer said:
Why did you even ask for a picture in the first place? So we've gone from "it's not a QC problem" to "pics or it didn't happen" to "yeah but it's not a big deal anyway" and "it's not victorinox; it's the fans who have lost their mind".


Why should I even bother at this point...
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Because I wanted to see the issue you were having, and I’m glad you showed me. It’s such a small issue it’s hardly worth mentioning.
 
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