Victorinox gets US military knife contract

[Bartleby]

I thought P Trump was only going to buy American?

John.

I believe the only American source left is Colonial Knife Company with NSN 5110-00-162-2205 (the "00" indicates American origin) based on the long serving Mil-k-818. I have only seen them with 2016 dates, so I assume they only got production going recently. Ontario, the supplier after Camillus went under, stopped making them several years ago.

 

[Piso Mojado]

So what grade of steel is this going to use, Any guesses?

John.

http://www.knifeup.com/what-is-victorinox-steel/

 

[Piso Mojado]

This is basically a clone of the Bundeswehr (German Army) knife that I have, except it has black blades, and is marked U.S. That also has a serrated blade. These are available commercially.

Actually it is a hybrid of the Swiss Soldier knife 2008 (Soldatenmesser 08), which is based on the 2007 update of the 2003 German Army knife

and the all black version (0.8463.M3.3) of the One-Hand Trekker, produced in 2010-11 and very hard to find, at least where I live.

Dual density scales on the Swiss Soldier knife and the U.S. Army knife are injection molded polycaprolactam which is called Polyamide 6 in Europe and Nylon 6 in the USA. Unlike hard nylon, Nylon 6 has a little "give" and it stresses your carpal tendon less when you grip down hard. The scales have inserts of black thermoplastic polyurethane (TPE-U) to give a stickier grip when the knife is wet. They work as intended and they are springier than Nylon 6.

I bought a One-Hand Nomad as a closeout and its dual density scales are very nice!

The down side is no tweezers or toothpick. Apparently, Nylon 6 isn't rigid enough to retain them.

I might as well show you the original (2003) and updated (2007) German army knife.

Bundeswehr asked for a bigger thumb hole, which Victorinox put in all the knives based on this design.

 

[Rat Finkenstein]

The german army knife I got I had to grind a point on. Are the US versions similarly blunted?

 

[Piso Mojado]

The german army knife I got I had to grind a point on. Are the US versions similarly blunted?

Victorinox blade comparison:

111 mm large blade comparison:

In 2003, Germany was in transition from an army of six-month draftees to an army of career soldiers, and there was a parliamentary investigation into drunkenness and hooliganism in the Bundeswehr. Hence the replacement of the corkscrew, and certain design details that seem to say "this is a tool, not a weapon."

Bundesgrenzschutz tried to keep the spear point blade, but they took the GAK with a budget cut.

 

[John Stubley]

I was reading some of the non soldier version that you can buy anywhere, and a few of the reviewers said that they ground off the serrations as they preferred a smooth blade and said the serrations are not very sharp anyway.

John.

 

[Yonose]

one-handed opening, locking blade on a SAK?! since when did Victorinox have these?

 

[Bartleby]

one-handed opening, locking blade on a SAK?! since when did Victorinox have these?

One handed versions since about 2003. I had a locking version with a sliding button release in the late 80's or early 90's

 

[Piso Mojado]

Victorinox introduced the slide lock in the mid 1980s.

http://sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Victorinox+111mm+Slide+Lock+Models

Military versions of the slide lock Adventurer and Rucksack were issued to the German Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal Border Patrol). Bundeswehr required a liner lock and one hand opening for its new German Army knife, the 2003 model.

 

[Bartleby]

Victorinox introduced the slide lock in the mid 1980s.

http://sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Victorinox+111mm+Slide+Lock+Models

Yes, that is the type I had in the 80's. A very good lock mechanism, as long as it was kept reasonably clean.

 

[James Y]

I was reading some of the non soldier version that you can buy anywhere, and a few of the reviewers said that they ground off the serrations as they preferred a smooth blade and said the serrations are not very sharp anyway.

John.

I have a current Swiss soldier's knife, and while some people may not like the serrations, they are very sharp and cut very well. In fact, Victorinox's serration pattern is one of my favorites, as they cut smoothly with the benefit of serrations without getting hung up, as some other, more 'aggressive', pointier/deeper serrations tend to do.

Jim

 

[Yonose]

I looked on Amazon and there was one locking version withou the serrations at all. I forgot the model

 

[Piso Mojado]

I looked on Amazon and there was one locking version withou the serrations at all. I forgot the model

Trekker is the civilian market version of the 2003/2007 German Army knife. It has black hard nylon scales, Victorinox's red shield logo, tweezers/toothpick, and it has been made with three large blades:

1. one hand opening, half serrated (like the GAK)
2. one hand opening, plain edge
3. spear point with nail nick, plain edge

Regardless of whether they're in the 2017 catalog, all three are currently available from dealers (may not be the case next year).

 

[Pilot1]

Actually it is a hybrid of the Swiss Soldier knife 2008 (Soldatenmesser 08), which is based on the 2007 update of the 2003 German Army knife


and the all black version (0.8463.M3.3) of the One-Hand Trekker, produced in 2010-11 and very hard to find, at least where I live.


Dual density scales on the Swiss Soldier knife and the U.S. Army knife are injection molded polycaprolactam which is called Polyamide 6 in Europe and Nylon 6 in the USA. Unlike hard nylon, Nylon 6 has a little "give" and it stresses your carpal tendon less when you grip down hard. The scales have inserts of black thermoplastic polyurethane (TPE-U) to give a stickier grip when the knife is wet. They work as intended and they are springier than Nylon 6.

I bought a One-Hand Nomad as a closeout and its dual density scales are very nice!



The down side is no tweezers or toothpick. Apparently, Nylon 6 isn't rigid enough to retain them.

I might as well show you the original (2003) and updated (2007) German army knife.

Bundeswehr asked for a bigger thumb hole, which Victorinox put in all the knives based on this design.

.
Great info. Thanks. I have two of the elongated (2007) knives. One lives in my bug out bag. It's hard to beat a SAK for the value you get.

 

[Radioactive_Man]

Thanks for the history lesson Piso Mojado, interesting stuff.

 

[maki57]

So what grade of steel is this going to use, Any guesses?

John.

According to Victorinox's 2017 SAK catalog, they use 3 different steels with the following compositions:

• Blade
  • X55CrMo14
  • C 0.48 - 0.6
  • Cr 13 - 15
  • Mo 0.5 - 0.8
  • V ≤0.15
• Spring
  
  • X20Cr13
  • C 0.16 - 0.25
    
  • Cr 12 - 14
• Tools
  
  • X39Cr13
  • C 0.36 - 0.42
  • Cr 12.5 - 14.5
  • V 0.1 - 0.2

As an aside, the catalog is surprisingly incredibly detailed.

 

[deltaboy]

I got an 06 Treker!

 

[Alejandro Ramirez]

This may be old news, but Victorinox has gotten on the US military supplier list for folding combat knives. Basically a Trekker with serrated blade and different colored scales with US insignia. No need to play video, just the only picture I could find.

I like my plain blade Trekker.