?Who hates SAK'S?

I don't understand how all of you could like the victorinox swiss army knives. I HATE them with a passion.

I bought a victorinox camper a couple of years ago; one with 13 functions. It was great for a while. It held a razor sharp edge, and wasn't too big to carry. It could cut meat, packages, rope, and other stuff pretty well. But eventually I needed to cut heavier stuff, and tighten screws, and that was the downfall of the knife. I tried tightening the screws on the leg of a barbeque grill, and the whole screwdriver bent and twisted. So I said "okay, I just won't use the screwdriver." A few days later I was doing some light prying, and the blade BROKE IN HALF. I was very disappointed with its performance, but I still wanted a knife with a bunch of tools.

So you know what I did? Instead of spending a bunch of cash on a new victorinox, I went to the local dollar store and bought a bunch of cheap imitations. The blades get just as sharp. Now if I break the blade or a tool on one, I just SMASH IT with a HAMMER, throw it in a box and pull out a new one. Works just fine. :D
 
Dave,
Nice! Whats your favorite?

Hmm,
The SAK I love to hate the most is an itty bitty little bugger I wear in my watch pocket. Knife, file, tweezers and toothpick. I've hated it for about 10 years and I expect to continue hating it for the rst of my life (how do you lose a flaming red knife?).
Dave_B
 
"I still have the knife and it sits in my unlocked car waiting to be stolen"

That trick never works. I left one on my dash for a long week while I was away on business. When I returned there were 6!
 
UnknownVT,
Just to clear up what seems to be a misunderstanding of my statement: I was comparing two blades of very similair geometry, both being nearly as thin as one another, and fully flat ground. What I was saying by "I'll have to retract my statement of it being the SAK steel that was sharper feeling", was that compared to a VERY similairly ground knife it felt sharper but as Buzz pointed out there are SUBTLE differences in the grind. Though they do seem to make the difference.

I'm not so inexperienced as to think that geometry and grind have no play. I've used and owned fully flat ground, flat ground, and hollow ground blades. I understand the finer points of knives. ;) Thanks for the post on it though.

Survivalist,
Why would you pry with the blade of a SAK at all? :confused: It's way too thin... Slipjoint blades are not made for that kind of work. Why not just use the flathead screwdriver?

As for the screwdriver bending and twising, what the hell are you people! Worlds strongest man competitors!? :p I've have twisted and chiped the phillips driver on my Micra, but never on a SAK.
-Kevin
 
I dare say that if you can wreck the screwdriver on a SAK, you would probably wreck the driver on any other multitool as well.. Sure there are exceptions, like maybe a swiss tool, but really, if screw is that tight/rusty/crossthreaded shouldn't you use a full size regular screwdriver?

Or snap the jaws of the LM CRUNCH on the head of the screw and tear it out :D
 
I hate my SAK soldier, He does not let me use my other knives.
Beautys as apart from this ugly bastard.
 
some people hate them because they are so thick and bulky.......

ThinSAK_thin2.jpg


The Victorinox Bantam Alox is so thick at 5mm or 0.2"......... :p
The Victoinox Popular and Wenger Patriot are even less than that.

I know .......
they still won't fit into your Speedos.... :barf:

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/
 
Unknown VT.....

That's the beauty of a ....BROKEN....SAK. You just carry the BLADE and ...nothing....else is as slim and undetectable. Even in speedos. If you're not nuts. If you ARE nuts, you soon won't be. Blades in speedos are good mental health because they eliminate nuts.

:D :D
 
Lavan said:
Unknown VT.....

That's the beauty of a ....BROKEN....SAK. You just carry the BLADE and ...nothing....else is as slim and undetectable. Even in speedos. If you're not nuts. If you ARE nuts, you soon won't be. Blades in speedos are good mental health because they eliminate nuts.

:D :D
Click to expand...
::Shudder:: :(

Well this post has been quiet recently. I think we may have found all of the SAK haters... Not too many of them. :D
-Kevin
 
I use a Victorinox Hunter with red handles when I hunt deer.The thing is super sharp all the time! The saw will split huge bones with ease!If I owned only one knife the entire Victorinox range would do me!
My father in law is a PC Repair Professional, all he carries on a call out (tool wise) is a Cyber tool and a packet of screws in one pouch on his belt!
You want a tougher tool? Swiss Army Tool is the shiznet!Check Don Rearics take on this beauty!
Not annoying to sheeple? My wife is a nurse and uses her tiny SAK to open medicines,prime pumps, trim lines and the million things we all do every day without thinking about it!I recently carried no knife on my person for a while and had to bite open packets where I used to just zip the tops off with a SAK!! You don't realise until it's gone what a useful thing it is!
I love the little red Bastids!!
 
musashi said:
I use a Victorinox Hunter with red handles when I hunt deer.The thing is super sharp all the time! The saw will split huge bones with ease!If I owned only one knife the entire Victorinox range would do me!
My father in law is a PC Repair Professional, all he carries on a call out (tool wise) is a Cyber tool and a packet of screws in one pouch on his belt!
You want a tougher tool? Swiss Army Tool is the shiznet!Check Don Rearics take on this beauty!
Not annoying to sheeple? My wife is a nurse and uses her tiny SAK to open medicines,prime pumps, trim lines and the million things we all do every day without thinking about it!I recently carried no knife on my person for a while and had to bite open packets where I used to just zip the tops off with a SAK!! You don't realise until it's gone what a useful thing it is!
I love the little red Bastids!!
Click to expand...

Well I'm going to take a wild guess on this one... but I'm going to say you aren't a SAK hater?? :p

Awesome to hear that you like your SAK so much. They are great little knives, especially for EDC.
-Kevin
 
I carried a SAK all through school and till about 10 years ago, a Craftsman IIRC. I still have it and have fond memories of that time in my life. It seemed everyone had one which was carried in a belt pouch and used for opening beer and wine bottles or slicing cheese or whatever at concerts and keggers. :D Seemed to say the owner was prepared and self sufficient and all that. I can see where they might have acquired a cult status. I wouldn't say I hate SAKs, they have just fallen out of favor. They are not sturdy and you always had to wonder if the tools were up to the task or would break or bend. Sometimes in using the screw driver I could feel the whole knife torque and just knew any more pressure and there would be one screwed up tool. I never trusted the slip joint after the blade closed on me a couple of times. More of a scare than anything else. So I took to carrying a Buck until I switched to Spyderco. After I got the SOG power pliers ( I have since switched to a LM Wave), there really was no point to carrying a SAK. As for the SAK being a knife with tools or the LM being a multitool with a so so blade, well I can't see the difference really. At least the LM has a blade lock. I have a Champion salted away with my Craftsman, but really can't see the point to having a SAK except as a glorified boy scout knife. I guess at concerts or keggers where wine is served the SAK has an edge over the LM. Maybe if I drank wine and not beer I'd still be carrying a SAK. ;)
 
Metallicat,
Well slipjoints are not the appropriate knife for all cutting chores. If it folds on you you are either doing something wrong, or should have been using a locking/fixed blade. :( You could seriously hurt yourself otherwise.

There is a difference between a knife with tools and tools with a knife. My SAK has two very sharp and thin fully flat ground blades. The handles are comfy for cutting and all the tools are places so that my fingers rest on the handle well while using the knife. Multitools are not knives. They are uncomfortable to cut with, the blades are not anywhere near as good for cutting as a SAK's, and are at best a backup for emergencies.

The Champion IMHO, is not much of a knife. More of a toolbox with okay tools. It's handles is not comfortable to get a hold on, and I daresay that may be why you almost chopped your fingers off. Maybe this is why your perspective on SAK's is off from mine. I carry thin ones, that are tightly packaged, while you carried a monster. ;)
-Kevin
 
Looking at the last few posts: my EDC for 10 years or more was a SwissChamp. I do admit it lost some of its appeal when I started packing a multitool. But even now I carry a Cybertool 34 which I consider to be plenty thin enough and most people here seem to think it's too big. In dress slacks it is too bulky but in jeans or Dockers it works fine.

It depends on your personal preferences and what you wear I think.

But back to my point, I have historically favored the large thick models. To me the point is that I have all this stuff at my disposal for occassions when I need it and don't have a tool box handy. About as small as I've ever EDCed besides the Classic was a Huntsman. As a matter of fact I am currently realizing a need for a more compact model and I'm lost because I've never had a smaller one besides the Classic... well I take that back I do have a Recruit but it stays in a survival kit and a Soldier but I keep it in my glove box.

My technique has always been to use the mini screwdriver as a "pick" for raising blades that are in a bad place, or the flat screwdriver head of a Classic.

I do have to admit though I never thought years ago I'd prefer my smaller Cybertool over my 'Champ but I've come around... maybe there's something to this minimalist approach.

Oh and I still don't like Wegner or any other SAK besides Victorinox. I must continue the hate.
 
I dislike squarish SAKs. Meaning ones that aren't thicker than they are wide, or wider than they are thick. It'd either have to be thin, like a Soldier, or thick like a Swiss Champ. That way, it'd stay flat in my pocket and not roll around.
 
I think the SAK is an excellent gauge of one's knife handling skills. Every story I hear of an SAK breaking or folding up and injuring someone, it always seems to come down to user error. You have to use the right tool for the job, and you have to have some knifehandling skills to use slipjoints safely.

My friend's uncle, after giving me his small CKRT apache to sharpen (very dull), asked what knife I use the most, and I pulled out the Farmer. He sneered and said he'd never use one of those 'junky things'. He then told me about how when he worked for the power company, he was cutting out some sort of conduit with a SAK and it folded on his finger, cutting him badly. It turns out he was trying to push the point through 1/4 inch thick plastic.... I asked him if he thought that was a wise thing to do with a slipjoint, but he still blames the knife, not his complete lack of sense... Folding knives aren't for stabbing or prying, IMO....it's just asking for trouble.

Morgoth:
I think my favorite overall SAK is probably my alox Farmer, followed closely by the Rucksack. If I could only have one knife, it'd be the Rucksack...
 
Damn! What a bunch of knife knerds!
This thred has made me remember several historical happinings in my past....
I hate SAK's because once I was stripping some wire with one, then set it down, then picked it up again upside down without realizing it. I pushed down on the edge with my index finger. Slice-a-ramma!
My dad has an old one that has a spoon and a fork on it!!! With a belt sheath! Totally cool!!!
My last SAK died because I was trying to convert it into a full auto SAK. I wanted to make the cross symbol into the switch button. I couldn't get the scales to hold up to the spring pressure. Still a good idea in my opinion! The world would be a much better place if there were automatic SAK's around.









1
 
The implement I love to hate is the perpendicular or T-grip phillips. I hate those. It looks as though it was "stuck on" as an afterthought. I much prefer the inline phillips.

The other useless thing is the corkscrew -- something else over which the Americans and Europeans can disagree.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top