i am finding it very convenient...yesterday i used it to slice lime wedges to add to my corona beer at friends house party.
i am quite surprised that these alox versions r super solid and have no play even for such tiny tools...is alox version technically supposed to be stronger and tougher than other versions?
Yes, it is my opinion, which when added to 1.20 gets a 16 ounce coffee at 7-11, that the alox SAK's are a cut above the other SAK's. Yeah okay, bad pun. But I feel from my own experience that the alox is a bit tougher, although the cellidor is not exactly fragile. I've been carrying cellidor classics for about 20 years now, and I've put them through some abusive use. Being a low cost knife, (they used to b 8 dollars at Walmart) it was my choice for a lot of dirty work. I used to think the little classic was a bit of a joke, tiny keychain knife that it was. But the joke was on me, and it took my better half to show me the error of my ways.
About 20 years ago, my wife was working for a real estate settlement company, and they would have hand out stuff with tier corporate logo on it for clients. Little AAAkeychain flashlights, pens, little calculators. Well one day Karen comes home from work with a little cheap Chinese knock off classic on her keyring. THAT was a joke. She tells me that Dave, the office manager had bought a bunch of them to handout to clients. The knife blade was butter knife dull, the scissors would fold over the paper, and the QA was well past horrible. There was only one thing to do;
I went out and bought two new Victorinox classic's. One for her, and one for Dave so he could see side by side how bad the Chinese thing was. As a result, Dave sent back all the Chinese classics and had the advertising company put their logo on real classics. Of course Karen start to use hers on a daily basis. Like I said, I didn't have much respect for the little thing. I thought light duty only. REAL light duty.
In all my years of marriage, I have learned that only a woman can abuse a piece of equipment to the point of destruction, so I was waiting for Karen to show me a broken classic. She would really use the heck out o fit, and I kept listening for the 'ting' of snapping blade or small parts hitting the floor. My wait was in vain.
Not only did the tiny classic hold up, Karen would be prying up things with the SD tipped nail file like it was a crowbar. She's saw down through stuff that had me clinching my teeth, but the thing kept on going. After a few months, I took a look at it, and aside from a bit of wobble in the blades, and a slight nick in the scissors from where she used it as a light wire cutter, it was all there. That started me on what I called "The Experiment."
I put one on my keyring, and for a few months, made a conscious effort that when I needed a pocket knife, I'd try the little classic first before I went for my regular pocket knife. To my surprise, it did everything I needed,edxecpt for vine trimming in the garden and food use. I opened boxes, cut down boxes for recycle, cut fishing line, cut twine, and found a ton of uses for the little scissors. My respect grew a huge amount.
Now to this day, I carry a red classic in a leather pouch sheath on my keyring, and it's used for something everyday. The SD tip fits most small to medium Phillips screws, and is a great poking tool.
Never under estimate a classic.
These days, all my other SAK's are alox. My old Wenger SI, pioneer, and cadet are my usual carry SAK's in my pocket. They 'back up' the classic on my keyring. I've traded off all my larger cellidor SAK's for alox.
