Review: Victorinox Camper

M

Morgoth412

Joined
Oct 4, 2002
Messages
1,297
Just got back from my yearly week in Vermont! :D Great times up there. I basically hiked everyday, except for Thursday when I took a short survival course. Actually more like a basic camp skills course. During that course I had the chance to give my cocobola handled Camper some good use.

The SAK got used at three points during this course: Firemaking, shelter making, and LUNCH, so I will break the review down that way.

Firemaking: The SAK saw cut down deadwood branches on pines, and even cut in half some larger pieces(2") without any problems. That little saw works great as many of you already know. The blade got its chance soon enough. I made a couple fuzzsticks and whittled a thicker piece of wood down to a fine spearpoint to stick into the ground. (Origionally we attempted to use a slingshot shaped branch as a holder for a larger log we where going to put over the fire, but the ground proved to be rock about 1/2" under the soil, so nix that idea... :o )

Shelter building: Using the saw I cut up thin branches to use as stakes, and then sharpened them to points with the blade to stick in the ground.

Lunch: Opened a pack of cheese with the blade and proceeded to slice fine pieces of cheese for everyones lunch. One gentlemen also cut his sandwhich in half with it. ;)

The edge held up fine under what I would consider normal camp knife use. It couldn't shave anymore, but still had a good edge on it. A couple swipes on the fine and extra fine Spyderco rods made it a razor again.

In conclusion the knife worked great! The saw and blade are perfect for the application. The Camper is my favorite of the plastic handled SAK's. (Once I get a Farmer I have a feeling It will take EDC role though. I have been EDCing a Soldier and it has all I need except the saw...The Farmer adds that missing item to the Soldier. :)

Off topic, but I tried to educate the guys as much as I could on knives in the short time I was there. Two of the guys wanted recomendations for a good EDC one-hander folder and I informed them to check out the Spyderco Delica. One of the guys had a Gerber EZ-out so the Delica seemed the natural progression, and its one of my favorite knives. It always fun getting people to check out knives. :)
-Kevin
 
a little off topic

imho,the tweezers and toothstick in SAk are useless,they are easy to break and weak,also,they even destroy the hardness of the handle too....

i think other tools are better for hiker... :cool:
 
ckl said:
a little off topic

imho,the tweezers and toothstick in SAk are useless,they are easy to break and weak,also,they even destroy the hardness of the handle too....

i think other tools are better for hiker... :cool:
Click to expand...

This depends entirely on what environment you use the knife in I think. I use the tweezers and toothpick fairly often. Having the ballpoint pen is also a real lifesaver at times. I can see why the plastic handles with the tools are on the camper though.

They also make the model in some cases. I just got a Compact and I really like it.

Especially if you use a Leatherman-style multi for your really rough stuff anyway, you might as well have the handle tools on your SAK imho.
 
DeadManWalking said:
This depends entirely on what environment you use the knife in I think. I use the tweezers and toothpick fairly often. Having the ballpoint pen is also a real lifesaver at times. I can see why the plastic handles with the tools are on the camper though.

They also make the model in some cases. I just got a Compact and I really like it.

Especially if you use a Leatherman-style multi for your really rough stuff anyway, you might as well have the handle tools on your SAK imho.
Click to expand...

oh i think pen is small and stupid too....if u want to write i think u should carry a real pen.....btw,i think vic and wenger should make some no tweezers and toothstick ver. of SAK.......haha

btw,hiking in hongkong is pretty convience and gd!
 
ckl said:
oh i think pen is small and stupid too....if u want to write i think u should carry a real pen.....btw,i think vic and wenger should make some no tweezers and toothstick ver. of SAK.......haha

btw,hiking in hongkong is pretty convience and gd!
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The alox handled models do not have the tweezer, toothpick, or pen in the handles. Maybe you should do a little more research before you jump in. :rolleyes:

Paul
 
Deadmanwalking,
The Camper is a fun little model. The blade, saw, and awl seem to be the essential outdoor tools, with the can opener, bottle opener, and corkscrew being good extras. I find the toothpick fairly useless, but the tweezers are excellent IMHO. Out of the plastic handled SAK's the Camper is my favorite. I have three Campers. An older late 70s early 80s one, a new one, and one that Scott K. put cocobola handles on.

After using it on the survival course, and out on the hiking trail a few times, I see that the small seconed blade didn't get used at all, along with the corkscrew/small screwdriver. I think the Farmer would make my ideal EDC as a bridge between my two favorite models: Camper and Soldier.

Ckl,
Hmm, actually I have always found the tweezers to be very well made. They have been used on splinters a few times and they seem to have good grip. I can't speak for the pen, but I can sure think of plenty of times where I needed one and didn't have one on me. The toothpick seems pointless to me, but I guess if their is space in the handles why not. Nobody mentioned the straightpin, but IMHO that is the most useful peice, alongside the tweezer.

Actually, you could by a Camper and then order the 4 implement handles online, plus the mini-screwdriver, straightpin, and pen. Then you just pop off the old handles, throw on the 4 implement ones and you would have a Camper-Plus. ;)

-Kevin
 
A few years ago, I hunted antelope in SE Montana. Found the tweezers from my SAK Classic outstanding for removal of ground cactus spines. Probably could have sold spare Classics to all in my hunting party for $100 each. BTW, I know you may not have ground cactus where you live, but you can never tell what else might stick in you.

Cheers - Joe :)
 
My experience with the tweezers is similar to Joe's. They were exactly what was needed at the time nothing else was available.
Jim
 
I use the toothpick for its intended purpose frequentlly and it stands up very well, even on SAKs I've had for 10 years. The tweezers are also very useful for all sorts of purposes. The pen on my cybertool has been invaluable many times, when I've forgotten a real pen. CKL can mouth off about carrying the 'Real thing', but that's the whole point of a SAK, to have a bunch of useful tools in one knife. Sure you could carry a real knife, and a few real screwdrivers, and a full sized set of tweezers, and a box of toothpicks (of course they NEVER break), a real corkscrew, a real saw, a real can opener, which would all do the job better than SAK tools, but you'd look like an idiot and would never have all those with you when you needed them anyway....
 
Good review, when camping I used to have a SAK in one pocket, a stockman in another and a fixed blade on the belt, the SAK got plenty of use.

I´ve never liked the SAK´s plastic handles, I had one rehandled in oak for some time, much better than the original, cocobolo seems like a good choice, strong and good looking. I recently rehandled an old Barlow with molded epoxy putty, came out real nice, I gotta try that in a SAK.

I think the tweezers and toothpick are nice to have but I can do without them. I find my leatherman better than the SAK tweezers for removing splinters, and if you can make fuzzsticks you can make a toothpick.

We´ve mentioned the farmer in another thread, a soldier with a saw is a great idea, I wish they made more alox handled models, we don´t have to rehandle those.
 
PWork said:
The alox handled models do not have the tweezer, toothpick, or pen in the handles. Maybe you should do a little more research before you jump in. :rolleyes:

Paul
Click to expand...

alright,sweetheart,i will only care about those metal handle SAKs...... :rolleyes:
 
Morgoth412...You mentioned ordering handles online...I've thought about that, but have never seen any sites online that list specific handles for spedific models. Any info for good places to order handles would be apppreciated. I currently EDC the Explorer, and would like to order the translucent onyx handles for the Voyager model to go on my Explorer.
 
jchaney said:
Morgoth412...You mentioned ordering handles online...I've thought about that, but have never seen any sites online that list specific handles for spedific models. Any info for good places to order handles would be apppreciated. I currently EDC the Explorer, and would like to order the translucent onyx handles for the Voyager model to go on my Explorer.
Click to expand...

Try here.
-Kevin :)
 
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