**For those of you who read my review of the Victorinox Fieldmaster that I wrote, you're going to see a lot of the same information. But I assure you this isn't just a Copy And Paste job.
It's been almost a year since I wrote up a review of the Victorinox Tinker, so I'll give an update as to how the little guy held up. For those of you who didn't read the review, or can't find it because of the Search issues, I'll do a total re-write, with the updates added in.
The knife is the Victorinox Tinker, model number 53101. You can buy them for about $16. Since this is a multi-use knife, I'll review and describe the implements one by one.
Handle: The handle is standard Victorinox red plastic (cellidor), and is 3.5" long. Mine has the "Outward Bound" logo on it. This knife has two layers of tools. The liners / dividers are made of stainless steel. The handle has a fixed metal loop integrated into it, which holds the keychain. After a year, the handle is still in one piece, and still very solid. The logo hasn't faded. There's no movement in the handle-to-frame yet. The small Victorinox logo is still visible. There's a small amount of scratching, but that's normal wear and tear with a knife you use.
Large Blade: The main blade on this knife is stainless steel. It's 3" long with a 2.5" cutting edge, and ends in a drop point. There's a nail nick on the side facing the shield on the handle. It snaps open very solidly, with no blade play. It came out of the box shaving sharp, and required resharpening after about a month of use as my everyday carry knife. It's very easy to resharpen. After a year, the blade has only a few scratches, but nothing serious. Again, for a working knife, this is very good.
Small Blade: The Tinker also comes with a smaller blade, which is 1.75" long with a 1.5" cutting edge. Like the larger one, this is a drop point. The nail nick is on the non-shield side. This blade also snaps open, and had no blade play. It came shaving sharp as well. After a year, it still snaps open with no play, and is still razor sharp, needing only minor touch-ups. I like to keep these small blades razor sharp, and use the larger blade for general use.
Bottle Opener: The standard bottle opener with wire stripper and large flathead screwriver. It's nail nick faces the shield. It's 1.4" long, and snaps open with no play. The bottle opener on this model doesn't lock into the halfway position like some tohers do. The bottle opener does what it's supposed to do, open bottles, with no problems. I haven't used the wire stripper for anything other than thinning sticks for a fire, which it did without failure. The screwdriver gets a lot of use. In the year I've been using it, it hasn't broken or chipped, and I abuse the hell out of my working knives.
Can Opener: The standard can opener with small flathead screwdriver. The nail nick faces the shield. It snaps open and stay open with no play. The screwdriver gets some use, but no a lot. But the can open gets a lot of use. I've never had to resharpen the edge, although it's unzipped a lot of cans.
Reamer: The reamer, or awl if you will, with sewing eye. It's 1.5" long, with a 1" cutting edge. It's mounted on the underside of the handle. The nail nick faces the non-shield side. This tool opens to the halfway (T-handle) position only. I've used the reamer for punching holes in leather and holes in cans. you can grip the handle like a T-handled dagger and forcing the end in to make your hole without worrying about cutting your finger up due to the edge not going all the way to the tang. I've had to touch up the edge twice in a year, and it was very easy to do.
Phillips Screwdriver: It's located on the underside of the knife, and is 2" long. To be honest, I haven't used it much. Not because it's not handy, just because I've never needed to. So, needless to say, it's holding up quite well.
Tweezers and Toothpick: The standard tools in the end of almost every Swiss army knife. The toothpick is 2." long and made of plastic. It comes in handy when cleaning my fingernails more than anything else. The tweezers are 1.8" long, and get used quite frequently. Both the toothpick and tweezers snap into the butt end of the knife, and don't dislodge loose. They're positioned right next to the keyring, which makes it awkward at times to remove them.
I think that this is a pretty good knife for the outdoors or around the house. The Tinker still performs just like it was brand new. Spend the $16 and try it out for yourself.
It's been almost a year since I wrote up a review of the Victorinox Tinker, so I'll give an update as to how the little guy held up. For those of you who didn't read the review, or can't find it because of the Search issues, I'll do a total re-write, with the updates added in.
The knife is the Victorinox Tinker, model number 53101. You can buy them for about $16. Since this is a multi-use knife, I'll review and describe the implements one by one.
Handle: The handle is standard Victorinox red plastic (cellidor), and is 3.5" long. Mine has the "Outward Bound" logo on it. This knife has two layers of tools. The liners / dividers are made of stainless steel. The handle has a fixed metal loop integrated into it, which holds the keychain. After a year, the handle is still in one piece, and still very solid. The logo hasn't faded. There's no movement in the handle-to-frame yet. The small Victorinox logo is still visible. There's a small amount of scratching, but that's normal wear and tear with a knife you use.
Large Blade: The main blade on this knife is stainless steel. It's 3" long with a 2.5" cutting edge, and ends in a drop point. There's a nail nick on the side facing the shield on the handle. It snaps open very solidly, with no blade play. It came out of the box shaving sharp, and required resharpening after about a month of use as my everyday carry knife. It's very easy to resharpen. After a year, the blade has only a few scratches, but nothing serious. Again, for a working knife, this is very good.
Small Blade: The Tinker also comes with a smaller blade, which is 1.75" long with a 1.5" cutting edge. Like the larger one, this is a drop point. The nail nick is on the non-shield side. This blade also snaps open, and had no blade play. It came shaving sharp as well. After a year, it still snaps open with no play, and is still razor sharp, needing only minor touch-ups. I like to keep these small blades razor sharp, and use the larger blade for general use.
Bottle Opener: The standard bottle opener with wire stripper and large flathead screwriver. It's nail nick faces the shield. It's 1.4" long, and snaps open with no play. The bottle opener on this model doesn't lock into the halfway position like some tohers do. The bottle opener does what it's supposed to do, open bottles, with no problems. I haven't used the wire stripper for anything other than thinning sticks for a fire, which it did without failure. The screwdriver gets a lot of use. In the year I've been using it, it hasn't broken or chipped, and I abuse the hell out of my working knives.
Can Opener: The standard can opener with small flathead screwdriver. The nail nick faces the shield. It snaps open and stay open with no play. The screwdriver gets some use, but no a lot. But the can open gets a lot of use. I've never had to resharpen the edge, although it's unzipped a lot of cans.
Reamer: The reamer, or awl if you will, with sewing eye. It's 1.5" long, with a 1" cutting edge. It's mounted on the underside of the handle. The nail nick faces the non-shield side. This tool opens to the halfway (T-handle) position only. I've used the reamer for punching holes in leather and holes in cans. you can grip the handle like a T-handled dagger and forcing the end in to make your hole without worrying about cutting your finger up due to the edge not going all the way to the tang. I've had to touch up the edge twice in a year, and it was very easy to do.
Phillips Screwdriver: It's located on the underside of the knife, and is 2" long. To be honest, I haven't used it much. Not because it's not handy, just because I've never needed to. So, needless to say, it's holding up quite well.
Tweezers and Toothpick: The standard tools in the end of almost every Swiss army knife. The toothpick is 2." long and made of plastic. It comes in handy when cleaning my fingernails more than anything else. The tweezers are 1.8" long, and get used quite frequently. Both the toothpick and tweezers snap into the butt end of the knife, and don't dislodge loose. They're positioned right next to the keyring, which makes it awkward at times to remove them.
I think that this is a pretty good knife for the outdoors or around the house. The Tinker still performs just like it was brand new. Spend the $16 and try it out for yourself.
