Ya know, many many year ago, I used to think of the classic as a joke. I'd look at it, and think, "Who would have any use for this tiny, lightweight little toy pocket knife. Then I learned the joke was on me.
One day, my better half came home with a little red Vic classic knock off made in a very large far eastern county. It had the logo of the company she worked for on the plastic handle. Showing it to me because she knew I was a knife nut, she asked what I thought. I was bluntly honest. The quality of the thing was abysmal. Huge gaps, scissors that couldn't cut paper at all, nail file so course you may as well rub you finger nails on a sidewalk, a not even tweezers. I think some 7th grade industrial arts students could have done better. Her boss had bought them from one of those companies that do advertising junk, like cheap ball point pens sand stuff with your logo on it. I toiled Karen that it was sheer waste product, and to tell her boss he was wasting the company money. In fact, I went out to the great box store and bought a new Vic classic for all of 7.99 (it was a lot of years ago) and tiold her to take it to work and show her boss. When you looked at them side by side, the far eastern one really looked pitiful. So the next day, Karen shows her boss, and he's so impressed with the difference that he sends all the far eastern ones back to the company and paid a bit more, and got real Victorinox classic's with their company logo to give out to clients. Of course, Karen snagged one for herself, and asked if I wanted one. Of course not, I carry a "real" knife. Ha.
Over the next few months, I watched my better half use, abuse, and outright torture this tiny little SAK. I expected to hear the ping of snapping metal, or the tinkle of small parts hitting the floor. But ti didn't happen. Karen pried, scraped, snipped, and filed, and did things that had me wincing in anticipation of catastrophic failure. But at a couple of months, when Karen asked me to sharpen up the abused blade, I was in awe of the fact that it was still in one piece, let alone in serviceable condition. I sharpened it up, and Karen hung it back on her keyring. Quietly, I hung one on my keyring and started an experiment. I made myself reach first for the tiny classic when ever I had a pocket knife/screw driver/light prying/scissors job. I had a 'real' pocket knife in my right hand pocket, but this was an experiment in something I'm not sure how to explain.
At the end of three months, the classic had done 98% of what I had to do with a pocket knife. It fell way short in food service of course, and it was no bushcraft tool in the woods. But for the greater wilds of American suburbia, it did just fine. Like all SAK's, it was way more durable than you would think from the light weight and tiny size. When looking over a repair job, and I saw I'd need a phillips screw driver, I'd take out the classic with an attitude of "If it breaks apart, no loss." It never broke apart. It unscrewed, screwed, and cut just fine. I found the scissors so sharp as to be almost surgical like. In fact, it did a number on my ear.Karen has a habit of making sure I'm well groomed, so I don't look like n old fart with hair growing out my ears, or wild bushe=y eyebrows. One day we're sitting on a log in the woods, and she looks at me and takes out her little classic and tells me to sit still, there's a few hairs that need to be cut. Okay, she's done this before, so I hold still and Karen snips in my ear opening.
Ya know that little thing that sticks out in the ear opening? Yeah, she snips it good. I should have made sure she had her reading glasses on. Bled like a stuck pig for quite a while even with direct pressure with a tissue on it. Made a real surgical quality surgical incision, so it healed up well. But I gained great repeat for SAK scissors, especially in the hands of a 60 something lady who has not put her close up glasses on.
That was many years ago, and since then, we both have always carried the classic every day. I even gave several of them to the non knife carrying members of my family as Christmas stocking stuffers, so I didn't hear any "Hey Carl, lemme see your knife for a moment."
The tiny classic is a very viable little suburban/urban tool.
Carl.
