Swiza - a new take on the SAK

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Dec 17, 2014
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Hey guys, I figured you'd find this pretty interesting.
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This is the newly announced Swiza series of knives, looks like a new take on the classic Swiss Army Knife. It's not an "official" SAK as the company isn't owned by Victorinox, but they do have some relation to Wenger. Looks pretty slick, reminds me a bit of Boker's new SAK-like knives.
http://lenews.ch/2015/10/22/the-venerable-swiss-army-knife-is-reborn/
 
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I'm very interested to learn more. The article says next to nothing.
I'd also be interested in hearing about the SAK-like knives from Boker. Are they new?
 
I'm very interested to learn more. The article says next to nothing.
I'd also be interested in hearing about the SAK-like knives from Boker. Are they new?

Boker Plus Tech Tools. They came out a couple months ago. The Swiza knives have modern styling, but the Boker have modern features including screw construction, adjustable pivots and pocket clips. I picked one up and I'm quite happy with it.

Think I'll wait for some reviews to come in on the Swiza and see what the price point is like. I dig the colors and look, but it takss a lot more than that to compete with Victorinox. I wish one of these companies would realize that and maybe go after a different niche with higher end blade steel and scale materials
 
I would like to handle one. Doubt it will replace my Victorinox but interesting none the less.
 
I'm very interested to learn more. The article says next to nothing.
I'd also be interested in hearing about the SAK-like knives from Boker. Are they new?

Yeah, unfortunately I could not find much info at the time, they were just announced a week ago. Looks like there's more reviews out now. And as Insipid mentioned, the Boker ones are called the Tech Tools, and they look pretty decent as well. Boker's design seems less IKEA and more Glock. I see a blue or red Swiza D03 in my near future, along with a Boker Plus Tech-Tool Outdoor 4.
 
Never say never, but I'm not feeling them. Maybe it's that if you want something modernized, you have to go much further in design to make it work. Simple is best, and so it is with SAKs too. Just my opinion.
 
Competition in the segment is good for everyone. Not my style, but having things drive the area forward is good as far as I care.
 
I love the Tech Tools, and the only negative things I have to say about them are (a) they don't make as efficient use of space as my Pioneer alox, (b) the awl is of the wrong type, and (c) and the can opener/phillips driver was replaced by what's probably a very nice rescue blade, but utterly useless as a screwdriver. (And seriously, they gave me a corkscrew, but not a can opener? Then again, the Swiza D02 is probably the first pocketknife I've seen to have a phillips driver, but no flathead.) D02 aside, these new Swizas lack all of those drawbacks, which is nice to see.

That's about all that's nice to see, unfortunately. Where my favorite thing about the Tech Tool line is the beautiful fit and finish, exemplified by an amazing drop-point blade and pictures-don't-do-them-justice G10 handle scales, the Swiza designers went another direction entirely and gave us a product with the aesthetics of an IKEA dishwashing implement.

On the other hand, part of the reason my Tech Tool sees so much carry is that I live in Europe, and friendly-looking knives without locks and OHO are sometimes the order of the day. I'll buy a D03, to do a comparison review if nothing else, but with 20 CHF shipping (again, I live in the Netherlands), I'm waiting until it's available for sale here.
 
Competition in the segment is good for everyone. Not my style, but having things drive the area forward is good as far as I care.

I totally agree. Especially now that they've gobbled up Wenger, it'll be good to have someone nudging Victorinox forward.

I love the Tech Tools, and the only negative things I have to say about them are (a) they don't make as efficient use of space as my Pioneer alox, (b) the awl is of the wrong type, and (c) and the can opener/phillips driver was replaced by what's probably a very nice rescue blade, but utterly useless as a screwdriver.

For me, the deal breaker on the Tech Tools is that goofy "rescue blade," and the "glass breaker." :barf: Seriously!? A pointy thing jutting out of the end of the knife to poke me in the leg and tear up my pockets?! :thumbdn:
 
For me, the deal breaker on the Tech Tools is that goofy "rescue blade," and the "glass breaker." :barf: Seriously!? A pointy thing jutting out of the end of the knife to poke me in the leg and tear up my pockets?! :thumbdn:

No offense, but it doesn't sound like you've ever actually handled one. It isn't very sharp (just very hard), or long enough to penetrate much of anything. I don't think it would wear at the bottom of your pocket any more than a set of keys would. (Besides, it has a reversible pocket clip for a reason.)

The rescue blade/screwdriver is definitely its worst feature, though. Since it's held together by torx screws throughout, I'm going to do some experimentation to see if I can get a Frankenböker configured to my liking.
 
No offense, but it doesn't sound like you've ever actually handled one. It isn't very sharp (just very hard), or long enough to penetrate much of anything.

No offense taken -- I haven't handled one. Glad to hear they're not too sharp. But I'd still prefer they weren't there at all. Just personal preference.

I'm going to do some experimentation to see if I can get a Frankenböker configured to my liking.

You're on to something! Where I think both Boker and Swiza could really compete head to head with Victorinox is in creating knives that can be easily modded by those owners inclined to do so. Also, in being quicker to answer the demands of the market ..... in other words, in quickly launching products that knife knerds like us want.
 
You're on to something! Where I think both Boker and Swiza could really compete head to head with Victorinox is in creating knives that can be easily modded by those owners inclined to do so. Also, in being quicker to answer the demands of the market ..... in other words, in quickly launching products that knife knerds like us want.
Knife knerds are a tiny portion of the market. Very tiny. At 32 million knives made and sold each year, year in and year out, Victorinox need not be responsive to that tiny portion of the market. Victorinox is, and has been, wildly successful worldwide with their current modus operandi.
 
You're on to something! Where I think both Boker and Swiza could really compete head to head with Victorinox is in creating knives that can be easily modded by those owners inclined to do so. Also, in being quicker to answer the demands of the market ..... in other words, in quickly launching products that knife knerds like us want.
Knife knerds are a tiny portion of the market. Very tiny. At 32 million knives made and sold each year, year in and year out, Victorinox need not be responsive to that tiny portion of the market. Victorinox is, and has been, wildly successful worldwide with their current modus operandi.
Precisely. Which is why the newbies should go a different route.
Newbies in knife manufacturing and marketing should go the route they believe will lead to business success whether that is a different route or not. The number of people who will buy a knife so as to easily mod it are miniscule so I can see why SWIZA wouldn't go that route. Business is business.
 
I totally agree. Especially now that they've gobbled up Wenger, it'll be good to have someone nudging Victorinox forward.

I agree on competition being healthy. But "gobbled up Wenger" may be a poor choice of words. My understanding is that Wenger was going down, and Victorinox bought them out to preserve jobs.
 
I agree on competition being healthy. But "gobbled up Wenger" may be a poor choice of words. My understanding is that Wenger was going down, and Victorinox bought them out to preserve jobs.

^^^^^^This ^^^^^^^!!! And Vics entire Delemont line is a tribute to Wenger's quality, style and innovation! They are basically Wengers with a Vic shield, can opener and T&T. :thumbup:
 
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