The Victorinox 'Rally' 58mm SAK

F

Fass

Joined
Mar 8, 2020
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147
Here is a true story. As a young boy growing up in western Europe, I never knew any other pocket knife than the Swiss Army knife. My first encounter was with a Tinker my father had found somewhere. I was fascinated by that red wonder. As I got a little older, in my early teens, my parents allowed me to have my own Swiss Army knife. It was a Wenger kinda like the current Victorinox Bantam. I lost it at some point, it never got replaced and for many years I happily lived my life without a pocket knife. It was not until my brother came home from a vacation in Finland this January with some custom made Finnish folding knife, that I somehow felt the need to replace that long lost Wenger. In my early forties now I obviously went with what I knew: the Swiss Army knife. And so over the last few months I tried a few models which were either sold or returned, all in 84mm or 91mm. For some reason, they all felt a little big in my pocket and seemed a little unnecessary for my modest knife needs (light cutting tasks like opening a small box, a letter etc). Not wanting to buy yet another 84 or 91 model, my last purchase was the 58mm Rally model, basically a Classic SD without scissors but a Philips screwdriver and cap lifter instead. Over the last week or so is has been my daily companion and I am very happy with it. It covers all my needs and carrying in my right front pocket feels as if it is not even there, 58mm is just a perfect size in my book. Now I know some will claim that the blade is too small. For the sake of argument it did a 'broccoli test' this evening but cutting up a broccoli that we had with our dinner tonight. Unlike I expected, the small blade had zero problems with such a relatively large object. It cut through like nobody's business!

The moral of all of the above? I do not need anything more than a 58mm SAK and I strongly believe it could serve very well as a sole EDC knife. Anyone else who has downgraded to a Classic or any other 58mm SAK and found that it covers all of their needs?
 
Fass said:
Here is a true story. As a young boy growing up in western Europe, I never knew any other pocket knife than the Swiss Army knife. My first encounter was with a Tinker my father had found somewhere. I was fascinated by that red wonder. As I got a little older, in my early teens, my parents allowed me to have my own Swiss Army knife. It was a Wenger kinda like the current Victorinox Bantam. I lost it at some point, it never got replaced and for many years I happily lived my life without a pocket knife. It was not until my brother came home from a vacation in Finland this January with some custom made Finnish folding knife, that I somehow felt the need to replace that long lost Wenger. In my early forties now I obviously went with what I knew: the Swiss Army knife. And so over the last few months I tried a few models which were either sold or returned, all in 84mm or 91mm. For some reason, they all felt a little big in my pocket and seemed a little unnecessary for my modest knife needs (light cutting tasks like opening a small box, a letter etc). Not wanting to buy yet another 84 or 91 model, my last purchase was the 58mm Rally model, basically a Classic SD without scissors but a Philips screwdriver and cap lifter instead. Over the last week or so is has been my daily companion and I am very happy with it. It covers all my needs and carrying in my right front pocket feels as if it is not even there, 58mm is just a perfect size in my book. Now I know some will claim that the blade is too small. For the sake of argument it did a 'broccoli test' this evening but cutting up a broccoli that we had with our dinner tonight. Unlike I expected, the small blade had zero problems with such a relatively large object. It cut through like nobody's business!

The moral of all of the above? I do not need anything more than a 58mm SAK and I strongly believe it could serve very well as a sole EDC knife. Anyone else who has downgraded to a Classic or any other 58mm SAK and found that it covers all of their needs?
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Considering I didn't carry any pocket knife for over 20 years and just got back into them this year I would say yes a 58mm could cover all my needs. The only thing is I would want my Rambler because it has scissors which are the most important tool for me.

All that being said I love my Tinker and like the bigger blade and screwdrivers and it would be hard to give that up now.
 
Fass said:
The moral of all of the above? I do not need anything more than a 58mm SAK and I strongly believe it could serve very well as a sole EDC knife. Anyone else who has downgraded to a Classic or any other 58mm SAK and found that it covers all of their needs?
Click to expand...

Well, I think you will get some push-back that Rambler --> Classic = downgrade. It's just a question of whether you would rather have a scissors or Phillips/bottle opener. To me, they are both very useful, but the scissors more so on a daily basis. I've given Classics to people (women), and they say they use the scissors often, and the blade not at all.

My preference in a 58 mm SAK is the Manager. Compared to your Rambler, it is only 1/2 layer thicker, but adds the scissors and replaces the toothpick with a ballpoint pen. (and that scale is thicker as a result)

Compared to a Classic/Rambler, it is thicker and heavier, but not enough so that I notice it riding in my pocket. It also adds two useful tools. (but loses the toothpick) I use a toothpick more than a tweezers, so I replaced the stock tweezers with a toothpick. Going any thicker (Minichamp) and the extra weight and thickness become noticeable.

One tip - On these very thin 58 mm SAKs, I recommend adding a fob or putting a handkerchief in your pocket on top of the SAK, otherwise they tend to fall out easily and since they're so small and light, you won't notice when they fall out!

Last thought - What you notice in your pocket mostly comes down to what you are used to carrying. You were used to not carrying a knife at all, so that the larger SAKs were easily noticed. To those of use accustomed to carrying a pocket knife, it is different. To me, an 84, 85 or 91 mm SAK is note noticeable when it is kept to 2 layers thick. (ex. Compact, Tinker) At 3 layers, it is noticeable, but not obtrusive. (Super Tinker, Climber) At 4 layers, it's obtrusive. Longer than 91 mm is always obtrusive in the pocket. There are folks who pocket carry a Swisschamp and claim they don't notice it. (!) It is also worth noting that it depends on the pants. In jeans I don't notice a SAK as much as I do in dressier pants or cargo pants. (From what I recall, only workmen [on duty], police and soldiers wear cargo pants in Western Europe)

Be careful. Trying to find The Perfect SAK leads to buying a lot of them, and before you know it, you have a collection. (or are losing money re-selling them) I have at least 50 now. One in each car, one in the kitchen drawer, one in my daily-carried bag...
 
Smaug said:
Also, I agree that 58 mm is as much as many of us need. Those who feel they need more probably do not have office jobs.
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I have an "office job" and find that the blade of 58mm and even 75mm SAKs to be to much of a compromise, although I could do with a 75mm SAK if forced to. I use my knives mainly to handle food, fruit especially, and the blade in a 84mm is kind of the goldilocks size to prevent making too much of a mess on the knife. 91mm work great too. On the other end, I find that the 3.25in blade in an Opinel #8 or similar is generally a bit too much. All in all, it always come down to want do you use your knife/SAK for.
 
Smaug said:
Well, I think you will get some push-back that Rambler --> Classic = downgrade. It's just a question of whether you would rather have a scissors or Phillips/bottle opener. To me, they are both very useful, but the scissors more so on a daily basis. I've given Classics to people (women), and they say they use the scissors often, and the blade not at all.

My preference in a 58 mm SAK is the Manager. Compared to your Rambler, it is only 1/2 layer thicker, but adds the scissors and replaces the toothpick with a ballpoint pen. (and that scale is thicker as a result)

Compared to a Classic/Rambler, it is thicker and heavier, but not enough so that I notice it riding in my pocket. It also adds two useful tools. (but loses the toothpick) I use a toothpick more than a tweezers, so I replaced the stock tweezers with a toothpick. Going any thicker (Minichamp) and the extra weight and thickness become noticeable.

One tip - On these very thin 58 mm SAKs, I recommend adding a fob or putting a handkerchief in your pocket on top of the SAK, otherwise they tend to fall out easily and since they're so small and light, you won't notice when they fall out!

Last thought - What you notice in your pocket mostly comes down to what you are used to carrying. You were used to not carrying a knife at all, so that the larger SAKs were easily noticed. To those of use accustomed to carrying a pocket knife, it is different. To me, an 84, 85 or 91 mm SAK is note noticeable when it is kept to 2 layers thick. (ex. Compact, Tinker) At 3 layers, it is noticeable, but not obtrusive. (Super Tinker, Climber) At 4 layers, it's obtrusive. Longer than 91 mm is always obtrusive in the pocket. There are folks who pocket carry a Swisschamp and claim they don't notice it. (!) It is also worth noting that it depends on the pants. In jeans I don't notice a SAK as much as I do in dressier pants or cargo pants. (From what I recall, only workmen [on duty], police and soldiers wear cargo pants in Western Europe)

Be careful. Trying to find The Perfect SAK leads to buying a lot of them, and before you know it, you have a collection. (or are losing money re-selling them) I have at least 50 now. One in each car, one in the kitchen drawer, one in my daily-carried bag...
Click to expand...

I am glad I saw your post. I started with a Super Tinker and it is exactly as you describe noticeable but not obtrusive. I have recently switched to a regular Tinker and a Rambler on my keys and I like that set up much better. I miss the larger scissors but I get additional features on the Rambler. I am considering a Alox Pioneer and I was wondering about how it pocketed and it sounds like it is more noticeable then the Tinker. Lastly you are 100% right, trying to find the perfect SAK leads to a lot of SAKs, LOL.
 
Smaug said:
What you notice in your pocket mostly comes down to what you are used to carrying. You were used to not carrying a knife at all, so that the larger SAKs were easily noticed. To those of use accustomed to carrying a pocket knife, it is different. To me, an 84, 85 or 91 mm SAK is note noticeable when it is kept to 2 layers thick. (ex. Compact, Tinker) At 3 layers, it is noticeable, but not obtrusive. (Super Tinker, Climber) At 4 layers, it's obtrusive. Longer than 91 mm is always obtrusive in the pocket. There are folks who pocket carry a Swisschamp and claim they don't notice it. (!) It is also worth noting that it depends on the pants. In jeans I don't notice a SAK as much as I do in dressier pants or cargo pants. (From what I recall, only workmen [on duty], police and soldiers wear cargo pants in Western Europe)
Click to expand...

This is an excellent summary of the "carry comfort" of most SAK sizes. Couldn't agree more!
 
One thing about an office job is that we usually have a handy desk drawer. I keep a short kitchen knife with a blade cover in there for fruit, otherwise the pocket knife I need to carry becomes bigger than needed for everything else.
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Enkrig said:
I have an "office job" and find that the blade of 58mm and even 75mm SAKs to be to much of a compromise, although I could do with a 75mm SAK if forced to. I use my knives mainly to handle food, fruit especially, and the blade in a 84mm is kind of the goldilocks size to prevent making too much of a mess on the knife. 91mm work great too. On the other end, I find that the 3.25in blade in an Opinel #8 or similar is generally a bit too much. All in all, it always come down to want do you use your knife/SAK for.
Click to expand...
 
Smaug said:
One thing about an office job is that we usually have a handy desk drawer. I keep a short kitchen knife with a blade cover in there for fruit, otherwise the pocket knife I need to carry becomes bigger than needed for everything else.
View attachment 1429332
Click to expand...

That could have been an option, until we stopped being allowed individual trash cans at my workplace (to cut on cleaning expenses). Between constantly carrying out the trash and working back and both to my shared office, not to mention potentially making a mess at my desk / computer, I choose a 84mm or bigger SAK that let me do what I need wherever (e.g., the office kitchen). Either way, that Spyderco would seem like it would be plenty capable to handle 99% of my food processing needs.

With this tangent I'm not trying to rain down on 58mm SAKs; quite on the contrary! I always carry one in my keychain, and recently upgraded from a rambler to a manager. The extra carry gives me some redundancy and buys me the freedom to pick whatever other knife I want to carry that day because I know that the mighty keychain 58mm SAK has my basics always covered :)
 
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