Victorinox Farmer - Tales from the Belt

LostViking

LostViking

Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
3,427
Hello Blade Folks,

Roughly 13 montns ago. I broke down and ordered my first SAK. A Ranger 55. I had planned on doing a "one knife for a month" challenge with it. But the Postal gods did not cooperate. I ended up doing the challenge with an Opinel #7. But that's not why I'm here.

I used the Ranger 55 some, but not a ton. Being a neophyte to SAK Knives in general. I ordered a sheath with it as well. An extra large Zermatt with honing steel.

Well as most anyone familiar with the SAK world would know. An Extra Large Zermatt will not fit a Ranger 55. The description said Ranger. And I was unaware at the time there are different sized Rangers. Lesson learned. My Fault not theirs.

Fast forward to this summer.
I stumbled upon the sheath I had done nothing with, except toss in my gun cabinet. I could have sold it or gave it away. But that's not what knife people do now is it?

So I ordered a Ranger to fit it. The smaller Ranger has been on my belt everyday since. It is a very cool little tool. Seems I use it everyday for something.

As I read more and more, trying to educate myself about all things SAK. Over and over the Farmer kept popping up. Not only was I seeing it everywhere. But the reviews seemed to be almost 100% positive. At least from owners and users.

I like reviews from owners and users. Hence the reason for this thread. I mean, would I buy a truck, because some guy did a walk around of one on youtube. Probably not! I want to hear about it pulling trailers, how it does in mud, does the heater work. All stuff only users would know.

It is my hope to make this a place for me to relate my feedback to others who might be curious about the Farmer.

I welcome others to chime in with their thoughts on it as well.
***I would prefer this doesn't turn into an I bought this instead because thread.

Everyone has different needs. If you have another SAK you like better. Good for you. Start a thread and tell us about it please.

***But let's keep this thread Farmer Centric.

Part of the reason I'm typing at all. Instead of testing (Playing With) my new Farmer. Is that it hasn't arrived yet. It once again is in the hands of those lovely folks at the Post Office. And with a week until Christmas to boot.

Tracking has it arriving tomorrow. So in reality, I should see it Friday. I'm very excited about this knife. In truth, I'm very excited about most knives. Why else would a grown man be typing to a bunch of people he has never met about a knife he doesn't yet have.

That may make me crazy. But you folks are the ones reading! Pot/Kettle
And I know you would all understand.

Part of what excites me, is the Standard sized Ranger managed to change a life long habbit. That habbit was one of never or very rarely carrying a folder. I like folders, I truly do. I just don't carry them.

I have a tendency to lose things in my pockets. Or run the stuff through the wash. I tried to EDC a Buck 110 for a bit. But I found it overkill for most day to day chores. I admit it's fun to watch all the chairs slide back when it comes out. Some days you could swear that 110 was a Kukri.

The Ranger/Zermatt combo solved a lot of my folder carry issues. It carries like a fixed blade. I like that.

The Farmer was more of a want than a need. I wanted to try the Alox handles. I liked the thinner profile, and it had a saw. I was torn between the Pioneer and the Farmer. The saw clinched the deal for me.

I spend a lot of time in the woods. A small saw comes in handy. Like knives, I also have saws up the Yin/Yang. Hand saws, buck saws, Silky saws, and even a very handy Opinel #12 saw.

The Farmer, like the Ranger 55, and the standard Ranger, places the saw neatly onboard the same package as the knife. I find that very cool.

Also given my experience with saws. I do not expect to be able to go out into the forest with my new Farmer and drop trees.

I just want to be able to make pot notches, joints for chairs. And other small tasks like shavings and joinery.

***Disclaimer***
With Pot Notches and Chair Joints, I feel the need to give up my location. I'm in the Adirondacks not Colorado or Washington, or even Canada from what I hear.

This thread may have alcohol from time to time. But it's best I leave the cannabis to others.
An IPA is about as cutting edge as I get these days. And you may very well encounter some here over time.

It's really hard to start a review without a knife. But it's also equally hard to sit and type when there is a new knife on the table waiting to get dirty. So I thought I'd lay the groundwork ahead of time.

***What you will get.
Some real life, long term, feedback.
Pictures of this and perhaps other knives doing knife stuff.
Maybe comparison shots.
Food, fires, wood projects, and other fun stuff.

***What you won't get.
Specs. They're on the net.

Videos of me holding a new knife for 20 minutes saying how much I love it, and that you should buy one. I don't love it. I just met it.

Any videos at all. I live in a wilderness paradise. One of the sacrifices I make to live here is bandwith. I don't have enough to even watch videos let along produce them. Sorry.

I like to ease into things. You tend to discover a lot more over the long haul, than you do in a week or two. If we based our decisions off a two week trial period. There would be a lot less divorce lawyers.

So this will be an on going thread. I'll keep at it as long as I and the folks reading, still find it interesting and of value.

It's called "Tales from the belt"
Because I have a very cool hybrid sheath inbound that should arrive roughly the same time as the knife. I could say more, or even post a photo or two. But they wouldn't be my photos and where would the suspense be in that??

You guys will get to see it when I get to see it.

***Disclaimer #2
It's winter here. We have had snow on the ground for over a month. I will do, and you will see, some knife action. But please be patient with us. When it's -12F content flow may be slow.

Like Victorinox themselves. I'm striving for quality over quanity.

For those of you still awake. I'll check back in a few days with my initial thoughs on my new Farmer.

Thanks for checking in!
LV,
 
Enjoy your new toy. I have found the saw on the Farmer to be an excellent tool. I probably wouldn't try dropping trees with it, but limbs up to about an inch and a half are well within its capacity.
 
Great idea for a thread. I look forward to seeing your future posts. I’ve belt carried my preferred Victorinox model a lot over the years, it’s not the Farmer, and it’s a comfortable way to carry a folding knife that is easily accessible whether standing or sitting.
 
You won’t regret the Farmer. The Alox models have more ‘snap’ - stronger back springs. The blade is stronger. SAK saws are the business, as you will see. You can pry a bit with the flat head / bottle opener. The awl is the best Vic do - all the Alox with awls have the same. You will not regret it. It is the one I take into the woods and it is a great size SAK. Great in the hand. My personal favourite.

Kudos to you for not pissing about with video, even if your internet allowed. This place is about the written word. Photos are nice, but we all know what a Farmer looks like. ;)
 
Looking forward to your thoughts LV..:thumbsup:
And as a side thought.. The Adirondacks are awesome.. Had the chance to spend a few days there in 2016.. WhiteFace Mtn is KOOL..
John
 
This will be an interesting thread to watch, so thanks in advance.

I find it endlessly fascinating how some knife designs work for some people in some contexts but not for other people in other contexts.

Your post already has my mental wheels turning and perhaps you could reflect on some of the following as your experiment unfolds...

LostViking said:
Hello Blade Folks,
So I ordered a Ranger to fit it. The smaller Ranger has been on my belt everyday since.
Click to expand...

I'd be interested to hear more about how holster carry works for you. My life is more suburban than I would prefer which means I'm in and out of cars constantly. Holsters, whether for cell phones, knives (like the 110) or multitools have never worked for me. The closest I've gotten is a clip on holster that I used to use for my multitool that I could clip on my belt when using the tool before returning it to my day pack.

I'll be interested hear more from you about how a belt holster works for you long term. I know a lot of guys can cope with it and I'm envious of folks who do this.

Part of what excites me, is the Standard sized Ranger managed to change a life long habbit. That habbit was one of never or very rarely carrying a folder. I like folders, I truly do. I just don't carry them.
Click to expand...

I'd be curious about hearing more about your relationship to folders (you don't carry them) and your relationship to fixed blades. Do you have ready and easy access to fixed blades during your day, at least enough so to deal with what you need?

In my suburban life, carrying a fixed blade in my EDC pack isn't a really good option. But it's what I'm moving too for being in the woods.

I have a tendency to lose things in my pockets. Or run the stuff through the wash.
Click to expand...

I'm a man of habit and pockets work for me. Chief among the pocket issues was a tip in a book on camping techniques by Cliff Jacobsen, who argued for sewing a seam up the side of the right rear pocket for vertical carry of a folding knife. I move to this a few years ago and find I can carry a large folder (or MT) there with great comfort and easy access. This has become my replacement to belt holster. Not advocating this for you, as pockets don't work for you. Again, I'll be curious how the holster continues to work for you.

I tried to EDC a Buck 110 for a bit. But I found it overkill for most day to day chores. I admit it's fun to watch all the chairs slide back when it comes out. Some days you could swear that 110 was a Kukri.
Click to expand...

<drift but since you mention it...>
The Buck 110 and 119 are perennially the top 2 sellers from Buck (as asserted on the Buck forum regularly).

My take on Bucks is that the 119 and 110 came to prominence in the Vietnam war riding the wave of popularity of things like Randalls being used as combination fighting/utility knives. The 119's notoriety was elevated by its (alluded) connection with Mason and its regular appearance in horror/slasher movies. The 110 (and its clones) were the knife of choice among biker gangs.

I carry the aluminum/micarta 110 from Copper and Clad most days and have a love/hate relationship with the clip point. I think a drop point is more useful and less alarming to spectators but then again, the clip is what makes the 110 a 110. In aluminum, it no longer pulls my pants down when I carry it. But it will cause heads to turn in a way that your Farmer will not.
<drift>
 
P pinnah I wonder if the Alox SAK’s, such as the Farmer, would be more up your street than the Cellidor models? They are demonstrably more robust, and I know you have reported issues with the Cellidor in the past.
 
Pilsner said:
P pinnah I wonder if the Alox SAK’s, such as the Farmer, would be more up your street than the Cellidor models? They are demonstrably more robust, and I know you have reported issues with the Cellidor in the past.
Click to expand...

Pilsner, it's a good question with a split answer.

On the one hand, yes, the Alox SAKs are infinitely more attractive to me for the durability, for the same reason I like the Leatherman products.

On the other hand, the thing that most intrigues me about LV's experiment here is less to do with the Farmer and more to do with his move to holster carry. For me, carry preferences pretty much trump other considerations. Or at least, they create immovable guardrails for me that I can't break out of. If the carry doesn't work, I won't carry the tool.

My first knife ever was an Ulster BSA knife. I was 8 and cut 5 stitches in my thumb with that knife and I still have it. I gave that style of knife a good try several years ago and after a lot of experimentation, I concluded that flat knives work best best for me in front pocket carry. I can carry a heavy but flat Buck 500 much more comfortably in my front pocket than I can carry a lighter, shorter but fatter Boy Scout knife.

I can carry a fatter knife in my right rear pocket with my vertical seam sewn in, but it has to be long enough to be accessible and a Boy Scout knife is too short.

So, for me, a knife like a Farmer doesn't fit with my preferences for pocket carry, which means if I were to carry it, it would need to be either in a holster or in my day pack. But once I get to that size, I'm just going to go all the way with a pliers based tool.

I should mention, that in my experimentation I also learned that I strongly prefer the feel of single bladed knives with blades bigger than 3". I use my EDC knives for food frequently. So, I personally am not going to carry anything in the Farmer's size range, except as a companion to my larger knife. So if I were forced to trade my Micra for an Alox SAK, it would be for something like the Executive - a small, flat tool for front pocket carry.
 
If you are sewing a vertical seam in your back pocket anyway, you could easily run a second horizontal seam to shorten the pocket to raise a shorter knife to easy reach. Just a thought, and I'll now cease derailling the thread.
 
Thanks for the comments and feedback so far folks!

This is all solid stuff and I couldn't ask for a better start. Very pleased!

Pinnah,

Your description of my Experiment is spot on.
That's exactly what it is, or will be. I try and give more detailed descriptions as this progresses.

I think as we become more experienced (Read Older) we define what works for us and what dosen't. And we become less tolerant of what does not.

Some quick history. As a young lad, I was gifted a couple folders. We are talking mid '60s. Cheap imported junk was coming on strong. My first experiences with folders were cheap imported junk.

The one that stands out most in my aging mind. Was a supposed iteration of a Scout Knife. This ridicously large thing with with eating utensils hanging on the outside. A spoon on one side and fork on the other. The actual knife was huge and dull. There were scissors (duller than the knife). If I remember correctly a dull saw. And probably some other useless implements.

Yes, it technically fit in my pocket. But technically, so does a pineapple style hand grenade. Having handled both. I can say with some accuracy, they were very similar.

Perhaps it was my developing sense of style, my ability to identify junk, or early patriotism, maybe even my early resistance to conformity.
But man, I hated that knife badly.

It was a gift from a relative, so I was supposed to like it. Quickly and discretely it was replaced with a real spoon, a real fork, and my dad's Korean era mess kit knife. My set up was lighter, more compact, and infinitly more usable. I never looked back.

I carried that rock of a folder with it's cheap fake stag handles tucked in my pack. So I could produce it on demand if I was quizzed. But I never even opened it again.

Back to current time.
In theory folders make a ton of sense to me. Especially as you point out, in a more urban environment. I am extremely rural, but theoretically, they still make good sense.

So I took another "Stab" at them a few years back. (Pun Intended).

It was the fault of this place. This place always shows us things we never knew existed, and explains in great detail why we need them.
A Spyderco Manix II was brought to my attention. After reading many reviews. It was made clear. If I didn't have one clipped to my pocket within a week. I would surely perish from this earth.

It arrived, I marveled at it's engineering. It is a beautiful knife! I clipped it on my pocket carried it for a few days and noticed almost the entire knife, with the exception of the blade, had serrations. Mostly for grip I suppose. But if I used the knife for more than cutting open a box or light duty. I could feel those aggressive contours chewing their way into my hands. Lost intrest, Manix II, meet Mr. Drawer.

Undaunted and impressed with both Spyderco's engineering and fit & finish. I researched more. Next attempt was a knife described as a folding bushcraft capable tank of a knife, the Spyderco Tuff. It is tough, it was sharp, the slabs were more compliant to my baby soft sensitive hands. But it was heavy, and rather large. Don't worry Tuff, one of your pals is waiting for you with Mr. Drawer.

Feeling nostalgic, and coming to grips with the fact I might be over thinkng this. I locked onto the Buck 110 like Maverick on a Russian Mig.
The quintessential folder I thought. It's a Buck. Americana that can slice. And a 50 Year Anniversary model to boot. It's a very cool knife.

Not really caring for the factory sheath. I ordered a nice tooled leather version. Cost almost as much as the knife. It does it's job very well. Holds the 110 close to my hip, high and tight, and quiet. Quite is very underrated these days.

The 110 has a lot going for it. It has a lot of similarities to my much loved, much revered Buck 102 Woodsman. The Woodsman is what I would still be carrying, had I not stumbled upon this place and learned, I didn't know, what I didn't know.

Blade Forums is not properly named. It is almost deceiving in it's subtleness. Blade, sounds harmless right?
It should actually be called "The Rabbit Hole" or "Pandora's Box" or "Genie in a Bottle"
Blade does not do justice to the trip you take when you unknowingly click on here. But I digress.

In use, I like the 102 better, no groove to wad full of guts and goo. The 102 is lighter, arguably stronger, and almost as compact. Especially with the aftermarket leather pancake style sheath. No gritty scratching when I open tne Woodsman either.

OK, done with folders!
Happy Camper.
Secure and comfortable in the fact that I'm just different.

Out of time for this right now. More later.
LV.
 
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I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about the Manix II. I actually took a belt sander to mine and ground all those spines off.
 
LostViking said:
Blade Forums is not properly named. It is almost deceiving in it's subtleness. Blade, sounds harmless right?
It should actually be called "The Rabbit Hole" or "Pandora's Box" or "Genie in a Bottle"
Blade does not do justice to the trip you take when you unknowingly click on here. But I digress.
Click to expand...

As much as I am looking forward to more of your posts with your new Farmer, this post hit home most. Sometimes this site causes urges to buy things I have no need/use for, and I have to step away for a while to allow myself time to "cool down". It's more akin to the One Ring, at least for me.
 
LostViking said:
The 110 has a lot going for it. It has a lot of similarities to my much loved, much revered Buck 102 Woodsman. The Woodsman is what I would still be carrying, had I not stumbled upon this place and learned, I didn't know, what I didn't know.

In use, I like the 102 better, no groove to wad full of guts and goo. The 102 is lighter, arguably stronger, and almost as compact. Especially with the aftermarket leather pancake style sheath. No gritty scratching when I open tne Woodsman either.
LV.
Click to expand...

L.V., you're trip sounds somewhat like mine. This place caused me some unforeseen expenditures until I backed away a bit. But I agree with your estimate of the Buck 102. I got my first one in 1969, and by 1999 it was worn down to a skinny shadow of its former self. My better half got me a new one in 2000, and thats still riding on my hip when I go fishing and woods rambling. A better lightweight sheath knife to augment your daily pocket knife would be very hard to find.

I have to confess I never understood the whole big lock blade thing. If I want a knife that I know is never going to fold over on me and cut off a finger, then thats what a sheath knife is for.
 
I have or had many SAK's off and on through the years. Out of curiosity I also got one of those huge Rangers also. My favorites however are the Pioneer and Farmer silver alox models. Combined with the Vic belt hanger, they are elegantly robust enough to cover many use and aesthetic pleasure parameters. I removed the longer wallet chain on the hanger while retaining the shorter for SAK pocket hang, and never looked back.
 
OK, sorry folks. I got caught up in a One Knife Challenge on another site for the month of January. I almost went with the Farmer. But given the winter conditions here, I opted for the
F-1 Pro.

Now that January is over, expect to see and hear more of the Farmer in the coming weeks.
 
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