Victorinox florist knife, pt. 3.

J

jackknife

Joined
Oct 2, 2004
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As my day to day evolution toward the small Leatherman and edging away from SAK's, I find myself carrying the Vic florist knife or garden knife, whatever its called, more and more often. I really love the sheep foot blade shape, and the strait edge. I've used this knife for just about everything a pocket knife is used for, and its never been a let-down.

Aside from the strait chisel grind being a breeze to sharpen, it just flat out cuts like the dickens. With the blade shape, you can bear down on the point to pierce something, with no problem of the blade folding, even with no lock on the blade. The cylindrical strait handle is comfortable in any kind of grip while working, with no hot spots at all. The light weight lets it hide in the pocket like a smaller knife.

As my love of the Leatherman squirt has overcome my love of SAK's, and I rarely carry a SAK anymore, I find the Vic florist knife teamed up with the small Leatherman tool as a dynamic duo. They handle day to day life so well, I regret that it took me so long to come to the realization that Leatherman is a great EDC for the real world.

The Leatherman doesn't have a can opener, but with my old P-38 in my wallet like it's been since 1972, thats no problem. In the 6 years that I've been carrying the squirt, the little pliers has been a savior on many occasions when my old fart fumble fingers needed a help grasping something small. I've actually used the wire cutters, and the little teeny screw driver for eyeglasses makes a great tiny Phillips driver. The scissors have been very surprising in their cutting.

But 8 to 9 times our of 10 when I reach in my pocket, its to cut something. And the chisel ground florist blade cuts what I need to cut like a laser. Did I mention that I really love this knife?

After all this time, I seem to have settled down with the squirt and florist knife as my EDC dynamic duo.
 
I had a Garner as a teenager that I used for everything, I even broke the tip off throwing it.
It was easy enough to reprofile so you couldn't tell, and I actually forgot until a couple years ago.

I don't currently know where mine is if I still have it and i havelittle desire to get another , but I really cannot fault this great knife one bit.


They make an excellent craft knife too, I was in independent studies for high school and my two elective courses were commercial art and graphic design.
I used the Vic Gardner instead of the exacto knife they gave me and found it to work extremely well.
 
Maybe I need to give the squirt another try. I may be in the minority here, but I like having a toothpick and tweezers. I think that has been the main reason I have refused to relinquish my SAK. It's also the reason I don't carry the alox versions. I could carry both of those implements in my wallet I suppose, but I don't always have my wallet on my person when I'm at home or in the garage/yard.

Today, the Executive is in the pocket again. When working in the yard, I'll add the Florist. I cannot praise that knife enough. The sheepsfoot is the most useful blade shape in my world. There is no knife duty I run across that it cannot handle and excel compared to other shapes except for food prep. But even for food prep, you can make the sheepsfoot work. And let's be honest, most of the time you are in the kitchen with an assortment of knives just one step away. If I'm away from the kitchen...in the woods for instance...that sheepsfoot will do just fine cutting up some cheese, sausage, fruit, and bread. The handle of the Florist is extremely comfortable, can pinch open, and sharpens back up within 30 seconds.

So, I'm sold on the Florist, but not sure I can exchange my SAK for a Squirt. I might just give it a try again.
 
Hmmm?

Wallet not on you? Like in not having pants on?

This is a whole new concept for me, to be up and about with no pants or the associated stuff in the pockets. I know I used to come home from work at the machine shop, go shower and change into clean clothes that Karen would actually let me sit on the furniture in. But out of the shower, the pocket stuff was transferred from dirty machine shop wear to the clean stuff, so I still had all my EDC stuff on me. This was way before it was called EDC, maybe just man stuff. Old fashioned man-stuff.

If you absolutely positively have to have tweezers, maybe try the Leatherman micra. The micra has scissors instead of pliers as the main reason for its existence, and they metal tweezers of the micra are fixed to the thing so it will never go AWOL like SAK tweezers sometimes do. And they are sturdier. The micra bugged me with its inside opening tools, but if combined with a dedicated cutter of a pocketknife, tis no real big deal. A micra and a pocket knife for dedicated slicing and dicing would make a nice pair.

I've used the flush end of the quirt pliers as a tweezer, and it worked out well. But the end of the splinter was a bit above the skin, is I had something to grab with.

But still, don't forget that safety pin in the wallet for those deep slivers. A safety pin is your friend when working on the yard or with lumber.
 
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deanbaileymd said:
Maybe I need to give the squirt another try. I may be in the minority here, but I like having a toothpick and tweezers. I think that has been the main reason I have refused to relinquish my SAK. It's also the reason I don't carry the alox versions. I could carry both of those implements in my wallet I suppose, but I don't always have my wallet on my person when I'm at home or in the garage/yard.

Today, the Executive is in the pocket again. When working in the yard, I'll add the Florist. I cannot praise that knife enough. The sheepsfoot is the most useful blade shape in my world. There is no knife duty I run across that it cannot handle and excel compared to other shapes except for food prep. But even for food prep, you can make the sheepsfoot work. And let's be honest, most of the time you are in the kitchen with an assortment of knives just one step away. If I'm away from the kitchen...in the woods for instance...that sheepsfoot will do just fine cutting up some cheese, sausage, fruit, and bread. The handle of the Florist is extremely comfortable, can pinch open, and sharpens back up within 30 seconds.

So, I'm sold on the Florist, but not sure I can exchange my SAK for a Squirt. I might just give it a try again.
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I realize it's a personal preference thing, but I don't find the SAK scale tools very refined. The toothpick is thick and straight. It cannot get into tight spaces and can only push stuck food. The tweezers are small and blunt. They do not have a very fine point and are not capable of much clamping force.
Uncle Bill's Tweezers have a fine point and great clamping ability. The T-PIK Stringless Dental Flosser has a curved, tapered stainless steel probe which can get into tight spaces as well as being able to push and/or pull stuck food. I never leave home without them, and they free me up to do Alox work.
 
I have a LM Squirt, but it's been relegated to the glovebox of one of the cars. Since I carry a separate knife (I never like the knives on multitools), I don't need one on my multi. So I usually carry a Leatherman Style PS. This has several advantages over the Squirt, for me at least:
  • Style PS includes tweezers (in a cutout in the scale, similar to how SAKs have them).
  • Style PS pliers seem to work a little better for me (slightly longer handles is why, I think).
  • Style PS is 25% lighter and a little thinner than the Squirt (it is longer, but that seems to matter less for pocket carry, to me).
  • Most importantly, the Style PS has the huge advantage of no knife blade. I can carry this in places where I can't carry a knife - I've flown with it no problem, and my work often has me in government buildings where knives are prohibited. Normally, I'm indifferent to the scissors on a multitool (I have a knife blade, after all), but they are really handy when you can't have a knife blade.

I've recently been trying out the SAK Alox Classic, and I do like the tiny size (and honestly, it's better-looking than anything Leatherman makes). But lack of pliers and tweezers, and having a blade, means it will probably be moving on to a new home soon, and I will continue to carry the Style PS.

I haven't ever tried the Florist, but I recently acquired an Alox Solo, and I love this knife. That, combined with the Style PS, is a really lightweight-but-high-functionality combo.

-Tyson
 
J jackknife how does the Florist wear in jeans pockets in day-to-day carry? Our garden will be redesigned soon so that makes a great excuse to add the florist knife to the collection. That plus the fact that are so cheap.
 
Fass said:
J jackknife how does the Florist wear in jeans pockets in day-to-day carry? Our garden will be redesigned soon so that makes a great excuse to add the florist knife to the collection. That plus the fact that are so cheap.
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It wears in jeans pockets just fine. It's so light weight that most times you never know its even there. The shape is all rounded off so no corners to wear holes in pockets. Very slim, smooth, light package. And theres enough blade sticking up that even with work gloves on, you can pinch it open.

Did I mention that it cuts like the dickens?
 
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