What is your ideal Swiss Army Knife?

91mm with pliers, small blade, bottle opener, can opener. Small side stitching awl and Phillips.
G10 or micarta. Torx assembly.
And a bail instead of a keyring.
 
A Cadet with a third layer housing an in-line Phillips and the nail file, with an in-line awl in the blade layer. And the keyring attachment removed.
 
I'm not saying "perfect SAK" because no such thing exists.
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With a flashlight on my keychain, mine comes pretty close. Of course, you could say that's cheating, but it seems quite organic to me. In all fairness, however, that's about the only SAK that comes close.
 
znapschatz said:
With a flashlight on my keychain, mine comes pretty close. Of course, you could say that's cheating, but it seems quite organic to me. In all fairness, however, that's about the only SAK that comes close.
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Yeah fair enough. The Rambler/Manager is amazing, but I don't like the Midnite Manager because it's too thick. The regular Manager's thickness is still pushing it, but for some people it's worth it to have the pen. Ramblers are just awesome. Everyone should have one. I've said before that they're perfect, but only as far as the 58mm models are concerned. Even then, I'd still prefer to have a few in alox.
 
I have really started to warm to the 3 layer SAKs. While I find the Explorer to be perfect urban travel tool for areas that frown upon "weapons", it is a tad bulky. Once I get to 4 layers, I start thinking about just packing a full multi-tool.

I recently bought a Camper on a whim. My daughter has a Huntsman, and that's another slightly thick SAK that brings a lot to the table. However, I kinda like the Camper for what it is. Every tool on it is a function in and of itself without much redundancy compared to other tools. That is to say, while scissors are nice to have, a sharp pen blade can do most of the package opening/string cutting I need done. Reducing the tool down to 3 layers, it really makes for a pocketable toolset that can handle everything from most urban chores to light outdoor projects that require a saw.

Kinda wish I had bought one years ago.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I have really started to warm to the 3 layer SAKs. While I find the Explorer to be perfect urban travel tool for areas that frown upon "weapons", it is a tad bulky

I recently bought a Camper on a whim.

I kinda like the Camper for what it is. Every tool on it is a function in and of itself without much redundancy compared to other tools. That is to say, while scissors are nice to have, a sharp pen blade can do most of the package opening/string cutting I need done.
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It sounds like you might like to carry a Spartan Lite.

It's 3 layers. It has the inline phillips in the center where it is most comfortable to use. On the same layer as the phillips is a small LED light. The other 2 layers are identical to the toolset on a regular Spartan.

It's basically an Explorer without the scissors layer. Unfortunately I think it may have been discontinued.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
I have really started to warm to the 3 layer SAKs. While I find the Explorer to be perfect urban travel tool for areas that frown upon "weapons", it is a tad bulky. Once I get to 4 layers, I start thinking about just packing a full multi-tool.

I recently bought a Camper on a whim.

Kinda wish I had bought one years ago.
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Better late than never . Enjoy the knife and let us know if any other whims take hold of you :)
 
I have two choices based on what I'm doing. For camping I choose my Fieldmaster; good set of tools for the things that need to be done around the site. But if I had to grab one that would be my “forever “ SAK it would be my Craftsman.
 
Guy McVer said:
It sounds like you might like to carry a Spartan Lite.

It's 3 layers. It has the inline phillips in the center where it is most comfortable to use. On the same layer as the phillips is a small LED light. The other 2 layers are identical to the toolset on a regular Spartan.

It's basically an Explorer without the scissors layer. Unfortunately I think it may have been discontinued.
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I had one of those YEARS ago, and you're right, it was super handy. My only complaint was that I accidentally turned the LED on all the time and would run the batterry down to dead. That said, it made for a great purse knife for my wife. She could keep it pretty secure in an inside pocket so that it wouldn't turn on. She got the most use out of it when we had hit that stage with our daughter where we no longer carried a diaper bag but she needed a "mom purse" for the day to day toddler stuff. It allowed her to go spelunking around her wallet, lipstick, snack bag, pull-ups, etc and actually see what she was doing.

Our daughter just turned 12, so it's been awhile since she needed it. I haven't seen that knife in an eon. My guess is that it is still living in a purse at the back of our closet somewhere :D

Thanks for reminding me about it. I hadn't thought about that knife in years.
 
Steely_Gunz said:
Thanks for reminding me about it. I hadn't thought about that knife in years.
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It's a great model thanks to that centered inline phillips. Unfortunately the LED was just a bit thick, which made the whole layer thicker, which in turn made the overall thickness of the SAK just a bit too much for three layers.

That LED light turned out to be the Achilles heel of that particular model. In addition to being prone to being accidentally pressed on, there were loads of complaints that it was made so you couldn't point it in the direction you wanted while using the SAK, and that you had to be careful not to get it wet.

I think they made a mistake by including the LED and they should've just gone with the magifying glass instead. Had they done that, I think it could've been an insanely popular model. It feels like a missed opportunity. Then again, models like the Yeoman and the Scientist were also discontinued and those were arguably better.
 
Guy McVer said:
It's a great model thanks to that centered inline phillips. Unfortunately the LED was just a bit thick, which made the whole layer thicker, which in turn made the overall thickness of the SAK just a bit too much for three layers.

That LED light turned out to be the Achilles heel of that particular model. In addition to being prone to being accidentally pressed on, there were loads of complaints that it was made so you couldn't point it in the direction you wanted while using the SAK, and that you had to be careful not to get it wet.

I think they made a mistake by including the LED and they should've just gone with the magifying glass instead. Had they done that, I think it could've been an insanely popular model. It feels like a missed opportunity. Then again, models like the Yeoman and the Scientist were also discontinued and those were arguably better.
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I.e the Passenger, long discontinued.

I have a Spartan Lite. It was useful for opening bags of coal in an unlit shed. You can also turn Phillips screws & even open cans in the dark with it, should you need to.
 
Sawl Goodman said:
I.e the Passenger, long discontinued.
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Thanks for that.

How did I not know about this? I've heard the name "Passenger" before, but for some reason I thought it was an obscure variant of the 84mm Tourist. I didn't know it was a 3 layer 91mm inline phillips driver model.

I was thinking of making one of these out of an Explorer. I was struggling with what to use for a name. Now I know exactly what to call it.
 
I'll be honest, my combo of Spartan and Rambler really does tick all the boxes. I have a custom spartan with added pliers which is great for work usage but to be honest, a plain Spartan is for me the ultimate SAK. Albeit perhaps with custom scales. Would I like CPM154 blades? Depends on when you ask me. It's so darn easy to bring the regular SAK blades to hair popping sharp even for a hamfisted idiot like myself and I love never, ever having to worry about moisture damage. Rinse off in the sink, re-pocket. End of story.
 
Pomsbz said:
I'll be honest, my combo of Spartan and Rambler really does tick all the boxes. I have a custom spartan with added pliers which is great for work usage but to be honest, a plain Spartan is for me the ultimate SAK. Albeit perhaps with custom scales.
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Spartan/Rambler is a really solid combo. It's simple, it's capable, it's compact, it's affordable, and it's easy to source replacements if you lose one or both SAKs.

There are still some variations/alternatives that I think are worth mentioning.

Tourist/Rambler if you want the exact same toolset while having it be slightly smaller and lighter in the pocket.
Sportsman/Jetsetter if you want to slightly reduce the load in your pocket and on your keychain at the same time.
Waiter/Rambler if you want to go even more compact and you don't mind losing the awl.
Camper/Rambler if you need to add the woodsaw layer to the Spartan.

Also worth mentioning is the Manager which adds the ink pen to the Rambler's toolset.

I think all of these are fantastic combos which compliment each other really well.

Lee D said:
Love that blue đź‘Ť
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Agreed.
 
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