More Additional Classic SAKs.

I am a fan of the smaller Swiss Army Knives and smaller multi tools in general.  I am not sure why, but I suspect it has something to do with the minimalist streak in me.  So recently I decided to beef up the smaller SAK collection with some new models.

Here is the current small SAK collection:

From left to right we have the following:

    Jetsetter

    Classic SD (translucent Ruby)

    Classic SD (red)

    Classic SD (Edelweiss)

    Classic SD Woodworm

    Rally

    Mini Champ II

... and I have an Escort in the mail as we speak.  The Jetsetter is neat because, as the name would imply, it is airport and security friendly. It is essentially a Classic SD with no knife.

In addition to these I also have the Classic SD in Alox:

its a pretty little thing but I really don't use it as much as I do the standard Classic SD in red.

In addition to the Victorinox knives, I also have the Wenger Evo 81 in red and wood.

The Wenger models are a little larger than the Victorinox and have contoured scales.  They also have a more limited offering of the smaller models.  So thats the smaller SAK collection as it stands at the moment, not including the limited edition models of course which were detailed in other posts.

More New Knives

As I mentioned in a previous post, it is that new knife time of year.  This is when I pick up the Victorinox limited edition knives for the year.  This year, as last year the limited edition knives consist of the Hunter Pro, Classic SD and Pioneer X, with Thunder Grey Alox scales.

Pioneer X, all folded up

Pioneer X with it all hanging out

With the Alox scales, there are no scale tools, but I actually don't mind that despite using the scale tools on my classic SD (daily carry) all the time.  The same is true of the Classic SD limited edition:

After all, these are my collectibles, I don't really use these.  I even keep them in the original boxes (except for the 2018s which for some inexplicable reason I threw the boxes away!)

I love the grey color in these but I still thank that overall I like the 2019 Champagne Gold color the best at the moment.  Just as a reminder, we have:

2018    Berry Red

2019    Champagne Gold 

2020    Aqua Blue

2021    Tiger Orange

2022    Thunder Grey

Apparently Victorinox started producing limited edition knives in 2015, so I wonder if I can find some 2015, 16, and 17 limited edition knives out there still to build out the collection?

It's new knife Time!

Yes dear reader, the new 2022 Victorinox limited edition knives are out again and I picked up my first one this last week.  And here it is:

I do like the initial unboxing

Love the logo on this thing.  It's a Victorinox Hunter Pro, and its gorgeous:

I do like the Victorinox logo on these knives, and the Alox scales are very nice to hold.  The color is great, and I am always surprised by how heavy these knives are.  I need to get one for hiking and camping use, just to see how sturdy they are.  This one is a collection piece and it is unlikely it is going to get abused :)

The blade length is 3.8" in length so its a large folder.  If this knife turns out to be as sturdy as it feels, I suspect this will make a great hiking and camping knife.

Even More 2021 Alox Goodness

In this post, I will take a look at the third of the Alox 2021 special edition Swiss Army Knives.  This year seems to be a break with previous years for Victorinox.  The usual Classic SD / Cadet / Pioneer combination has been replaced with the Classic SD / Hunter Pro / Pioneer X.

The difference between the Pioneer and the Pioneer X is the addition of the scissors on the Pioneer X. 

The presentation is excellent.  I ordered this from Amazon, and I did not realize that this would come from France.  Usually the box is just cardboard but in this case, there is a foam insert.

Here is the 2021 stamp

And here it is with all of it's bits out!

I haven't used this one yet, and I doubt I will.  This will likely sit in its box in my collection.  I have a couple of other Alox Pioneers and Cadets if I need to carry one of these.  All in all, I really like how solid the Alox knives feel and how well they seem to work.

Now I want to know what surprises are in store for the 2022 collection.

Swiss Army 2021 Edition Continued

Victorinox do not seem to be following the same pattern as in the previous years with the Classic SD, Cadet and Pioneer for the limited edition Alox. This year, we have the classic SD, Pioneer X and the Hunter pro.  In this post, we will take a quick look at the Hunter pro.

The 2021 stamp.

I love the look of the knife, and the interesting angle the logo sits at. It makes for a more modern look and I have to say that I like it.  What really took me by surprise is how big and heavy this knife is.  I was expecting something around the size of a small Gerber or CRKT folder, but it is not.  It is more akin to the larger CRKT M21-14M.

On the whole it is a nice solid knife.  The blade was not too sharp out of the box but I am pretty sure I can get that sharpened up nicely.  Just to demonstrate how big this knife is, here it is alongside the Classic SD.

The new SAK limited series is here

And the SAK collection just keeps growing.  As I have posted about previously, I do enjoy collecting the SAK special editions and I just noticed the 2021 knives have started to appear.

In this post we are going to look at the new Classic SD.  

And here it is in all its bright orange glory

Here you can see the 2021 stamp

As with all Alox pocket knives, the scale tools are missing, so no tooth pick or tweezers.  This is a shame because in the case of the Classic SD, I use the scale tools almost as much as I use the other tools.  But with that said, it is a nice color and will make a nice addition to the collection.

Yes, Another Pocket Knife

It seems that I cannot stop collecting Swiss Army Knives, and here is another one.  I was previously using the Evo Grip 11 as my desk knife, but there was one tool missing that I felt the need to have.  That tools was a pair of scissors.  The answer to my missing scissors is the Evo Grip 14.

And here it is:

With the tools deployed

And the other tools

On the whole I rather like this tool and use it regularly. I might add a small corkscrew screwdriver to it just to complete the ensemble. I also want to add a short lanyard to it, you'll see why in a future post.

I seem to have collected some watches

So by now you know I like to collect, but I am also a minimalist and I have OCD.  I am complicated.  With that said, I appear to have started to collect watches.  This is not something that happened consciously but rather the result of years of trying things here and there.

So what do I have and why?

• Honor band 5 - my daily wear
• Citizen Eco Drive - posh watch
• Timex - eh
• Wenger pocket watch - quirky
• Apple Watch - bed side clock

Huawei Honor Band 5

I wear this all the time.  I monitor my heart rate, blood oxygen and sleep, and use it to track my steps (I am trying to healthy, at least as much as you can during a pandemic).  It is small, sleek, black and very high tech and modern looking.  The one thing that lets is down are the watch faces.  They all seem focused on kids or something.  I would much prefer to have a simple digital or analogue face but instead we have this flash multi colored thing,  But then again it was only $35.

Citizen Eco Drive

I love this watch.  I purchased this watch 19 years ago when I first came to this country and started to earn decent money.  It fits my wrist really well, and just feels very comfortable, however if you don’t use it regularly, it will die.  It is powered by a solar face and the power is stored in a capacitor.  Once that dies, it is very difficult to get it to work again.  Recently I had to send mine off to a specialist to get the capacitor replaced, the mechanism cleaned and get it working again. That cost as much as buying a new damn watch but for me it is worth it.  This is my posh watch.

Timex Unisex Weekender 38mm

A while back I decided that what I wanted was just a basic watch and the Timex fits that bill.  I think it cost me about $30 on Amazon, and it keeps good time.  I really don’t use it because the strap isn’t that comfortable and I have the Honor Band that I wear daily.  I keep it around though as I love the idea of a simple cheap watch.

Wenger Pocket Watch

I love the idea of a pocket watch and in the past have worn one with a waistcoat.  Once we can get outside again, and I stop wearing sweatpants (ha! Like that is going to happen) maybe I will wear a waistcoat again, with my pocket watch. 

Apple Watch

This was a hand me down from the wife and it is in Rose Gold, which to be honest is not really my color. As she said when she gave it to me; it has a scratch and its trade in value is about $10 so ... what to do with it.  I found on Amazon, this nifty little charger cable mount for it and now it sits on my bedside table as a bedside clock.  Its awesome!

Gerber TRI-Tip, Mini Cleaver Fixed Blade Knife with Sheath, Green Handle [30-001694]

My latest addition to the knife collection is the Gerber mini cleaver. This thing is so cool.

The handle is a little small, with my pinkie not able to grip.  The front edge is not sharp, but the bottom (cutting) edge is very sharp.  It is also a very solid piece of equipment.

The sheath for it is plastic, with a lock so it cannot fall out or be drawn accidentally. 

The belt loop is also substantial.  Now what will I do with it?  No idea, I just got it because it is cool.

CRKT CEO Folding Knife

The latest knife that Santa threw my way is the CRKT CEO.

It is a very sleek folder, easy to open (it has a small knob to help with opening) and sits nicely in the hand. 

The clip is nice. It looks large on the knife but that is because the knife is very slim.  I haven’t used it much yet, but it does appear to be quite sharp.  I look forward to carrying this one often, 

New Desk Knife (Again)

As a fan of Swiss Army knives, I keep a SAK on my desk.  The SAK in question is a Victorinox (Wenger) Swiss Army EvoGrip 11 Pocket Knife.  The issue with the knife is that there are no scissors and I often need scissors so I decided to upgrade.

This is the Wenger Evo Grip 14.  It is very similar to the Evo Grip 11 but it adds a corkscrew and scissors and loses the Phillips screwdriver.  I have not used the screw driver so I don’t think I will miss that. 

And here it is in its folded up glory.  I am fond of the Evo Grip design as it fits nicely in the hand - ergonomic if you will.  it will be interesting to see how it holds up.

Victorinox Swiss Army EvoGrip 11 Pocket Knife

I decide that I needed a new desk knife and general carry knife.  My starting point was the tools; I wanted a knife, nail file and did not want a corkscrew.  I am also a fan of the shape of the EvoGrip knives, as they seem to fit the hand well.

And so this arrived in the mail today.

Woo hoo!  So here is the knife and my first impressions are that the build is about what I would expect from Victorinox.  Also, I love the shape of the scales, it really does feel nicely ergonomic.

We can see the tools here, some are more useful than others:

• Can opener / small flat screwdriver
• Large blade
• Nail file & scraper (also can double as another larger screwdriver)
• Bottle opener and flat screwdriver
• Philips screwdriver
• Reamer / punch / awl
• Tweezers
• Toothpick

The tools I use the most are the nail file, and large blade but I do occasionally use the other tools.  I could use the Classic SD instead, but I always feel those are not quite robust as a daily user. 

I like this knife.  So far I haven’t used it yet, because I only got it a few minutes ago, so this is more of a first impressions post, but it has made its way to my desk top. I will update with another post once I have time to play with it and put it to use.

The Fixed Blade Knives

Most of my collection consists of multi-tools and folding knives, but I do have a small collection of fixed blade knives.  Those knives are detailed here.  I divide these up into two groups; the knives I keep because they are interesting and the others are working knives.

Boker Gnome

I love this little knife.  It’s not all that useful as a knife other than perhaps as a box opener, however I just love the tiny little thing. So here it is.

CKRT Doug Ritter RSK

This very small knife fits into an Altoids tin, so great for small survival kits.  Other than that, I don’t use it.  It used to have a neck holster but that was useless so eventually that got ditched.

Smith & Wesson SWHRT9B Black HRT Boot Knife

I love this knife and it can often be found on my desk as I sometimes use this as a letter or package opener.

This is very stabby

Ka-Bar TDI Law Enforcement Knife Fixed Blade

This is one of those knives that most collectors have at some point collected.  I have it for that reason, its a cute knife but I am not an operator and will not have it lacked into my boot, or what ever it is those spec-ops people do with this knife.  It is a good little knife though.

Now for the working knives.  These are my hiking and camping knives.

Schrade SCHF36 Frontier Drop Point

This is a very solid knife and I like to keep this one handy when I go camping.  This knife is sturdy enough to baton wood.

Schrade SCHF35 Drop Point Re-Curve

Not really big enough to cut wood with but certainly sturdy enough and sharp enough to cut just about anything else you might need to cut when camping.

Gerber 22-41795 Profile Fixed Blade Knife, Drop Point

I have also used this knife a lot when hiking.  It’s smaller and lighter than the Schrade knives above so for day hikes, this is the knife I take with me, unless I decide to take one of the larger folding knives.  Sometimes I will take both because two is one and one is none as they say.

Gerber 22-41121 Prodigy Survival Knife

I’m not sure why I got this beast, perhaps just to have the biggest camping knife I could get that was not a machete.  It’s a beast and has not been used in the field yet.  Maybe one day.

Morakniv Stainless Steel Companion Knife Pink / Carbon Steel 11863 Companion Green x 2

These are the real hiking work horses. Cheap and sharp, great knives to use and lastly well if they are looked after.

So that is the collection of fixed blade knives. 

SAK Limited Editions

The SAK limited editions are amazing and I love to collect them.  At the time of writing, I have the 2018, 2019 and 2020 editions as well as the un-dated Silver alox.  The limited editions consist the Classic SD, the Cadet and the Pioneer.  Each edition has the year engraved on one side and is in a unique color.

2018 Edition

I love the red color of these, but as much as I like this color, it is not my favorite so far.

2019 Edition

This is my favorite color. The color is champagne and is amazing - the pictures do not do it justice. 

2020 Edition

This is currently my least favorite.  I know other members of my family love the blue color though.

Undated Silver Alox

The other editions I keep in a portfolio so as not to damage them but the silver Alox is the one I like to use if I am to carry an Alox SAK.  This range also has more models available. 

Silver Alox Classic SD

<Insert picture here>

Silver Alox Cadet

Silver Alox Pioneer

Currently in the collection there is the Classic SD, Cadet and Pioneer, just as in the other collections but in addition these there is also the following:

Farmer X Alox

Hunter Pro

Jetsetter@work

Pioneer X

Swiss Army 1

Swiss Army 7

Mini Champ

Farmer

Money Clip

Bantam