1950's Victorinox Standard

Last saturday, the wife and I went to another flea market in Bilzen, a small city in the northeast of Belgium, and after an hour of complaining about the high prices and lack of pocket knives, the wife spots something special... The first thing you do when you spot red scales, is looking at the logo, then at the tools and finally at the blade stamp... After I did this, I noticed that this knife had the classic awl and that's always good! The only thing I was affraid of was the price. This guy looked like someone who knew what he's selling. I was lucky and bought it eventually for 7 Euro. Once in my hands, I couldn't let it go... It looks brand new... Too bad it's a promotional knife, but the near new condition makes you forget about that...  The company JEAN HEYBROEK nv. was founded in 1900 and is still one of the leading importers of gardening tools and machinery...

Age - marks :

* Cellidor scales : These scales were introduced in 1937. Before 1937 the scales were made from fibre, and had no mirror polish. This knife has cellidor scales!

* Can opener : This type can opener is the more recent one with only one difference. It has a PAT - marking on it wich stands for Patented. This one is introduced in 1951 and continued till 1970.

* REAMER : The old type reamer was used from 1951 to 1961.

* Small blade : The small blade has a clip point. These blades were used till 1973.

* Cap lifter : The cap lifter, here used, with sharpened curve, without the 90 degree lock, was manufactured from 1951 till 1972.

* Blade stamp : The main blade stamp says Victorinox Switzerland STAINLESS ROSTFREI and on the back is VICTORIA in a crossbow stamped. This stamping was used from 1952 on till ??

Conclusion :

If I only look at the tools, this knife should be made between 1951 and 1961, but if you include the blade stamp, the time window narrows with one more year... between 52 and 61... 

Elm / Cambara engraved scales

The Elm is a local tree, known for his pinewood-like structure. It isn't the toughest kind, but has incredible lines and looks a bit darker, compared to the Birchwood... The knife I used, a Spartan, is for display purposes only. These scales will end up in one of the cabinets. ;)

This engravement is another attempt to fill the depth with acrylic paint. I used plain white, because the wood has a dark shade and makes the engravement stand out...

This next one was a gift for my colleague. This is the guy who gave me the wood samples a few weeks ago...

Birchwood "Keeper" with lanyard

This wood is one of the palest I've ever used, but after three layers of yacht varnish the beautiful lines pop up and show the true looks of this widely available wood... It's easy to work, just strong enough for a sak scale and looks very nice. I added it to a Timekeeper I had laying around and must say that I love the looks/tool combo. 

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Many thanks to all the people who appreciate this blog and make the occasional visit... 

New "Thailand" MOD Spartan

This one took me forever.... I took three pair of selfmade wooden scales to Thailand in an effort to find someone who was able to paint them in a traditional Thai style... To make a long story short.... I couldn't find anyone and I almost gave up, but I found a nice piece of teak wood for 40 Baht and it gave me an idea... I bought two crystals (blue Topaz) and wanted to integrate the crystals in the teak scales. It was a risk, because I've never done this before, but it turned out much more beautiful then I imagined... After engraving the scales, I added acrylic paint to the scales and wiped away the paint afterwards. some paint stays behind in the engravement and you get a nice, unique print...

New knife lot...

Went to Mme Canif again and she showed me the usual boxes, filled with delicious knives  ;) The problem is that I never have enough money once I get started and pick everything I like... The main thing I was looking for was a replacement clock for a Supertimer. She had a Timekeeper with a damaged front scale, so I took it for disassembly and had it for a great price! Four commercial Vics with some nice logos and one of them in alox with not a single scratch on it... Another KL Soldier, this time from 1988 in fair condition. i'll have a lot of work to clean this one, but hey...it's an alox... The most beautiful one is the Victorinox Swisstool Spirit. It's in brand new condition and came with a leather pouch. This one is my first and I must say that I love it... It feels light, compared to the Swisstool and has a certain appeal. This multitool is something I would love to edc!

Swiss Military promotional knives

These knives are real collectables, because, according to the guy who sold me the knives, they can only be obtained by someone who enlisted the Swiss Army... Let's hope he's right. :) The black one with the Armed Forces Joint Staff emblem was the easy one to find information about, but the one with the International Relations emblem is one big mystery. On the official Swiss Army website, I've found everything I needed to know from Armed Forces Joint Staff. The other one is, as far as I know, a military division that maintains all International relations... Here's some information I've "borrowed" from the official site... 

Armed Forces Joint Staff (AFJS)

The main task of the Armed Forces Joint Staff (AFJS) comprises planning as well as command and control of operations and missions of the Swiss Armed Forces in Switzerland and abroad that involve several services (JOINT) and have not been delegated to either land forces or air force or to the centres of competence. Apart from continual appraisal of the situation and permanent control of the situation, the AFJS is also responsible for the supervision and support of militia military personnel and military recruitment. As assigned by the Chief of the Armed Forces the AFJS issues the directives for basic readiness of the armed forces, regular annual substantial readiness instructions as well as the service rota and multi-year armed forces planning. –The AFJS thus defines which services the armed forces are obliged to provide in the short and medium term. In the form of orders and directives the Armed Forces Joint Staff lays down what has to be achieved in the fields of training, logistics, command and control and human resources and it measures to what extent targets have been met.

On vacation...

Everyone looks at you like you're insane... They just can't understand why someone would make a picture of his pocket knife, especially at a place like this... It is without a doubt a "companion" for life and has earned his place on this picture... At the hotel I forgot to take the knife out of my wife's purse (she carries the knife on excursions) and she carried it, not knowing it was still there, towards the x-ray scan at the airport. The guys over there treat you like you were trying to sneak the damn thing on board, but after some explanation and some gentle (angry) looks from the wife, the officer puts the Victorinox in his pocket and says that we can proceed... I had to leave him behind, but again... what a story...and pictures... At least now they know in Thailand what a real pocket knife feels like...

above : Temple Wat Pho @ Bangkok, Thailand

under (first and second) : island Koh Talu @ Thailand

under : Temple Wat Pho @ Bangkok, Thailand

Finding Victorinox in Bangkok…

Don’t think that I booked a trip to Thailand just to visit the Victorinox shops, but it was a nice extra to a trip we already planned about a year ago. My wife agreed on one thing…  one, max. two days, and the other ten days filled with excursions, sun, sea and shopping… I loved the fact that I might be able to find some discontinued nib models… You never know… Well, let’s just say it was a surprise!!! I found about 15 addresses of Victorinox resellers in Bangkok alone, so I was confident to find at least one. The most important one was/is Hummel co ltd. They are the main Victorinox knives supplier in Bangkok, although it seemed. I printed all the addresses at home and took it with me to show them at one of the many cab-drivers. When I showed it at the driver, he hesitated and asked a whopping 500 Baht for a single ride. That’s three times the normal rate. After some arguing I was able to reduce it to 350 Baht. Still a lot, but every other collector would’ve followed me. ;) After a one hour drive we arrived at a small village in the middle of nowhere and we were almost 100 % sure that he made a mistake, but when he drove trough the abandoned street, we noticed a Victorinox sticker on one of the houses. The address was correct, but it seemed that the store was relocated.. There were some knives in an old display cabinet, but it looked like the shop was abandoned after a fire or something and they left everything behind. I was so much disappointed and the wife…. Well… She laughed… After I went back to the hotel, I took my laptop and double checked that I had the most recent address. I had the right address, but something went wrong… I was so confused. I couldn’t understand why they wouldn’t change the address. The second biggest reseller was the socalled Pronique shop in the Rainhill building. After some research I was able to find the store… Victory!!! Nope, some classics for about 30 Euros and the more common models for 150% of the retail price. The female seller, who didn’t speak two words of English didn’t knew the prices, and had to call her boss to ask it for every single item.I’m sure, if I presented myself as Mister Carl Elsener, she would’ve believed me! Well, at least I was able to find Victorinox, but without a “score”… Damn, Thailand is a gorgeous country, full of culture, religion and some breathtaking sceneries,but the Swiss inventiveness was far from represented!!!

DAK (Dutch Army Knife) model 1993

It took me a while before I could get my hands on one of these. The more recent DAK (model 2010) is widely available, but finding the 93 model for an affordable price was a real challenge. These knives are almost always used, and with a military knife this means ABused! I was lucky to find one for 20 Euro in mint condition. It is basicaly a Centurion without the toothpick and tweezers and has the military serialnumber stamped on the back of the main blade. This type uses a dual linerlock... This means that the main blade and the large flathead screwdriver can be locked when fully opened. This is one rough knife. The large blade, combined with all the major tools, makes this a great edc, and I can imagine that the military guys out there love this knife! This 111mm model consists of two layers with caplifter, can-opener, large blade, screwdriver and awl. One thing is missing imho... the one hand-opening... 

Victorinox Timekeeper and Supertimer

In 1992 Victorinox started inserting electronics in their knives... The first item was the analog quartz clock, operated by one LR44 battery. One major advantage of this clock compared to the modern electronics is that the clock's waterproof. The batterycover has a small seal hidden in the edge and the plastic displaycover is sealed with a waterresistant silicone.They made the first ones with Roman numerals and after a while they changed that to the more common hour-markings. These knives are real collectors items and have a value between 50 to 100 Euro, depending on the condition, type of numerals (Roman numerals are the early type) and type of knife... Victorinox discontinued the analog clock in 2007, since the digital clocks were smaller, easier to integrate and had more functions. As you can see by the pictures made of the back of the clock, it is fairly easy to change the battery. Before you can do this, you need to pull the clock out of the scale. You can do this by pulling the small button of the clock towards you while you hold down the knife. Once the clock is out the scale, you can start prying the small batterycover of the back. The battery is placed face down and should fit nicely. Once the cover is closed, you can set the clock by pulling the button outwards and twisting it. Same method you use with every other watch. The Supertimer is a Swisschamp with the clock-scales and the Timekeeper a Compact with the clock-scales... The back of the small clock has "no jewels" engraved. This refers to the Automatic watches, wich use "jewels" to minimize resistance between the gears. Victorinox uses a quartz-operated type of clock, wich uses a quartz crystal to create an electronic pulse and has no need to use the jewels, since this works electronic instead of mechanical...