1940's Victorinox Tourist

Well, this one was a challenge! I bought it from Marios Kardaras. A well known name in the sak-world. He sold it as a spartan from 1968-1974 according to the main blade stamp, but after a long search for other age - marks, I stumbled upon tools made from 1942 till 1946. So here goes my theory... My guess is that the knife was originally from let's say 1942, but in the sixties, the main blade was damaged and repaired by Victorinox. They used a "new" blade instead of a vintage one. UPDATE: At first this knife looked like a Spartan, but after a while, I figured out that it was a Tourist, This one is identical to the Spartan, but in the smaller, 84mm package...

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 : The typical Soldier 1891 can opener ( large curved spike ) was produced till 1946. From then on there were two new types. The most recent one changed a little bit in the last few years, but stays by far the best one ever made. But this knife has the oldest type!

* NEW reamer : From 1961 on, they changed the beautiful triangular shaped reamer in the known curved reamer. This knife has the old type!

* Rivets : From 1961 on they made the rivets invisible (inside the scales). These rivets are very visible!!! :)

* Shackle / Ring : From 1961 on they made it possible of attaching  your keys to the knife by shackle at first, later by attachment ring. This knife has none of the above!
* Cap lifter : The cap lifter without the wire stripper and narrowed flathead screwdriver was made from 1942 till 1951.

Conclusion :

I could go on with this for a while, but I think it's clear that this knife was never produced after 1961!  A realistic conclusion would be that the knife was manufactured between 1942 and 1946! It's allways a real joy, when I receive an old knife with so many questions. When you finally find out when it was made, it gives you a certain motivation to pull out the rest of your knives to do the same... It's addictive!

Victorinox Skipper

This one was on my "most wanted" list for a long time now, but for 50 euro one of the more expensive NEW knives. The beautiful blue scales with the four cardinal directions in a white surface print are a real collector-magnet. The one thing that makes this knife other then the more common knives, is the marlin spike and shackle wrench. I found it on a Belgian second hand site for 20 euro! this is a great knife for the rougher jobs, thanks to the blade lock. I would love to use it at work, but for now it stays in the display cabinet.... Just to be safe! ;)

Technical specs :

* 111 mm model

* royal blue nylon scales

* Large Blade with Slide Lock

* Shackle Opener with Marlinspike

* Pliers

* Cap-Lifter with screwdriver

* Can-Opener with screwdriver

* Reamer with Sewing-eye

* Inline Phillips Screwdriver

* Tweezers

* Corkscrew
* Toothpick

A few gems on the road...

One Victorinox Skipper in near mint condition, a 60 year old Spartan and the 125 years - heritage knife are on their way to my cabinets... ;) The Skipper comes from a female collector in Belgium, and the other two from Marios Kardaras in Greece. This guy is a real Victorinox collector in heart and soul, and has one advantage compared to me... He has the abillity to sell some of his knives. For me that's unthinkable. Let's hope that they're here soon. I can't wait! Reviews for each knife will follow...

The new Soldier in real life.

I always hear people say : I used the knife in the woods or on a hiking trip... I made a spear and killed a bear... Ok, maybe not killing a bear, but you get it. These days, and certainly in a city, we don't have the need to apply bushcraft. These knives are used for far more then cutting branches and opening food cans... I'm an electrician by the way, and my Victorinox Soldier has become an indispensable tool!

 Let's start off with why I use the Soldier and not an "Electrician" like it should be.... Whenever you're working with cables, larger than the 3g2,5 used for power outlets, the knives without a locking mechanism become dangerous. Believe me, I've felt it! Making a circular cut around the cable to pull off the jacket is fairly easy, but when you start to slice trough the cable for peeling, it becomes dangerous. When you slide away accidentaly, your hand makes a back-movement as a response to the force you applied. When that happens, the blade closes and cuts your hand. This is my impression. I'm sure there are some supermen out there with a flawless way of being perfect,but I make the occasional srew-up. ;) One other reason is the saw. The saw on the soldier is just large enough for some dry-wall cutting. Whenever I need a small hole in a dry-wall, I use ONLY my Vic's saw! This tool is just awesome! Never gets dull and allways stays straight, even when I apply large forces to the side of the blade for circular movement. The reamer works like a charm when I need a screw-hole in a plastic box, and the large flathead screwdriver is locked and can take even the toughest screws. I love this knife!

One other knife I used to have in my toolbox was the Cybertool 29. This is also an incredible tool for server installation or small server appliance-installations. I forgot it in some serverroom a few weeks ago, and I miss it....

Another flea-market...

Once again a flea market with a lot potential (over 150 stands), but not one single Victorinox. A few imitations got my attention, and for a split second I was even hesitating.. I wanted to buy a pocket knife so bad, that the Chinese made ones even got tempting. Instead I bought a few German made pocket knives. Nice ones with a few drawbacks... The main blades were over-sharpened. A few hours later, they were as new. Polished, cleaned, lubricated, but still with the damaged blades. Two of them have, as far as my knowledge reaches, an imitation MOP handle (Mother Of Pearl). I hope it's real, but the silicone top layer makes me think it's an imitation.  One of them has , strange enough, not one single marking on the blades. There's nothing to retreive any info. It intrigues me, because it looks very old, but the backspring operates like new. The blades are in very good shape. The price was a laugh actualy... The one on top was 2 euro and the only Spanish one. The rest was German made and around 1.50 euro. The bottom one is the one without any labels, or logo. I hope that the two on top are genuine MOP-handles! If you have any info about these knives, please let me now...