All About Pocket Knives

Here's a small, but really capable Wenger, called the Pocket Toolchest. I like the MiniChamp, except I find several of its tools gimmicky, and in truth, they are nothing but repackaged tools intended for doctors, and originally showed up on knives for the pharamacutical industry. For example, the "cuticle pusher" is a pill counter, the "orange peeler" actually a tool for cutting the safety band off pill bottles (and I might add, it does that quite well, and also shears small zip ties), and the "Emergency Blade" is actually made for surgical work in a pinch. But, the Pocket Toolchest is far more practical in its layout, has no recycled medical instruments, and tools often seen in bigger knives (especially the awl). Except when I want a bigger blade or pliers, I can carry this knife and do 99% of what I need a knife for. Very few, except for SAKs I have installed the accessory small screwdriver that fits in the corkscrew, will fit my eyeglasses screws.
Another 65mm Wenger, called the Microlight Esquire. The Esquire was Wenger's version of the Victorinox Classic. I like that the Microlights have really bright LEDs. It's a good backup knife, and what I carry when I don't want to EDC a dedicated light. This is the only Wenger I bought new. Tuesday Morning had tons of Wengers when Victorinox phased out the Wenger brand in 2012, after having bought the struggling company a few years prior. The Delemont collection is basically Wenger designs, made in the Wenger factory, with slight changes made to certain implements and tools. (toothpick, tweezers, can opener, and awl were changed to Victorinox designs).
A Spartan with an inlaid metal ad for a French manufacturer of drilling tools.

A Tourist I modified to have nylon handles from another knife. They don't break. Cellidor does easily.

And this concludes this episode of "SAKs just randomly cluttering my desk".

Great "accumulation" Cody! I have quite a few Victorinox and Wenger knives including a 6 knife set I bought for very reasonable money. A couple of the oddballs I have are a Swiss Army Brands desk set;a Wenger stag handled hunter with a saw back blade and a huge Forschner(12 inch blade)kitchen knife I bought for two dollars at a yard sale. I'll have to post up some pics of them here.

Great SAKs gents..
John

My latest.. Pioneer thanks to RAMROD!!!
John

I saw the one John posted back in May and it kept nagging at me until I picked one up in June. Not sorry a bit. I like it so much, it has joined the few that I can't seem to put away and they reside amongst the clutter on my desk.

jerryd6818 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 20, 2020 1:24 pm I saw the one John posted back in May and it kept nagging at me until I picked one up in June. Not sorry a bit. I like it so much, it has joined the few that I can't seem to put away and they reside amongst the clutter on my desk.

Victorinox Evogrip S18 Yellow - Labeled.JPG

Good to hear jerry!!
John

jmh58 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 20, 2020 1:44 pm

jerryd6818 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 20, 2020 1:24 pm I saw the one John posted back in May and it kept nagging at me until I picked one up in June. Not sorry a bit. I like it so much, it has joined the few that I can't seem to put away and they reside amongst the clutter on my desk.

Victorinox Evogrip S18 Yellow - Labeled.JPG

Good to hear jerry!!
John

Good to have John.

A Lucky Fleabay find. 1923-1933 judging by the marks. Pretty uncommon find in Staghorn.

Bill

Dadumpsterdiver wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:03 am A Lucky Fleabay find. 1923-1933 judging by the marks. Pretty uncommon find in Staghorn.

Bill

Congrats on a very nice find Bill!
Appears to be in very good condition for it's age. Nice Scales!

Dadumpsterdiver wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:03 am A Lucky Fleabay find. 1923-1933 judging by the marks. Pretty uncommon find in Staghorn.

Bill

And pretty uncommon period in that age and condition.

I just don't like the fiber scales they used back when. They are worse than some cellulose acetate plastics for shrinkage and warping. Stag looks so much better. I'm having an old, nearly worn out 1942 Soldier redone by a cutler in Switzerland (Rothlisberger, who actually made Soldiers at one point, probably using Vic parts), and along with a replacement blade, it's getting staghorn handles.

Dadumpsterdiver wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:03 am A Lucky Fleabay find. 1923-1933 judging by the marks. Pretty uncommon find in Staghorn.

Bill

John

Dadumpsterdiver wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:03 am A Lucky Fleabay find. 1923-1933 judging by the marks. Pretty uncommon find in Staghorn.

Bill

Was this one made by Victorinox?

edge213 wrote: ↑Fri Aug 28, 2020 1:13 am

Dadumpsterdiver wrote: ↑Thu Aug 27, 2020 4:03 am A Lucky Fleabay find. 1923-1933 judging by the marks. Pretty uncommon find in Staghorn.

Bill

Was this one made by Victorinox?

Yes, it was. One other thing I will mention - I ordered this from Europe on June 1st, and just received it this week. It's taking much longer to get packages from Europe in it "New Normal."

[/quote]

Congrats on a very nice find Bill!
Appears to be in very good condition for it's age. Nice Scales!
[/quote]

Thanks Tom! Yes, it is very clean. The scales are crack-free. I really thought that it was too good to be true when I ordered it. Then it took literally 3 months to get here from Belgium. When I received it, I examined it close, not one crack or chip in those scales. This had to have been stuck in a drawer in 1940 and not taken out for 80 years.

dumsterdiver....you are one fortunate man with that "find"

This little knife is just a bit bigger than a traditional Peanut. It's a small (70mm) version of a Farmer's Knife, which is the same frame shape, but bigger, at 4" or 100mm. Handles are red plastic, presumably Grilon, but that seems a bit newer than the knife--but they don't shrink, so obviously not cellulose acetate. Tang stamp is "WENGER TAHARA" which puts it at 1910-1925--it is my oldest SAK, and my second or third oldest folder (I have a pre-1891 Wostenholm Senator in tortiseshell that beats it out). I don't think there are too many out there--I bought this one cheaply and haven't seen another since.
The remainder of a "MADE IN SWITZERLAND" etch. Obviously, this knife was made for export. I would presume that there would, most likely have been a distributor/importer name too, but I can't find one.

Nice score Cody!!!
John

You done good Cody.

You always never know what you'll find cheap, but I often pick it up when I do. I often look at random advertising SAKs mostly because I do collect those with a certain set of specific logos. I noticed a very intricate inlay with the words "Confederatio Helevetica 1291-1991" on the front scale, and the typical cross on the back as done with ad knives. This was actually officially put out by Victorinox in '91.

It was priced like a cheap ad knife at just $15, but it was an official offering to celebrate the 700th anniversary of the Oath of 1291 in 1991.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Charter_of_1291

From the looks of the blades and shiny scales, I doubt it was really used or carried much.

jmh58 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 8:10 pmDSC07824.JPG

Nice picture John! And great looking knives!

TPK wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 9:29 pm

jmh58 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 31, 2020 8:10 pmDSC07824.JPG

Nice picture John! And great looking knives!

Thank You Tom..
John

Been searching for the perfect (for me) EDC pocket knife. I have a variety to choose from from a few manufacturers on my dresser but none of them have what I want; the SAK's have too many never used tools, cheap plastic scales and the others have the wrong blade shape, too many blades, too small or too large. I finally bought a Vic Alox Solo and am absolutely delighted with it. Strong aluminum handle, fine fit and finish, perfect size to pocket carry and most important a single, sharp, well shaped blade. I don't know why I didn't get this earlier!

I picked up this one at a roadside antique / junk shop over the weekend.
.
All this plus a tooth pick and tweezers.
. .
Some form of a Tinker maybe?