Basic Vienna knife/multitool shopping.

[dks]

Easily accessible knife/multitool shops in Vienna City Centre.

I decided to have a look for any Austrian made knives last time I was there, in easily accessible (with Metro) shops. I have included a really basic map and some basic instructions with limited confusing information.


I shouldn’t have to say that, but you never know lately, so: this is a simple quick guide with a couple of the shops that I know, that people can easily visit without a car, not the ultimate guide to knife shopping in Vienna so take it as it is (and if you do not like it feel free to write your own guides  ).

Map: (the shops are the two red blobs)


From Stephanplatz, the main tourist centre area, as you walk towards the Vienna opera building, on the main shopping road, take the second left, Weihburggasse. Walk for 10 minutes and at No 27 you have Springer stores, a 3 floor building with lots of hunting equipment.
 
http://www.springer-vienna.com/stores/en/index1_1_1.php

Nice, traditional, shop that had the usual US/German made knives/Multitools and Victorinox. They have some nice fixed blades on the 1st floor. Their Austrian knives selection is limited and starts from around 200 Euro for some smaller knives. No Austrian made folding knives.

Their fixed blade knives go up to 4000+ Euros for one-off Damascus bladed ones:

http://www.springer-vienna.com/stores/en/index1_2_3.php

Very friendly staff that made you feel obliged to buy something. Their Victorinox prices were the usual European ones and they did not have any special models made just for them. No need for pictures as their website is informing enough.


Another shop (I cannot remember the name) is found as you go again from Stephanplatz to the Vienna opera house, a few shops before you cross a main road with traffic lights to go to the opera house. If you reach starbucks at the end, then you need to go back 2-3 shops.
They sell a variety of knives and multitools, amongst other things.

Unfortunately they did not have any Austrian made knives. They had several Boker knives and Laquiole knives as well as some other German and Italian ones and of course Victorinox.

They only seem to have 1 or 2 examples of each model, so if you are not happy with the quality of the display one you do not have much choice. I had a look at some German Stag handled, Victorinox style knives that started at 105 Euros but they did not feel that great and they reminded me of the feel of the German made Bull/Buck Creek etc. in their finish and movement. I was not 100% happy with the display models but they did not have any others for me to choose.
Their Laquiole knives were nice but expensive. The staff was professional and pleasant and let me have a look at any knife I wanted.
Here are some pictures from their shop window.











Bear in mind that these shops close at 18:30, the latest.

For more Victorinox etc. shopping you may want to visit the Kagran shopping centre (Donauzentrum), at the Kagran stop of the U1 Metro line which is open until 20:00. There are several shops there, with mainly kitchen knives and some Victorinox models. The Interspar is good for general shopping (chocolates) too and is cheaper than the city centre shops.

[trey]

Very neat.  The slim one in the first picture that looks like a tuxedo pen knife with a fork (or divot tool) is really cool.

[TurkTeen]

Dd I see a BLACK ALOX USB there?!?!?!  I NEED ONE!

[dks]

Dd I see a BLACK ALOX USB there?!?!?!  I NEED ONE!

It is only a red plastic one.

[dks]

I had some time in Vienna and decided to have a look for some more shops and update the guides.

This should be considered as an addition to the guides, as, as far as I know and from what I was told the other shops are still working and are as described previously.


There are 3 good shops on or near mariahilfer straße, tha main shopping road, which starts from the Vienna opera and finishes at the Westbanhoff station

Most of the street is pedestrianised.

These shops are easily accessible. To save time you can just stop at the Neubaugasse Metro station, U3 line, and all 3 are close by.


Coming out of the station, on the street (lower exit) you see a hardware shop that also has various knives and multitools (official Victorinox dealer)









decent price




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Walking towards Westbanhoff you reach the junction with the road the Metro station is named from, Neubaugasse. just after the junction on the right there is another shop that sells knives and multitools, though their prices seemed a bit high.











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Now, the main reason I went at that are was to find LORENZI, a dedicated knife shop that appeared good, from the internet.
http://www.lorenzi.co.at/

To find the shop you go (as you are heading towards Westbanhoff) right at Neubaugasse, through the street market that is there. You just take the third road on the right and after 100m you find Lorenzi. I was looking for Austrian knives



Talking to the knowledgeable assistant there I was told that the only mass produced Austrian knives are the fixed blade Glocks and these shown here, that are very similar to the Portuguese martins and non-locking opinels, but are really basic and rough. They are friction folders.
 

You can see the makers stamp on the blade. They cost 3 Euro.

There have been talks with the maker, so as to make something better but still no luck. According to the salesman, when the empire split most of the knifemakers where in the Czechoslovakian region, so there are no major mass producers of knives in Austria (no such tradition)

The shop, though small, has a huge selection of knives.
There are German, French , Italian, Portuguese, American etc. knives. They also have SAKs and a few multitools.

one side of the shop:



the Traditional section



Opinel and some French Okapi style knives (expensive but really nice)



Laquiole




Casexx, Otter, Boker and other German and Italian knives. The Brass Damascus or SS Mercators were really good.


Various German and Italian SS etc. body knives. Note, at the bottom right, the fishing knife with the hammer head to knock the fish out.

Mainly German knives- some look like Casexx and are about the same price.





The main desk



Douk-douk etc.




Lots of fixed blades too





Some modern knives (Glocks at the top left):

The salesman that helped me (There was also a saleslady but she is not in the picture)


In general the knives were reasonably priced. I got a german made camping knife, with nice stag for around 37 Euro, which is a good price for the item. The finish was not brilliant but these were bought cheaply, just for that.
I also got a Portuguese knife, 2 Austrian knives and an Oter Messer knife, in carbon style, with white bone covers.



---------
Walking back through the outdoor street market there were some sellers selling the usual cheap tactical knives and one selling a variety of cheap knives and opinels, SAKs, multitools. The prices were OK but more expensive than Lorenzi (The Austrian friction folder was 1 euro more)








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you can also find some knives and tools at the Naschmarkt (Vienna Market), Metro line U4 Station Kettenbrückengasse.
Most of the sellers on Saturday were Roma, Turkish and Russian speaking and all the rubbish knives they were selling cost "10 Euro". Most if not all of these knives were badly worn and would cost less than that new, so I did not bother much. Not worth going there for knives.







There were various other nice items too.





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You can also find knife shops elsewhere.
For example, if you are just visiting Hundertwasserhaus there is a knife shop close to the Metro exit, near starbucks.

[Reinier]

Impressive! I could have used this shopping guide last time I was in Vienna (I think it was June 2012).
I bought a Souvenir SAK (Stephansdom) at Besteck Kistl, their address is Lichtensteg/Bauernmarkt 18. I honestly can't remember exactly what they had in store.
I also bought a LE Spartan in Vienna but I have no idea where exactly.

[SAK Guy]

Great thread!!!

[sawman]

Great thread!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

x 1,000!!!!! 

[dks]

Many thanks people.
It gives me an excuse to buy knives...

also, read through the other country guides and post more

[enki_ck]

I'm glad I didn't open this one up on my cell phone.



Great work on updating the thread and looks like you had a nice time. I like the simple friction folders you got.

Have to go to Vienna some time soon, haven't been in 3-4 years.

[Luna Knife]

Outstanding shop

[Joe58]

Man alive, I'd go crazy in a shop like that. Very nice pics. Wish I would run across a shop around here like that in my area. On the other hand, perhaps it'd be better not to. Lol.

[dks]

Yes, it is very easy to spend several hundred Euros there..

I really liked the horn handled Okapi knives, the Brass Otters, the various fixed blades....

Because I was only really going after Austrian knives I stopped myself  from buying too much, but some knives I just had to buy...

[Reinier]

some knives I just had to buy...

That's what I say all the time

[dks]

OK, so I had a look around and found some more information on the traditional Austrian Friction folder, the Trattenbacher Zauckerl

The Wikipedia listing is in German, but you can get a decent translation with Google

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trattenbacher_Zauckerl

"The Trattenbacher Zauckerl is an Austrian pocketknife with centuries of tradition manufacturer.
Manufacture is the Trattenbachtal, today belonging to the municipality Ternberg in Upper Austria . Even today, the knife in the town crest Tern Bergs is included.
The Feitel itself consists of four components: the blade, the handle, a metal mandrel and a comprehensive grip on the metal plate. Imported the required steel on the iron road . The blade itself is forged, hardened, ground and polished to achieve the appropriate working qualities. However, the blade is not fixable.

Since all (total 38) operations were carried out in a workshop, the production was easy to handle and relatively inexpensive. In the heyday of Taschenfeitel there were 16 families, each having its own manufacturing plant.
In the age of industrialization , the workshops began increasingly to machine production to fall back and were able to multiply the production and thus produce 8 million annually Feitel in 45 different varieties.
After the end of the heyday of the first 20th Century production due to the global economic crisis was temporarily set completely. The assembly in the Museum workshop takes place even today by hand, and can also be exercised by tourists."


The ones I have, from the last remaining makerr, from what I understood, have a mark like an old musket gun, as shown in previous pictures. It seems that you can also see them being made in a local museum. (different stamp) http://www.ooemuseumsverbund.at/museum/188_museumsdorf_trattenbach

They are also available on amazon.de, for more money.

[kwakster]

Another store & webshop in Vienna:

http://www.viennacutlery.com/webshop/

Humboldtgasse 10/6/6101
1100 Wien
Österreich
amel1(at)gmx.at

[cool123]

I am fell in love with these Victorinox tools, want all of them in my collection, but don't think that my wallet will allow me to do that

[dks]

Another store & webshop in Vienna:

http://www.viennacutlery.com/webshop/

Humboldtgasse 10/6/6101
1100 Wien
Österreich
amel1(at)gmx.at

this shop does not currently exist, online or otherwise..

The address leads to a block of flats, so I assume that someone was just selling them from his home and has now stopped.

pictures of the building, taken by me a few days ago

"DKS, doing the legwork, so you do not have to..."   

[dks]

So, update...
I had some time, so I visited a few shops.

The shops are still there.

I went to Lorenzi too, which was very busy, and very hot - if you intend to spend some time there avoid the summer time (No AC - old building), or go early in the morning

They sell Sebenzas now, too, starting at around 400 euro

Apart from the usual assistant there was a younger one that helped me. He tried his best, but he is not really up to date with the traditional knives, as he told me.
I had a look at several knives.  There seemed to be the, in general,the same knives as last time. I had a look at some Scandinavian fixed blades too, but the Helle were expensive and the cheaper ones were unknown to me.

I bought an Italian, old bear knife for about 20 Euros, decent price and a Nontron 12, for 60 Euros, which was expensive as I found out later, looking online. Again, the online price, with shipping, may end up being the same.

I was looking at various french, Italian knives, but they were all (the nice ones) several hundred Euros. Online prices may be better, but I do like being able to personally check my buys.


They had the 2016 Damascus for 220 Euros, and they had at least two.

I added a picture of the Austrian SAK models available in various shops (from another shop).

[enki_ck]

Hehe, did you have a nice time? What did you buy?

[dks]

The two knives above.

It was hot...
Vienna is not prepared for heatwaves

[enki_ck]

Hm, strange, I didn't see this long post before, just the one about the legwork.

[Poncho65]

Hm, strange, I didn't see this long post before, just the one about the legwork.

Same here

Good pics though

[Gohard]

Thanks for sharing with us dks

Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk

[Yadda]

Very neat.  The slim one in the first picture that looks like a tuxedo pen knife with a fork (or divot tool) is really cool.

Melon/fruit tester knife.

[SAK Guy]

Great post!!!!

[dks]

Lorenzi has now acquired the shop across from them too, which they use for various, monthly/weekly exhibitions - themes like custom knives, scissors, specific makers' knives .....

If you visit ask them to take you to see the exhibits

[dks]

One of the shops on the main road has moved and suggests two other shops, just outside the centre

I attache their notice for reference, with the addresses on