Old Soldiers

[HBlaine]

A couple old Soldiers recently came into my possession, a 31 Vic and a 51 Wenger.  Both of them have seen some considerably action.  The Vic is showing it's age a bit.  A little bit of corrosion here, a couple small cracks in the scales around the pins.  Of the two, the Wenger has obviously been a working knife.  The blade has been profiled a good bit.  It came to me fairly sharp, but you can see where it's been ground.  The crossbow is almost gone, but the "Wenger" and the date stamp are clear as day.

The Wenger is a bit shorter than the Vic, and it actually has what seems to be an extra "tool" on it.  On the screwdriver blade, there's a what appears to be a curved blade in the side.  Reminds me of the the way the wire scraper is on the electrician's blade on a SwissChamp XLT.  The major different, of course, is that the screwdriver on the Wenger is massive, the metal looking thick enough to stop tank rounds.  You can see minute scratches all round the tip, an indication of good use.  This was somebody's working knife.

I understand why they talk about these knives being thumb busters.  The springs are stiff.  The Wenger, once it was cleaned and oiled a bit, is tolerable.  The Vic is still stiff as a board.  I had to very gently use the screwdriver/caplifter on my SwissChamp to open the can openers and flatblades on both knives.  (And even the awl on the Vic.  The Vic awl looks at though it's been heavily used.  The Wenger's looks near pristine.)

All in all, they're beautiful knives.  I'm no great genius at cleaning them up, so they're both still pretty rough.  The Vic is going to live an easy life here, while I think the Wenger may get some pocket time.  It's simply too solid and (well) cool not to.      

[AHB]

Any chance that you'll post pictures...?   

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Old Soldiers are definelty very cool

I'd love to see some picies mate

[ICanFixThat]

Me too!   I want to see photos.

I only recently noticed that older Wenger's had the extra edge on the Lifter, when I got one of their Anniversary knives.  I thought someone had done a very nice job modifying it for a FireSteel scraper.  Then I started looking at some old ones and noticed they had it as well. 

I need to add it to the Wiki, if anyone has dates on when this was done that would be super.  Not to mention technically what did they call this extra edge, what was the original usage.  It would probably make a good knotch, but I'd like to know the original intent.

[Mr. Whippy]

[GraysonK]

"...Never die they just fade away." Douglas MacArthur
Sorry, I couldn't resist. Carry on.

[HBlaine]

OK, OK, I'll try to get some pics together.  But my tail feathers are dragging out my tracks at the moment, so...   

I've seen the scraper thingie on another vintage knife...  I think it was an older Master Craftsman had something similar.  I'll have to look and see.   If I can, I'll zap pics out...

[HBlaine]

Oh, what the heck...  Here's some very fast work with the BBerry......   

A group shot...

[HBlaine]

Here's showing a little awl...      

 

[HBlaine]

Serious can opener time.....

[HBlaine]

And, finally, a reeeeeaaaaalllllly bad shot of the scraper thingie on the screwdriver....

[HBlaine]

Oh, and I better explain.  I just threw the 50s Wenger sports model and the later Vic Soldier in there strictly for comparison purposes.  And I didn't feel like breaking a finger getting the old Vic's tools out.  Rest assured, they're all there...   

[Neil]

They look in pretty good condition actually    So often you see them falling apart almost

Thanks for posting the pics.

[ufox9al]

I am not sure when, but at some point (late 40ies, early 50ies?) the Soldiers became smaller. I have '41 and '42 Wengers and a '56 Vic. And the Vic is smaller than the Wengers.

[Sea Monster]

Can't wait til I'm old and they make laser-swords from moondust, then my Nylon SAKs will impress the kids.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Very nice!

Thanks for the piccies mate

[HBlaine]

Can't wait til I'm old and they make laser-swords from moondust, then my Nylon SAKs will impress the kids.

It's going to be a pain when those laser flatblades snap shut on your finger...