Damascus Knife 2012

[victor7000]

Very nice piece and nice fotos 

Will you use it in the woods? If so please show us some pics of the knife in action   

[ICanFixThat]

@victor7000: I might very likely make this a user, will wait and see a bit.

My short assesment after basically a few hours and a night to sleep on it.

The good:

• Nice blade, well sharpened, nice pattern a little more unique.
• Walnut handles, good material, mounting seems good and precise.
• Nice shield in handles.
• "12" stamp on the blade tang
• Serial numbered and limited to 5000.
• No reason this would not make a great user knife, unlike the Heritage which although is great has a toolset that would not have a wide appeal today as a work knife (but I love it).

The not so good:

• Handles are essentailly the same thickness as say the nylon scales, they don't feel very substantial for a knife of this size. Of course this translates into thin and light-weight so maybe 50/50 on this one.
• I had one small nick in a liner, not a big deal for a sak, but given the price of this one most knife collectors would probably be upset. The rest of the assembly was perfect.
• Early buyers are getting very high serial numbers, might be region specific, but not nice.
• Pricing: MSRP in Switzerland is 299.00CHF, selling for less in the shops. MSRP in the US now listed at 399.00 USD and currently not selling for less at most shops; although it was earlier. The current US price just does not seem to align with that in Switzerland. Maybe a small bit of buyers remorse, but after handling and inspection seems like 200.00CHF would be more reasonable for this collectable. We'll have to see how they are accepted, but they are certainly priced at a good premium, even for the typical LE SAK. Price is always hard to establish for the special collectibles though as it's not really based on cost, although that has to be recovered, and the actual cost is always higher due to the small manufacturing run with special pieces/materials and possible process steps.

[JRAmmon]

I got some interesting news today. 

Damascus Limited Edition 2012 in a noble gift package
CHF 290.00

The Swiss Soldier knife has a blade of Damast steel and the handle scales are made of Swiss walnut.
Only 5000 of these knives will be distributed worldwide.
Delivery date is set to end of August.

No pictures yet.   

Can someone please help me understand what is happening here:
It appears pre-orders and most sites listed as 290 CHF. This is "roughly" 300.00 USD at this time. My question is, why are U.S. sellers being forced to gouge U.S. customers for an extra 100.00 USD i.e., 399.00 USD. I stand ready to be corrected or sneered at thank you. I would like Tim to chime in on this please. I just want the information out there so everyone can understand. 

[felinevet]

I got some interesting news today. 

Damascus Limited Edition 2012 in a noble gift package
CHF 290.00

The Swiss Soldier knife has a blade of Damast steel and the handle scales are made of Swiss walnut.
Only 5000 of these knives will be distributed worldwide.
Delivery date is set to end of August.

No pictures yet.   

Can someone please help me understand what is happening here:
It appears pre-orders and most sites listed as 290 CHF. This is "roughly" 300.00 USD at this time. My question is, why are U.S. sellers being forced to gouge U.S. customers for an extra 100.00 USD i.e., 399.00 USD. I stand ready to be corrected or sneered at thank you. I would like Tim to chime in on this please. I just want the information out there so everyone can understand.

I'm afraid I don't have an answer. We were just told that price was $399. with no discounts. Remember that Swiss Army Victorinox USA is an entirely different division than Switzerland and obviously have different product lines, policies, etc. My guess is that for early pre-orders, the lower price was offered before the company notified dealers of the full price requirement.

[dks]

It may be the first time ever you can buy any tool/knife... anything really, cheaper in Europe than in the US...   
People outside the US have been complaining about products being more expensive elsewhere for years.   

[Northern Geek]

It may be the first time ever you can buy any tool/knife... anything really, cheaper in Europe than in the US...   
People outside the US have been complaining about products being more expensive elsewhere for years.   

++

This is so true.

It's about time they give us Europeans a break for once

[Donald]

WHAT!!! no corckscrew!???      anyway i will buy one 

I agree with the first part, it needs a corkscrew!  What a great blade!

Anyone plan on buying it as a user? P.S. Nevermind, I must not have refreshed, I now see discussion on this point.

[Wire Edge]

I'm fairly certain I'll carry mine once I get it.  I've been carrying and using the 2011 Climber a lot, even had it in my pocket when I got married!

[Reinier]

I'm pretty sure it will not double in price (i.e. $800 US) anytime soon as SAKs, even really nice ones, rarely reach that level.

Well this one comes close: http://www.ebay.com/itm/130768566212

[ICanFixThat]

I'm pretty sure it will not double in price (i.e. $800 US) anytime soon as SAKs, even really nice ones, rarely reach that level.

Well this one comes close: http://www.ebay.com/itm/130768566212

That's only roughly 500 US, still has another 60% to go; but around 500 US is where they really start to flatten out... hard to get above that.  That Damascus Pioneer though has been doing well in resale value in some markets, it's fetching a good price and in the future might be one that reaches a lot higher. 

[MARIOS7319]

I'm pretty sure it will not double in price (i.e. $800 US) anytime soon as SAKs, even really nice ones, rarely reach that level.

Well this one comes close: http://www.ebay.com/itm/130768566212

I see that happened a few months before, and it went all the way up, to 490 euro.

[ICanFixThat]

US Dealers are now shipping the 2012 Damascus Limited Edition.

[MARIOS7319]

At last, i received them.
One for me and the other for a friend.
Numbers 1201/5000 and 1705/5000.
I would prefer last year's Climber handles, in these knives.

[Marius]

Would be possible for who has these (Martin, Francis, Marios..) to post some pics showing the scales and liners? From the backsprings side and the reverse. I wonder if the liners (exterior ones, not the dividers) are the regular ones or thicker as they are on most special scale 91mm SAKs (for example the 2011 Climber in Ebony scales).

Thanks 

[Marius]

Would be possible for who has these (Martin, Francis, Marios..) to post some pics showing the scales and liners? From the backsprings side and the reverse. I wonder if the liners (exterior ones, not the dividers) are the regular ones or thicker as they are on most special scale 91mm SAKs (for example the 2011 Climber in Ebony scales).

Thanks 

Anyone?   

[victor7000]

I'll do it tomorrow as soon as the light is good 
 

[MARIOS7319]

Now that i read your post is late night.
Tomorrow i will take the photos.

[felinevet]

My six arrived today. One sold, I'm keeping one for me  and four left for sale. 

[victor7000]

For more pics from back click here....





P.S. Hey Marios I was faster :-)

[Marius]

For more pics from back click here....

Thanks, Martin! 

This photo shows exactly what I was looking for.



A comment.. If it was meant for me to see other photos with this knife going at link you gave, that does not work - when I go there I only see this one same pic posted here. No album and no other photos.

[victor7000]

Sorry, wrong link. Here the correct one...

https://picasaweb.google.com/114771380811023687526/DamascusSoldier2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCIOx0umQm8zaKw&feat=directlink

[MARIOS7319]

Here is mine.

[Marius]

Thanks

[Wire Edge]

I received mine today, it's fantastic!  I really like the pattern on my blade.

[Wire Edge]

I just noticed there's a liner between the saw and the blade.  My GAK, New Soldier and OHT don't have this liner.  Is this a new build for all models going forward, or was it done to the Limited Editions because the Damascus blade is quite a bit harder?

[dks]

Now that everybody has one I decided to post some comparison pictures, for fun.

With the Road tour model, which costs 5 times less..



and with a couple of small folding damascus knives, for blade pattern comparison:

[Marius]

I just noticed there's a liner between the saw and the blade.  My GAK, New Soldier and OHT don't have this liner.  Is this a new build for all models going forward, or was it done to the Limited Editions because the Damascus blade is quite a bit harder?

I noticed the same thing on the Hunter XT - a thin aluminium liner is between the main blade and the saw, unlike the past Trekker/Soldier models.

Speaking of liners, I was expecting that Victorinox would use more consistent (thicker) exterior liners on this 2012 LE, IMHO more appropriate with the wood scales and the price of this knife. Like the 2011 LE Climber had, for example (but not limited to just this one SAK). Instead those both appear the thinnest variant that I saw on 111 mm so far. I wonder - do the handles flex if the SAK is squeezed hard in hand?

[marduk]

I may be a little late with this & someone may have already pointed this out, but I just received my 2012 Damascus & compared it with the OH Trekker. I noticed that the 2012 LE has a divider on both sides of the main blade but not the Trekker.

[chris.customworks]

I would like to add some pictures of my Victorinox Damascus Limited Edition 2012.







Best regards,

Chris