Can you help me?

[kungaryfu]

Hi guys
I found this forum while trying to identify a sak i bought from costco in the uk sometime around the late 90s, ive trailed through all the swiss army identification sites but cant seem to find a model that matches up exactly, there always seems to be one tool different or missing.......i would be very greatful if you could help identify it,
Feel free to ask any questions
Many thanks
Gary

[ColoSwiss]

HI, welcome aboard!

The knife appears to be a rather rare version called the Woodsman, a name which has been used several times by Victorinox. There are also earlier 10 and 11 blade versions, with fewer tools on the back.

Very nice. 

http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Woodsman+91mm

[ICanFixThat]

Looks like you're looking at a 91mm Woodsman model variation with Nylon scales.  Are those the original handles on it.  If so it was probably made only for a special distributor and they added the fine screwdriver to it.  Seems like this was a popular thing to do.  Oft they would use Nylon handles as well which is why I ask about them.

http://sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Woodsman+91mm

[kungaryfu]

Hi all
Wow that was a quick response, yes those are the original handle scales.
Looking at the woodsman in the link it doesnt have the small screwdriver as you mention, does this make it rarer than a usuall one; or did they quite often do this sort of thing and add on an extra tool?

[JAfromMn]

 

They could start making that one again. Explorer with a saw layer.

[Gareth]

Costco seem to have a bit of a tradition of getting slightly different multitools, I'm thinking of the Juice SC2, Pro and Charge SLV here, so it's not a huge stretch to think of them having a slightly individual SAK.

The Woodsman is an excellent SAK as far as I'm concerned, not too big but packs in a lot of features.  Oh, and welcome to the forum.

[ICanFixThat]

Hi all
Wow that was a quick response, yes those are the original handle scales.
Looking at the woodsman in the link it doesnt have the small screwdriver as you mention, does this make it rarer than a usuall one; or did they quite often do this sort of thing and add on an extra tool?

Yes Nylon handles and an extra tool like the fine-screwdirver indicate it was most likely a special configuration for some dealer/distributor and we don't see a lot of them.  We don't even see that many of the Woodsman models, so this one is quite uncommon (less common than the Woodsman) and very collectable.

[kungaryfu]

  im a lucky boy then, im glad i bought it all those years ago. i didnt even know they made special runs of SAKs  for individual  shops; i suppose you learn something new every day.
You guys are a very knowledgable lot

[jazzbass]

Victorinox made the Woodsman in what seems to be small special runs from the early 1980s until the late 1990s/early 2000s*. Most of the ones you see for sale, however, are from the 1980s and early 1990s. Despite the fact that the fine screwdriver existed the entire time, these pre-1993 Woodsmans did not get it.

Almost all of knives of this model that you see made 1993 and later actually DO have the fine screwdriver on them, yours included. However, since these post-93 Woodsmans were made in fewer quantities than the pre-93 ones, it seems to be a harder-to-find model.

* Victorinox technically could have started making these as early as 1974. I have never seen one this old, however.