Vic Soldiers SAK LHT

[TheDude]

Got me a Soldiers knife in the mail today. From now on I'm going to call it the Left Handed Tool (LHT). Is this tool meant to be a lefty so a soldier does not have to drop his/her weapon to use it?   
It is surprisingly light and for some reason despite knowing the dimensions prior to ordering I was expecting it to be somehow ....bigger! For better or worse the main blade is a partly serrated chisel ground edge of sorts. But before I rip it to shreds l will tell you what I like about it.
Well it does have a dirty great big locking flat head screwdriver. This will be great for prying along with its primary purpose of driving screws and popping open ice cold bottles of beer. The blade is sharp. How sharp? I just cut myself for the first time in years. (See LHT). It will be most useful for cutting juicy rare steaks from a wood-fire BBQ or slicing and buttering bread for bacon and egg sandwiches fresh from the grill. It of course has my favourite SAK tool the "good" can opener, for opening lovely .....cans! We have the awl that everybody but me uses, a very nice phillips-head screwdriver and the saw will also see use for cutting fire wood. Lastly the non-slip scales work very well in the wet.
Now the ugly.
IMHO This is a very awkward tool to use for a righty. But all you lefties out there however should rush out and buy one immediately. Or those that do a bit of hunting and like to keep their weapon at the ready at all times. Because its great for left handed use. And I know there are not many left hand friendly tools out there. I have nothing against Left handers. In fact I married one. But I digress. To be honest I don't find it particularly comfortable in the hand. The tools remain partly exposed and thus the fancy molding of the scales appears pointless. Whilst opening (playing) the main blade I managed to close the main blade on my little finger, where it remained imbedded until I removed it with my left hand. Ouchy. For the record I have never suffered this with my LM Wave in over 12 years. Call me a tard but I found it very difficult (not impossible mind you) to deploy, lock and unlock with my right hand only. Which for me means I can't use it for anything remotely urgent. Sadly the OHT functionality with my dominate hand is partly why I bought it in the first place. Enough said.  I carried it around in my jeans pocket today and it wasn't that much different to carrying any medium weight pocket knife, but for me personally it cannot be EDC. It will have a place in my collection, but it is dropping down to camping/survival for next deployment.

Pro's
Light weight
Dirty Great Big locking flathead screwdriver
Non-slip scales

Con's
Locking Mechanism for left handed opening (some may consider this a pro)
main blade not that thick
lack of comfort in either hand

[HankSolon]

Locking Mechanism for left handed opening (some may consider this a pro)
main blade not that thick

It's not the first time I heard that the locking is for left handed people. But believe me, it's just some kind of practise to open and close that knife one handed (with your right hand, of course). For me it is a pro. You cannot accidently unlock the knife with your thumb, while doing some heavy work.

Regarding the not that thick main blade.... It's no rambo knife, for sure. But imho that blade is quite balanced in its thickness. Not too slim, not too thick.

[PTRSAK]

I have learned to operate the lock with my index finger while pushing on the spine of the blade with my thumb to break the lock, then shift grip to close the blade with my finger.
Sounds awkward but it becomes second nature after a couple of minutes practice.

[comis]

The opening or closing of the Soldier 2008 is not as difficult as it seems, actually I grew to appreciate the locking mechanism.  I am a righty, and there is rarely a liner-lock knife that I could easily unlock by both hands without much practice.

To open: Grap the opening 'hole' of the blade with your right index and thumb firmly, blade tip facing upward.  Then with gravity and a flicking motion, swing the handle downwards and it should be opened.  At the beginning it might open like 70%, but with practice the handle will flick open with a confirming 'click' sound.

To close(with right hand): grab knife in right hand, cutting edge facing left.  Use the very tip of your right finger push up onto the bottom of the liner lock, and at the same time, right thumb apply mild pressure onto the top of the opening-hole. 
You should now already disengage the linear lock enough to allow the right thumb slide the blade inward a little bit for closing.  Then at this point, switch grip in right hand to make sure all fingers are clear of the closing path, and use the right thumb to slowly guide/move the blade close.

Have fun and play safe! 

[NG VI]

Ouch!

I like my OHT, except I think I might like the Trekker a little more.

[bmot]

I actually really like the liner lock on this one... I even somewhere (probably on here) read the notion that they probably did the liner lock the 'wrong way' on purpose, so less people would close it one handed, and close the knife on their fingers? Don't know if it's true, but anyway, you'll see, with some practice and figuring out, you'll find a way to close it easily one handed, or with help from a leg to push it closed against.

[TheDude]

Seems odd that you would make something for one handed for military use and then expect people to use it two handed. I still think it is so much more fluid in the left hand. On a more positive note. The main blade cuts like a champion. Really seems to hold an edge. I think this is where SAK excels over LM 420HC.