Back story my father gave me this swiss army knife when I got first class in Boy Scouts many years ago. He told me he bought it in Switzerland when he visited there back in the late 70s and he was stationed in Germany. Its a great tool and he has the massive one with everything he bought at the same time. Anyone know any details about it?
age : from 1980 on (can-opener/ cap lifter)... Strange, since your father bought in in the late 70's... Please show some more pictures...
Not sure what you mean, but this caplifer/can opener style is typical of a knife made after 1972 until about 1985. In 85 the caplifter got a half stop, so it typically wouldn't sit at the angle shown in the picture.
From 1980 on the caplifter lost his cutting edge and like you mentioned from 1985 on it got the 90 degree lock. The can opener without the "pat" marking was introduced in 1980, at least according to the "Saam's victorinox page"
Quote from: jeroen.thys.37 on August 01, 2013, 10:10:27 PMFrom 1980 on the caplifter lost his cutting edge and like you mentioned from 1985 on it got the 90 degree lock. The can opener without the "pat" marking was introduced in 1980, at least according to the "Saam's victorinox page" I have no idea where Saam's info comes from (1980s catalog scans that use older pictures I think), but if it's saying 1980 for both of those, it's wrong. +PAT on the can opener and the cutting edge on the caplifter both disappeared between 1968 and 1974. +PAT disappears almost immediately after the bail does in 1968, so let's estimate 1969/1970 on that one. The cutting edge on the caplifter lasts longer - about 70% of the knives you see between 1968 and 1974 has it, the other 30% does not. So let's estimate 1972 there. My info in this case is is based on the approx 60 or so knives in my collection from this time period + observation of hundreds of others (eBay, here, etc). None of the knives from the mid-late 1970s have the +PAT stamp or the cutting edge. There's a lot of bad dating info out there on these knives, unfortunately. Some of it comes from speculation that turned into fact by virtue of being repeated enough. Some comes from conflicting and (sometimes) incorrect info from Victorinox themselves. It's actually the main reason I started cataloging auction info years ago - so I could track how well info about when certain tools were introduced tracked with knives that were actually out there. 80% of the time this info is correct. The other 20% are cases like this.
When I'm wrong, I'm wrong... Thanks for that information! I need to do some more research and now I know I can't rely only on Saam's page.
Quote from: jeroen.thys.37 on August 02, 2013, 05:29:23 PMWhen I'm wrong, I'm wrong... Thanks for that information! I need to do some more research and now I know I can't rely only on Saam's page. Don't feel bad, there really isn't a lot of good accurate dating info (at least until I finish my book ). Most of what I know if from an evidence-based approach that I take - I look at lots and lots of knives, how they're made, and then try to fit that in around the info we know about dating. The starting point is the official "official" Victorinox list: http://e-webtechnologies.com/sak/Victorinox_SAK_History_Urs_Wyss_-_Updated_12_FEB_08.pdf - but even some of that is wrong. For example, this list says that cellidor scales were introduced in 1937, 5 years before the new screwdriver with cap lifter tool in 1942. Evidence from my collection, eBay and other collectors show us that this is wrong - there are lots of fiber-scaled knives out there with cap-lifters, like this one: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Victorinox-Swiss-Army-Knife-/271240646658?ViewItem=&item=271240646658&nma=true&si=k4USVGyo1LfUkYyNZeS9MlPD6PI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557. I have yet to see a single cellidor knife with the old style screwdriver. This list also says the small reamer and scales with invisible rivets were introduced at the same time, a fact that observation also proves wrong - see the knife in this thread here: http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,45792.0.html.
This might be a little off-topic, but when is the book going to be ready?!
[ignorance]Is this just for cellidor models? I have two '79 soldiers with the sharpened cap lifter.[/ignorance]
Quote from: comis on August 02, 2013, 10:24:32 PMThis might be a little off-topic, but when is the book going to be ready?!It will be a while - lots of research to do, plus my day job keeps me pretty busy. I'm hoping to have a draft of a chapter done soon and then maybe take a trip to Switzerland for research later this year/early next.