Unusual SAKs

[jazzbass]

I've been asked a few times to post pictures of some unusual SAKs that I have, so I thought I'd start a thread for unusual/uncommon/discontinued models. So no Tinkers, Spartans, Huntsmans, Cadets, Pioneers or Farmers.

Let's start off with one of the most unusual SAKs in my 91mm collection. I call this one a Fischermesser Jr - it's an Elinox line knife that I picked up in Italy. It appears to be from the early 1960s and is notable for two reasons:

1. it does not have any sort of can opener/caplifter. The only other 91mm knives that I can think of that don't have any sort of can opener/cap lifter at all are the Model 248 (91mm Gourmet) and the very, very old Models 207 and 249.
2. It's the only model other than the Fischermesser knives (Models 235fmaU and 236fmaU) to have the special Angler scissors. These have a special cut out in one of the blades for separating sinker shot and a crimping divot for closing it.

As best as I can tell this was just a custom order made for someone back in the 1960s. Because of the lack of openers, I can't even work out a model number for it as it doesn't fit nicely into the old model number scheme.

[magentus]

This is going to be GREAT! 

[captain spaulding]

That sure is a odd ball. Very interesting about the scissors and I wish they would do that today on a few models.

[kirk13]

 

[nervium]

really interesting.

[Reinier]

Now that's an interesting one!

[enki_ck]

Now that's an interesting one!

You can say that again.

Looking forward to future updates, jazzbass.

[Reinier]

Now that's an interesting one!

You can say that again.

Now that's an interesting one!

[enki_ck]

Good man.

[Mr. Whippy]

This will be an epic thread. 

[kosmo]

What about error knives?  Knives that may have shipped with incorrect parts or assembly?

[Mextreme]

I think you put the bar a little to high with that Fishermesser Jr...

[Caranthanus]

I think you put the bar a little to high with that Fishermesser Jr...

when the bar gets high, the highjumpers get jumping

[Aloha]

Those scissors are very interesting not to mention how odd it is seeing a SAK without openers. 

This will be an epic thread. 

MrW said it best and I concur.   

[PTRSAK]

Not a super unusual SAK in itself, a Wenger Standard 1.02.03, but this one has non serrated scissors.
The scissors are not beveled either which raises the slight possibility that they skipped a step or two in the manufacturing process.

[basilio]

it's an Elinox line knife that I picked up in Italy.

Nice knife.
I remember an auction on ebay.it for a smiliar knife.
It ended around December 2013 and was ended earlier by the seller.
I don't collect Victorinox, but I was planning to bid for a forum member.
Was it the same knife?

[pfrsantos]

I think you put the bar a little to high with that Fishermesser Jr...

I don't think it was high enough...

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[jazzbass]

Nice knife.
I remember an auction on ebay.it for a smiliar knife.
It ended around December 2013 and was ended earlier by the seller.
I don't collect Victorinox, but I was planning to bid for a forum member.
Was it the same knife?

That's the one. I didn't remember it ending early until you mentioned it, but I looked back at the auction data and it was ended one day early. I remember getting an eBay notification that the listing was ended and thinking "oh no, someone bought it out from under me", but then I got an invoice. I was the only bidder so I won it for the opening bid of 10 euro. Looking at data for that seller, it look like she ended a bunch of auctions early on the same day, about a week before Christmas. Maybe she had travel plans and didn't want to wait - I don't know. Sometimes I get lucky. 

[jazzbass]

Since this thread seems to have generated some interest, lets keep it going with another one. This is one of my favorite weird knives. Like many of these it doesn't have an official name, so I call it the Practical Craftsman. It's a dumb name for a dumb knife, so let explain why I named it that.

The Practical Craftsman is basically a Master Craftsman without scissors. It gets talked about every so often on knife forums like this one, usually with someone posting an eBay link and asking "uh... is this real? is this a custom mod someone made? this really doesn't look like something Victorinox would make". Sure enough, this is an official Victorinox model. It came as a part of a set called "The practical tool-set" (see this thread for more info) and was paired with what look to be a cheap set of Chinese made pliers with super wide grips to fit around the knife. So, "practical tool-set" + "budget Master Craftsman" = "Practical Craftsman". If I don't have a career with Victorinox marketing, who does? 

I love the weirdness of this knife. Why they didn't just use a Master Craftsman in this kit is a question I'd love to ask someone one day. Almost everyone loves SAK scissors - but that's what they chose to eliminate. Other than the modern Angler model, it's the only regular production SAK I can think of that has more than 3 layers and does not have scissors. Also, unlike other less expensive eco line SAKs, this one gets the full compliment of back tools including the chisel and fine screwdriver. Beats me. I guess that's just part of the practicality of it all.

[Caranthanus]

  Thumbs up for you and Practisman

[jazzbass]

Another unusual one - the Spartan Pruner. I've seen this knife show up in a couple other member's collections, but this one I have is the only one I've seen sell on eBay in 5 years. I got it off of a seller in Switzerland. It's pretty rare, if not terribly exciting - it's simply a mid-1990s Spartan with a pruning blade instead of pen blade.

The custom scales are inlaid with the word "Zürihegel" and the coat of arms of the canton of Zurich. What "Zürihegel" means exactly, I'm not really sure. A quick internet search shows it to be some sort of school sports competition for kids in the Canton of Zurich. However more Googling found this article here (in German) that implies that the term "Zürihegel" has a broader meaning beyond the sports competition. I only read German courtesy of Google Translate, which unfortunately doesn't do the best job here so I do quite follow the article 100%. Maybe one of our Swiss or German members know more and can explain.

Anyway, here it is in all it's glory - the Zürihegel Spartan Pruner:

[LeaF]

Nice one!


jazzbass, could you please tell how rare Spartan Golfer (Spartan + divot tool instead of small blade)?
I couldn't find enough information this knife. Can we also clarify it as "unusual"?

[kirk13]

Another unusual one - the Spartan Pruner. I've seen this knife show up in a couple other member's collections, but this one I have is the only one I've seen sell on eBay in 5 years. I got it off of a seller in Switzerland. It's pretty rare, if not terribly exciting - it's simply a mid-1990s Spartan with a pruning blade instead of pen blade.

The custom scales are inlaid with the word "Zürihegel" and the coat of arms of the canton of Zurich. What "Zürihegel" means exactly, I'm not really sure. A quick internet search shows it to be some sort of school sports competition for kids in the Canton of Zurich. However more Googling found this article here (in German) that implies that the term "Zürihegel" has a broader meaning beyond the sports competition. I only read German courtesy of Google Translate, which unfortunately doesn't do the best job here so I do quite follow the article 100%. Maybe one of our Swiss or German members know more and can explain.

Anyway, here it is in all it's glory - the Zürihegel Spartan Pruner:

(Image removed from quote.)

I like that! Puts some modding ideas into my mind 

[kosmo]

(Image removed from quote.)

[enki_ck]

Now that's a cool one.

Das Zürichdeutsche Wörterbuch von Albert Weber und Jacques M. Bächtold, Ausgabe 1968, schreibt dazu kurz und bündig:

"In Zürich beliebtes Taschenmesser, Übername der Zürcher mit dem Nebensinn des Groben, Derben."

The Zürich German Dictionary by Albert Weber and Jacques M. Bächtold, 1968 edition, explains it short and simple:
"A pocketknife that was popular in Zürich, taken from the Zürich dialect with the added meaning of rough, coarse"

The 1st meaning from the link you provided for the meaning of Hegel seems to be most fitting. It says that Hegel translates to rough pocketknife as used by farmers. (2nd: -Bully,; 3rd: breeding bull; 4th jokingly for male productive organ; 5th diminutive of Hail with a connotation of a sly lad, ...)

As for the sporting competition:

«De schnällscht Zürihegel» ist ein Laufwettbewerb für Stadtzürcher Schülerinnen und Schüler. Der Zürihegel wird seit 1951 ununterbrochen ausgetragen und zieht jährlich mehr als 3’000 Zürcher Mädchen und Knaben in seinen sportlichen Bann. Gelaufen wird auf der Wiese und zumeist Barfuss. Im Einzellauf geht es über 80 Meter an den Start. Und bei der Pendelstafette über 60 Meter bilden jeweils 6 Kinder aus einer Klasse ein Team.

The fastest Zürich kids (probably, maybe brats ) is a track competition for female and male students from the city of Zürich. The Zürihegel has been held regularly since 1951 and draws more than 3000 Zürich girls and boys per year into a sporting spell. The running is done on a meadow and mostly barefoot. In the Singles competition the track is 80 meter long. In the Relay race on a 60 meter long track, 6 kinds from a class build a team.

If I made any mistakes, hopefully our Swiss guys will correct me.

[ulli]

Normally, "hegel" or "hegu" is a swissgerman word and a synonym for "knife". For pocket knife you say "sackhegel", "sack" stands for "pocket".

For the running competition "zürihegel" the word "hegel" stands for "kid". A "zürihegel" is just a kid from zurich. This competition is indeed only for kids from zurich. Hegel is an old german word meaning something like "queer kid". Today nobody says "hegel" as a synonym for kid. So most of the people in switzerland would think that "zürihegel" means just "knife from zurich".

There are different "zürihegel" knives out there, also a 74 mm Cavalier and a 75 mm Student.

[jazzbass]

jazzbass, could you please tell how rare Spartan Golfer (Spartan + divot tool instead of small blade)?
I couldn't find enough information this knife. Can we also clarify it as "unusual"?

Spartan Golfers show up, on average, once every 60 days. So I would call it "unusual" (I was going to include it in this thread) but I wouldn't really say it's "rare". You can buy one NIB on eBay right now for $37.

[LeaF]

Spartan Golfers show up, on average, once every 60 days. So I would call it "unusual" (I was going to include it in this thread) but I wouldn't really say it's "rare". You can buy one NIB on eBay right now for $37.

Thank you for clarification.
I already bought such knife (also NIB). If I'm not mistaken - from seller from Singapore. Seems, this guy (cannot remember his nickname on ebay) has a lot of old Victorinox, knives in new condition (even 111mm Mariner with red scales... but too expensive for me


Another variation of Golfer, (seems it's relatively rare than Spartan Golfer) that I'm trying to find (for fair price) - it's a Golfer special. Hope you will mention it in this thread.

[enki_ck]

Like this one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331387839642

[LeaF]

Like this one?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/331387839642

Exactly! I'm watching for this listing several months, maybe more than one year
Seems this lot is overpriced