Well, it's 1:30 am here in Cali and it isn't like I didn't go to bed at 3 am yesterday night (morning?) so I'll write my little story here.My brother always had little cheapie folding knifes. He is 2.5 years older, and did Boy Scouts for a time so he got the knives. My mom (bless her heart) would always find them in weird places, usually when dearest brother was trying to carve a hole big enough for a firecracker in the derriere of a GI Joe and gave up mid project. Oh, the times when we could have fireworks in CA.... Sigh.. She had a drawer full of these knives. Still does. They intrigued me, kind of a danger-but-useful thing. I imagined myself being Nancy Drew or Laura Croft or Dana Scully, a badass woman in charge. With a knife. Ooooh. On second thought, maybe not Nancy Drew. She was a lightweight. My dad had a friend with a pretty incredible SAK, with all sorts of cool tools... I was attracted to the pen. Mostly because he drew funny pictures to entertain me during some adultish event that ten-year-old me found awful. I asked for a SAK for my twelfth birthday, having checked out knife safety books at the library for a year and pilfered a Cub Scouts book from my brother's room that talked about knife safety. I still regularly use the term "blood zone" when Dad and I are tinkering on something and we get too close to each other with our blades out.I've never been cut by my birthday Super Tinker. I liked the awl a lot because it looked stabbalicous and me being breastfed Hollywood movies since toddlerhood liked the thought of being a badass woman in charge. I made belts fit with it and admired its steel edge.I was never a rebellious kid. At all. Brother did that enough for two kids. But sometimes I did like being 'bad'. I would put my Tinker in my backpack and bring it to school, which was illegal. I told nobody. But god how I loved that knowledge, that tool clattering around my pencils. My secret.It was mostly a nail-cleaner and mirror (checking my lipstick on the fly in the big blade) until I hit the age of sixteen and gave up my obsession with makeup and attractiveness for the arts and crafts. I started asking my dad for lessons on using my knife, and it soon became a medicinal herb harvester, an embroidery scissor, and a screwdriver for when something went awry in the house and Dad wasn't home. Finally I felt capable, even if it was just screwing a doorknob back on or dismantling a sink to save a wedding ring. I was the one who, when something went wrong and the rest of the house was asking WHO DID THIS???, googled a tutorial and FIXED THE DAMNED THING, BY GOD.I'd like to think that my SAK made me more of a badass woman, the kind I've always admired, but I think my small self-reliance transformation would have happened anyway. The Super Tinker was just a tool, a way of guiding myself to that point.I'd like to think that Scully would be proud.
That's a smurfing great knife story, tinkertailor!
Quote from: Steinar on October 28, 2015, 11:59:42 AMThat's a smurfing great knife story, tinkertailor!+1 Reading this post made me realise the two reasons I still cannot bring myself to like the Swisschamp. The first one is that, like then, it still feels too heavy and unwieldly to be considered for pocket carry by me. The other reason is that mum wouldn't endorse a SAK or pocket knife altogether so I had to save up to get one, I don't remember the prices too well but I know that for the kind of money a Swisschamp cost at the time you'd get a smurfload of standard loaves of bread and about half that quantity of comic books. Memories.
firiki doesn't pay for SAK's he takes what he wants and burns the rest. That's what you have led me to believe anyway.
Now, on days when i'm not doing an insane knock-off tool challenge, I either carry a Super Tinker with Stay Glo scales, or an Explorer, and back it up with a little keychain sized plier-based tool.
Quote from: firiki on October 28, 2015, 03:29:24 PMQuote from: Steinar on October 28, 2015, 11:59:42 AMThat's a smurfing great knife story, tinkertailor!+1 Reading this post made me realise the two reasons I still cannot bring myself to like the Swisschamp. The first one is that, like then, it still feels too heavy and unwieldly to be considered for pocket carry by me. The other reason is that mum wouldn't endorse a SAK or pocket knife altogether so I had to save up to get one, I don't remember the prices too well but I know that for the kind of money a Swisschamp cost at the time you'd get a smurfload of standard loaves of bread and about half that quantity of comic books. Memories. firiki doesn't pay for SAK's he takes what he wants and burns the rest. That's what you have led me to believe anyway.
Fantastic story BTW tinkertailor and welcome to the forum
The moment when you pulled off the scales on the Chinese knockoff SAK and there was glue underneath was hilarious.
Quote from: tinkertailor on October 29, 2015, 03:38:39 AMThe moment when you pulled off the scales on the Chinese knockoff SAK and there was glue underneath was hilarious.I invite you to read my personal favorite bit I've done on the boards so far, the Les Stroud Engage Test to Destruction.http://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,55957.0.htmlI personally think that it's hilarious.
The first SAK I owned was a huntsman, and was a birthday present to me from my parents when I joined the scouts - so around 11/12 or so.Obviously as a young scout it only took a matter of hours of me trying to find excuses to use it for every job possible before the inevitable happened and I managed to snap it shut on my finger trying to cut something with it - something I have made a point not to do since then...I still own it, and while it is not always the knife I have in my pocket, it is one that still gets stuck in my bag every time I head out to camp (though as a leader now, rather than a scout).
This thread is to good to let it slip away...My first SAK was a Huntsman. I got it as a Christmas gift from my mother in 1986. Initially, I kinda liked the functionality, but I was beholden to Puma, Cold Steel, and whatever else was the top rated knife with the super steel (of the day). I wanted to carry a real knife, but to keep from hurting my mother's feelings I decided to carry it for a week or so, then go back to my real knives.Within the first week, I wound up using every tool the Huntsman had. A week or two turned into a month or two, and I was hooked. At some point while I was still in college, I sent it back to Victorinox for repair of the scissors. With the knowledge I've gained here, I'm sure they replaced it rather than repaired it because the 1986 model shouldn't have a parcel hook. Even so, I consider it to be the same knife she gave me.I carried that knife until the Spring of 2009 when it slid out of my pocket into the recliner mechanism. I was without it for about a week, but I found it! At the next gun show, I found a knife vendor with a bunch of SAKs and had him identify it and order me a brand new version. My mother passed away on Dec 26, 2008; so I knew I'd never get another pocket knife from her. I cleaned up the trusty old Huntsman and locked it in my safe after 22-1/2 years of faithful service.Fast forward to a few months ago, I stumbled onto a guy at a gun show selling stolen (by the TSA) knives out of bins. I wound up with about a dozen SAKs for ~$100. I found the SAKWiki and this site while trying to figure out what my new treasures were. I thought I was the only person who was enthusiastic about SAKs until I learned about this site. I've been reading the forum daily for some time. When I saw the generosity extended to TinkerTailor after she paraboiled her SAK, I decided to join.That's how y'all got stuck with another newbie!
Quote from: Rawhyde on November 03, 2015, 02:01:18 AMThis thread is to good to let it slip away...[...]That's how y'all got stuck with another newbie!that is a great story
This thread is to good to let it slip away...[...]That's how y'all got stuck with another newbie!
I've really enjoyed my time here, and I've learned a lot. I have a buddy with about 40 acres of property that we use for shooting, feeding game, running game cameras, etc. we were putting out corn and food blocks with the golf cart when we ran up to a small tree that had partially blown over and blocked our path. It was about 1-1/2" in diameter. We were on a narrow trail, so I didn't want to back up for 200' for a place to turn around... I hopped off the golf cart and before Tom could finish telling me how there was no way I could break the tree and clear the trail, the saw on the Huntsman had it sliced in two! Shortly after that, I retired that Huntsman and started carrying a Swisschamp. The inline Phillips, magnifier, and backside fine screwdriver are already seeing regular use. My buddy was stunned that I was able to cut that sapling with a pocket knife that easily. He wanted to go back to the shop and grab the chainsaw. Most of us take a SAK for granted, but they are downright amazing to people who've never had one. He's hung up on Case Copperlocks, but it I'm trying to show him the light.... At least he's now carrying a Swisschamp in his truck now. If he'd just put it in his pocket for a week, those Case XX's would wind up in the sock drawer where they belong.
Quote from: Rawhyde on November 03, 2015, 06:45:35 PMI've really enjoyed my time here, and I've learned a lot. I have a buddy with about 40 acres of property that we use for shooting, feeding game, running game cameras, etc. we were putting out corn and food blocks with the golf cart when we ran up to a small tree that had partially blown over and blocked our path. It was about 1-1/2" in diameter. We were on a narrow trail, so I didn't want to back up for 200' for a place to turn around... I hopped off the golf cart and before Tom could finish telling me how there was no way I could break the tree and clear the trail, the saw on the Huntsman had it sliced in two! Shortly after that, I retired that Huntsman and started carrying a Swisschamp. The inline Phillips, magnifier, and backside fine screwdriver are already seeing regular use. My buddy was stunned that I was able to cut that sapling with a pocket knife that easily. He wanted to go back to the shop and grab the chainsaw. Most of us take a SAK for granted, but they are downright amazing to people who've never had one. He's hung up on Case Copperlocks, but it I'm trying to show him the light.... At least he's now carrying a Swisschamp in his truck now. If he'd just put it in his pocket for a week, those Case XX's would wind up in the sock drawer where they belong.I'm definitely considering a Huntsman as a potential for my next knife investment. Huntsman, Craftsman, Explorer, Ranger, Swisschamp (in my broke college student dreams...), the list goes on and on. I can tell that the saw is something I definitely want, so I might be able to narrow it down that way, but hot damn I'm excited to get a new one when I can afford it...Thank you for sharing and WELCOME TO THE FORUM! I'm a newbie too! Whoo!
I'm definitely considering a Huntsman as a potential for my next knife investment.