Are modders heretics?

[Helvetica Bold]

It’s my garden knife so it’s great for opening sacks and pruning or snipping string in space between stems etc …the back side duo was more of a ‘can it be done’ thing. Liked the look of it and think it’ll take more torquing in that position than the outside layer a least…never used it though 

[Enginears]

Mmmm kinda! With the occasional bit of  FrankenSAK serendipity….so not completely backtracking. This one for instance makes it all worth while for me and the black one I almost feel should be a production model!!!

Those are great creations HB, I am a big fan of the large hawksbill and clip point. I have dreamed of adding a saw to my pruner/budding 3 to make a more complete gardening knife. May be easier to get them all in the 91 frame.

Agreed on the file too, adding the 58 to the liner is a great way to get more file than a hook file and not waste a whole tool space.

 

My guesses - Evo 18 or 14

I don’t mind the scales personally but appreciate they’re not to everyone’s taste

I will guess Evo 14, I thought it was the ultimate EDC but it did not work out for me, even after making flat scales for it.

[Tasky]

I wonder which model you have in mind? 

S557.
It has blade, nal file, openers, pliers, scissors and ILP, with the added bonus of the universal wrench.
The Vic version ought to have also included the hook and gone with plain scales, but that is why we mod things... and I'll be doing one myself once I can afford all the donors.
 

[Simon_Templar]

S557.

That's ... unexpected. I got the Vic version in 2019 and was prepared to absolutely love it (the toolset is right down my alley). But the feeling wasn't mutual. It punished me with flawed pliers and wrench and ripped out my fingernails. Now it's rip in my drawer as a cruel reminder to why Wenger went bust.

Pity, I really like my Evowood 14 and the S 14 (despite the bizarre lock lever).

[Tasky]

That's ... unexpected. I got the Vic version in 2019 and was prepared to absolutely love it (the toolset is right down my alley). But the feeling wasn't mutual. It punished me with flawed pliers and wrench and ripped out my fingernails. Now it's rip in my drawer as a cruel reminder to why Wenger went bust.

I got mine as I was curious about Wenger.
The pliers are absolute smurf and don't even grip a piece of paper... It literally slides out. The scissors were smurf, but seem to have broken in a touch. The universal wrench is OK and fairly usable, but the neck is too short. The blade is nice and the lock works great, but the lever smurfs me off and smurfs up my pocket lining. Nail file is awesome.
Evo scales are wonderful and work great... but I still don't like them.
However... I managed to pick up some original Wengers and the difference in the scissors, pliers and uniwrench is shocking - Wenger stuff is actually very good, and I can only presume Vic's versions suck because they're recast, or something. The wrench/pliers have very little definition to the teeth, and it all seems a bit... soft. The scissors especially seem to pop out of alignment far too easily. It's as if Vic just couldn't be smurfed to do a good job, and were only making these to shut up the last of the dying Wenger fans...?

But yeah, that toolset in a Vic 91mm frame, with Wenger parts where their versions are better. Far closer to holy perfection than anything Vic themselves have put out.

[Bunk Tuppins]

That's ... unexpected. I got the Vic version in 2019 and was prepared to absolutely love it (the toolset is right down my alley). But the feeling wasn't mutual. It punished me with flawed pliers and wrench and ripped out my fingernails. Now it's rip in my drawer as a cruel reminder to why Wenger went bust.

Pity, I really like my Evowood 14 and the S 14 (despite the bizarre lock lever).

That's interesting.  I have had a Deluxe Tinker with the typical regular Victorinox pliers for a decade or two.  It often scratched the pliers itch over the years but I moved a couple times and it got lost in some boxes in storage and I'm still looking for it.  So I was thinking about trying the Wenger style pliers when I bought an S557 some time back.  I played with the pliers a bit but never actually had a use for them until today.  I was cleaning some tar like buildup in a Glass Sherlock Vapor Genie.  I got it pretty clean with alcohol but there were some stubborn spots that just needed a bit of prodding and scraping.  I found a paper clip and used that but in order to really get it I needed to put a right angle bend in the paper clip about 3/8" or so from the end.  Aha, I thought and pulled out the S557.  Holy crow that thing worked like charm!  Better than the Vic pliers, imo.  I have heard people complain that the S557 pliers won't hold onto a piece of paper.  I can't imagine what the heck I would be doing holding a single sheet of paper with a pliers but I tried mine just now and it held fine.  So I guess YMMV.

[Tasky]

I have heard people complain that the S557 pliers won't hold onto a piece of paper.  I can't imagine what the heck I would be doing holding a single sheet of paper with a pliers but I tried mine just now and it held fine.  So I guess YMMV.

Mine will grip the paper, as in your pic, but no matter how tightly you squeeze the arms you can  still just pull that paper out. This is only on the Vic S557, not any original Wenger models. 
It's a basic test I use for how well they'd do pulling hair-thin splinters or something similarly delicate, and Vic's normal 91mm pliers are stunningly good at that.

[Bunk Tuppins]

OK mine's different.  I actually tore the paper just then.  I don't expect them to pull a splinter - you have the tweezers on lots of SAKs and generally speaking that is not something I would expect an ordinary, dedicated pair of pliers to do.  These Delemont pliers are great for bending wire and turning a nut or bolt (in a pinch, normally I frown on using pliers to turn a bolt; they get stripped).

[Enginears]

Pity, I really like my Evowood 14 and the S 14 (despite the bizarre lock lever).

S14 is close to being great. If only there were a way to mod the scissors to have the nail nick on the other side. I find the presence  of the lever is a minor nuisance compared to the scissor nick being so efficiently blocked by it.

[Frailer]

I am of the opinion that the essence of the SAK is “making do” with what you have available. It is not the *best* knife, screwdriver, saw, file, corkscrew, etc.  But the sub-optimal tool you have in your pocket is always better than the ideal one in your tool chest at home.

I think modding a SAK to meet a particular need, whether real of perceived, is absolutely in this spirit of “making do.”  It is closer to orthodoxy than to heresy.

[Helvetica Bold]

When you looks the the amount of models that both Victorinox and Wenger have tried and then discontinued  (sometimes after a relatively short time) over the years you might think that they were just ‘modders’ with a bit more budget and hardware to hand! 

[Helvetica Bold]

S557.
It has blade, nal file, openers, pliers, scissors and ILP, with the added bonus of the universal wrench.
The Vic version ought to have also included the hook and gone with plain scales, but that is why we mod things... and I'll be doing one myself once I can afford all the donors.

I tried an Evo 18 but Wenger scissors are just a nonsense compared to the Vic ones and I don’t really like the slight design differences in the saw shape either. Love the fatter bellied blade though. I would like to try a 557 and always fancied a a 54 (just for the collection). I have seem the wrench incorporated into a Vic frame and it looks really good so I feel this mighthave been a much better ‘new’ tool for Vic than the rather damp squib of a package opener - especially as the 85mm range is being phased out.

[Farmer X]

When you looks the the amount of models that both Victorinox and Wenger have tried and then discontinued  (sometimes after a relatively short time) over the years you might think that they were just ‘modders’ with a bit more budget and hardware to hand! 

But there is at least a small kernel of truth to that!

[Tasky]

I tried an Evo 18 but Wenger scissors are just a nonsense compared to the Vic ones and I don’t really like the slight design differences in the saw shape either. Love the fatter bellied blade though. I would like to try a 557 and always fancied a a 54 (just for the collection). I have seem the wrench incorporated into a Vic frame and it looks really good so I feel this mighthave been a much better ‘new’ tool for Vic than the rather damp squib of a package opener - especially as the 85mm range is being phased out.

The Vic version of Wenger scissors are mostly smurf, but do seem to break in after a few months. They're pretty naff for paper, cloth and anything else flexible, whereas Vic's own scissors are awesome.
Actual Wenger scissors, though, cut and feel far better. They still suck for things like 'tasche hair, but on solid items like cable ties, the serrations actually grip the material and bite through it, whereas Vic's will tend to slide off or push the tie out of the blades.

The ideal would be to have one of each, of course!

[pfrsantos]

When you looks the the amount of models that both Victorinox and Wenger have tried and then discontinued  (sometimes after a relatively short time) over the years you might think that they were just ‘modders’ with a bit more budget and hardware to hand! 

 

We're just doing the same with less.

 

[pa_strunk]