Old Climber sans Toothpick

[Thunderpants]

I found this on ebay - a cheap, blue Climber. The pictures weren't great so apart from the blueness I didn't know what I'd be getting.

First surprise - no hook! So I figure it's quite old. Second surprise - no rivets on the scissors. Hey! It's an antique! But in "like-new" condition.
Third surprise - which I would have known if I'd paid attention to the ebay photos - no toothpick or tweezers.
All in all, this is great - cos i never use the hook, and I always, without fail, lose the scale tools.

One thing that's interesting is the pitting on the can opener tool. I've never seen this on any of my other Victorinoxes. Is it corrosion or was it built like that?





ps.
The box says "3.3701" which isn't one of the numbers listed on Sakwiki. The nearest mentioned there is 1.3703

[jaya_man]

I found this on ebay - a cheap, blue Climber. The pictures weren't great so apart from the blueness I didn't know what I'd be getting.

First surprise - no hook! So I figure it's quite old. Second surprise - no rivets on the scissors. Hey! It's an antique! But in "like-new" condition.
Third surprise - which I would have known if I'd paid attention to the ebay photos - no toothpick or tweezers.
All in all, this is great - cos i never use the hook, and I always, without fail, lose the scale tools.

One thing that's interesting is the pitting on the can opener tool. I've never seen this on any of my other Victorinoxes. Is it corrosion or was it built like that?

(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)
(Image removed from quote.)

ps.
The box says "3.3701" which isn't one of the numbers listed on Sakwiki. The nearest mentioned there is 1.3703

3.xxx means economy line... maybe yours has the words "ECONOMY" stamped in the reverse tang


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[Thunderpants]

Hm...
 
Maybe this isn't the box it came with.

[jaya_man]

Hm...
 (Image removed from quote.)
Maybe this isn't the box it came with.

I would think it is... ECONOMY tang stamps is present for older EcoLine models... plane scales (no. T&T) usually is for Ecoline models... and it doesn't have to be nylon either...

I have an almost similar EcoLine model 3.3701




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[Thunderpants]

Ah! So that's what it is!
It's a lovely Sak - maybe a bit to nice to use.
The "H" instead of the Vic logo is pretty cool. Too bad my name isn't Horace or Henry or Hercules, otherwise it'd be perfect...

[jalind]

Ah! So that's what it is!
It's a lovely Sak - maybe a bit to nice to use.
The "H" instead of the Vic logo is pretty cool. Too bad my name isn't Horace or Henry or Hercules, otherwise it'd be perfect...

Many of these economy line were used for marketing and advertising, and sometimes to sell or hand out to employees. The scales have no Victorinox logo on the traditional front side (opposite the Phillips or corkscrew) to allow imprinting of corporate advertising or logos on them. Sometimes the Victorinox logo will be on the other side. I have a Tinker like that with the company name on the front side. I've no idea what imprinting process is used but it's extremely durable. The black "sanitized" scales I put on two of the four Apprentice I fabricated were intended for use on marketing and advertising knives, hence no logo like yours. However, they have T&T slots. It is interesting that this is a Climber. Most of these 91mm and 84mm are Spartan, Sportsman, Tinker or Small Tinker.

I noted the blade is etched. Do not polish the blade if you want to keep the etching intact. If you do polish it you won't be able to completely eradicate it, but you can reduce it to very nearly invisible requiring it be held at just the right angle to a light source to see its "ghost". The etching process (laser now?) changes the underlying metallurgy slightly which creates the ghost image.

John

[Thunderpants]

Hey thanks, jalind, for all the info!
I won't be polishing the blade. It feels like it's never been used, so I'll probably just stick it in a drawer along with all the other treasures...

[jazzbass]

Looks like an economy line Climber from c. 1987-1990 ordered for advertising purposes.

[Thunderpants]

It's hard to believe they saved any money making this "Economy" model... I mean it is identical to any other Victorinox in terms of quality / construction and only lacks the toothpick and tweezers. Which must amount to, what? $0.20 cents in production costs?
And as I mentioned, the absence of slots on the scales is a big plus! Nothing uglier than the gaping hole left when you've lost the tweezers!

[jalind]

It's hard to believe they saved any money making this "Economy" model... I mean it is identical to any other Victorinox in terms of quality / construction and only lacks the toothpick and tweezers. Which must amount to, what? $0.20 cents in production costs?
And as I mentioned, the absence of slots on the scales is a big plus! Nothing uglier than the gaping hole left when you've lost the tweezers!

That's why the Swiss Army, German Army and I believe the Dutch Army all have coat of arms molded scales on their current 111mm knives without T&T openings.    Soldiers tend to lose those kinds of things in the field (I know all to well about that).