How is it…?

[cbl51]

That Victorinox can get just the right amount of pull on a blade, for millions of knives per year off the line?

In my former life as a misguided knife enthusiast that accumulated knives from Case, GEC, Camillus, and others, I encountered nail breakers, lazy blades, and just plain sloppy assemblies with lots of lateral movement. But…and this is a huge but, I have never run into a Victorinox SAK that had anything but a perfect pull to open the blades. Not too hard, not too soft, but like Goldilocks porridge, just right?

I remember getting a GEC stockman in the mail, and on trying to open the sheep foot blade, almost tearing my thumbnail off. Now I don't have delicate thumbnails, and I grew up in the 1950's when every pocket knife was a slip joint. So I'm used to slip joints. But after paying a 100 dollar price for a knife that I couldn't use, it went back to the seller.

I remember when I was a kid, and you  went to buy a new pocket knife. You had to see several examples of the one you wanted, and picked through the pile handpick the best one. The manufacturing leeway must have been wide in the old days, because the difference knife to knife was in some cases actually visible. Big gaps in back springs and liners, side to side wiggle in blades, some blades hard to open and others almost too easy. This was true for Camillus and Schrade. Both of course out of business now, like most of the other U.S, knife companies like Keen Kutter, Hammer Brand, Western, and others. Of course, Victorinox is still going strong.

I got my first SAK in 1969, and over many years I've had a lots SAK's. A few I just plain wore out by heavy use on construction sites while in the army engineers. A few went missing in the field, two that I know were stolen, and a few given away to someone who needed a SAK and didn't have one. This is how I discovered the amazing consistency of manufacture of SAK's. No matter where I was, I could go into a sporting goods/camping supply store, buy a SAK, and it was just like all the other SAK's, and that was just like the last SAK I had. Consistent.

I fought it for a bunch of years, by little by little I became a SAK fanatic. My old Case peanut has been gifted off to a knife loving nephew, My old Buck 301 stockman has been adapted and given a place of honor in a display case by my grandson. I've done lots go giveaways on a knife forum for all the the others. Now here I am with just a small handful of SAK's, and I'm happy as a clam in the mud. A SAK is my travel go-to knife, as I can mail it ahead to where I'm staying and gift it off when I leave. I did this in Key West and it was great to see the reaction. I mailed a recruit to myself and for a whole week in the Keys, it cut bait, trimmed fishing line, slice limes for the necks of cold Corona;s and Gin and tonics. It sliced the ends off of some good hand rolled Dominican Cigars for late evening smoke by the beach. It even was used to adjust the faulty carburetor on a rented Honda motor scooter. On the morning I left, I gave it to the young Cuban kid, maybe late teens, that was working as the grounds keeper at the Guest House we stayed at. He was ecstatic to say the least. The red handles and silver cross is so recognizable. He looked at me in amazement and asked "For me?" and then ran off to show his boss, yelling "Jeffe, look what they give me!"

I knew that whatever SAK I bought to replace it when I got home, was going to be Swiss perfect. It would be just like the last SAK, which was just like the SAK I had before that. I've mailed SAK's to myself all over, to Oregon for our Rogue River raft trip, California for our trout fishing in the Sierra Nevada's, to the hotel at the Grand Canyon. In every case, the next SAK I bought was perfect. In every case, the recipient of the gifted SAK was thrilled with it. Product recognition.

It's amazing how they do that!

[Demel]

Great story. I agree the tolerances Victorinox put in the tools consistently while still offering affordable tools is one of them that makes it great. They are some of the best in business period.

[Barry Rowland]

+1!!

[metasyntax]

Great observations. A lot of companies think short term, and see quality and cost as being tied together. Raise quality, raise cost. Victorinox knows that if you invest in the process, and take the long view, you can keep quality high while lowering cost through highly efficient and consistent automation. Of course, they have also been around long enough to learn and perfect these things.

[kaput]

Mass production I'd assume. 

It's like McDonalds fries, they taste delicious and exactly the same no matter what McDonalds you go to. 

[Aloha]

Mass production I'd assume. 

It's like McDonalds fries, they taste delicious and exactly the same no matter what McDonalds you go to. 

They got the recipe right in most cases!  We do hear from time to time SAKs not meeting their high standards but those are few and far between.

It's certainly very commendable and a testament to their longevity.   

[Sea Monster]

I guess that's WHY they have survived so long, and everyone does know the name, and why the first question you get asked EVERY time you use one is - "Is that a Real swiss army knife?"


Now, thanks to various processes, a lot of companies are catching up, (sometimes even at an almost competitive price point) - but that's just it, they are catching up

Maybe next year Boker will outsell Vic (unlikely, but let's say) - Vic has been beating everyone in the game for years.



You mention a few other knifemakers in your post, all I can say is "Who?"

There may have been some great traditional american knife makers (I'm sure many americans think so )

But, to quote something that may outlast your once-famous knife makers
I suspect ol' Karl would say something like
"You almost had me? You never had me! you never had your knife!"

It's like McDonalds fries, they taste delicious and exactly the same no matter what McDonalds you go to.

Smurfonalds must be different in your country. Here they are consistently bad, but always in new and exciting ways!

[dks]

...and most of these companies that produce knives with inconsistent pull or blunt blades like to tell everybody that their knives are made/finished/checked by craftsmen, so either they are lying or, they are happy producing inconsistent knives.

I wrote some time ago how manual work and mass production have both been used to justify problems with knives.

[AimlessWanderer]

Victorinox have been continually refining the processes, as opposed to many makers who find a way of making knives "good enough", and either continuing the method ad infinitum, or running it for a few years, discontinuing it, and having to start over with a new design.

Not only has the design been refined, but the tolerances are very tight, the processes and instage inspection are such that the tolerances are adhered to. After working my whole life in manufacturing, I too am impressed with the resolution and repeatability of their processes.

All too often I've been involved in processes which have been less than 100% repeatable, and despite extensive manufacturing controls, have required some intervention along the process route, to realign the realisation of the component to it's design spec. Aside from occasional tooling breaks and machine problems, the vast majority of these were due to material inconsistencies - something that can be extremely difficult to factor into the equation.

I have withdrawn from projects a few times where making it properly would cost double or more what it costs to make it cheap. Market forces have dictated that the component must be made at the cheap price, but I was unwilling to supply the quality compromises that would entail. Victorinox however, manages to supply perfection for pennies. Many gripe at the lack of innovation that comes out of their door (me included), but the standards we expect from them come from decades of refinement, not from chucking out a myriad of shiny new gizmos every year to satiate the fickle masses.

Look how car technology improves year on year, then every so often a recall is announced. Some problems can't always be identified till you've racked up 40,000 miles in real life conditions. Victorinox product designs have been through that, and then ever so subtly tweaked again to maximise the value for every pound, dollar, or euro we give them. There are plenty of companies out there who innovate and bring out something exciting and new, but very few who bring you the same thing year on year, but always striving to make it just that little bit more perfect.

Innovation or perfection, it's a simple choice. Both are available to us, but it's by fluke not design that they may ever occur together, as in many ways one comes at the expense of the other.

[ironraven]

I also am willing to bet that QC for them isn't pull 1% and test, or 10% and test, but test 100%, and if it doesn't pass, it doesn't ship. Get it right, or don't let anyone know you you didn't. But yes, consistant performance and refusing to settle is part of why I love Vics.

 

[sLaughterMed]

I also am willing to bet that QC for them isn't pull 1% and test, or 10% and test, but test 100%, and if it doesn't pass, it doesn't ship. Get it right, or don't let anyone know you you didn't. But yes, consistant performance and refusing to settle is part of why I love Vics.

I suspect thatthat you are correct, 100% are tested, and dont ship if they aren't up to snuff.

Dont forget, with the exception of the Spartan (and another model I cant remember), all SAKs are "handmade", so testing is a fairly quick process after the SAK is put together.

[cbl51]

In a bad way, Swiss knives and Japanese cars have spoiled me. I find I can't tolerate anything less than perfect in both performance and reliability anymore. Between my Toyota truck and Victorinox SAK, the bar has been set very high. Once  one company proves that a very high standard is able to be achieved, then less so is not acceptable. I'm driving the same little Toyota Tacoma that I bought in 2001, and with 150,000 miles, has been totally reliable. It's crossed the country several times, and I just recently drove it to Mission Viejo California with no hesitation. I've never had a Ford or Chevy as good.

I went hunting once for a certain model Case pocket knife. At a knife shop I tried several, and they all had great variance in blade pulls, gaps and sloppy fit in the backspsrings and bolsters. Yet any Victorinox I look at is darn near perfect, if not absolutely perfect.

With modern close tolerance machining and modern CADCAM production methods, why should we settle for less?

[kaput]

I also am willing to bet that QC for them isn't pull 1% and test, or 10% and test, but test 100%, and if it doesn't pass, it doesn't ship. Get it right, or don't let anyone know you you didn't. But yes, consistant performance and refusing to settle is part of why I love Vics.

Could be. Out of the few nib Alox knives I have they've all came with a few fingerprints and identical snappiness! so maybe they were all hand tested for QC. 

[Aloha]

I think I've bought a few SAKs new, all the rest come with unknown history.  I just got a SAK that can arguably be 40 years old and while there are a few issues the SAK as is can go right into service.  Its quite an achievement in both engineering and manufacturing.  As a matter of fact this SAK will go into service and will probably outlast me. 

  to Victorinox.   

[cbl51]

I think I've bought a few SAKs new, all the rest come with unknown history.  I just got a SAK that can arguably be 40 years old and while there are a few issues the SAK as is can go right into service.  Its quite an achievement in both engineering and manufacturing.  As a matter of fact this SAK will go into service and will probably outlast me. 

  to Victorinox.

Finding used SAK's and putting them to use is a definite thrill. And think of the good karma you gain from the Swiss mountain gods!

[Don Pablo]

Broken-in/pre-used SAKs are my favorite.

[glenfiddich1983]

Great story! Shipping a SAK ahead for a trip is an interesting idea! 

[Aloha]

I think I've bought a few SAKs new, all the rest come with unknown history.  I just got a SAK that can arguably be 40 years old and while there are a few issues the SAK as is can go right into service.  Its quite an achievement in both engineering and manufacturing.  As a matter of fact this SAK will go into service and will probably outlast me. 

  to Victorinox.

Finding used SAK's and putting them to use is a definite thrill. And think of the good karma you gain from the Swiss mountain gods!

NIB is fun and all but yes I like giving old forgotten SAKs much needed love and purpose.