Most of you will know this feeling, its saturday and the delivery guy rings the bell too early in the morning.
That better bet good...
In this case, it was! Very much so!
A package from Ibach, Schwyz arrived and some of you will already know what was inside...
The Special Outrider Damast Limited Edition 2017.
Damast?
Check, the pattern is called „Odins Eye Flat Ground“ with 115 layers. The leaflet says the steel is hardened to 60 HRC, nice enough.
Limited?
Check, 5.000 pieces worldwide, that´s it.
Outrider?
Check.
Wait a minute... check?
Didn´t had the Outrider...
Wasn´t there something?
Is there something missing?
That´s right, because now we´re getting to the „Special“-part.
The Special Outrider has been trimmed down, in this case it lacks the saw and the corkscrew the standard version comes with.
That makes for a slimmer, more refined look, as the scales dont´have to be cut down to allow for the corkscrew.
I think this was a good call, the 111mm Outrider just looks clean, plain an simple.
The tools are as follows:
Mainblade, made from damast-steel, how about that :-)
The blade has a linerlock, as is usual for the large 111mm-series.
Bottleopener, which doubles as large screwdriver and light duty prybar (and I stress the „light“-part!)
Canopener with small screwdriver which also handles a large variety of phillips screws.
Speaking of which, phillips screwdriver in small, with exemplary long reach!
Scissor. Ah, my lovely scissors...
Awl. Don´t go without one!
I realy realy like the selection, all you need, nothing you don´t. In an urban environment at least.
The blade stamp:
Depending on the light the damast changes its appearance quzite nicely:
As usual with the Victorinox made linerlocks it opens if pressed to the right, you get used to it and leftys love it. And its printed on the liner, so no biggie here :-)
The large screwdriver has its own lock, also opened when pushed to the right, marked as well:
That´s what the Outrider looks like in its natural surroundings:
Granted, this specimen is a little pricey, but you get a whole truck load of swiss craftsmanship. For my part I´ll most likely will keep it as a safequeen, a shame i know....
But look at that beauty:
Big Brother:
In this pic you´ll notice the scales, this time not made from an exotic wood, this time its an material which is called Epicurean, a artificial woodfiber-mix.
Looks great, feels warm in the hand, supposedly environment friendly, so whats not to like?
Old School:
That´s what an office Edc can look like:
As of now I realy enjoy the larger swiss knives. I was used to the Explorer or Spartan in my pocket, but the Special Outrider has earned its place.
Great knives and if you ask me, a nice twist.
With the 2017 Damast edition Victorinox has, again, hit the mark. At least for me.
And the year is still young...!
Thanks for bearing with me, if you have any question, don´t hesitate!
Cheers boys!