The Greatest SAK Combo Thread

[GoatDragon]

I mean really guys, why is this thread still going? There can never be a greater SAK combo than the Pioneer and Classic.

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

The Pioneer give you all the robust tools of the 93mm platform including the beloved awl. And the Classic brings scissors and a file to the party as well as the toothpick+tweezers that the alox is missing. It's the most classic SAK combination imaginable and each one's strengths perfectly match the other's weaknesses. Nothing can beat it.

Challenge excepted!
 
Pocket tool chest paired with a Desert Trailmaster. (As I drop the mike)

That is an excellent combo indeed, but no where near as iconic as the Pioneer and Classic.

[El Corkscrew]

I mean really guys, why is this thread still going? There can never be a greater SAK combo than the Pioneer and Classic.

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

The Pioneer give you all the robust tools of the 93mm platform including the beloved awl. And the Classic brings scissors and a file to the party as well as the toothpick+tweezers that the alox is missing. It's the most classic SAK combination imaginable and each one's strengths perfectly match the other's weaknesses. Nothing can beat it.

Am I the only one who noticed the spelling error on the sign??

[GoatDragon]

I mean really guys, why is this thread still going? There can never be a greater SAK combo than the Pioneer and Classic.

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

The Pioneer give you all the robust tools of the 93mm platform including the beloved awl. And the Classic brings scissors and a file to the party as well as the toothpick+tweezers that the alox is missing. It's the most classic SAK combination imaginable and each one's strengths perfectly match the other's weaknesses. Nothing can beat it.

Am I the only one who noticed the spelling error on the sign??

Am I blind or are you messing with me? Cause I don't see any spelling errors on the sign.

[El Corkscrew]

"... is the greatest SAK combo of all awl time"  Duh   

[GoatDragon]

"... is the greatest SAK combo of all awl time"  Duh   

Oh you! 

I may or may not have stared at that picture for a solid 5 minutes trying to find the spelling error. 

[El Corkscrew]

 
My bad.

[Ron Who]

That is an excellent combo indeed, but no where near as iconic as the Pioneer and Classic.

I don´t care about iconicity, I prefer the Farmer over the Pioneer, and the BuSchroder over the Farmer. I don´t need the opener/screwdriver layer a lot, a combo tool will do. Moreover, alox SAKs don´t have a corkscrew so I´m adding a Waiter. And the Classic is a nice tool, but I find the extra tools on the MiniChamp worth a little extra weight and bulk.

The other tools in the pic are a Opinel #12 woodsaw and a Leatherman Hybrid.

[GoatDragon]

That is an excellent combo indeed, but no where near as iconic as the Pioneer and Classic.

I don´t care about iconicity, I prefer the Farmer over the Pioneer, and the BuSchroder over the Farmer. I don´t need the opener/screwdriver layer a lot, a combo tool will do. Moreover, alox SAKs don´t have a corkscrew so I´m adding a Waiter. And the Classic is a nice tool, but I find the extra tools on the MiniChamp worth a little extra weight and bulk.

The other tools in the pic are a Opinel #12 woodsaw and a Leatherman Hybrid.

I was being somewhat facetious declaring the Pioneer and Classic the obvious de facto best SAK combo of all time. One wonderful thing about Swiss Army Knives is how many different varieties there are. Every individual is free to choose the SAK or SAKs that best suits their specific needs. It sounds like you have found a very specific set of SAKs that works perfectly for your needs, and that is a beautiful thing.

However, I posit that the "Greatest SAK Combo" can be interpreted in two ways. The first being the greatest SAK combo for a particular individual, which is a valid way to answer the question. Everyone has unique needs and preferences as to which tools they have on their SAKs, and as such the answers could be as varied as individuals who provide them. And by definition, none of them could be wrong. The second way to answer that question is what is the greatest combo for anyone in a more abstract sense. This is a more challenging question to answer, but possibly a more interesting one. There may or may not be a correct answer to this question, but arguments can still be made defending or opposing certain answers.

And I maintain that for a general use case, with out taking into account any specific individuals tool requirements or preferences, the combination of a Pioneer and a Classic is truly the greatest. It is the perfect union of large and small, alox and celidor, one tool for tinkering with external objects and one tool for personal care. There is zero tool overlap, and all the basics are covered. If you need a woodsaw, make it a Farmer and a Classic. While that technically is a different combo, for the sake of argument it checks all the same boxes, and I continue to hold both combinations up as unbeatable.

[Ron Who]

If you put it like that, I can only agree. 

[GoatDragon]

So once again, I challenge you SAKnights.

[El Corkscrew]

So once again, I challenge you SAKnights.
(Image removed from quote.)

 

[AimlessWanderer]

So once again, I challenge you SAKnights.
(Image removed from quote.)

Challenge accepted 

93 and 84 Alox feels horrible, so we can rule both of those two product lines out straight away.

Classic is good, Rambler/Manager is better. Then of course there's a Wenger Pocket Tool Chest if you want some real keyring sized awesomeness.

Iconic was mentioned earlier, so for that you need a pocket sized red celidor scaled knife. Alox is not iconic - red celidor is what the majority of people associate with a Swiss knife.

So which 84-91mm knife pairs best with a Classic or Manager or Rambler or PTC? To determine that, you first have to decide that the smaller knife isn't actually big enough to meet your daily needs, in order to warrant the second knife. Also, you have to decide which knife is not worth carrying without the keyring sized knife, because that doesn't have all the tools you need either. I'm a big believer that if you have to carry two Swiss knives, your first choice was wrong. But if your second choice still warrants carrying your first choice, then that choice wasn't too smart either. 

So instead of analysing the failings of the knives that you bought which don't meet your needs, therefore needing you to carry a second knife which also doesn't fit your needs, in the hope that each will allay the failings of the other - just pick a knife which actually DOES meet your needs. Once we accept that, and we carry a knife which actually does meet our needs for a pocket knife, then we just need to throw a Spirit in the bag or jacket pocket, to cover all the unseen additional challenges that may arise. 

So the only valid Swiss knife combo, is a Victorinox Spirit, and whichever 84-91mm red celidor scaled knife best suits your own personal needs. Anything else is like wearing odd shoes because you lost the right shoe from one pair, and the left shoe from the other, but are determined to wear the remaining odd shoes just because you own them, even though you have other complete pairs that you could wear instead.

Challenge complete! 

What did I win? 

[GoatDragon]

So once again, I challenge you SAKnights.
(Image removed from quote.)

Challenge accepted 

93 and 84 Alox feels horrible, so we can rule both of those two product lines out straight away.

Classic is good, Rambler/Manager is better. Then of course there's a Wenger Pocket Tool Chest if you want some real keyring sized awesomeness.

Iconic was mentioned earlier, so for that you need a pocket sized red celidor scaled knife. Alox is not iconic - red celidor is what the majority of people associate with a Swiss knife.

So which 84-91mm knife pairs best with a Classic or Manager or Rambler or PTC? To determine that, you first have to decide that the smaller knife isn't actually big enough to meet your daily needs, in order to warrant the second knife. Also, you have to decide which knife is not worth carrying without the keyring sized knife, because that doesn't have all the tools you need either. I'm a big believer that if you have to carry two Swiss knives, your first choice was wrong. But if your second choice still warrants carrying your first choice, then that choice wasn't too smart either. 

So instead of analysing the failings of the knives that you bought which don't meet your needs, therefore needing you to carry a second knife which also doesn't fit your needs, in the hope that each will allay the failings of the other - just pick a knife which actually DOES meet your needs. Once we accept that, and we carry a knife which actually does meet our needs for a pocket knife, then we just need to throw a Spirit in the bag or jacket pocket, to cover all the unseen additional challenges that may arise. 

So the only valid Swiss knife combo, is a Victorinox Spirit, and whichever 84-91mm red celidor scaled knife best suits your own personal needs. Anything else is like wearing odd shoes because you lost the right shoe from one pair, and the left shoe from the other, but are determined to wear the remaining odd shoes just because you own them, even though you have other complete pairs that you could wear instead.

Challenge complete! 

What did I win? 

Alox feeling horrible to you is a unique personal problem that has no bearing on the general case best SAK combo. And the Pioneer is the modern day iteration of the original Soldier model, which was the first SAK ever made. So I would argue it is most certainly an iconic SAK.

And I would agree with your point that carrying two SAKs means you didn't select the first SAK well enough. I usually only carry one SAK at a time myself. However, this thread is about the greatest SAK combo, so that is what we are debating here.

I would also accept replacing the Classic in the Pioneer+Classic combo with a Manager or Rambler, just like I would accept replacing the Pioneer with a Farmer. These substitutions still hold true to all the reasons I am saying it is the best combination in the first place, and do not alter my argument.

[AimlessWanderer]

So once again, I challenge you SAKnights.
(Image removed from quote.)

Challenge accepted 

93 and 84 Alox feels horrible, so we can rule both of those two product lines out straight away.

Classic is good, Rambler/Manager is better. Then of course there's a Wenger Pocket Tool Chest if you want some real keyring sized awesomeness.

Iconic was mentioned earlier, so for that you need a pocket sized red celidor scaled knife. Alox is not iconic - red celidor is what the majority of people associate with a Swiss knife.

So which 84-91mm knife pairs best with a Classic or Manager or Rambler or PTC? To determine that, you first have to decide that the smaller knife isn't actually big enough to meet your daily needs, in order to warrant the second knife. Also, you have to decide which knife is not worth carrying without the keyring sized knife, because that doesn't have all the tools you need either. I'm a big believer that if you have to carry two Swiss knives, your first choice was wrong. But if your second choice still warrants carrying your first choice, then that choice wasn't too smart either. 

So instead of analysing the failings of the knives that you bought which don't meet your needs, therefore needing you to carry a second knife which also doesn't fit your needs, in the hope that each will allay the failings of the other - just pick a knife which actually DOES meet your needs. Once we accept that, and we carry a knife which actually does meet our needs for a pocket knife, then we just need to throw a Spirit in the bag or jacket pocket, to cover all the unseen additional challenges that may arise. 

So the only valid Swiss knife combo, is a Victorinox Spirit, and whichever 84-91mm red celidor scaled knife best suits your own personal needs. Anything else is like wearing odd shoes because you lost the right shoe from one pair, and the left shoe from the other, but are determined to wear the remaining odd shoes just because you own them, even though you have other complete pairs that you could wear instead.

Challenge complete! 

What did I win? 

Alox feeling horrible to you is a unique personal problem that has no bearing on the general case best SAK combo. And the Pioneer is the modern day iteration of the original Soldier model, which was the first SAK ever made. So I would argue it is most certainly an iconic SAK.

And I would agree with your point that carrying two SAKs means you didn't select the first SAK well enough. I usually only carry one SAK at a time myself. However, this thread is about the greatest SAK combo, so that is what we are debating here.

I would also accept replacing the Classic in the Pioneer+Classic combo with a Manager or Rambler, just like I would accept replacing the Pioneer with a Farmer. These substitutions still hold true to all the reasons I am saying it is the best combination in the first place, and do not alter my argument.

Don't take my earlier post too seriously
 
However, I would still argue that the Pioneer is far less iconic that the red celidor. If was only once I'd crossed the threshold into being more than just an ignorant everyday knife carrier, that I discovered that Victorinox did a metal scaled knife. If I had seen an alox knife 15 years ago, I would not have known that is was made by the same company that made the red celidor scaled knives that I was familiar with. I have spoken to other knife users who are not enthusiasts, and they didn't know that non-plastic scaled knives were made. That doesn't make it very iconic in my book, whether it is a derivative of the actual issued knife or not.

[GoatDragon]

Don't take my earlier post too seriously
 
However, I would still argue that the Pioneer is far less iconic that the red celidor. If was only once I'd crossed the threshold into being more than just an ignorant everyday knife carrier, that I discovered that Victorinox did a metal scaled knife. If I had seen an alox knife 15 years ago, I would not have known that is was made by the same company that made the red celidor scaled knives that I was familiar with. I have spoken to other knife users who are not enthusiasts, and they didn't know that non-plastic scaled knives were made. That doesn't make it very iconic in my book, whether it is a derivative of the actual issued knife or not.

Also don't take my posts too seriously, friend. This is just a silly debate for our amusement. 

That being said, I take this very seriously!

Perhaps you're right that the red celidor SAKs are the most iconic. That alone does not determine the age old debate between alox and celidor. There are excellent points to be made in favor of both types of SAKs, and I do not wish to get into all those details here. However I will say that that is a great reason why the greatest SAK combo of all time should include one of each!

[El Corkscrew]

Really enjoying this discourse 

[AimlessWanderer]

Don't take my earlier post too seriously
 
However, I would still argue that the Pioneer is far less iconic that the red celidor. If was only once I'd crossed the threshold into being more than just an ignorant everyday knife carrier, that I discovered that Victorinox did a metal scaled knife. If I had seen an alox knife 15 years ago, I would not have known that is was made by the same company that made the red celidor scaled knives that I was familiar with. I have spoken to other knife users who are not enthusiasts, and they didn't know that non-plastic scaled knives were made. That doesn't make it very iconic in my book, whether it is a derivative of the actual issued knife or not.

Also don't take my posts too seriously, friend. This is just a silly debate for our amusement. 

That being said, I take this very seriously!

Perhaps you're right that the red celidor SAKs are the most iconic. That alone does not determine the age old debate between alox and celidor. There are excellent points to be made in favor of both types of SAKs, and I do not wish to get into all those details here. However I will say that that is a great reason why the greatest SAK combo of all time should include one of each!

I'm probably going to contradict myself a few times here...

I think the 93mm line is great, the awl, the beefy blade, the smooth backsprings, and the overall rigidity... but the feel of the alox is something I can't tolerate for any length of time. I can handle one, but gripping the handles tocut something or turn a screw, sets my hairs on end. At some point in the next 12 months (hopefully), I'll be doing an alox mod which captures everything I like about the line, but ditching the alox scales in favour of brass or nickel bolsters and wood scales... plus scale tools.

I love the 58mm alox scales. The smaller pattern on those doesn't have the same feel as the larger squares on the 84/91mm lines. I have an alox rambler on a neck lanyard with a load of other simple tools, and very often this will be my base layer of carried tools. Sometimes I leave the house with just that, and the small tools on my keyring.

Even if I have an 84-91mm Swiss knife in my pocket, I will often have the neck lanyard on too. This isn't to pair knives, but to ensure I have the additional capabilities of the lanyard - a light, Uncle Bills Silver Grippers, a mag glass (better than any on a knife), a whistle, and a pen. Even though I have those scissors, plus the ones on the Dime on my keys, I wouldn't dream of carrying my Tourist. Why would I carry an 84mm knife without scissors, when I can carry one with scissors? Likewise, if I'm carrying my knifeless MP400 mod which has decent scissors, I'll happily carry a traditional slipjoint folder, or a modern pocket clipped one hand opening folder ... but still not that Tourist for the same reason as before. It doesn't matter how many other pairs of scissors are on my carried tools, Victorinox scissors are the best I could choose to carry, so why carry a Tourist and settle for lesser scissors, when I could carry a Climber Small instead... it's either Swiss knife with scissors, or a different type of knife entirely.

The best analogy I can put on this is a traditional knife is a motorcycle, and a Swiss knife is a car, and scissors are the car doors. People ride motorcycles all the time, exposed to the wind and rain, but if you get in the car instead, you expect it to have doors on...

So I do sometimes carry two Swiss knives, one of which is alox, even though I stand by my earlier comments about carrying two knives and about alox, and I don't consider them a combo, because i'm not carrying one to make up for the inadequacies of another

If i'm carrying a knifeless pliers tool, or one with non-locking blade, that doesn't just cover the plier capability, but the Phillips too. As such, I can go for a Wenger Traveller, Climber Small, Ranger, or whatever. However, if I'm carrying my Spirit, which is the only tool i'm keeping for pocket carry which has a locking blade, my Swiss knife needs a Phillips (Cybertool, Voyager Lite, Salesman, DofE). This is to minimise unnecessarily using a tool with fixed blade, even though it's not the blade that i'd be using, and the Spirit has a good Phillips...

Tool carrying really brings out our quirkiness 

[GoatDragon]

I love the feel of alox (58mm, 84mm, and 93mm all) and I frequently carry an alox model over a celidor just so I can fondle the scales. I think we have talked about this before.

[GoatDragon]

Really enjoying this discourse 

Haha yeah it's sounding like one of your youtube videos in here. 

[El Corkscrew]

For you, El dragon de la Goat!

[GoatDragon]

Vive el combo supremo! 

[El Corkscrew]

Recruit + PTC

[GoatDragon]

Does this count?

Tinker Small and a Dragonfly 

[El Corkscrew]

 

[Rapidray]

The greatest SAK combo...well for me, it’s these two. 

[Ron Who]

It´s pretty much the same for me RR, but a bit more luxurious on my off day -- Woodsman and Classic.

[Rapidray]

It´s pretty much the same for me RR, but a bit more luxurious on my off day -- Woodsman and Classic.

Not bad, not bad at all! 

[ThePeacent]

The best combo of three different sizes for me 

[El Corkscrew]

The best combo of three different sizes for me 

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PTC, Executive, and Swiss Champ?

[ThePeacent]

The best combo of three different sizes for me 

(Image removed from quote.)

PTC, Executive, and Swiss Champ?

Ambassador, but yes to the other two