Used Aitor Police Knife (Lynn's $5 MT Challenge)

[Lynn LeFey]

This thread is part of a series of reviews for tools I could find that cost $5 or less including tax and shipping. Here's the main thread of that challenge.
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,75094.0.html

I got this tool from ebay. I won a lot, and this tool was part of that lot. I calculated the value of this at $4.68 of the $20 I spent on that lot.

As received, the tool was... grimy. It looked like someone had carried it in their pocket for years, and worked in a dirty environment. It was stiff and 'grindy' in the joints, but the backsprings were strong. Some of the strongest I've ever seen, in fact. Both blades were wrecks, with rolled edges, and essentially completely blunt. There is some side-to-side play in the tools. It's not terrible, but it's noticeable. The scales show signs of use but are generally in good condition. There are scratches on many of the tools from use, but all of the marks are just superficial.

The tool got a bath, and lubricated. After that, it was mostly smooth. The large flathead catches against the frame when closing, and the saw doesn't want to smoothly sit in its cradle, but a nudge gets it in.  I suspect the tool seating issues are related to the slight side-to-side play.

So, what do we have?


I guess you'll have to imagine the backside tools, which i forgot to extend for the picture. Phillips and awl not pictured.

In the main thread of this challenge, forum member ThePeacent informs me...

"well you've got an old Aitor there, no longer made.
It belongs to the Serie Negra (Black Series) and it's their version of the Vic Huntsman . The Black Series were aimed at military, LEOs and non-civilians, and thus better quality and rarer. Some were Military Issue in the 80s. 
Yours is a particularly rare model, without a name on its own, belonging to the "278" sub-series. 
The closest I can give you is the 278.190 model, which is essentially a stag-handled version of yours:"
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,75094.msg1607255.html#msg1607255

It weighs 112g (about 4oz)
It is virtually the same length of a 91mm Swiss army knife. If not EXACTLY 91mm, then maybe 90. Very close.

I am not an expert on Aitor knives. I spent a number of hours trying to find more info on this knife, and failed, but DID find another similar model.


The notable difference I can see is that the one pictured just above has a Victorinox style can opener. Mine has a sort of transitional style between a Wenger and Victorinox, and I've seen pictures of similar tools with Wenger style. I don't know which was first, or what order they were made in. So, I can only say that all of the features of this knife make me think that it's pretty old, but new enough to have aluminum layer liners.

Tool testing to commence shortly.

[Lynn LeFey]

The blades.

Both of the blades were in seriously bad shape when I got this tool. Both had sizable portions of rolled edge, and dead bluntness. Like, butterknife blunt.  In fact, while I don't consider myself great at knife sharpening, I am VERY proud that I could get them both back into cutting condition, and managed to take a minimum of material off in the process.

This was done with a Lansky stone, by hand, followed by V-type ceramic rod sharpener. And a LOT of time, and patience. This was about 2 hours of work. But both were brought up to receipt-paper cutting sharness.



After sharpening, I took the knife against some cardboard, to test edge retention.


And I found out something interesting. I didn't sharpen these as well as I'd hoped. a portion of the main blade was very hesitant in cutting the cardboard. Chock that up to my novice sharpening skills, and we move on. After the cardboard, it went back to the receipt paper, and did well. Seems that what edge it has it retains fairly well.

Something of note, the main blade on the Aitor seems to be of stock somewhat thicker than the main blade on a Victorinox 91mm but not as thick as that on a Victorinox 93mm.

Here's the Aitor (left), a Farmer (center), and a Scientist (right).


The impression that I'm left with is that, along with the solid scales, this thing seems VERY sturdy in-hand. Not quite 93mm Alox sturdy, but very near, and i'd guess a good deal more comfortable with prolonged use, like whittling. The blade retention in the open position also felt very solid, about like that of my Vic  Farmer. I had absolutely no fear of this thing collapsing closed during use.

Solid blades, and in the hands of someone more skilled at sharpening than me, I bet they'd be amazing. It's a bit sad that someone beat them up as bad as they did.

[Lynn LeFey]

On to the Scissors.

For those who've never read any of my stuff, I made a rating system for multitool scissors. Here's the thread.
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,36798.0.html (Hah! Got the link RIGHT this time. )

Here's a summary of the scale:"The materials tested were paper, corrugated cardboard, T-shirt, The seam portion of old khakis (4 layers thick), suede leather, PETE plastic bottle (as a stand-in for blister packaging), Cardboard box (non-corrugated), heavy gauge screw-on plastic lid (from a container of ‘country time lemonade’, about 1mm thick), and 550 paracord. I scored these in one of 4 categories: Fail (-1), Barely Adequate (+0), Pass (+1), Pass with distinction (+2)"

Here's how the Aitor did.
Pass with Distinction: Paper, PETE, Suede, 550 paracord +8
Pass:Corrugated Cardboard, T-Shirt, Khakis, non-corrugated Cardboard +4
Fail: Heavy Plastic -1

Total score: 11

That's in the range equivalent to Wenger 85mm, and nearly as good as the scissors on the Leatherman Wave.

That's REALLY GOOD, for a used tool, from anyone outside of Leatherman and Victorinox.

Maybe I just got a really good sample, but... wow. 


The Aitor, for the most part, doesn't have any visible rust on it. With the exception of the spring for the scissors. And... also, for no reason on Earth that I can imagine, the scissors have a 90-degree halfstop.

[Lynn LeFey]

The saw.

Okay, LOOK people! It's 13F (-11C) out there, with a windchill factor of 'what, are you crazy?'. You should be thanking me dearly for going out in that to smurf around with pocketknives! 

But... seriously. Time to cut through an ash branch was 30 seconds. This is the kind of time I'd expect from a 91mm Swiss Army Knife, or full size Leatherman tool.

This thing cut like the big brands with no sense of dulling. 100% pass.


Oh... hey, I just noticed. In the photo, the sun is at just the right angle to align the two rows of teeth in the shadow. making the shadow look like it's got GREAT BIG teeth on the saw. Heh.

[Lynn LeFey]

On to drivers.

The flathead worked fine as a flathead, tested on moderately stubborn hinge screws. It's well formed and felt very solid. Onto the crusty pain can pry test.


This was one of the few points where I felt like the play in the layers was a cause for concern. But the tool did the job without complaint.

The small flathead at the tip of the can opener is also well formed and slots into screws cleanly, without wanting to cam out under torque. Like the small flathead on the Victorinox style can opener, this will also slot into phillips screws. In fact, it does so a good deal more securely than the Vic's.

And that's a good thing, because the only horrible implement on this tool is the t-handle phillips. It does not slot into screws well. Oh, and as a bonus, it collapsed on me under pressure while trying to turn a woodscrew.


That picture was taken a split second before I leaned in on that thing and it crunched my finger. Then I ran around the house for a few minutes screaming obscenities. 

Flatheads for screws: Pass
Large flathead as a pry tool: Pass
Small flathead as a flat phillips: Pass
Phillips as a finger-crushing monstrosity born in hell: pass

[Mechanickal]

I'm still hoping to encounter an Aitor one day

[Lynn LeFey]

I'm still hoping to encounter an Aitor one day

I'd never heard of one until I opened the main blade on this and started googling. They're pretty fantastic.

On with the testing.

The Awl.

Does it punch through leather?


It sure does.

As a bonus for the sharp-eyed, you can see the hole that the Evo 10 (another $5 MT contestant) punched in the belt a couple inches to the right of the Aitor's hole.
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,75206.msg1607364.html#msg1607364

Okay, how about as a reamer/drill? Here it is versus a piece of ash...


And just like with the belt, this is the same piece of wood the Evo 10 was tested on. The Aitor's hole was turned 90 degrees on the piece of wood. The Aitor is nowhere near as good at this task as the Victorinox Awl, but at least capable of it. It was a much slower process, and the slight play in the layer made such strong torque feel a little sketchy, but it did fine, and there was no additional play in the layers when I was done.

The Aitor's awl is second only to the Victorinox awl. At least in this testing. There might be some competition from Leatherman tools, if any were in the running.

Good awl!

[Lynn LeFey]

The can opener opens cans. Here it is with the Wenger Evo 10 and Victorinox Tourist. While it DID open the can, it was a good step below the performance of the other two. But how often are you going to need to open many cans in rapid succession? Slow or not, it did the job.


And the cap lifter pops caps.


That's the entire tool loadout.

Summary will follow shortly.

[ReamerPunch]

A nice Aitor is on my to-get list, but now it's moved up a few places.
Thanks so much for doing these tests! 

[Lynn LeFey]

A nice Aitor is on my to-get list, but now it's moved up a few places.
Thanks so much for doing these tests! 

My pleasure. I think this is going to be the hidden gem in a pile of... less... precious... stuff in these tests.

Right, so... my final thoughts. This thing is SOLID. If the peening were a little more precise, it would be ROCK solid. As it is, I trust it as much as I would any 91mm Vic. It's the first knife I've had with a bail. It's kind of 'old school' feeling, and looking. And I think I really like that. It's amazing to know that this thing is at least 15 years old, probably a bit more, and I know from the dirt in it that it was used. The stock its made from on the blade layer is heavy, at least that main blade. It's ALMOST the durability of a Vic Soldier. Great scissors, great saw. So, this thing is like a slightly beefier Fieldmaster.

And that is some amazing stuff, right there. So, was it WORTH the $4.68  Ipaid for it? I'm going with...yyyyes. Yes. Worth it. 
I have to assume that like me, the seller didn't know what this was, because with the right keywords on ebay, it would have sold for a LOT more.

It is going to be ridiculously hard to beat the value for what I paid in this $5 Challenge, unless I stumble across a Surge in a tool bin in a pawn shop. Ya never know...

[Gareth]

Sounds like a winner so far.

[ThePeacent]

nice to see the Aitor doing as well as I had hoped.
It's most likely that the use it saw came from somebody in the military, or that had served in the past and acquired it that way.

Unless you were LEO or Military these black models were really hard to come by and purchase, being the red series and other series destined and sold to civilians in common stores, but not these. Maybe it came as an inherited piece or the previous owner acquired it as a gift, or looked for it specifically (as a collector of rarer pieces) 

If the bail is made of brass, the model was made in 1976 up to 78, but if the bail is steel it was made in the 1978 or later era.
As with Vic, numbering and common sense don't go together so many variations and improved (evolved implements) tools have same numbers as their old versions, or change them in some cases

Yours is the 278.175 but in black color, and with a Corkscrew instead of Phillips, also could be seen as the military version of their old  Police (258.190) which agains is identical to this but had a Corkscrew in the back, no PH. 

This one is also very similar (276.176):

http://cuchillosynavajas.mforos.com/2032576/12958982-aitor-multiusos-setentera-pocovista/

it is not from the sixties because those have the old can opener and sharper, pointier tapered awl, like the red one next to the black one in the website above. 

[Lynn LeFey]

I hadn't considered that the bail could be brass, but it has a very slightly yellow color (which is frankly hard to notice), but much more telling, it's non-magnetic.



It appears identical in color to the third picture in the thread you posted, except, as you said, with a phillips instead of corkscrew.

So... uh... wow.. guess it's a 76-78 year range. This thing is almost as old as I am.

Also, this is some fantastic research work, The Peacent. Thank you SO much!

[ReamerPunch]

 
Lynn, you might want to stop using it and retire it as a shelf queen.
Or sell it to me for twice what it cost you, and make a profit. 

[Lynn LeFey]

Lynn, you might want to stop using it and retire it as a shelf queen.
Or sell it to me for twice what it cost you, and make a profit. 

Seriously.

This is INSANITY. I just wanted a 'good' MT. I didn't want a RARE one.

This knife is probably worth more than the whole cost of the Challenge put together.

 

How does this stuff happen? 

[ReamerPunch]

Hey, if you sell this for $50, it means you can break even and rename the challenge "Lynn's $0 MT Challenge". 

[Lynn LeFey]

Hey, if you sell this for $50, it means you can break even and rename the challenge "Lynn's $0 MT Challenge". 

Oh, i'm pretty sure I could sell the Evo 10 for a few bucks.

The "Lynn's make enough money for a burger Challenge". 

[Mechanickal]

Hey, if you sell this for $50, it means you can break even and rename the challenge "Lynn's $0 MT Challenge". 

Oh, i'm pretty sure I could sell the Evo 10 for a few bucks.

The "Lynn's make enough money for a burger Challenge". 

Lynn's break even GAW

[Lynn LeFey]

Lynn's break even GAW

That's a thought.

[ThePeacent]

well not that I'm interested in it but collectors and people on the Spanish forums could pay $30-50 for sure for one like that, if it's in good usable condition

It's a piece of rare and old Spanish cutlery history   

[Mechanickal]

well not that I'm interested in it but collectors and people on the Spanish forums could pay $30-50 for sure for one like that, if it's in good usable condition

It's a piece of rare and old Spanish cutlery history   

Hey TP, do you come across alot of Aitors over there?

[ThePeacent]

well not that I'm interested in it but collectors and people on the Spanish forums could pay $30-50 for sure for one like that, if it's in good usable condition

It's a piece of rare and old Spanish cutlery history   

Hey TP, do you come across alot of Aitors over there?

no, not really.
Prior to 2002 Aitors were proudly made in Spain since 1939 Reputable brand, good materials, excellent craftsmanship, military contracts, ample customer base, national pride.... 
 After a crisis the owner had to outsource to China, and manufacture most stuff there after the "Pielcu" group bought the company (Pielcu makes "survival stuff", "camping stuff" and such on Chinese factories). Quality dropped, materials were worse, tolerances much higher, etc.

Something like what happened to Gerber and Schrade in the US. 

Nowadays the "Aitor-Pielcu" knives are entry level knives, much worse for your $ than the good old ones. Few people love them anymore, and veterans/knowledgeable folks avoid them at all costs. It's a forgotten, deep fallen memory of what was once a huge and famous brand.

If you find the old ones, it's often at outrageous prices, or horrible condition. They are valuable for users and collectors alike but the black/bail ones even more precious, like older Wengers or ancient Vics. 
Hard to find and usually worth it, rare but sought after, and obviously not covered by warranty so they end up being shelf queens most times.

Internet, eBay and that has eased the task, but also allowed their prices to inflate and create a secondary market of greedy sellers 

[Mechanickal]

well not that I'm interested in it but collectors and people on the Spanish forums could pay $30-50 for sure for one like that, if it's in good usable condition

It's a piece of rare and old Spanish cutlery history   

Hey TP, do you come across alot of Aitors over there?

no, not really.
Prior to 2002 Aitors were proudly made in Spain since 1939 Reputable brand, good materials, excellent craftsmanship, military contracts, ample customer base, national pride.... 
 After a crisis the owner had to outsource to China, and manufacture most stuff there after the "Pielcu" group bought the company (Pielcu makes "survival stuff", "camping stuff" and such on Chinese factories). Quality dropped, materials were worse, tolerances much higher, etc.

Something like what happened to Gerber and Schrade in the US. 

Nowadays the "Aitor-Pielcu" knives are entry level knives, much worse for your $ than the good old ones. Few people love them anymore, and veterans/knowledgeable folks avoid them at all costs. It's a forgotten, deep fallen memory of what was once a huge and famous brand.

If you find the old ones, it's often at outrageous prices, or horrible condition. They are valuable for users and collectors alike but the black/bail ones even more precious, like older Wengers or ancient Vics. 
Hard to find and usually worth it, rare but sought after, and obviously not covered by warranty so they end up being shelf queens most times.

Internet, eBay and that has eased the task, but also allowed their prices to inflate and create a secondary market of greedy sellers 

Sigh...

Being 1200km further doesn't help finding any either.

I once came across a "Mikov" SAK type of knife which is said to be pretty decent too, but the blade was ground halfway

[Mechanickal]

Aaargh, this Aitor isn't letting go of me

[Lynn LeFey]

I thought I'd post this as a follow-up on this knife.

I said above that the can opener looked like a hybrid form between the Wenger style and the Victorinox style, but while going through the SAKWiki the other day, I came across an image of the Wenger Combo Tool on the 85mm knives. It's a pretty fair match. I don't know when Wenger first introduced it, but I assume Wenger's design came first. Although, that's just an assumption on my part. Those more in the know on Wenger knives might want to comment here.

http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-browse_image.php?imageId=602

[WoodsDuck]

I recently acquired an Aitor knife. The quality seems pretty good, but the condition was poorer than I'd hoped. One of the liners is bend out of place at one end, and I'm not sure if it can just be peened back together or what. Don't know the age or name of the model, but here it is;






Now I want to get another to try out... The "Gran Capitan" has caught my eye.

[Lynn LeFey]

Nice.

Sorry I can't help with advice on repeening. My GUESS is that if you pry the scales off to repeen, worst case is you'll just have to superglue them back on when you're done. But that is completely speculation. Proceed at your own risk... then report your findings.

[ReamerPunch]

I recently acquired an Aitor knife.
Don't know the age or name of the model,

Surely that model is the WAitor. 

[WoodsDuck]

I recently acquired an Aitor knife.
Don't know the age or name of the model,

Surely that model is the WAitor. 

 

[ColoSwiss]

I own a number of Spanish-made Aitors. Haven't used them much, but they appear to be solid, particularly the larger ones. The fishing knife is heavy; think it was intended for clubbing fish.