Why do we collect saks? Share your experience

[Gio]

Good evening everybody!
As everyone can see from my posts I'm a newby sak collector.
I live in Switzerland and I've always had a couple of saks around the house.
I've always used them for simple tasks and and then put them in a drawer
This year somenthing has changed. This springtime I totally fell in love with them.
Don't ask me why 'cause I really can't anwer you but. after a few months I've collected something around 40 saks (new and used)
I love them all but my preferred edc is the Tinker.
So...how does this "addiction" start?
Why do we collect?
What's your story?

[CeHo]

As a student I had an urban survival kit (i call it: Problemlösungskit). I was looking to improve it and then I saw a LM MiniTool.

I bought it and start reading about it...

An addiction was born 

I like to hunt after rarities from different brands. I didn’t collect only one tool. There are tools in my collection that I have 10 times 

[Mechanickal]

I was a kid when I won a "SAK" (read as Chinese knockoff) on the fairground. I think I was about 10 or 11 years old.

I was over the moon and carried it everywhere!

My parents took me to France on a vacation shortly after. We stayed at a B&B and somewhere along that vacation, they went for pizza and wine (Grape juice for me).
They soon realised they bought a bottle with cork, but didn't have a corkscrew!

My mom suddenly had an idea...
"Nick, are you carrying your knife?!"
- "Yes..."
- "give it to me for a second..."

She used the corkscrew on my knife, but the cork didn't budge as my corkscrew turned into a long awl...

I was heartbroken...
My parents promissed me to buy me a new knife... a genuine SAK this time...

A few days later, they bought me my first true SAK, a Sportsman, which I still have to this day. I've cut my fingers within 10min of receiving it and learned a lesson for the rest of my life.
SAKs kept interesting me but...
Years passed by... while in high school, it was left in a drawer...

Then I met my girlfriend, and after a few years we started living together, we went on our first long distance vacation together as well.

It was a trip to Austria. In an old cutlery shop I found a Spartan with the Austrian flag on it and brought it home as a souvenir.

After getting home, I checked a local second hand site for some cheap SAK deals, which didn't turn up.
Untill I found a Black Oxide Spirit S on the cheap! I researched it and ended up here... picked it up and signed on to this forum the same day.

After that, the virus gained strength and I'm now the proud owner of a medium collection. I have around 70 SAKs now, with quite some special and extremely rare ones.

So my childhood passion reignited, and the love for my parents still lays in that one small Sportsman, that is retired to novelty status.

[Gio]

I was a kid when I won a "SAK" (read as Chinese knockoff) on the fairground. I think I was about 10 or 11 years old.

I was over the moon and carried it everywhere!

My parents took me to France on a vacation shortly after. We stayed at a B&B and somewhere along that vacation, they went for pizza and wine (Grape juice for me).
They soon realised they bought a bottle with cork, but didn't have a corkscrew!

My mom suddenly had an idea...
"Nick, are you carrying your knife?!"
- "Yes..."
- "give it to me for a second..."

She used the corkscrew on my knife, but the cork didn't budge as my corkscrew turned into a long awl...

I was heartbroken...
My parents promissed me to buy me a new knife... a genuine SAK this time...

A few days later, they bought me my first true SAK, a Sportsman, which I still have to this day. I've cut my fingers within 10min of receiving it and learned a lesson for the rest of my life.
SAKs kept interesting me but...
Years passed by... while in high school, it was left in a drawer...

Then I met my girlfriend, and after a few years we started living together, we went on our first long distance vacation together as well.

It was a trip to Austria. In an old cutlery shop I found a Spartan with the Austrian flag on it and brought it home as a souvenir.

After getting home, I checked a local second hand site for some cheap SAK deals, which didn't turn up.
Untill I found a Black Oxide Spirit S on the cheap! I researched it and ended up here... picked it up and signed on to this forum the same day.

After that, the virus gained strength and I'm now the proud owner of a medium collection. I have around 70 SAKs now, with quite some special and extremely rare ones.

So my childhood passion reignited, and the love for my parrents still lays in that one small Sportsman, that is retired to novelty status.

Thanks for sharing Mechanickal! Nice story! That's what I was talking about! The little spark the started the fire

[Gio]

As a student I had an urban survival kit (i call it: Problemlösungskit). I was looking to improve it and then I saw a LM MiniTool.

I bought it and start reading about it...

An addiction was born 

I like to hunt after rarities from different brands. I didn’t collect only one tool. There are tools in my collection that I have 10 times 

Thanks for sharing your story Ceho! 

[Mechanickal]

It took quite some sparks!

But once it caught fire, it turned into an inferno!

[Steinar]

I have always been fond of knives in general and SAKs more specifically. Then one day I found myself in need of a nice hobby I didn't have be good at, because I was mentally fatigued. So, SAKs can help keep you sane too. 

[CeHo]

 

[Mechanickal]

I have always been fond of knives in general and SAKs more specifically. Then one day I found myself in need of a nice hobby I didn't have be good at, because I was mentally fatigued. So, SAKs can help keep you sane too. 

Cleaning fingerprints from my displayed SAKs after fiddling with them is pure therapy!
I lose all sense of time and place.

[Gio]

I have always been fond of knives in general and SAKs more specifically. Then one day I found myself in need of a nice hobby I didn't have be good at, because I was mentally fatigued. So, SAKs can help keep you sane too. 

Cleaning fingerprints from my displayed SAKs after fiddling with them is pure therapy!
I lose all sense of time and place.

🤣🤣🥇

[Mechanickal]

[CeHo]

100 % agree - take time with the hobby is pure therapy

[FolderBeholder]

I remember as a young girl, my brothers had switchblades and I was intrigued, but I wasn't given one.  Then they had BB guns and one brother shot his off and it ricocheted off a tree and hit me in the belly button, it hurt, I didn't get intrigued with guns. 

Then a decade later or more, it was April 1986, the MacGyver show was on, I was hurting over the loss of my cat "Maui".  I was at a retail store and saw the Victorinox display on the counter.  I remember that I wanted to be prepared for anything.  I decided on the spot I would buy a knife.  I opted for the Camper as I liked the saw.  I called it my Maui knife.  I had it with me every single day until it was lost 5 years later in a movie theater.

I didn't replace it right away, I was busy with school and work, then, a few years later I decided to get another knife.  I got a SwissChamp.  It was much wider and I tended to not carry it with me at all, just toss it in a backpack, so although I liked it, I didn't bond with it because it wasn't in my pocket.

Then a few years later the internet was at my fingertips, and online shopping, eBay and places like multitool.org were there for the collecting experience.    I bought some Camper knives trying to find one just like I had years before.  Then I bought Tinkers for my brothers and dad.  Then a Huntsman, then a Ranger (love that Ranger!).  Then I found SwissBianco and loved his stuff.  I loved the Cadet Plus line, it had a saw in it.  Then I found out about the Woodsman (love that version), then the Yeoman, no saw, but it's such a great tool!    Then I found the vintage SAKs with the large awl (nirvana!).  Then I found the Vagabond and MiniChamp (2 of my current favorites) and ones that I could carry at work and not worry. 

So as of today, you can pretty much find me browsing eBay ads and other forums for my next Vagabond or vintage SAK fix.  Just bought a Vagabond yesterday.  What can I say, I love 'em.  I have about 8 knives I'd like to find that are rare, but I think it will take me a while to find them.

[VICMAN]

So my childhood passion reignited, and the love for my parents still lays in that one small Sportsman, that is retired to novelty status.

Nice story Mechanickel!

[VICMAN]

 I remember that I wanted to be prepared for anything.  I decided on the spot I would buy a knife.  I opted for the Camper as I liked the saw.  I called it my Maui knife.  I had it with me every single day until it was lost 5 years later in a movie theater.
 then, a few years later I decided to get another knife.  I got a SwissChamp.

Then a few years later the internet was at my fingertips, and online shopping, eBay and places like multitool.org were there for the collecting experience. 

So as of today, you can pretty much find me browsing eBay ads and other forums for my next Vagabond or vintage SAK fix.  Just bought a Vagabond yesterday.  What can I say, I love 'em.  I have about 8 knives I'd like to find that are rare, but I think it will take me a while to find them.

Great story FB!

[VICMAN]

I have collected and used knives since I was 8 years old, but I never saw a real Swiss Army knife until I was around 30 years old. Before that I was always fascinated with Scout knives because of the can opener, screwdriver, caplifter and awl.

I went to a local MacDonald Sales Center and saw a Victorinox Champion model and was in awe of the quality of it and the selection of tools it had, I bought one on the spot. I was hooked.
 

I ended up being a Victorinox Dealer for 15 years.

[FolderBeholder]

I ended up being a Victorinox Dealer for 15 years.

Having all of that boxed inventory at my fingertips would have been    then  there goes my budget.

[CeHo]

Nice thread Gio 👍

[Gio]

Nice thread Gio 👍

Thanks! Very nice stories! Keep them coming 

[VICMAN]

I ended up being a Victorinox Dealer for 15 years.

Having all of that boxed inventory at my fingertips would have been    then  there goes my budget.

I must admit it was a lot of fun having such a variety of Vics to choose from,

[AimlessWanderer]

Collect? Not really. I just kept trying new ones, and was buying at a faster rate than I was selling. I've been catching up on the selling recently, but still have a fair array. Some of them will be kept as they were made, and the others will be used to build personalised knives.

[ulzhan]

Nice stories so far.

It seems SAKs are companions for life or something like this.


When I was young I remember my uncle had a Champion, back at the end of the 1980ies. I know it was a Champion because of the fish scaler und mag Glass.

Some years later I went in the summer breaks on excursions with my friends, all over Europe. My parents bought me a Vic Rucksack, one of the thinner 111 mm models. Loved especially the wood saw. Unfortunately it got lost.

Then nothing happened for a very long time.

Two years ago I got a Spirit with the plus packet which is now part of my EDC. A year later I got my trust  XLT which accompanied me even on the top of an active volcano.

I also got the Workchamp XL to remind me of the time when I went around in Europe with friends from school.

Since I am here on MT.org I found a lot of inspiration from how other people use their tools. It's a wonderful hobby...

Now there is no big collection but maybe in the future, who knows...

[VICMAN]

Nice stories so far.

It seems SAKs are companions for life or something like this.

When I was young I remember my uncle had a Champion,

. My parents bought me a Vic Rucksack, one of the thinner 111 mm models. Loved especially the wood saw. Unfortunately it got lost.

Then nothing happened for a very long time.

Two years ago I got a Spirit with the plus packet which is now part of my EDC. A year later I got my trust  XLT which accompanied me even on the top of an active volcano.

I also got the Workchamp XL to remind me of the time when I went around in Europe with friends from school.

Since I am here on MT.org I found a lot of inspiration from how other people use their tools. It's a wonderful hobby...

Nice story ulzhan!

[Butch]

I have posted this story before but hs been awhile.
Sometime around 1972, I was working on a heater on the roof of a trucking office. While there I found a pocket knife that had absolutely no rust on it and red scales. I had never seen one like it before, thinking back I think it was a tinker, when I finished the job I carried it inside to find the owner. Noone claimed it and the business owner told me to keep it. I did and really grew to like that knife. It went everywhere I did. After 2 or 3 years I lost it, and there were no Vic dealers around here at the time. After a year or so, at a gun show in the area, I found a Champion, which I managed to hang onto for a few years. After that one was lost I found true love with the SwissChamp. I have been a fanboy ever since.
I don't consider myself a collector but I do have an even dozen of them now, plus a few other Vic odds and ends laying around. Maybe 20 or so Buck knives, and some others maybe 40 or 50 awl together. I have maybe 500 knives that are used for table sales at shows around the area but don't consider them as my keepers.I

But I may just have to find me a new tinker just to have one of what started it awl.     

[ulzhan]

Thx Vicman.

Did you know you have exactly 5.555 posts today?

[gerleatherberman]

Some great stories and experiences, y'all.

I was given an Explorer when I was a teenager. It rode, and still rides, in my back pocket. That led way to envying some SAKs a buddy's father owned. His father passed away and I was given his dad's XLT and Blue bailed Fisherman. I had also been carrying a Gerber Pinchy my dad gave me when I was a teenager. I developed a love for multi-function knives and pliers-tools.  And in 2016, I started to accumulate a few more MTs and SAKs, which led to collecting MTs in 2017. I now have about 300 MTs/SAKs and thoroughly enjoy collecting them. While my main focus is on pliers-MTs, I have plenty of SAKs now, and still carry my original Explorer with new scales. I intend on keeping collecting, as it makes me happy 
One of my grail tools is an XAVT.

[tosh]

I didn't intend to go for SAKs, in 2012 I had just 3 items.
Wave
Swisstool
Explorer.
Both MT's were impulse buys  and having got home I suffered buyers remorse, so put them in the sock drawer
The Explorer was used pretty much every day, but I would seldom carry it.
It was quite by chance that I found MT'o
I was playing with both the wave and Swisstool, marvelling the ingenuity of the design, so decided to check online to see what else was out there......
 

Within 3mths I had filled a shoebox of both SAKs and MTs

I loved the early weird victorinox like the sports ratchet, swissflames, swissbits, auto tool etc etc. I was also chasing the many examples of Gerber and SOG
At the time leatherman were too expensive and I hadn't given much thought to Wenger.....
 

I remember discovering the Wenger survivor tool set and being convinced it was the perfect SAK for me. I spent a long time searching, during which time I discovered that Wenger were far more original than Victorinox, their  design ideas blew my mind, I made a conscious decision to buy a few...
By the time I had found  the Survivor model I was hooked on Wenger.
Then came the devastating news in 2012 that Wenger were to cease production the following year.
I decided to concentrate solely on the Ranger models simply because they were a newish line and so plentiful. Little did I know just how many there were or that most of the 130mm Ranger themes also included the 85mm models too. It became an obsession I would spend every day searching the web for Wenger Rangers, a lot of the obscure ones were never available here in the UK. Which meant I had to purchase overseas. I was spending money far far faster than I was earning it! Often several Rangers would be ordered at a time from different countries, the cost both financially and physically searching and overcoming the language barriers as I dealt with little known shops throughout Europe was taking over my life...and my finances!!
Today I look back and wonder how the hell I managed it, but I'm glad I stuck it out.
I don't collect Victorinox at all now. And the missing Wengers I'm searching for can be counted on both hands.
I no longer chase after SOG, Gerber or LM (except for the anniversary models)
In short,  I'm very much more laid back these days, I now realise that eventually missing models will show up, when they do...I'll just grab them..and move on with my life.
I've learnt it's better to buy and cry once, than to miss out and cry for a lot longer.
 

[VICMAN]

Thx Vicman.

Did you know you have exactly 5.555 posts today?

I did not know that,,,Thanks!

[VICMAN]

I was given an Explorer when I was a teenager. It rode, and still rides, in my back pocket. That led way to envying some SAKs a buddy's father owned. His father passed away and I was given his dad's XLT and Blue bailed Fisherman.
 While my main focus is on pliers-MTs, I have plenty of SAKs now, and still carry my original Explorer with new scales. I intend on keeping collecting, as it makes me happy 
One of my grail tools is an XAVT.

Nice story gerleatherberman!

[VICMAN]

Nice story Tosh!