I guess the Victorinox Classic is the Hotel California, or the Springsteen album, of the SAK world. Everyone has a copy and if they don't they know someone who does!
We met up with my brother and his wife for a picnic recently. They're young, in their late 20's, very modern, he runs a large multinational investment company and she's a corporate lawyer. I'm not even sure why I mentioned SAK's but they both pulled out their keychains to show off their Classics. Was surprised at that to be honest, I thought they were too modern.
That's what I have noticed; that the people I didn't think would have a knife of any kind on them, would have the tiniest SAK. It's almost like its a pocket/keychain knife for non knife people. Did they have any corporate logos on their classics? I wonder how many people have one that was a business freebee because of the advertising and logo? Like our friend at breakfast, he got his from a bank when he opened an account with a certain amount of money. They gave him a choice of a Cross pen or Vic classic. He took the classic. Kenny said he could always sign his name with a Bic, but a nice little pocket knife was better. A practical man.
I don't know which I would have picked, Cross pen or Vic Classic. I have and use both frequently. I have probably half a dozen Classics, all red or black, stashed in various tool boxes and cars. Maybe if it were one with snazzy scales. A chrome Cross skinny pen is what I mostly write with at work, but can't see having a second.I believe I am on record stating these are my favorite pen knife, over the Exec, Minichamp, rambler, and any Leatherman offering. I use it like I stole it, to scrape, pry, cut, and anything else you'd use a dinky knife for. It's a great little knife.
So I'm an old fart. Bonafide social security collecting, retired living off the government kind of old fart. I'm living in one of the 55 plus communities in Georgetown Texas, and there's lots of us. Georgetown seems to be the retirement destination for us old pensioners that take it easy with fishing, and other taking it easy occupations. In the mornings, we gather at the local coffee shop to compare notes on the latest RONCO pocket defibrillators, oxygen systems, and best times to drive down to the Mexican border for our prescriptions refills and Smurfpills. But most of all, its'a. time to see who woke up this morning and who's still with us. Sometimes we laugh a lot and joke around. This morning was a little funny thing. Old folks sometimes have a bit of trouble opening things. Like those foil pull off seals on orange juice and milk single serving containers in fast food stores. Like this morning. There we were, shooting the breeze when one old fellow, John, was having a bit of trouble with his orange juice bottle, so he digs in his pocket and pulls out his keyring. There on it was a familiar looking little red handle, and he pulls open the little classic blade and simply cuts around the inside of the bottle opening and removes the seal so he can now drink his orange juice. Being the dedicated SAKist that I am, I make the comment that a little SAK is a good thing to have. John agrees and says how his little classic has been a companion for many years, and it gets used everyday. One of the ladies at the next table takes notice, Lorraine, and she digs into her purse and comes up with her keychain and on it is bright pink classic that she says her daughter gave her. While we're singing the praises of the little keychain SAK, another silver haired lady in the senior citizen group pulls out a keychain with a little sapphire blue classic on it and tells how she couldn't keep her nails nicely kept without it, and how it even opens those pesky plastic packages that the stores are so fond of. Howard, an old timer almost 80, digs around in his coin pocket and comes up with a beat up and much abused red handle classic that he said his son gave him many years ago when his old penknife finally wore out by not having enough blade left to sharpen again. He admits the little scissors are handy. By the time it was all said and done, about a dozen silver haired old farts had pulled out various classics of different colors and vintages, all well used and ready for action. This was not the first time I had noticed a lot of classics being carried on keychains, and I wonder just how many of these little 58mm's are being made and sold every year? In just this one setting, of the 20 or so retirees that make up the early morning crowd, there were red ones, a yellow one, two black ones, a green one with a shamrock on it carried by a gentleman named O'Malley, A battered dark green one with U.S. Army still legible on it, a pink breast cancer one carried by a breast cancer survivor, and a while one. A few were advertising classic's with some company logo on the handle. One from a bank and one from a real Estate company, and one from some electronics company. That's a lot of SAK's for a particular group of people having their morning coffee and cinnamon bun at a local place. Is there a way to find out how many classics are made every year? They seem to be the worlds most used keychain 'penknife.'
What the hey, here's my entry. Usually carried loose in pocket, I'll throw the knife on my keychain when wearing shorts. My last Cross pen lasted a couple years until it was run over by a car. My car. After it fell out of my pocket. Replaced it a couple months ago.(Image removed from quote.)