Finesse.

[cbl51]

This past weekend our neighborhood had a yard sale. Every house with too much junk put out tables in the driveway and had all the old stuff for sale. Walking around, I saw the usual old lamps, knick knacks and stuff. One table had a box with odds and ends to include a few old pocket knives with broken off blades. It was obvious that the owner had used them as either a screw driver or pry bar and snapped off the blade tips. Uhh! It made me appreciate the SAK that I've had at hand for 50 years this year. For most of my life I've had a SAK of some sort or another in my pocket, and having a few tools has made it easy to do things with a little finesse. I guess growing up with my dad made me always try to use the right tool for the job.

I remember when I was a kid, I was using some pocket knife to pry off the lid of a Nestle's Quick container, and my old man walking by gave me a stiff head slap and saying "That's a knife, bone head, not a pryer!" So I used a teaspoon. 

Dad was a blue collar type that lived through the Great Depression and a world war, and was good at fixing things on the fly. He fixed Mom's G.E. toaster oven door latch with a paper clip and some epoxy. I saw him fix a gunked up fishing reel while on the bank of a river with his little Sear's 4-way keychain screw driver and some graphite scraped off a pencil point with his little Case peanut that he always carried. Never saw him use his peanut for anything but cutting. Right tool for the job. He always carried that little 4-way keychain screw driver and a P-38 in his wallet, so his pocket knife was strictly just a cutting tool for him.

I guess that head slap made me think of it, because after he gave me the scout knife when I became a boy scout, I just got used to having a screw driver on hand. An awl came in handy now and then. I learned that the hook on the can Opener was good for untangling knots in twine or rope. A few tools meant that one could use a bit more finesse on a job. Most of the SAK tools have more uses than than the ones they were originally designed for. I recently found out that the spear shaped end on the executive nail file works as a pretty lock pick for those paper towel dispensers that people leave jammed up in rest rooms and you can't get  a paper towel past the waddled up mess, so you have to open the front and clear it out if you want a paper towel. Insert tool in lock , jiggle back and forth while twisting slightly and the lock opens. Leave things a little better than you found them.

In the past, I've seen so many old pocket knives with broken tips, I can't help but wonder if they would have had a SAK on them, they could have done things a little better. More finesse with a right, or nearly right tool. Maybe that's why I'm such a SAK fan, they let you do things with a bit more finesse. A knife blade makes a very poor screw driver, scraper, awl, pry tool, or general poking took. One thing I always do with a new SAK is take a mill smooth file and square off the edges of the flat screw driver and that makes it not only a better screw driver, but a darn good scraper.

I guess thats why I love SAK's to the point of not even bothering anymore to carry any other kind of pocket knife. They just let go through life and deal with those little problems that pop up in life with a little more finesse.

[Aloha]

Lots of broken knife tips at the fleamarket.  I see quite a lot not only pocket knives but MTs and SAKs.  Its not surprising anymore when I see it even on SAKs.  The fact that your MT or SAK has many other implements to use as a "pry tool" vs the blade  .  I might just see things differently  . 

Maybe thats what prompted makers of tactical folders that can be used a pry bars  .   

[Buzzbait]

I bought a Vic Explorer off of eBay ten years back. The large phillips screwdriver looked unused. The tiny phillips on the end of the can opener looked unused. The flathead on the end of the cap lifter looked unused. The tip of the large spear blade was slightly kinked, as was the tip of one side of the scissors.

Stupidity has no bounds. 

That's one face palm for the main blade, and another face palm for the scissors.

[ulzhan]

You need not only to have a SAK oder a MT, you also need to have the brains to use it...

Last year I saw someone trying to open a bottle with a SAK. That person didn't open any bottles before, it seemed. She used the bottle opener, yes. Horizontal, not vertical. Didn't work btw.

[Buzzbait]

You need not only to have a SAK oder a MT, you also need to have the brains to use it...

Last year I saw someone trying to open a bottle with a SAK. That person didn't open any bottles before, it seemed. She used the bottle opener, yes. Horizontal, not vertical. Didn't work btw.

 

[Aloha]

 

[ulzhan]

It was a pain in the ass to watch...

[Sos24]

You need not only to have a SAK oder a MT, you also need to have the brains to use it...

Last year I saw someone trying to open a bottle with a SAK. That person didn't open any bottles before, it seemed. She used the bottle opener, yes. Horizontal, not vertical. Didn't work btw.

That is really sad.  Although,  I bet she also had a smart phone that she knew ahow to do all sorts of things with.

[Barry Rowland]

Sadly, that she even had anything beyond a smartphone on her is even more amazing.

[MI Yeti]

When I was helping my brother in laws dad build a playground for my nephew(brother in law was out of town) he kept using his very old buck 110 to pull up staples. I tried to get him to use something else 

I keep a four way screw driver,a p38, a gerber shard and a wenger esquire on my key chain and a larger SAK in my pocket. If I forget or worse loose my large SAK I can still get by just fine. Overkill, maybe but I like options I guess lol

[cody6268]

I have a friend of mine who carries a Tinker. He pries with it--the pen blade.   Then, he shows me he broke the pen blade, and was wondering how it could get fixed. I gave him the Vic warranty page link. I really don't get it. He carries a Doohickey on his keys, and of course, he knows the knife has the big screwdriver and can opener.   At the same time, I was carrying a Master RT because I felt it was the best knife for the job; with a metal file/saw, a serrated blade that ate rubber hose and rope for lunch, and the big, locking cap lifter for prying.   My folks had some friends of the family who were carpenters doing some work on the house. One of them was opening a paint can with his cheap AccuSharp-branded knife; the point of the blade. Every knife the guy was carrying was in horrible shape, and broken. Only tool I loaned the guy was a screwdriver I knew he couldn't break (it was one of the heavy "Perfect Handle" Irwin screwdrivers the military used in toolkits during WWII). And if they ever got the bright idea to hit it with a hammer (which I had, a lot with this screwdriver; and it had many times before--in fact, I had to file out a ding in the blade when I got it); I made sure they used a plastic mallet, not a hammer.  So far, the only knives I've bent a blade on were because I dropped it onto a hard surface.


For me, I always carry a Doohickey on my keys (along with a flashlight), a County Comm 4" titanium pry bar in my pockets (as well as a Craftsman 4-in-1 keychain screwdriver), my Pocket Wrench II (mostly for its wrench capability, but it's also a super pry bar and of course, a knife or multitool with some kind of screwdriver on it. 

[cbl51]

When I was helping my brother in laws dad build a playground for my nephew(brother in law was out of town) he kept using his very old buck 110 to pull up staples. I tried to get him to use something else 

I keep a four way screw driver,a p38, a gerber shard and a wenger esquire on my key chain and a larger SAK in my pocket. If I forget or worse loose my large SAK I can still get by just fine. Overkill, maybe but I like options I guess lol

Growing up in the 1950's, those 4-way keychain screw drivers were soooo common. As was the P-38. Most of the adult men I knew in our neighborhood, were WW2 vets, and the P-38 was one of the most common keychain tool in sight. The P-38 doubled as a screw driver, scraper, light pry tool when a thumb nail wasn't strong enough. Those couple items seems as backups to the small one and two blade pen knives that were for sale on the stand up cardboard display stand at the cash register at the five and dime stores. It seemed that it was standard equipment of most men that they all had some kind of small pocket knife and something to deal with screws and cans. This was long long before the multitool generation.

Now a smart phone is the peoples choice.

[FolderBeholder]

Now a smart phone is the peoples choice.

That has me thinking a smart phone case with a built in spot for a SwissCard would be the bees knees for me. 

[cody6268]

That has me thinking a smart phone case with a built in spot for a SwissCard would be the bees knees for me. 

What about those stick-on card wallets? That ought to hold a SwissCard no problem.

[Buzzbait]

That has me thinking a smart phone case with a built in spot for a SwissCard would be the bees knees for me. 

That's actually an awesome idea. 

[FolderBeholder]

What about those stick-on card wallets? That ought to hold a SwissCard no problem.

I didn't know about those, I'll look into that, thank you! 

[Barry Rowland]

I love that!!  Come on Victorinox!!

That has me thinking a smart phone case with a built in spot for a SwissCard would be the bees knees for me. 

[Barry Rowland]

Lisa, my buddy at work has one of those stick on pockets and says they're on Amazon for sale.

I didn't know about those, I'll look into that, thank you! 

[cody6268]

That has me thinking a smart phone case with a built in spot for a SwissCard would be the bees knees for me. 

That's a brilliant idea. Klecker did something similar, but it never caught on; I guess because Klecker is not well known. But, dimply ditch the card itself and have slots for SwissCard implements. A smartphone is big enough these days to accomodate additional implements.

[Huntsman]

..........
I guess thats why I love SAK's to the point of not even bothering anymore to carry any other kind of pocket knife. They just let go through life and deal with those little problems that pop up in life with a little more finesse.

Bullseye again CBL
Never understood why anyone would carry just a knife when you can have a SAK

...... Various people using the 'wrong' tools ......

Why do people do that?  ..... Especially the carpenter/tradie - You'd think he'd have a screwdriver to open a paint can !!! 

Although I guess we are all guilty of using the 'wrong' tool sometimes  - I once used the blade on a Classic for some prying screwing job
The blade was fine - But when it snapped shut it made a right mess of my finger!!
Why I didn't, at least, use the SD tip I have no idea !! 

Anyway I learnt my lesson      

[Aloha]

[Barry Rowland]

The original MacGyver was famous for not using the tools in his SAK.  A case in point was when he was trying to diffuse a time bomb in his college's Physics Lab.  Instead of putting the caplifter to use in trying to pry open the bomb's plexiglass housing, he's using his Tinker's small blade.  My Dad and Grandad taught me better too!

[Sawl Goodman]

The original MacGyver was famous for not using the tools in his SAK.  A case in point was when he was trying to diffuse a time bomb in his college's Physics Lab.  Instead of putting the caplifter to use in trying to pry open the bomb's plexiglass housing, he's using his Tinker's small blade.  My Dad and Grandad taught me better too!

I've seen the results of similar usage. I've watched aghast as someone used their knife blade as a pry tool when screwdrivers were right at hand.

I cleaned up and sharpened and glued a loose scale back on a colleague's Spartan, but left the main blade twisted, and told him politely to respect his knife more.

[Barry Rowland]

Well done Sawl!

[MI Yeti]

Growing up in the 1950's, those 4-way keychain screw drivers were soooo common. As was the P-38. Most of the adult men I knew in our neighborhood, were WW2 vets, and the P-38 was one of the most common keychain tool in sight. The P-38 doubled as a screw driver, scraper, light pry tool when a thumb nail wasn't strong enough. Those couple items seems as backups to the small one and two blade pen knives that were for sale on the stand up cardboard display stand at the cash register at the five and dime stores. It seemed that it was standard equipment of most men that they all had some kind of small pocket knife and something to deal with screws and cans. This was long long before the multitool generation.

Now a smart phone is the peoples choice.

A lot can be done with a 4 way screw driver, a p 38 and a decent pocket knife. I'd much rather leave my phone at home than my tools.

[cbl51]

A lot can be done with a 4 way screw driver, a p 38 and a decent pocket knife. I'd much rather leave my phone at home than my tools.

Oh man, I could write volumes on what my old man did with his little Case peanut, his 4-way keychain screw diver, a P-38, and sometimes a bit of the black electrical tape that was the duct tape of his era. Toss in some cotton jute twine and a candle stick for wax, and he'd have limped the Titanic into Halifax or St. Johns, Newfoundland.

[comis]

Oh man, I could write volumes on what my old man did with his little Case peanut, his 4-way keychain screw diver, a P-38, and sometimes a bit of the black electrical tape that was the duct tape of his era. Toss in some cotton jute twine and a candle stick for wax, and he'd have limped the Titanic into Halifax or St. Johns, Newfoundland.

   I often think the older generation are made of different material

[Barry Rowland]

My wife has packed a Classic and a 4 Way since 1978 and has rarely asked for more. 

[Shuya]

My 2 cents:

I think the main problem nowadays can be summed up by a few points:
- people dont repair things as much as back the days (stuff isnt designed to be repaired and/or cant be repaired eg because of microelectronics, or is so cheap you throw it away and buy a new one)
- people dont do hand crafts as much as back then (when was the last time you have seen kids building huts or a wooden car?, most parents would freak out if they see 10yo whittling with a sharp knife)
- knifes have shifted from tools to weapons in the eyes of most people, they dont carry them anymore and dont see the usefullness in them. I got my first SAK-alike when I was 7 and had a knife of some sort in my pocket since then for every single day. For nowadayss kids a smartphone is more important than having a knife and crafting with it. As a boy with a SAK and some rope I was ready for days adventures. 
...

I had a situation back in university when we organised a party for our year.
We had to unscrew something and someone asked for a phillips screwdriver. I handed him a SAK which had a Inline Phillips. He opened the blade straight forward.
Yelled at him, took the knife back and did the job myself and didnt lend my stuff to anyone again.

[Shuya]

One thing to add:
Things became more complicated these days.
When I was a kid all i needed to fully disassemble my bike was a bone shaped wrench and a flathead screwdriver. Add tyre levers and you were good to go.
My new bike has all sorts of Hex and Torx and Phillips and various sizes of Nuts on it.

I often read stories about people repairing their cars with MTs. To be honest there isnt much to do on my car right now if it breaks down. Electronics, covers everywhere, you need special drivers... 

Just look at your everyday items. Some even have deep sitting screws to make it harder to take them apart. No chance to reach that without a long proper screwdriver, because a bitholder is too large.

Things have changed.