I enjoyed reading this thread.The longest I've ever carried a knife consecutively is around 5 years. It was a 91mm Camper purchased in 1986. It was lost in a movie theater.
18 years ago my wife asked what I wanted as a gift from her for our wedding. I told her I didnt want something I would throw in a drawer and never actually use. She had seen me looking at a victorinox Pioneer every time we went to our local mall. She decided that was the perfect gift. She even engraved "Love U" on the side. I have been carrying it ever since.
A little something I forgot was when each of our kids turned 12 I gave them the same sak that my grandfather gave me, JR
That is an awesome gift! I have a similar Pioneer that kicked off my Alox collection, but the one I carried from September/October of 2008 until February of 2021 was a Super Tinker. The little Super Tinker also helped me start my YouTube channel.
Very interesting, Back when I was 10 my grandfather was using his sak on something and I was like wow that is so cool, he showed me how it worked and I was like can I have one? He’s like your only 10, I’ll tell you what when your 12 I’ll buy you your first, needless to say the next 2yrs felt like 10, but I got a package in the mail and I didn’t care what anyone else bought me all I wanted was that one little box! Which was a champion in a Zermatt leather sheath, I was mad at one little thing which was it didn’t have the steel on the side like his! But this was all 30yrs ago, needless to say I lost it in the woods, i told my grandfather and he was like sorry, I’m not buying you another there expensive! I searched with a metal detector and notta, but a whole year went by and I happened to be running in the woods and I tripped and did a face plant, took me a few sec to shake it off but as I came to, something looked a little off under those couple of leafs, so I reached over and sure enough it was my sak! I took it home and looked it over, the leather really needed a good cleaning, the knife was pretty good cleaned it up oiled it, and that’s been my pride and joy, when I grad high school I had my first multitool, and I kinda stuck with them so this sak kinda retired, after a while my grandfather passed and the one thing I wanted was his sak with that sheath that had the steal, and well, I had broke my sak’s corkscrew back in the day, so I had his taken apart and mine fixed with his, so no matter what a part of him will always be with that sak, but I also had other parts used on a custom sak so again he’ll always be part, but lastly, he carved his well our last name into one of the scales then used a marker, so the one who fixed the one sak took a small piece of wood, stained it and glued it between the scales, so it’s like a knife but with wood between, and that sits in my collection on the side of my bed! So that’s my oldest, I’ve also kinda retired multitools and gone back to sak’s especially after getting my first alox, the last one I got was a FarmerX and I got it for Xmas last year, needless to say it’s the only one I’ve carried since!JR
Man, I love these stories! I still have the 84 mm Tinker I bought for myself in 1978 or thereabouts. Carried it everyday as a kid in school. You couldn't get away with that now. Throughout college I picked up an Executive, still have that one too, and a couple others (Florist, and a Classic -- still have both of them too). I took a Macanudo box and turned it into a little carrying case with cutouts for four SAKs. Actually took this on an airplane when I went to England for school, believe it or not. After college and in graduate school I discovered the Scientist. I hated the keyring in those days, so I filed it flush (wish I hadn't done that now). I loved that SAK so much I bought another brand new as a spare. Still have both those too. That first Scientist started my engineering career with me, and one day I bent the combo tool trying to turn a seized screw. Up until that point I thought the Combo tool was the answer, but when I bent it I decided to go back to the conventional opener layer, which is when I discovered Alox. Haven't gone back since then. Now I carry a modified Cadet/Voyageur every day during the week and a very special Old Cross Pioneer X on the weekends. The other 300-odd SAKs I've accumulated sit in trays for study and blog article inspiration. I asked my kid just last night what he'd do with them if/when I kick the bucket. We didn't get the question answered, but did observe that unlike cars, which are expensive to buy, own, and store, and watches which are expensive to buy and maintain but easy to store, SAKs are easy to buy and store and require virtually no maintenance.
A little something I forgot was when each of our kids turned 12 I gave them the same sak that my grandfather gave me, of course when I gave the older one his first I had to give the younger one something so it was a toy Victorinox, but then when it came time for his 4yrs later I had a bit of an issue, I ordered it and it didn’t come, the wife contacted them and the ended up sending another, and well, it came, but then the next day another one showed up! The wife contacted them again and asked if we needed to send it back or what? They said it was their mistake and to keep it, nice thing was, I got it for like half off so now I just got two for the price of one at half off! Total saving, now what, we can’t let the kids get their two sak’s mixed up, so I ordered a black back scale for his, a black sheath and red string, popped and replaced the scale and restitched the sheath, and he got his he calls Deadpool, one of his fav actors/comics, but what about the other, I like blue maybe I should do something, so I found blue scales and replaced them and made mine, “The Beast” also got a black sheath and replaced the stitching with blue!JR
Our high school was diff, I went to a tech, we did 3weeks school then 3weeks whatever trade you took, electrical, drafting, electronics, automotive, machine, and of course h,v,a,c/p, and when you were in your trade part you had tools, yu had your own toolbox, you even went out in the field and fixed thing, we had those mini school busses the two back seats were taken out so our boxes and supply’s would fit in order to get it to the job site, so while those three weeks I could wear my new multitool, but one day I walked out and went down to the lunchroom to grab a bite and the principal caught me in the hallway and was like I’m sorry I have to write you up and expel you for a week even though I was on my way back to class, luckily my one teacher who was a karate teacher sees me getting in trouble and walked over to bail me out, he’s like what’s wrong? The principal like I have to expel him he’s carrying a weapon, he’s like first off, no that’s a tool, yes it has a blade on it but it’s a pair of pliers, still it has a blade, so the teacher looks at me and says fine, I want him to open the tool then open the blade, and stab me with it! I’m looking at him like he’s nuts but heck he used to smoke in class,, but I’m like ok, he’s like do it as quick as you can! Ready? Sure, go, I reach down and don’t even get the tool out of the sheath and he’s already taken his pen out of his chest pocket, stabbed me in my throat, along with the principals, and he looks over at him and says so whats more deadly, the tool or the pen? So the principal was like fine I’ll let it slide, since he just forgot to take it off to come down for lunch..As for college, forget it, where I went was like a redneck area, if you didn’t have one on you got freaking written up!JR
Great story, Canuckdad. Mine is a Climber I bought in 1985-86. Why I chose it has been deleted from my hard drive (like a lot of other things). How I managed to hang onto it this long is a mystery.(Image removed from quote.)
I enjoyed reading this thread.The longest I've ever carried a knife consecutively is around 5 years. It was a 91mm Camper purchased in 1986. It was lost in a movie theater.In 1993, I bought a SwissChamp with SOS kit sheath. I still have it, it's seen in the photos below.I strayed away from Swiss Army Knives for a while. I bought some Chris Reeve Sebenzas, Mnandi knives. Emerson knives, Hinderer and some customs.Then I came back to SAK.I've strayed away again and got into some fixed blades, Christy (which I still love and collect), some Puukko and now I'm back again.
This tread is awesome youawl!I got a yard sale pioneer in 1982, but the one that feels special is my swisschamp bought at the px on the way to desert storm. We still hang out a lot.
I love that you have the receipt !
Here's the receipt from my first SAK, the Camper. I made a thread about it here.https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,69622.msg1388880.html#msg1388880
I still have the 84 mm Tinker I bought for myself in 1978 or thereabouts. Carried it everyday as a kid in school. You couldn't get away with that now.
Here's the receipt from my first SAK, the Camper.
Donations
Community Links
