We may be approaching 2023, but not everything has turned digital. Sure, some of us tend to work from home, play online or use our phone as a watch. Yet, some things remain deeply rooted into the physical world. You can't digitalize tools. Just like watches did survive the Apple Watch generation, the pocket knife remains in our pocket. It's part of our EDC. And it's hard to replace it. Here is the process I went through when choosing the right EDC for me.
Asking oneself the right question when choosing a knife
Now, choosing a good pocket knife is also hard. And that's especially true for Victorinox models. That's why aficionados have several of them. I myself probably own around 15-20 Swiss Army Knives. Now, as I was trying to choose, I asked myself the wrong question, which was : If I were to choose only ONE knife, which one would it be ? But that's not the correct way to deal with the situation. I would try to think about various situations that would require various tools on my Swiss Army knife. For instance, despite being a city guy, I would suddenly look for a knife that has a saw for when I go camping in summer time. Though it made sense, it just was not right.
The more features does not mean the better. At all. Otherwise we'd all have a SwissChamp, right ?
MacGyver may have us believe he carries only one Swiss Army Knife throughout his adventures, we know 1)- that's not correct, 2)- com'on guys, it's a TV show !!
Just like there is not one pair of shoes that will walk you to the dancing club AND to the forest, pocket knives have to adapt to the situation. So I began to think in terms of Every Day Carry. It may seem trivial, but there is a real difference here. Things suddenly get a bit more rational.
For camping I have the Victorinox Ranger Wood 55
1. And it is just perfect - really perfect - for that purpose. Yet I certainly do not picture myself carrying a 130 mm / 63g knife everyday in the city. And that's probably not legal either over here in France...
So the sub-questions I asked myself were :
- What tools do I concretely need on a daily basis ?
- Which model could I use in any "city situation" ?
- If it is an EDC, which model can i easily slip in my pocket and forget about it until i need it ?
- Which model would adapt my various "city styles" ?
Why I went to the Alox models
I immediately went for the Alox category. I never really liked plastic on objects. Ok, sorry, I meant "Cellidor", as Victorinox calls it for their popular... plastic knives. Don't get me wrong, those models are incredible, well built and packed with features but those scales simply do not look good to me. When I think about it, I believe this is because this is because we live in a world with cheap plastic smartphones whereas high-end model are made of glass, ceramic and aluminum. Though it may be durable, I just do not have a perception of good quality when I see plastic.
As I am thinking this through, this is maybe the reason why I went for the Ranger Wood 55 for Camping. The chestnut wood looks way more premium than... again... plastic.
In the same way, the idea of one knife and one only for the city had me look toward something a bit more premium. And that's why I chose the Alox family. As Victorinox describe them : "the scales are (...) treated with a process known as ‘anodic oxidation’ to create an additional protective layer to prevent damage and corrosion."
Some will say that Cellidor models are more feature-packed and in the end, that's what matters. And they would be right, this is what matters. Yet, being a city guy who work as a journalist, I do not have many needs when it comes to tools on a an EDC knife. I would understand that the situation would differ if I worked as a mechanic or in the countryside.
Now, which Alox model ?
I was immediately drawn to the Harvester - Or Swiss Army 7. That prune blade, which replaces the can opener, is so beautiful and quite handy ! And when do I ever open cans anyways ?! I bought it. And then, I regretted it. if I am realist, all around, I do see a lot of small screws and i could really make use of the small flat screw driver that come with the can opener. My daughter came to me with a toy to replace the batteries. My Harvester turned out useless.
Then, I focused on that small flat screwdriver. And I went to buys the Farmer model. That three-layer knife looks awesome. To me, it's like an Alox version of the Cellidor Camper model with the saw in the middle. But then, wait a minute ? Sure I used a lot that Camper model in my boy scout years but do I actually need a saw today ? In the city ? After all, my Ranger Wood 55 already has a saw... And I am most likely to use it when camping anyways. Maybe I should in fact go to another model.
So I looked around the Pioneer X, which replaces the saw with a pair of scissors. It seems more appropriate to the city lifestyle. And from what I read, it's quite a popular model. Yet, this time, I took the time to think it through. And honestly, I can't really picture many situations that would require a dedicated pair of scissors. The blade is enough. Sure the scissors are more precise, and maybe more confortable. But in most situations, if not all, the blade can probably achieve the same thing.
Besides, I did find the Farmer (86g) and the Harvester (84g) a bit heavy for an EDC in my trousers pocket. OK, maybe not "heavy", but clearly it could be lighter.
Let's remove the saw, and what do we get ? The Victorinox Alox Pioneer ! I never had a two-layer Victorinox model. That would be a first. Let's do that !
The Victorinox Alox Pioneer, the gentleman's pocket knife
If I am honest, as I held the Alox Pioneer for the first time in my hand, I had this feeling of "downgrading" to a less polyvalent model.
It felt weird. But then I went through my thinking process again. And I came to the conclusion that I made the right choice (at last!).
Now I mentioned that one of my questions was
"Which model would adapt my various "city styles?". I have to say that Alox knives are perfect for that. i already mentioned it but they have that timeless feeling. They're both robust and refined. I could picture them in the hands of a hard worker or in the hands of a big boss wearing a costume (does that mean big boss dont work hard ? 🤔).
I would add that the fact that the Alox Pioneer is an adapted version of the Soldier is also quite cool. I recently watched a video on this
2Optimizing the EDC
One recurrent questions that I read over here is :
"how to make sure the knife stand upright in the pocket ?" And I have seen several people adding - even making their own - clips. A slim two layer-knife that stay still in my pocket would be perfect. So I bought a clip
3 from Amazon. And I tweaked it. I came up with a sort of pocket clip that's very discreet and which works perfectly.
1 -
https://www.victorinox.com/us/en/Products/Swiss-Army-Knives/Large-Pocket-Knives/Ranger-Wood-55/p/0.9561.632 -
3 -
https://www.amazon.fr/gp/product/B07KPKW72Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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