The Handyman Owners Club

[Rapidray]

Nice 

[Mactire404]

The Handyman was my very first SAK

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Looks great! Did you do the scales yourself?

[jonon9]

The Handyman was my very first SAK

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Looks great! Did you do the scales yourself?

Yes I made them thicker than normal by accident but I do like it more. Made from Mahogony I got from a demo job on an old cottage the wood is about 60 plus years old I have so much of the wood to make hundreds of scales   

[SirVicaLot]

One of these days I make you all carry the Handyman. It might take a few years though 

[Firetower]

Hi everyone

I had posted my query in another thread, but just realised this could be the more appropriate thread. 

I need help in identifying this slightly older SAK. Based on SAKWiki, the layered tools seem to point this to the Handyman. However, it does not have a hook and I don’t recall it came with a mini-screwdriver.

Is this an older Handyman model, and if so, can you guys help point when this model was sold?  Interestingly, the cockscrew is grooved.

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

Best, Firetower

[Lambik]

Hi all. I'm new on the forum, so I thought I'd come here to make a post about the SAK I've been carrying for years: the Victorinox Handyman.

I got my first knife when I was 10 years old on a skiing trip with my parents in Switzerland. While there, I had an unfortunate accident and broke my leg. Had to be rescued by helicopter and everything.
Prior to this, I had been obsessively admiring the SAK selection in stores and catalogues for months. Being in Switzerland hadn't helped toning down this obesssion either.    So as a cheer up present, my parents bought me the Handyman. I guess it worked, because 10 year old me was completely in awe of this gift. I remember opening and closing all the tools repeatedly, with an almost religious reverence.

Since then, the Handyman has been a trusty  companion. It has helped me do and amazing range of tasks, from building camps and making pointy sticks, to installing furniture in my apartment as an adult. Sadly, it is not the original knife I got almost 20 years ago, because that one got lost while out in the woods. I was devastated of course, because that knife had a lot of sentimental value. But I immediately replaced it with the same model, even though it was pretty expensive for me at the time.

While I still find this to be a great knife, I've recently been looking at other knives for two reasons:
1. The number one flaw of this knife for me personally, is its screwdriving capability. It's the number one simple task for which my Handyman has had to call for backup from regular tools.
2. It's a lot of knife for an EDC. Both for pocket space, as for it's people-friendliness. Pulling out this knife in public has attracted some frowns in the past.

However, the Handyman will always have a special place in my heart, in I will surely keep carrying it on camping trips and such.

So that's how I've landed on this forum, and let me tell you: it has rekindled some of that original wonder and admiration for the Swiss Army Knife. I've absorbed heaps of information, stories, and some astonishing mod ideas.
You haven't seen the last of me, that's for sure 

[SirVicaLot]

Great story, Lambik! Welcome to MTo! Be careful though, in this place admiration turns into obsession with frequent SAK buying followed by more SAK buying 

[SirVicaLot]

Here is one of mine:



 

[Lambik]

Gorgeous 

[SirVicaLot]

 

[kamakiri]

Hi everyone

I had posted my query in another thread, but just realised this could be the more appropriate thread. 

I need help in identifying this slightly older SAK. Based on SAKWiki, the layered tools seem to point this to the Handyman. However, it does not have a hook and I don’t recall it came with a mini-screwdriver.

Is this an older Handyman model, and if so, can you guys help point when this model was sold?  Interestingly, the cockscrew is grooved.

Thanks in advance for your inputs.

Best, Firetower

I case you didn’t get an answer earlier, your knife is ‘89-‘90. Before that it would have the thin 2.5mm pliers and after that it would have the hook.

[SirVicaLot]

Good information, kamakiri 

[Altis]

I don't yet own a Handyman, but I gifted one to my father who has been without a SAK/MT for some years now.

After considering pretty much every aspect of every currently available model (the Mrs still makes fun of me for how much time I spent researching SAKs), I found that it's quite literally the best "handyman" or "craftsman" SAK (the name given to the same tool with phillips in place of corkscrew). Some of the names can be rather arbitrary, but here they're spot on. We've used it alone to craft things like fishing lures or make repairs.

While the Swiss Champ is slightly larger than is ideal for comfort and dexterity in the hand, I find the Handyman to fit perfectly in hand and allow for good purchase on the tool while using it. It really has about everything you need and excludes the niche tools like fish scaler and magnifying glass. Plus-scales standard would be a plus ( ).

I'm going to have to get one because I think it might actually be the best all-rounder they make and the closest thing to what I consider to be an ideal 'multitool'.

[Nix]

 

[Simon_Templar]

While the Swiss Champ is slightly larger than is ideal for comfort and dexterity in the hand, I find the Handyman to fit perfectly in hand and allow for good purchase on the tool while using it. It really has about everything you need and excludes the niche tools like fish scaler and magnifying glass. Plus-scales standard would be a plus ( ).

  Interesting that others have that feeling as well. The difference in size and weight may be subtle, but as EDCs Handyman/Champion/CT 34 still feel "right" (but only just) whereas Swisschamp/CT Lite/CT41 all are ever so slightly over the top, at least imho.

[kamakiri]

Interesting that others have that feeling as well. The difference in size and weight may be subtle, but as EDCs Handyman/Champion/CT 34 still feel "right" (but only just) whereas Swisschamp/CT Lite/CT41 all are ever so slightly over the top, at least imho.

Although all the phillips options have their compromises, that is the one reason I don’t have or carry a modern Handyman.

Though I think I’d grab one with thin pliers from ‘86-‘87 or so if I happened on one. But no such luck there and I only have the sibling Craftsmans of the era, and only ‘87+ on top of that.

[Jazz]

Still getting used to the weight. It’s a big difference from my Ranger, surprisingly.

[SirVicaLot]

Nice pictures! After carrying the MP600 and 400 for a while, I find the Handyman surprisingly light. It is all perspective i guess 

Also makes a big difference in my experience how you carry a tool. With the Vic belt hanger you can hardly feel the Handyman at all 

[SirVicaLot]

Getting more pocket time again 

[39hotrod]

 

[Reccemonkey]

I know it has been awhile since anyone has posted here, just thought I contribute some photos of the early first model of handyman (circa 1970s), especially since I have not seen anyone post such vintage photos before.

I got my first victorinox from my dad during the 90s when I was a teen. It was a hand me down handyman which he had used since the 1970s, and I heard he purchased it when it was first launched.

The early 70s handyman did not have the pliers, chisel, hook, was missing the eye in the reamer awl, but it had a fish scaler/ruler instead. The metal file was less aggressive than the current handyman and the tweezers had an aluminium head instead of the plastic head commonly seen in all models these days. It had a circular mini screwdriver (that I misplaced long ago) instead of the hexagonal profile mini screwdriver of today.

I recently got myself the latest 2018 handyman as I felt sentimental towards the old handyman and did not want to damage it.

Overall, the handyman (whether old or new versions) has a very usable selection of tools. I mostly use the metal file tip for fine screws like laptop compartments or my kids' toy battery cover. The awl is great for making holes for minor toy repairs and general tinkering. The small blade is good for handicraft work and the metal file helps to smooth out the edges left by the small blade. Even the hook found use when I was threading a new lanyard for an old umbrella. I use the ruler fish scaler to measure stuff only. My seldom used tools are the large blade, wood saw, chisel and wine opener, though they are good to have just in case.

My 2 handymans will probably last many more years and I might just hand them down to my 2 kids. If they behave.

[Tasky]

Wow, only 2 pages?

The Handyman pliers is what finally freed me from being (key)chained to a Leatherman Squirt. The first of the bigger 91mm SAKs, where you really start to feel the size in the hand, but still very easily handled.

 

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[malcolmricci]

Hi all,

I'm really glad that I've found this forum, and I've been 'lurking' in it quite a while before finally deciding to leave a post. This is a bit of a long one, but it's the story as to how I ended up using a handyman as my EDC.

When I was 14, we hosted an english language school student who came from Austria, and he brought with him two vic campers, one for me and one for my brother. I fell in love with it and that knife has stayed with me since then (I am now 36 years old) and I juggled between a leatherman supertool and it as my EDC throughout the years. I eventually bought a leatherman charge + and shifted between that and the vic camper. These were my two main knives for scouting, hiking, picnics, travelling, hanging out, work, etc.

Along the years I also bought a few other vic knives, such as the forester and cybertool s, but these always stayed in their boxes.

Fast-forward to 2022 and I thought that I lost my vic camper. This led me to search all over the place, and in the meantime I ended up buying another camper and I also decided to start taking my small SAK collection more seriously. I started to do a lot of research and purchased a few other SAKs online via auction, always trying to ensure that I manage to get them at market value or lower. I've since found my original camper

I've suddenly ended up with a neat little collection and I decided to try a different knife as an EDC every few weeks or so. Since December of 2022, my EDCs have included; a camper, hiker, cybertool s, cybertool L, champ, huntsman, farmer x, cadet, modded cadet with scissors, ranger and an original outdoorsman.

As a sidenote, I must say that my favourite model looks-wise has got to be the outdoorsman original, mainly due to the serrated knife, pruning blade and metal head tweezers. However it is not the most efficient of EDCs simply because it lacks most of the tools at the back of a modern Ranger. Plus, it is a little hard to find these days and so I worry that I might damage or lose it.

I also had acquired a handyman for the collection but for some reason I never ended up using it as my EDC. From all of the above, I found the ranger to be my favourite, simply because of the tool set availble for it's size. The cybertool L was a very close second, but it ended up being just a little bit too bulky. Even so, the cybertool L got me thinking about the use of the pliers and how I ended up using those much more than the screwdriver bits, and that is when I realised that I should try using the handyman as my EDC.

It's been almost a month now, and although it isn't the daintiest of tools, it still fits quite neatly in almost any trousers or shorts that I wear.

Back to the outdoorsman original, I'm thinking about modding my handyman and having the knife switched to a serrated one, and the small knife to a pruning blade.. but more on that at a later date

Now onto the debate about the handyman vs craftsman. I have both models too, and although the dedicated philips is indeed a useful asset, I still occasionally come across a bottle of wine with a cork that needs opening, and apart from that I've also modded out my handyman a little, whereas this would have been more limiting with the craftsman.

I've placed plus 'camping' scales on it, and I've opened up the bottom track on the back scales that allows for the smaller type tweezers to fit in. I have the standard pen in it's rightful slot, along with the pin and micro screwdriver. I sanded down the toothpick head to make the curve on the other side, and the toothpick now sits where the original tweezers used to, and instead of the toothpick I now have a tortoisegear 'firefly' steel rod which I could use to create sparks with. Underneath the micro screwdriver (on the corkscrew), I've also placed the tortoisegear weatherproof helix tinder. Both the steel rod and tinder are there in case I am ever in need of starting a fire with only the tools in my pocket.

As it is currently set up, I feel that my handyman is kind of the ultimate daily EDC, at just the right size, where I could use it both in the office, as well as while outdoors with the kids. Although the pliers pale in comparison to the pliers of my leatherman charge, I still find that they are adequate for most of the jobs that I've needed them for so far.

As I said, it's a bit of a long post, but this is the journey that I've taken that has led me to using a handyman as an EDC.

Thanks for the time

[Simon_Templar]

Great story, Malcolm, and welcome to the forum! I had a similar experience in 2019, when all of a sudden I just had to replace my trusted old SC which had accompanied me for a long time and which I had lost ... in 2005. When I discovered the gray magnifier version was no longer in production, I swiftly tumbled down the rabbit hole... 

May I suggest you re-post your introduction in a new thread? I am afraid a lot of folks will miss it here.

Also, I am afraid I will have to make your life more complicated now (but this is why you came here, right?): if you live in an urban environment and don't need a saw/file on a daily basis, at exactly the same width as the Handyman the CT34 is a better (albeit more expensive) proposition

Cheers,

Simon

P.S.: everyone here likes pictures of SAK collections

[Barry Rowland]

Welcome aboard!  I have the Handyman's cousin, the Craftsman.  It's a great sized knife for the tool set it has.  I think you'd be hard pressed to find a better one!  My son has a Handyman and loves his. 

[malcolmricci]

Thanks for the welcome

Haven't thought about the ct34 to be honest.. I've got the small and large cybertools, but not the medoum one, so something to think about.

To be honest, having the saw as part of the tool set is a bit of a fixation of mine, although truth be told I've almost never needed it in an urban setting, so definitely something to think about

I'm also thinking quite often about the farmer x, mainly because I love the quality, build and look of alox models, but the fact that there are no back tools or add-ons makes me avoid using it too..

[Little Tinker]

The early 70s handyman did not have the pliers, chisel, hook, was missing the eye in the reamer awl, but it had a fish scaler/ruler instead. The metal file was less aggressive than the current handyman and the tweezers had an aluminium head instead of the plastic head commonly seen in all models these days.

That's very like the one I just posted about over here: https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,21658.msg2442494.html#msg2442494

Interesting that yours looks like it has modern style toothpick, which seems to be a sloppy fit in mine.  is it original?

[MacGyver]

Got me a brand new Handyman. My previous one, never carried, i gifted it to my FIL over 12 years ago. But since carrying the Deluxe Tinker for a few months, i've been getting into the largest models again. The weight difference and bulk isn't as different as i though.
Back in the club... 

[Jeffjeeptj]

Nice stories on how each of you arrived at the Handyman.  My first SAK was a Swisschamp in circa 1998.  Then about 2 years ago I tried buying every Hunter I could.  I then found the Handyman and bought 3 in a 4 week period.  Gave one to my son-in-law.  One has been modified with plus scales, tinder, pin, a Streamlight Nano, pen, ferro rod, and a piece of shrink wrap tube to protect the tinder.

 

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