Your first SAK?

[BladeFreak]

I honestly don't remember the model, but I bought it new around the 1967 - 1971 era. I always carried it in a leather sheath, and when I went to court (I witnessed a burglary) a lot of cops hanging around there paid me a lot of attention until I lifted my jacket (you could only see the bottom inch or so of the sheath) and said "knife". Then they all went back to their conversations. I think they thought I might be carrying a firearm. Anyway, I picked up some other knives over the years for daily pocket carry and left the SAK in its sheath for several years. When I ran across it again, I pulled it out of the sheath and found that the metal on the inside from the snap had turned part of the scale from red to green. I cleaned it, tossed the sheath out, took it camping in around 1979 or so, and lost it in a river.

[zdec68]

My first Vic was a Climber that I bought when I went into the military over 30 years ago. Unfortunately I no longer have it since I gave it away

[Mitch-O]

I searched the web but didn't find any pictures of it. It was a Wenger. Yellow with black stripes. Like tiger stripes. It had the same features like a Spartan but with the main blade lock mechanism. I think it was in '98.

[psyjohn]

Some great stories here!
When I was 12, my dad and I were skiing together when he suddenly stopped. He found a red Classic laying on top of the snow. This was the first time I had seen a Swiss Army Knife and I was fascinated, especially by the tiny scissors. I begged my dad to let me have the knife, but he kept it for himself. I believe he still has it to this day. When my 13th birthday came, I got the best gift: a Hoffritz branded Classic just like the one my dad found. I carried it every day for the next 7 years before losing it. I bought myself a Climber, which I still have, and carried that through the Navy, college, and grad-school. In the years since, I carried a Rambler and another Climber until a few years ago when I started seriously collecting. One of the first knives I bought for my collection was a like new Hoffritz Classic, identical to my very first one more than 3 decades before.

[Swisster]

Mid 80's Spartan was my first SAK that I trade some blow for and I could have just bought one for 3 times less. In the 80's a Spartan was $12 to $15

[GrouchoM]

psyjohn - Awesome story!

Typos courtesy of Samsung Auto-Incorrect™

[MadPlumbarian]

psyjohn nice story, I had something similar if you go back a page, only thing is I had to wait 2yrs after seeing my first! Felt like 5 if you ask me!
JR

[glenfiddich1983]

I started relatively late with SAKs, my first one was a Compact that I bought when I was 31. Now 8 years later I still have it, but I guess keeping something for 8 years is not really a remarkable achievement 

[psyjohn]

psyjohn nice story, I had something similar if you go back a page, only thing is I had to wait 2yrs after seeing my first! Felt like 5 if you ask me!
JR

I read your story, and it's actually the one that inspired me to share mine. I had to wait less than a year, but it seemed a lot longer at that young age. I've loved these knives ever since.

[Serena]

I got my first SAK when I was about 11 years old. I think it was a Classic SD. Remember it had the print of a piano on it. Unfortunately I’ve lost or misplaced it.

When I was 12 my dad bought me a Wenger knife when on holiday in Switzerland. I still have that one!

Found an old photo, it’s the ‘big’ red one.

[Ron Who]

I started relatively late with SAKs, my first one was a Compact that I bought when I was 31. Now 8 years later I still have it, but I guess keeping something for 8 years is not really a remarkable achievement 

8 years is great! 

I lost my first SAK within a matter of weeks (during a knife throwing contest in the woods ).
That was way back in 1968 and I was only 6 years old.

[MTSAK]

I got this Tinker when I was 7 or 8 years old from my dad so I've had it 28+ years. It disappeared for a while when we moved, but I found it not long ago in a box of supplies under the driver seat of my 4runner. To say I was excited would be an understatement.

[Barry Rowland]

There's no better feeling!  Congrats and that's a beautiful knife.

[Aloha]

 

[gustophersmob]

As I recall, my first sak was a beat up tinker I bought for almost nothing from a kid down the street because he wanted money for cigarettes.

[gustophersmob]

I got this Tinker when I was 7 or 8 years old from my dad so I've had it 28+ years. It disappeared for a while when we moved, but I found it not long ago in a box of supplies under the driver seat of my 4runner. To say I was excited would be an understatement. (Image removed from quote.)

Really cool, must’ve felt good to find it again!

[HarleyXJGuy]

Growing up we always carried “Army” knives in a belt sheath. KBars and old bayonets so came into the SAK game very late.

Some enablers around this place got me interested during a deployment In Afghanistan.

My first SAK was actually three SAKs due to the incredibly slow mail system at the time.

A Pioneer, Explorer and some kinda Wenger. Can’t remember which model and my Wife has since adopted it so best we leave it where it “belongs”









Still have all of them. Well mostly, as my wife is pretty protective of “hers”

[EMarkM]

My father started me off on pocket knives very early, gradually working me towards SAKs.

My first "Swiss Army Knife" was the typical Chinese no-brand knock-off, some time in the very early eighties. Wish I still had it, if only for the nostalgia and novelty value, but a house move a few years ago resulted in many old possessions being given away or sold.

My first official (i.e. Vic/Wenger) SAK was the good old Climber. This would probably have been some time between 1990 and 1994, not really sure, but I still have it. It now lives in the ever-growing "retired" collection. The scissors have the screw fitting, rather than a rivet.

Over the intervening decades, the SAK collection has grown...some would say "out of control". Those people are wrong, and should keep their opinions to themselves

My OLDEST SAKs are actually two Spartans that I inherited from my father and my great uncle. They predate the scale-tools version, and I posted some photos of them here on the forum some years ago.

[colin.p]

I am a little late to the SAK party, as I didn't get my first SAK until 2011. I was in the local Canadian Tire spending a flippin' fortune on my Ford Windstar (as usual) and while browsing, I came upon the knife display. I am always on the lookout for the yellow "Special" stickers while wandering around CT, and spotted a SAK marked down to $8.95 from 25 bucks. I always thought that SAKs were more of a novelty and a toy than anything else but since my Gerber lock-back was a getting little worse for wear, and I couldn't pass up a bargain on the SAK, I bought a shiny new Recruit for the princely sum of 9 bucks. I carried that little SAK for years, even though the most used tool was the toothpick, and I even made a leather slip to carry it as well as an i3t (that itself gets a lot of daily use).

In 2017, I finally succumbed to the "knife collecting addiction" and went off and spent a pile (way too big of a pile) of money, collecting "nice" knives. However, I quickly found that all those beauties, rarely got any pocket carry however the little Recruit was always with me day in and day out.

Now, since retiring, I no longer have “throw away money” to spend on such frivolities such as pocket knives but I have found that I really only carry three knives in total anyway, my Recruit, an SD Classic (on my car keys) and a 940. So if the proverbial SHTF ever happens and I lose all my knives, even if I was to be able to replace them all, it would more than likely only be those three that I would bother replacing if at all and I’m not too sure if I would really bother with the 940.

So in conclusion, if i knew then what I know now, I could have saved myself the expense and just stopped at the Recruit back in 2011...but what would have been the fun in that?