SAK Lovers, Check This Out!

[D.B. Cooper]

I stumbled onto this guy's youtube channel. He's from Switzerland and does a bunch of bush crafter stuff with SAKs. Now, I'm not into bush crafting, but he has a playlist of about 25 short videos called "Tips and Tricks With the Swiss Army Knife." He has some truly useful ideas in there, and it's stuff I would never have thought of.

Thought I'd share it with anyone who is interested.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz0r9DyPuu9ebOTZ73dScwF57nZm-ITYY

 

[Valkman]

hso has showed a couple of his videos, I subbed already as they are interesting.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

hso has showed a couple of his videos, I subbed already as they are interesting.

Yeah I've been watching him during every bit of downtime for the past two days!

 

[sgt127]

I want to be half as jovial as he is.

It seems he’d be an absolute joy to have a couple beers with.

 

[Slamfire]

I did watch the video on bending paper clips with split ring hole. Maybe paper clips are stiffer in Europe because American paperclips do not make good fishing hooks. What I saw was fun, but, there are better ways to bend paper clips.

Using the split ring hole to crack coconuts would collapse the ring. Instead of damaging the way I carried the knife on a lanyard, I would rather split a coconut with a machete. You do know, coconuts are contained inside a much larger husk? A fresh coconut is about the size of a basket ball. The coconuts he was cracking are the type you buy in a grocery store. The husk has been removed. He would have had real trouble removing the husk with a SAK. While he was at the grocery store, he could have bought a metal mallet that would cost less, and would be stronger than the split ring hole. He would have to go to the Ace Hardware store across the street for a machete as grocery stores usually don't carry machetes. Super Walmarts stock machetes. While at the Walmart, buying husked coconuts, he could have gone to the hardware department and bought the proper tools for his ersatz ideas. And fishhooks.

The primary reason I stopped carrying SAK's was due to the lack of a decent set of pliers. I did buy one version with pliers, they were small, did not open wide enough to be useful, could not apply much leverage, and therefore they always slipped when much torque was applied the the task at hand.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

The primary reason I stopped carrying SAK's was due to the lack of a decent set of pliers. I did buy one version with pliers, they were small, did not open wide enough to be useful, could not apply much leverage, and therefore they always slipped when much torque was applied the the task at hand.

I have to admit, one of the few temptations to move away from SAK was the pliers on the Leatherman. YEAAAAAARS ago (2001) I bought a Wegner Pocket Grip knife that had pliers on it. They were good pliers. Combination needle nose with slip-joint jaws on them. Big, solid stainless steel handle on one side of the knife, used the knife body as the other handle. They were great. It also had an actual bit driver with bit holder under the pliers handle. Basically did everything and had everything a Leatherman had.Then the little slide lock that kept the handle in when not in use failed and, after that, the pliers handle opened up every time I used the knife. The needle nose on the pliers was also very hard on sheaths. It lives at my cabin now as a back up.

The only other time I've been tempted to move away from SAK was to a Case and Sons that had a gut hook on it. (folder) But the gut hook was too small for the game I hunt, so I ditched it and bought specialized tools for game processing. (Although, I've processed grouse and salmon with my One-Handed Trekker.)

 

[Slamfire]

Carried this through the seventies, until such time that I lost it in my sister's couch.



She found it and sent it back, but by then I had moved onto this SAK:



but all SAK's were left at home when the first Leatherman's came out. I still have my late 1980's leatherman in a drawer. I purchased this variation in 1996.



and have carried ever since in my street clothing. It is the same volume as a SAK but has useful pliers. And I use the scissors a lot. I had to have a Phillips screwdriver and a standard screw driver. The small screw drivers have been very helpful. I don't use the blade for much as I always have a big locking knife on me. The pliers have been used thousands of times. Pulled staples out of documents virtually every day. Fixed copy machines with the thing. These functional pliers make this tool more useful than a SAK, sorry to say.

This one is used for automotive work,



don't have a picture of my Gerber, that has held up to abuse best of all.

 

[sgt127]

The key ring to crack a coconut was silly.

 

[JohnKSa]

Some of Immler's stuff is silly and isn't very useful, a good deal of it is quite ingenious and all of it is entertaining.

I haven't carried a full-sized SAK in years. When one-handed openers and multi-tools came out it was hard to justify carrying a full-sized SAK too. But I still carry a min-SAK for the tweezers, toothpick and scissors.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Yeah, I recall a few months back we were discussing knives for my son's birthday. No love for the SAK then, either lol.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Carried this through the seventies, until such time that I lost it in my sister's couch.

View attachment 872472

Yeah, I'm fairly certain the Tinker was one of my first SAKs as well. Lost mine, too.

 

[Valkman]

I had one with corkscrew that I carried during the 80's at work. I'd be calibrating the meters on gas wells that we'd pay the supplier off of and there was an adjustment screw down in hole on top of the meter that bugs would fill with bits of leaves. That corkscrew was perfect for getting that stuff out!

For fishing I used a Gerber multitool for a long time that I could flick the pliers out with one hand. Now I have a SOG.

 

[Slamfire]

Now I have a SOG.

You must have longer fingers than I. My SOG, what a beautifully finished work of metal art but, the gear mechanism for the jaws opens twice as wide as the non gear multitools, for the same span. Leverage was twice as much as the others, but the arc was too great for my handspan. That SOG is in the back of the truck in a box, in case of emergencies.

 

[Gordon]

The USA made Schrade Tough tool has by far the toughest pliers and has a good assortment of usable blades and screw drivers and a saw. It is what rides in my motorcycle fairing , it is tough as nails and very handy tool. I also like old vintage Leathermans for belt carry. I have SAKs in shoulder bags , mostly for pulling corks when on a picnic with a lady I carry The more up scale Victornox multitools on my belt almost every day.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Unued-Vintage-Schrade-Tough-Tool-Pliers-Leather-Sheath/401933674353