So… concerning the Swiss Army Knife that has been in my pocket since I was 12 (circa 1980)… my Mom bought me that knife… the MacGuyver knife (I never did get the official MacGyver Paperclip though, lol)… at the local Army Navy Surplus store.

She got me a fixed blade too during the same visit… the plastic handled version of this piece of crap known as the 80’s hollow handled survival knife… but this article is about my Swiss Army Knife, which is a truly useful and quality item.

Well, as has happened before, it fell out of my pocket somewhere. How does a Swiss Army Knife fall out of a pocket, you ask? Well, it can happen when the pants are off and tossed somewhere, or when reclining in a laid back chair… or when doing a ninja roll like the one I did the other day after I jumped over a fence and realized I wasn’t going to land so good, so at 46 years old the ninja training of my youth came instinctively into perfect play… well not perfect play… but yeah, I deftly avoided hurting myself! So, yeah!

Anyway, I have looked in all the places I thought it could have been lost and I haven’t found it. I asked others to keep an eye out, but maybe this is good or bad. Who can you trust to return a perfectly good Swiss Army Knife these days? Surely only the very best of friends. But I’m not so certain I have any of those dreamy beings.

I am considering it gone. It has been there with me through all the tasks a rebel at heart could ever ask a pocket knife to do, not just your standard tasks that most people are restricted to. Recall I mentioned I am a ninja, so that little Swiss Army Knife has quite some sentimental value for me, especially since my Mom bought it for me after I picked it out, us together at the Army Navy Surplus store. That knife was a token of my Mom’s belief in me and my dreams, no matter what they were… I had the tool to do just about anything… same as MacGyver, same model too, I think, the Spartan but with a scissors, or like the Climber but without the hook. Anyway, it is time for a new SAK. I have enjoyed their lifetime warranty before and Victorinox is a good company.

So, I took a look at the newer models and they have an upgraded sturdier looking scissors. I have had the older thin scissor spring bend a little once, but it is nothing serious, and besides, the older model spring tension can be adjusted slightly.

But even so, I like the look of the sturdier new scissor spring, and the model (Victorinox Swiss Army EVOgrip 18 Knife) I really like the looks of… it is yellow!… has a new shape and grip inserts… BUT, it replaces the small blade with a fingernail file thingy which I would never use, AND doesn’t have the hook, which after this last week of lifting and moving hay bales I think would prove very useful.

Why would I need two blades, you ask? May sound weird but over the years I instinctively choose one over the other for certain tasks that while can be done as effectively with either, just feel better with one rather than the other. AND, sharpening need take place less often. So, after spending an entire day looking at all the models, including some Leathermans and Gerbers, which I didn’t choose because I want to pull the tool I need from the body like I always have, whereas on the Leathermans and Gerbers, you need to open the tool body and then pull out the specific tool you need, and while this locks the tool in place, the blade for instance, I don’t want a lock blade, and I prefer one step to viable over two.

There is just something about not having a locking blade that makes fine work finer, finesse-er, funner. I have practiced my grip so that if I ever needed to use my SAK as a weapon, I could slash and stab with it effectively enough in such a way that even if it did close, it would not cut me. And the new grips on the new models would certainly aid in this. But the idea of using a SAK as a weapon, which is something us kids talked and practiced when we were young, was more effective as a punch weapon with the awl or corkscrew open and between the knuckles. Even in this way, a wrong hit could cause pain upon pinching, but the corkscrew wouldn’t cut. I never needed to use my SAK as a weapon though and it would be unlikely that I would ever be in a situation that required use of a weapon where I couldn’t find something much more effective than a SAK anyhow, but in all actuality, as a last resort punching weapon especially with a large keyring attached to the small ring… as this little mod looped around a finger keeps the knife much harder to drop no matter the use.

I chose to stick with (haha, pun unintended)… err, reamain (haha, misspelling unintended as well)… err, remain loyal to, Victorinox, and I purchased the Fieldmaster Swiss Army Knife.

Along with the same purchase, to get Amazon’s free shipping which reminded me I need a small AAA battery flashlight, I also bought the Fenix E05 flashlight.

UPDATE: I have since found my old SAK, and now I have two. Woohoo!

What is your favorite SAK… and/or your favorite AAAx1 powered flashlight… for that matter?

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