Buy Victorinox Knives
The Swiss Army knife generally has a drop-point main blade plus other blades and tools such as screwdrivers, a can opener, a saw blade, a pair of scissors, and many others. These are stowed inside the handle of the knife through a pivot point mechanism. The handle is traditionally a red color, with either a Victorinox or Wenger "cross" logo or, for Swiss military issue knives, the coat of arms of Switzerland. Other colors, textures, and shapes have appeared over the years.
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Originating in Ibach, Switzerland, the Swiss Army knife was first produced in 1891 when the Karl Elsener company, which later became Victorinox, won the contract to produce the Swiss Army's Modell 1890 knife from the previous German manufacturer. In 1893, the Swiss cutlery company Paul Boéchat & Cie, which later became Wenger SA, received its first contract from the Swiss military to produce model 1890 knives; the two companies split the contract for provision of the knives from 1908 until Victorinox acquired Wenger in 2005. A cultural icon of Switzerland, both the design of the knife and its versatility have worldwide recognition.[3] The term "Swiss Army knife" has acquired usage as a figure of speech indicating extreme utility applicable to more or less any scenario at hand.
In January 1891, the knife received the official designation Modell 1890. The knife had a blade, reamer, can opener, screwdriver, and grips made out of dark oak wood that some say was later partly replaced with ebony wood. At that time no Swiss company had the necessary production capacity, so the initial order for 15,000 knives was placed with the German knife manufacturer Wester & Co. from Solingen, Germany. These knives were delivered in October 1891.
In 1891, Karl Elsener, then owner of a company that made surgical equipment, set out to manufacture the knives in Switzerland itself. At the end of 1891 Elsener began production of the Modell 1890 knives, in direct competition with the Solingen company. He incurred financial losses doing so, as Wester & Co was able to produce the knives at a lower cost. Elsener was on the verge of bankruptcy when, in 1896, he developed an improved knife, intended for the use by officers, with tools attached on both sides of the handle using a special spring mechanism, allowing him to use the same spring to hold them in place.[4] This new knife was patented on 12 June 1897, with a second, smaller cutting blade, a corkscrew, and wood fibre grips, under the name of Schweizer Offiziers- und Sportmesser ("Swiss officer's and sports knife"). While the Swiss military did not commission the knife, it was successfully marketed internationally, restoring Elsener's company to prosperity.[5]
Elsener used a variation on the Swiss coat of arms to identify his knives beginning in 1909. With slight modifications, this is still the company logo. Also in 1909, on the death of his mother, Elsener used his mother's name Victoria, as a brand name, in her honour. In 1921 following the invention of stainless steel (acier inoxydable in French), Karl Elsener's son renamed the company to be Victorinox combining Victoria and inoxydable.[6]
On 26 April 2005, Victorinox acquired Wenger, once again becoming the sole supplier of knives to the military of Switzerland. Victorinox at first kept the Wenger brand intact, but on 30 January 2013, the company announced that the Wenger brand of knives would be abandoned in favour of Victorinox.The press release stated that Wenger's factory in Delémont would continue to produce knives and all employees at this site will retain their jobs. They further elaborated that an assortment of items from the Wenger line-up will remain in production under the Victorinox brand name. Wenger's US headquarters will be merged with Victorinox's location in Monroe, Connecticut. Wenger's watch and licensing business will continue as a separate brand: SwissGear.[7]
Up until 2008 Victorinox AG and Wenger SA supplied about 50,000 knives to the military of Switzerland each year, and manufactured many more for export, mostly to the United States. Commercial knives can be distinguished by their cross logos; the Victorinox cross logo is surrounded by a shield while the Wenger cross logo is surrounded by a slightly rounded square.
Some Swiss Army knives have locking blades to prevent accidental closure. Wenger was the first to offer a "PackLock" for the main blade on several of their standard 85mm models. Several large Wenger and Victorinox models have a locking blade secured by a slide lock that is operated with an unlocking-button integrated in the scales. Some Victorinox 111 mm series knives have a double liner lock that secures the cutting blade and large slotted screwdriver/cap opener/wire stripper combination tool designed towards prying.[17]
After the assembly of the metal parts, the blades on smaller knives are sharpened to a 15 angle, resulting in a 30 V-shaped steel cutting edge. From 91 mm (3.6 in) sized knives the blades are sharpened to a 20 angle, resulting in a 40 V-shaped steel cutting edge. Chisel ground blades are sharpened to a 24 angle, resulting in a 24 asymmetric-shaped steel cutting edge were only one side is ground and the other is deburred and remains flat. The blades are then checked with a laser reflecting goniometer to verify the angle of the cutting edges.
Victorinox models are available in 58 mm (2.3 in), 74 mm (2.9 in), 84 mm (3.3 in), 91 mm (3.6 in), 93 mm (3.7 in), 100 mm (3.9 in), 108 mm (4.3 in) and 111 mm (4.4 in) lengths when closed. The thickness of the knives varies depending on the number of tool layers included. The 91 mm (3.6 in) models offer the most variety in tool configurations in the Victorinox model line with as many as 15 layers.[30]
Soldier Knives are issued to every recruit or member of the Swiss Armed Forces and the knives issued to officers have never differed from those issued to non-commissioned officers and privates.[33] A model incorporating a corkscrew and scissors was produced as an officer's tool, but was deemed not "essential for survival". Officers were free to purchase it individually on their own account.[3]
The armed forces of more than 20 different nations have issued or approved the use of various versions of Swiss army knives made by Victorinox, among them the forces of Germany, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Malaysia and the United States (NSN 1095-01-653-1166 Knife, Combat).[38][39]
The Swiss Army knife has been present in space missions carried out by NASA since the late 1970s. In 1978, NASA sent a letter of confirmation to Victorinox regarding a purchase of 50 knives known as the Master Craftsman model. In 1985, Edward M. Payton, brother of astronaut Gary E. Payton, sent a letter to Victorinox, asking about getting a Master Craftsman knife after seeing the one his brother used in space. There are other stories of repairs conducted in space using a Swiss Army knife.[40]
In both the original television series MacGyver as well as its 2016 reboot, character Angus MacGyver frequently uses different Swiss Army knives in various episodes to solve problems and construct simple objects.
In practice it is genuinely a joy to use. It is thinner at the edge and at the spine than any other western knife I've used, to the point where I don't really consider this in the German knife category anymore. It's just not heavy at the handle. It feels like a sturdy 200m gyuto (albeit with quite a curved profile, and a little thicker at the edge). I have given away my old Fibrox. It comes plenty sharp, within the realm of how sharp some cheaper J-knives come.
One caveat is that because the steel is softer, over time it will see the whetstone more often than a harder knife. The Victorinox comes with a nice convex edge (not a convex grind, a convex edge) which is a little difficult to replicate on the stone (unless you are experienced, but this is not aimed at experienced sharpeners). So eventually you will have a V-shaped edge, on a knife that is now not too thin behind the edge, with a hard transition going in to the primary bevel (this will be true of knives like the FKM as well, but they start out a bit thinner and need sharpening less). You can take these shoulders off with a little thinning (essentially moving back to a convex edge), but it is something that has to be said.
Quality control is less of an issue. As a beginner, it is more difficult to watch out for issues relating to grind and F&F (which essentially becomes part of the hobby for those buying multiple knives). That said, the packaging kinda sucks. It's a cardboard sleeve, so it's much less annoying than the old blister packs but it also offers no protection. My first one was bent at the tip. But such issues are very obvious even to a beginner.
The stupid test I did involved a carrot and some scales, for which the results are only to be taken as a vague guide and nothing more, and nobody should actually do this test because it's indeed silly. I was trying to figure out a number which tells me how each of these knives cut, and see if it roughly lines up with what I think (i.e., roughly, how much better as a percentage does this class of knife cut than the previous?). But lets see how much force is require to cut a carrot on three knives:
But you may need to spend proportionally much more money to get another [somewhat significant, and in the hands of most people, possibly not significant at all] performance increase on top of this. Remember this test was on a carrot, a notoriously wedge-y ingredient, and given a thinner carrot or a less dense/wedge prone vegetable, the difference between the knives will be much smaller. So don't go out and buy an expensive knife because you think it will require 2x less force to cut things, because it won't, and this is the danger of the test. But the main questions are:
You buy a knife for 40 (the victorinox modern if you like), and you spend the rest on a whetstone (like the Shapton Pro 1k). You use the modern to practice your grip, your technique, and just as importantly your sharpening technique. There is no bolster, and the handle is smaller, and it will be a great knife to practice on. Once you are confident, and you want a bigger upgrade, go for it (bearing in mind, the jump in general is probably going to be equal to the jump between a very cheap knife and the victorinox) 041b061a72