I still use my Victorinox Champion (not Swiss Champ – no pliers, no screwdriver that fits in the corkscrew) that I bought in 1982 every day. I also have a Swiss Champ on a lanyard inside of my day pack, plus a Swiss Champ in a Victorinox ‘basket weave’ leather belt pouch and a NIB w/instructions Champion for collecting.
By far, the most useful tools are the scissors and the toothpick. I use them the most. I’ve replaced the spring on the scissors of my '82 Swiss Champ twice. Per 13a in the illustration linked in the OP, they’re dandy for trimming fingernails when I don’t have nail clippers handy. The screwdiver that lives in the corkscrew is perfect for tightening my glasses. I’ve never used the hook depicted in 14-14c.
I HAD a small multi-tool that was in my suitcase that I forgot about. I mean small. It had a blade that was just a little over an inch long. I had forgot all about it.
In 2013 TSA started allowing them, but not anymore. I get it, I do. It has a (however tiny) knife.
Just went to TSA’s web site and it’s good to know that hand grenades are still prohibited. Yes, specifically hand grenades. You can search for that. Multi-tool produces no results.
More recently, I had my little 3" Kershaw confiscated at the courthouse when I reported for jury duty. I’m so used to having that in my pocket that I completely spaced it out. I asked them if I could get it back at the end of the day and was told “no” with a smirk. I asked if they would return it if it was a watch or other piece of jewelry and they said “yes”. WTF? Really pissed me off, as I used that knife on an almost daily basis and had to pop another $40 for a new one.
Luckily, I did not travel with my small (2 inch) Buck knife. I also use it on a daily basis. It’s just that daily check that I do. Wallet, phone, car keys, knife (the knife is a tool to me)
I had the jury duty thing happen to me too. But this was a small town and I was allowed to take the knife back to my car.
Just flew twice over the last week. The security scanner is sure that I have a neckless on. Um, no. Never have owned a neckless. So, I go through the pat down. Every time. (I’m a guy, a big guy 6-3 210 lbs. So nobody is trying to feel me up)
They’ve sort of started to come around again to having lots of specialist models - for instance, Gerber hasa multitoolwith a spike and crimper for setting detonators in C4. That’s…pretty specialist, if you ask me.
You have to have good forearm muscles if you want to use the corkscrew on a SAK. I own several, including several Spartans, but the multitools are the things that get carried. During my usual day, the pliers get used the most.
Well, I always take a bottle or more of wine with camping because we’re not hard roughing it just sleeping under the open sky and enjoying nature. The corkscrew on the SAK had come in handy more than once, when someone has forgotten to bring the larger easier to use version.
I’ve seen that before (probably on TIWIB); I wonder how usable it really is given how wide it is. Do you need two hands just to hold it, which mean none to hold the screw?
I don’t think it’s meant to be used. It’s a novelty/collectible. Even were it meant to be used, 1.3 kilobucks is a little expensive for a camping tool.
It’s surprisingly easy to open a bottle of wine by just firmly banging the base on something that is firm, but not too firm. Like a tree with a bit of bark on it, say.
Yeah, if you really have use for all of those tools, what you need is ten knives, not one.
Personally, I carry a Wenger, a Leatherman, and a 13-function utility pen every day. I think I’ve used all of them at some point or another, except for a device on the pen described as an “ear pick” (I’m afraid to ask).
Corkscrews, not the kind with a central shaft but the other sort that’s a helix(?), were once used to extract bullets from wounds. I wonder if that might be an alternate reason the company included it in their long list of available features? :eek:
A search on Surgical Bullet Extractor yielded a lot of different instruments, but none that were helical. (A few were probes with a screw on the end to try to bore into a soft lead ball).
The Swiss trained me to kill and I will do so. I’ll grab these guys by the neck and take the toothpick and stick it right between their teeth. Then I’ll slap them around the head a couple of times. They’ll go out for a couple of seconds, they’ll be unconscious, and then I’ll go for the corkscrew. I will take that corkscrew and I’ll stick it right into the voice box. I will twist it and twist it into the voicebox and I’ll rip it, I’ll rip that thing right out! And he’ll “tarlk lak dis fur de rest uv hiz lyrfe!”
SAK is handy in that it is small and fits easily into a pocket with a number of different tools. I have a few of them… and the only real downside is that some of the metals that the tools are made of are too soft or malleable or just too small to withstand the necessary force for some quick hard uses.
I’ve personally destroyed the pliers on two just by trying to loosen a tightened nut that needed to come off of a bolt.
The answer seems to be the Leather-man as stated above, which I’ve yet to destroy (yes, this is ‘a good thing’ as tools go).
Here are 10 ways to get a corkscrew out without a corkscrew.
One way that I know works using only a leather-man is to take to absolute smallest (almost rapier sharp) screwdriver in your leather-man and push it through the center of the cork as deep as it will go (pilot hole).
Next, widen it some with the sharp blade (gentle down pressure only, don’t twist it at all as you might break the tip). Next, pull out the hefty straight screwdriver blade, push it gently into the mouth of the slot you’ve cut in the cork, and then push it down hard (stop if the cork starts to move).
Then hold the neck of the bottle with one hand while twisting the leather-man with the other. When the cork starts to move/spin, exert some pulling pressure while still twisting the leather-man and you should see the cork twist right out of the neck of the bottle.
I’ve done it & I’ve made it work without breaking anything.
I have different models of SAK’s but I agree and I am a true fan as well. They aren’t just for camping. I always have one of mine on me anytime I am not flying. All the various tools are useful and not toys.
Corkscrews on Victorinox Swiss Army knives are perfectly functional. If someone is getting consistently bad results from it, it is their technique and not the fault of the tool. I have used it hundreds of times over the years. The most notable was when I was helping to host a birthday party for an older Italian man when we discovered right before it started that we had over a dozen cases of wine but no opener - except for my SAK. It took everything I had to keep the marinading guests at bay in the beginning but I could consistently open new bottles every 15 seconds or so using just my SAL. That problem has come up many other times in lesser forms as well.