I always travel with both my SAK and my Leatherman. People laugh about needing a corkscrew but that is the first thing I used on my SAK. In France, even cheap wine has a cork. Sadly, I was relieved of my Leatherman yesterday morning at the Mexico City airport. I have carried it and my SAK through airports in Mexico, Belize, Honduras and Venezuela and never had a problem. Yesterday though they looked through my bag and didn’t have a problem with the SAK but wouldn’t let the Leatherman go through. They wanted me to go back to the ticket counter to check my bag but I just took out the Leatherman, handed it to one of the guards, smiled and walked on through. I hope he gets good use out of it.
I have never owned a SAK, but have carried and used either a Leatherman Tool or Super Tool since they have been available. Like the Amex? ads used to say I “Don’t leave home without it”
AzRaek - That sounds a lot like the rope-pick I have on mine. Works great for tough knots in any line that’s less than an inch in diameter.
I have a SAK with a locking blade; it’s nice to know it won’t snap shut while I am cutting and slice my fingers off. Since all of you seem knowledgable about knives, does anyone know of the SAK with a blade used for tracheotomies that Cecil mentioned in http://www.straightdope.com/columns/950127.html ? (relevant quote: “There’s even a model with a blade that will let you perform–I am not making this up–an emergency tracheotomy, no doubt inspired by an actual emergency tracheotomy performed with an SAK aboard an airliner in flight”) I looked for such a knife on the web with no luck.
“Happiness is nonetheless true happiness because it must come to an end, nor do thought and love lose their value because they are not everlasting.”
- Bertrand Russell
Gaudere,
from what little I could gather from my Swiss army knife book (hard to say for sure, I don’t sprecken ze Deutch) the SAK with the recurved blade that could be used for tracheotomies was a limited run in the seventies. Although I must say, it looks suspiciously similar to the modern “Equestrian” model, only difference I see is the absence of a chisel-like apparatus, and the recurved blade is there called a “Hoof shaver”.
I’ll try to scan a picture of it.
Inky
Thanks, Inky. If I ever ran across one of those knives, I’d like to be able to recognize it. I’d love to get one just so someday I can casually start showing the tools, saying, “well, here’s the corkscrew, screwdriver, awl, tracheotomy blade…”
Here’s one advantage that the SAK has over the Leatherman. When has a Leatherman ever been used to save a life?
Swiss Army Knives can save lives!
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
I was on a camping trip and someone was going to open a can but they forgot to bring a can opener. I pulled out my SAK (not sure which one) and handed it to the with the can opener out and it did the trick.
I love my SAK.
My mother-in-law brought me back a huge one from Switzerland. It even has a watch in the handle.
Jeffery
[quote]
Thanks, Inky. If I ever ran across one of those knives, I’d like to be able to recognize it. I’d love to get one just so someday I can casually start showing the tools, saying, “well, here’s the corkscrew, screwdriver, awl, tracheotomy blade…”[\quote]
Ahh, tracheostomies. You can do an emergency “trach” with just about any blade, really. For my money, I’d use the smaller blade on my SAK. Just palpate the cricothyroid membrane (soft indentation under the Adam’s apple), and cut across horizontally about half an inch, through skin and fascia and membrane. Then, break an end off of a ballpoint pen, stick it in the incision to get a patent airway to the trachea and commence mouth-stoma CPR.
Oh yeah, and get to a hospital dammit.
I carry your basic Schrade Old Timer. I’ve carried a pocket knife since I was about ten, and people ask me two things:
Why do you carry a knife?
Can I borrow your knife?
I’ve had much the same reaction as JillGat. “What the heck do you carry that thing for? Are you psycho? Are you a commando?” A few minutes later: “Hey, how am I gonna get this plastic bag open? How’m I gonna get these weeds out of my garden? How’m I gonna get out of this 50-gallon drum?” Okay, the last one’s never happened. It’s just funny how much gnawing, pounding, crying, and running to the workbench people will do before they realize it would be easier just to carry a knife.
- Boris B, Hellacious Ornithologist