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Monday, October 25, 2010

From The Desk 4

I’m rather partial to multi bladed knives and Victorinox brand Swiss Army Knives in particular. Not that I own many, but here’s my first one. It lives on my desk and sees fairly regular use...opening up all those pencil packages!
desk and swiss army knife

It was given to me about 25 years ago, by a friend of Swiss descent. It’s a very basic model. From what I can find on the web, I believe it is a long discontinued model, a “Standard”, although the blade is stamped "Economy" rather than "Standard" so maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, apparently Standard was a variation of Weekender and of Spartan. Weekender = Standard plus a key ring, and Spartan = Standard plus a toothpick, tweezer and key ring.
victorinox standard model knife

my drawing 1my drawing 2


There's no prize, other than honour and glory, but take a guess - one of the blades/implements on this knife is somewhat superfluous to the requirements of life in Kiwiland.
You can hover your mouse over the right hand drawing of my SAK to see the answer.
at

12 comments:

  1. HenrikMonday, 25 October, 2010

    Like your drawing(s) – nice for you to have something to fall back on if your current job should be boring.;-)

    I used to carry a pocket knife too – much smaller and not this luxury item – but under the current Danish weapon law, that might put me behind bars for most of a year.

    Crazy Swiss - Spartan should be the most basic version, not vice versa.
    Regards Henrik

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael J CorryMonday, 25 October, 2010

    I thought our knife laws were tough in the UK but we'd be legal with one of these as long as the blade didn't exceed 3 inches (76mm) in length.

    But schools have banned pencil sharpeners in some places.

    ReplyDelete
  3. DwscamelMonday, 25 October, 2010

    Banning pencil sharpeners? What about non-pocket safe mechanical pencils? The line must be drawn somewhere.

    I owned a very small (2 inch) "army" knife, really just a folding blade. It served me well opening packages over the years.

    I've since given it to my brother, but I appreciate the craftsmanship in such items.

    Also, Dave, I guessed the unnecessary item correctly. I somehow felt it . . . :).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kiwi-dMonday, 25 October, 2010

    Yea, this whole banning sharp objects thing easily ends up at the ridiculous end of things.

    Glad you guessed the blade...I would need to use it most nights back in the days of cork though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousMonday, 25 October, 2010

    But the corkscrew has other uses as well! I recently used it to remove a smooth-faced Lego tile from the bottom of a Lego mailbox. :)

    I carry a SAK too, my favorite model is Victorinox Compact. The biggest difference to yours is that it has scissors in place of the smaller blade. SAKs are great!

    Jarmo

    ReplyDelete
  6. MatthiasMonday, 25 October, 2010

    Thanks for sharing this with us. Your knife is still in a good condition! My knife (also ~ 25 years old) does not look that good anymore.
    Swiss army knifes are also great for sharpening (non-mechanical ;) ) pencils, my father always used his swiss army knife to sharpen pencils, he never used a pencil sharpener.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kiwi-dTuesday, 26 October, 2010

    Hi Jarmo - what next - Lego wine bottles ;-)

    Matthias - mine has spent most of its 25 years as desk knife rather than as a pocket knife so that probably contributes to keeping it looking good.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousTuesday, 26 October, 2010

    Hey, THIS:
    http://www.amazon.de/Wenger-Schweizer-Offiziersmesser-Messer-Schatulle/dp/B000R0JDSI

    is THE knife.
    Unusable but just 610 Euros :D

    ReplyDelete
  9. 2nd_astronautTuesday, 26 October, 2010

    Rot Ring, the funny thing on the site you linked are the user comments. But they are in German, so most here won't understand.

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousTuesday, 26 October, 2010

    Google translation may help

    http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.de%2FWenger-Schweizer-Offiziersmesser-Messer-Schatulle%2Fdp%2FB000R0JDSI&act=url

    ReplyDelete
  11. 1962PENCILSFriday, 29 October, 2010

    I have one just like that, mine is also 20 something years old, it's pretty much beaten up but still works fine, I had the blades sharpened a couple of times. I used to have an identical one but I lost it when I was in the army (!). When I got out I bought a replacement along with the original leather pouch and a small classic knife, these are great tools... not only for boys! ;-)
    One thing that i've learned, and may be of help to someone. In most cases, if the instruments get stuck or hard to get out, soaking the knife in hot water will be enough to unlock them, there's no need to use lubricants.

    Very nice drawings, please keep them coming.

    Ricardo

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousSunday, 31 October, 2010

    Or if you wanna read more about the big one i thing it's this one.

    http://www.wengerna.com/giant-knife-16999

    http://www.wenger.ch/wenger-sets-world-record-for-most-functional-penknife

    ReplyDelete