Swiss Army ... tool

[Edward Weber]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/07/business/swiss-army-knife-blade-scli-intl/index.html

While I understand the decision, I can't help think that, I carry a pocket knife, with a blade only and use it for so many tasks. I think I would be fumbling through the selection of tools trying to find a substitute for a knife.

I know there is a market, though I don't see buying one for myself.

[George Yetka]

I dont know the statistics but swiss army knife stabbings have to be pretty low right?

I would think injuries would be higher without the knife.

[George Yetka]

Our driver, for whatever reason, never has a knife or a sharpie on him. I could see if you are going grocery shopping or out to dinner not necessarily needing one of those but as a contractor you need these at a minimum at work. I had to give him the "every man needs a blade" speech last week and I asked him today and he didnt have either again.

[Cameron Wood]

Modern folks only need to open Amazon packages, and they use a key.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

For many years we had a tradition of cutting down the family Christmas tree with the saw that some Swiss Army knives have. My favorite Victorinox had one large blade, one small blade, scissors and tweezers only. The little scissors were great for cutting your way into a bad splinter and occasionally the tweezers were good enough to pull the splinter out. It, like most pocket knives eventually got lost.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

My Uncle Hans would bring a Victorinox from Switzerland every time he came to visit. I was always so elated. A Swiss Army Knife without a knife is kind of sad. I would accept the reverse, i.e. just a knife, but wouldn’t want a tool only version.

[Jim Becker]

They make a variety of "tool combinations" already so doing something like this for folks who don't want/don't need/can't have a blade fit into their line perfectly. This is just a "new tool"; it doesn't replace what needed for folks who want/need/can-have a blade.

[Edwin Santos]

Wild guess here - maybe omitting the blade makes them acceptable to take on a plane?

Before 9/11 the claim to fame of Swiss Army knives was that they were airplane and airport approved worldwide.

[Roger Feeley]

If it goes past the TSA, I’m in. It could be my travel knife. Of course there will be plenty of pointy things that could be a weapon. For that matter, it wouldn’t be hard to come up with some sort of shiv that would pass through security.

[Lee DeRaud]

I wouldn't give a nickel for the odds of a bladeless Swiss Army Whatever getting past a TSA screening.
It still looks like a pocketknife and most (all?) TSA agents wouldn't even bother opening it before tossing it in the barrel.

[Malcolm McLeod]

Wild guess here - maybe omitting the blade makes them acceptable to take on a plane?

Before 9/11 the claim to fame of Swiss Army knives was that they were airplane and airport approved worldwide.

I carried a pocket knife since age 15-ish - but not Swiss. After TSA took 3 (or 4?) nice ones, I gave up.

[Alan Rutherford]

They are "concerned about increasingly stringent regulations on knives in many markets." I can believe it. Maybe kids would be allowed to have one in school. Give them somethng to play with besides their phones.

[Edward Weber]

Seems like some didn't read the whole article.

For example, increasing concern over the prevalence of knife crime means that the British government is considering new legislation on bladed articles, and Elsener himself referenced the country’s rules.
“In England or certain Asian countries, you are sometimes only allowed to carry a knife if you need to have it to do your job or operate outdoors,” said Elsener. “In the city, however, when you go to school, to the cinema, or to go shopping, carrying pocketknives is severely restricted.”

As I said in the original post, there is a reason and the decision makes sense, it's just not for me.

[Lee DeRaud]

They are "concerned about increasingly stringent regulations on knives in many markets." I can believe it. Maybe kids would be allowed to have one in school. Give them somethng to play with besides their phones.

I'm getting an image of a couple of middle-school kids playing mumblety-peg: the whole school goes on lock-down and SWAT gets called out.

[Warren Lake]

I get this image.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G_1_T0ec_E

[Chris Schoenthal]

I leave my small Swiss army knife at home and carry a Milwaukee folding knife with a utility blade. I take the blade out when going through TSA and they have no problem. Once I get to the destination, I can get a blade to replace it. Solves my problem at least.

[Lee DeRaud]

I get this image.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G_1_T0ec_E

"Hi, I'm Nick Dundee. I was the mumblety-peg champion at Alice Springs Middle School.
My friends call me 'Gimpy'."

[Earl McLain]

If it goes past the TSA, I’m in. It could be my travel knife. Of course there will be plenty of pointy things that could be a weapon. For that matter, it wouldn’t be hard to come up with some sort of shiv that would pass through security.

Maybe it should be a requirement for the Exit row--so the passenger could torque the door bolts before take-off. :)

[Alan Rutherford]

News item from England a few years ago.
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[Alan Rutherford]

I'm getting an image of a couple of middle-school kids playing mumblety-peg: the whole school goes on lock-down and SWAT gets called out.

We played a version called "Chicken" where 2 guys start with legs spread apart. You throw the knife between the other guy's feet and he moves a foot up to where the knife stuck. If he moves before the knife sticks he loses. If you actually hit his foot, you lose.

I also remember putting my hand on a desk with fingers spread and stabbing the desk between each finger. After a few iterations your fingers start to look inanimate and the knife is really flying. This was in Baltimore a long time ago. The knives were often switchblades. I don't remember anyone getting hurt - at least not enough to remember. I don't advocate allowing this in schools. We weren't allowed to do it if we got caught but I think we were smarter for the experience. And much better off than if we had been expelled for having pocket knives.

None of that today.

[Rich Engelhardt]

We played a version called "Chicken" where 2 guys start with legs spread apart. You throw the knife between the other guy's feet and he moves a foot up to where the knife stuck. If he moves before the knife sticks he loses. If you actually hit his foot, you lose.

I also remember putting my hand on a desk with fingers spread and stabbing the desk between each finger. After a few iterations your fingers start to look inanimate and the knife is really flying. This was in Baltimore a long time ago. The knives were often switchblades. I don't remember anyone getting hurt - at least not enough to remember. I don't advocate allowing this in schools. We weren't allowed to do it if we got caught but I think we were smarter for the experience. And much better off than if we had been expelled for having pocket knives.

None of that today.
We played a version of that game called "Stretch" - where two faced off and a knife was flipped into the ground at the opponents feet. You had to move your foot to the spot where the knife stuck in the ground. You continued back and forth until one or the other had to stretch so far they fell down.

Unlike your school though, the game was played in the open at recess with the school knowing all about it.
It became a fad, and at recess there would be three hundred kids, ranging from 1st to 5th grade, tossing knives at each other.

It was fun.
It was also the 1950s.

I'm so glad I grew up in this country (and world) when it was still sane. I really don't like the world as it has become. I'm glad I'm old and going to die soon. Things like a knife with no blade don't make sense to me.

[Jack Frederick]

I’ve carried the smallest SAK for probably 50 yrs now. I use it many times a day. Probably the scissors more than anything.I don’t recall the model name, but the one shown with the small Phillips head/bottle opener is IMO the best of them. It is perfect for the small screws on the ever present battery compartments on the grandkids toys and most of my test instruments. It makes a nice gift for new Dads and Grands.

[David Storer]

My old dad (GRHS) always used to say you should never give a knife ... "it cuts friendship". When he gave me a knife, he'd always make me pay a penny for it, sometimes sixpence. Mean old b****r ;-).

[David Storer]

In primary school (up to age eleven) in England, we were encouraged to bring a small sharp penknife to school as a more reliable and economical way of sharpening pencils than the hand-turned machine on the teacher's desk, which used to eat them by the inch.

It was good to learn young how to use a knife safely and effectively, and to learn respect for a sharp blade.

Times have changed.

[Alan Rutherford]

...Unlike your school though, the game was played in the open at recess with the school knowing all about it.....It was also the 1950s......

Same at my school. What was not allowed was switchblades or sticking knives in desks.



...Things like a knife with no blade don't make sense to me.

Ne neither.

[Edward Weber]

News item from England a few years ago.
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As of a couple of weeks ago, The Royal Mail now has a total ban on all bladed objects.

[Thomas L Carpenter]

So what do you call a Swiss Army knife without a knife. A whatchacallit?

[Malcolm McLeod]

So what do you call a Swiss Army knife without a knife. A whatchacallit?

Widget: n. - A complex mechanical device that does nothing. YMMV.

Now a French Army knife - that's different. A corkscrew and a small white flag.

[Warren Lake]

Up until a few years ago carried my keys this way with the Swiss knife I got in 84 in Venice. The red sides were broken off. Knife in my back pocket keys hanging out. Worked fine. I wanted to work out a way to attach the cable to the sides and never did and now carry two sets of keys. One in case I lock myself out of something. Holding the keys in your hand the knife closed became a Nun chuck. That knife adjusted lots of kitchen hinges. Typical to go with a friend and meet one of her friends and sitting in the kitchen seeing all the doors that had moved since installed cause of european hinges.

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[Larry Edgerton]

I switched to the better brands of multi-tools years ago because I like the useful pliers but I use the knives often, have one in the door pocket of every vehicle. I get that they are trying to sell in the areas that don't allow blades, its the silly law I question in the first place.

[John Ziebron]

I guess we won't be seeing a return of the MacGyver series.................

[Tom M King]

I don't think I ever went to school a day in my life without the little Solingen pocket knife that an Uncle brought back from Germany in WWII. I stopped carrying it, and any other knife when I was 23. It was after I bought my first full set of Arkansas stones that included a very nice black. The first two people who asked to bother my knife ended up with me taking them to the hospital even after I warned them to be careful because the knife was Very sharp. I stopped carrying one because I got tired of spending all that time in hospitals.

edited to add: I travel as light as possible now. left pocket has a tiny leather business card wallet with Drivers License, Medicare card, and debit card, and loose Chap Stick and few pieces of cash. Right pocket has cell phone. Back right or little zipper pocket in running shorts has ear plugs and single key to the mechanic shop. Nothing else needed.

[Edward Weber]

I switched to the better brands of multi-tools years ago because I like the useful pliers but I use the knives often, have one in the door pocket of every vehicle. I get that they are trying to sell in the areas that don't allow blades, its the silly law I question in the first place.
I can't argue with that.
I've been carrying a pocket knife of one sort or another throughout the past 45 years and I've managed to NOT stab anyone with any of them. If I can resist the urge, anybody can.

The multi tool I use the most, pretty much the only one I use, is this.
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https://wiki.multitool.org/tiki-index.php?page=6LC+Toolbox

I keep it on my tractor, I wish they still made them.

[Jim Koepke]

When one of my grandsons was to be given a knife, there weren't any extras in my accumulation. We went looking for a Swiss Army knife like my own and could only find one without a cutting edge. Eventually a few more were purchased used and he ended up with one.

There is almost always a small Swiss Army knife in my pocket. Currently it is one Lee Valley sold a few years ago. They tend to get lost every few years due to mental lapses of leaving it somewhere or dropping it in a place that can not be reached.

If they are seen in a second hand shop or antique shop at a reasonable price, they come home with me.

These are my favorites.

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The two bladed one at the lower left is my oldest one, purchased about 40 years ago. It sits on the table at the end of the sofa and is used for opening mail and other chores. There is also one of the knives next to my keyboard for anything that it might be needed to do.

A few of my knives are not shown in the picture. One found in an antique mall was an advertising piece for a medical company and where many have a toothpick this one has a small ball point pen.

Some of the advertising knives or ones of different colors have been given to my kids and grandkids. About 40 years ago, one was given to one of my daughters. She some how got caught taking it to school. It was confiscated and never returned.

During my school days we weren't supposed to bring knives to school, but a lot of us did.

jtk

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Darling has managed to hang on to her Swiss Army knife. It resides religiously in her bicycle pannier. It is the next size down from the Huntsman. The blade is used almost as much as the corkscrew. Both are indispensable as is the can opener.

[Steve Demuth]

Guess I'm the odd one out in this conversation - I carry a pocket knife whenever I'm not going out to a place that prohibits them*. But the knife I have carried for many, many years is not a Victorinox, but a Camillus US Army issue Military Engineer's Knife. It's beautifully made and tough with bone scales, and a robust hanger loop, and with four tools: knife, marlin spike (awl), flat screwdriver and bottle opener, and can opener. My dad carried the civilian version from Camillus pretty much every day after the war - probably went through twenty of them over his lifetime. Mine doesn't get hard enough use to be as worn out as his became (although mostly, he left them laying a field somewhere, and had to replace them), and at age 82 is still in pretty darned good shape.

* Most notably in my life any more, the clinic where my wife gets her cancer treatments. They installed magnetometers and started screening everyone coming into the clinic just a couple of years ago. It annoys the heck out of me when I forget and have to return to parking to stow my knife after discovery, but I get why they do it. I served on the institutional Security Committee there in my last gig before retirement, and the incidents of very real threats and assaults on nurses in particular but also doctors and other patients from irate and unstable patients or patient "visitors" we reviewed on a regular basis more than justifies the inconvenience to visitors to the clinic. It doesn't, of course, prevent someone who is absolutely determined from causing harm - there are lots of potential weapons for assault inside the clinic - but it does two things that really help: first, it makes anyone coming into the area with a pre-hatched plan to use a knife or gun to cause harm discard the mechanism of their plan, and rethink what they're doing, and second, it makes spontaneous assaults - the "I'm pissed at what you just did or told me, and I've got a weapon in my pocket, let's see how you like this medicine" assault - far less likely.

[Jerome Stanek]

My first Swiss army knife was given to me when the Glidden paint store opened 1988 and I was the first customer they gave it to me and hung one of the dollar bills on the wall. Since then I have been carrying one. I still have the first one but retired it and bought a new one that one I also retired as the red shell cracked so now I have a bigger one that I hvae been carrying. I also always carry a Gerber multi tool and a maglite on my belt. They have all been very useful over the years.

[Lee DeRaud]

Very long ago I had a knife my dad got from the USAF, probably as part of some survival kit. It was bright orange and had two 'blades'.

The smaller of the two was a ~2" smooth-edge knife blade. The other was a larger (3"-4") J-shaped widget, sharpened on the inner edge, designed to catch and cut parachute shroud lines; it was spring-loaded and activated by a button, "switchblade" style.