Sosakonline Archive

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You never forget your first! Here are a few of the entries we received from the contest last month for the Victorinox 2010 media kit!

 

Hi Def,

Here's my entry into this month's contest:

My first SAK was a Victorinox Explorer, on special discount because it was a "Mountain Equipment Coop (25th?) Anniversary Special". My Dad bought it at Mountain Equipment Coop (an outdoor retail store in Vancouver, BC) with me after I was told, as a new Boy Scout, that I'd need to purchase one. I picked up another SAK (I think one of the first Wenger Rangers) a couple years later as a souvenir during a trip to Switzerland (and other parts of Europe) with my parents. As time wore on, one or two SAKs became three, four, five... now I don't know how many I have!

Thanks for the contest.

Brian

 

Heya Grant,

My first SAK was a Victorinox Vagabond I'd received from either my parents or one of my uncles for one of my birthdays around the age of eight or so, I remember looking through the tool user manual when I first received it, dreaming of having a knife with all of those listed tools.  Alas, my next model didn't come until several years later - a BSA Tinker when I was in Cub Scouts - I still have both knives, in fact, though the Vagabond is in much better shape.

As for how I started a collection, I honestly don't quite know what sparked my interest in them, just that the spark had been kindled only a year or two ago, I suppose it helped that I'd been bored one evening after I'd found EDCForums - and later MT.O - and started reading about all of these different models thanks to SOSAK and SmartKnives.  Well, the next weekend was a gun and knife show, and I just so happened to remember all of these rare models that - lo and behold - were there for extremely good prices... so I snapped them up; what ones I didn't like, I later sold to collectors, which allows me to find some extremely nice models and pass them on for slight profit, if only to be able to attend additional shows, forge friendships with dealers, and allow me to expand my meager collection with the knives that I'd actually use - if I couldn't see myself using the knife, it's either not purchased - or if I know it's uncommon or for a good price - I snap it up to pass onto others for their enjoyment.

Thanks,
-Rex

 

 

 

My first Swiss Srmy Knife was a Victorinox Super Tinker.  I got it for Christmas, when I was 16.  I had begged my family for a real Swiss Army Knife, imagining I'd use it to get myself out trouble like Macgyver.  That knife is long retired, but it was the beginning of my small collection.  I've added the Classic, the pioneer, the bantam, and the new soldier.

 

Thanks for the cool contest!

-Dan

 

 

Hey Def,

You've probably heard all this before, but it's for the contest.

When I was six years old I saved up my allowance and bought my first Swiss Army Knife from Canadian Tire.  It was an old economy Spartan (labeled 'Driver' I'm sure) with cellidor scales and a hot-stamped triangular shield.  I treasured it and loved everything about it, even the blue streak it got on one side from a collision with the handle of my dad's Eastwing hatchet.

In the early Nineties, My family and I were at a large church campout.  Some kid had chased another kid around with a hatchet - so logically we all had to give up our pocket knives. . .

I never saw it again.

Over the years I picked up a black classic and a Rucksack.  It wasn't until I discovered SOSAK online (and Felinevet) that my SAK accumulation began.  Now I have more SAKs than I care to count and I have even started to take them apart and rebuild them in wierd and wonderful ways :)

Cheers,

Lord Kafer

 

 

Hi Def,

Shalom from Israel.

I grew up in the U.S.

Every boy wants to be a Boy Scout at some time in their life and I adopted the  "Be Prepared " attitude to life.

This included having a compass, map, bottle of water, bandaids and a small package of crackers in case I got lost in the New York city subway system on my way to school in 4th grade. The city was a jungle back then!

Nice boys in New York did not carry weapons of mass destruction like pocket knives back then.

I made  good with a Trim Trio (then still manufactured in the US).

At the end of 8th grade , while on a summer vacation outside the city I came across a store with Boy Scout knives and Swiss Army knives. It was a hard choice, but I went for the Climber SAK which was completely new to me.

No idea where it is today (how that happens I don't know ) but 40 years later my youngest boy came in with an Explorer he found in the woods. Nostalgia filled me and I bought one for myself and sent his for scale replacement.

It was done for free per Vic policy and I bought more ... and haven't quite stopped , tho I have slowed down.

Your site and Felinevet's wonderful services made it possible to knowledgeably collect even here in the Middle East! Many thanks to you both.

Shalom

 

 

As a kid, my cult-like following of MacGyver led me to save up hard-earned lawn mowing money to buy a Victorinox. I had won a cheap knock off swiss army knife when my friend bet me I wouldn't jump off of his garage using a bedsheet as a parachute , but I wanted the real thing. I shopped around for a couple of weeks and decided on a Camper. When I went to buy it I saw a silver Pioneer or some Soldier variant sitting next to it in the case. I asked the guy behind the counter if that was a Victorinox, and if so, why it wasn't red. He looked at me over his glasses, moved his toothpick from the left side of his mouth to the right and answered in the classic 75 year old, Iowan, hardware store clerk way:
"Yup. Don't know."
This, as you know, was a dilemma. The Pioneer wasn't MacGyver-red and it had no saw, but the thing looked and felt bulletproof!
I left mulling it over, with my money in my pocket. The next weekend I was in a different store with my dad when I saw a bright red alox Farmer displayed with the rest of the knives. This was it! The best of both worlds; alox scales, a saw, and it was red! This was the knife I was going to buy. When I came back the next day with my money it Erityisen kunniamaininnan saavat Royal Vegasin tuliterat video hedelmapelit . was on sale! I used the money I saved from the sale to buy a piece of leather to make a three foot lanyard to protect my investment. It seems excessive, but at my age, this knife represented many hours of mowing lawns.

Except for a few times when I've lost it, the Farmer was in my pocket almost every day until its recent retirement. In twenty years it has been to fifteen states, Canada and Mexico. It has fallen seventy feet off of a cliff, been run over by a Volvo, sunk to the bottom of a lake in Wisconsin and ridden three hundred miles on the air cleaner of an Oldsmobile. It spent three days hanging in a willow tree while my friends and I spent all three afternoons retrieving it using (I swear to god) a bow, an arrow, duct tape, some kite string and a treble hook. It has gone missing more than a few times including once for several months, until one day I found it not a half block from my house, lying on the sidewalk.
It has sliced, pried, screwed, threatened, chopped, scraped, poked, opened, scooped, repaired, hammered, stabbed, trimmed, stripped, reamed, speared, performed minor surgery, and holds the distinction of annual bottom-row-of-the-Christmas-tree-branch-lopper. It is perfect for persuading paracord twenty feet up into a tree. It has opened hundreds of Christmas gifts, and I could buy a new house if I had the 5 cent deposits back on all of the beer bottles it has opened. It has outlived several lanyards, and the only red left on it is in the valleys of the knurled scales, and under the lip of the awl.
When I look at this now-polished-silver beast I don't see a tired, worn out knife, I see experience; every ding has a story. It is a true testament to the Victorinox name. As a matter of fact, it would still be in my pocket and probably last another twenty years, but I am afraid to lose it for good. It is now in retirement resting comfortably in a place of honor with the knives passed down to me by uncles and grandfathers and great-grandfathers, in hopes that it will someday be passed down from my son to his.

Thanks for being such a great source for info. I am proud to be a member of the Secret Order. (Proud in that secret kind of way.)

-ajeys

 

Hello

My first SAK was a Victorinox ( My guess is Huntsman ) given to me by my Dad when I was 8. I loved my blade. I had my very first cut with it jeje also sinned many rabbits and spent hours trying to understand how to fish with the funny hook. I can quite remember how it got lost but i grieved for years. then i found the SOSAK site by chance when i started considering replacing my knife again and that is how I got started in collecting. All of my collection is in use. Some of them inside First aid kits in my car, home and traveling bag. A few more on me , Hunstsman, Victorinox card, key ring and My wife has appropiated a couple for herself (don´t fight the wife over a knife).  So thats´s it, and I prefer Victorinox over Wenger, just beacause I do.  Have a great time.

-
Carlos 

 

 

My first swiss army knife was my father's, which as the years passed migrated to my hands. Maybe dad got tired to have to open his drawer infinite times and decided to lend it to me for time indefinite.. I remember using it a lot as a child and as we moved from a downtown apartment to the suburbs, it became a trusted companion for any adventure, until someday it disappeared.. I don't remember where or when.. suddenly it wasn't there when i needed it.. and never came back.. Maybe that's what got me into SAK's as an adult.. Trying to recover a cherished memory... of a long lost friend...

 

-Ombudsman

 

 

I bought my first SAK at a closeout at Target in 1985. I bought a Champion for my sister's birthday(we were all into Backpacking) , and on impulse I bought a Fisherman for myself. That was my first SAK. The SAK that started my collection though is a 1997 Victorinox Soldier I bought in 1997, started my love for Alox SAKs. Now I have 58 different Victorinox SAKs, and more to come.

-TB Johnson

 

 

Howdy!

My 1st SAK was a BSA Hunstman that my uncle got me one Christmas back in the early 90's when I was about 10-11.  It has the slotted Philips, keyring ub on the liner instead of the backspring, screwed scissor joint, and the thicker main blade tang.  I still have it BNIB.  I was so enamored with it, because I wanted one badly but couldn't get my own (hey, $20 is a lot when you're 10!).  Now I wish I had used it so it would have some memories with it, but either way I probably will never part with it.

Now I am more of a user than a collector, with a few of each of my favorite (and most used knives): Cadets, Alox Soldiers, Farmers and OHTs.

I have attached a photo of my typical EDC.

Laters,
Dave

 

 

Hi Def,

Got my first SAK from my girlfriend (now wife).  I had mentioned I
liked the keychain SAKs and she got me a red Classic at a jewelry
store.  Then a year or so later I got a Super Tinker from my parents
for Christmas - they got it at an Army Navy store.  I recall asking
for one with scissors...

When I discovered SOSAK and the Felinevet store, I acquired quite a
lot more SAKs!

Thanks for the chance to win!
-Nick
nphelps4130

 

 

well I got my first SAK for Christmas, but I picked it out and bought it (a sportsmen) for a mouth to get it.  Collecting started with my 2nd SAK a Wenger Bantam after I got that I started look around the internet and found SOSAK Online then that got me on to SOSAK and that place can make anyone into a collector

 

-Yud

 

I received my first Swiss Army Knife (a Tinker) in 1988. Over the years, I've carried many different multitools and folders, but I always seem to come back to a SAK. I don't intentionally collect Swiss Army Knives, they just seem to accumulate.

-CGJones

 

 

Hi Grant,

My first SAKs (bought at the same time) were a 58mm Red Alox Companion, and a 74mm Silver Money Clip.  However; they did not start me into real SAK collecting.  It was years later when just on an very ordinary day I was in Target looking at flashlights, and noticed some of them were packaged with SAKs.  After looking at the packages a while I noticed that while all the packaged advertised the included knife as a "Tinker" there were two packages that certainly did not have a Tinker in them, and the knives had scissors which I really wanted in the larger size.  So I bought one of the packages (same price as the ones with Tinkers), got home and got on-line to see what the exact model was and had anyone else noticed this yet.  Now a couple of years, and a few hundred knives later, I'm thinking they do that 'incorrect' packaging on purpose.

ICanFixThat

 

My first Swiss Army Knife was a MiniChamp II I got last year. Before that I had a SwissCard. I love the big and small in the line. 111mm and 58mm for me.

 

I'd like to thank everyone who sent in pictures and stories, and I'd like to announce the winner:

 

DEF -   Got my first SAK, a Victorinox, from a dear old spinster friend of my Mom after her trip to Europe.  Began carrying it in college and got invited to my first dorm party because I had a corkscrew.  But when I was a kid my Dad's mother carried one, used a penny to open it.  One time we were back in the woods in her Jeep, "Mima" driving, she stopped, climbed out and cut down a large vine that was in the track.  Better story than that:  Mima and my mother were 4-wheeling in the same Missouri woods (near Eureka) when grandmother got out, bent over a small tree in the way, and said over her shoulder to my mother (who was an only child and raised on ballet) "Quick - Hand me your knife!"  Lost the old Vic, bought another one, bought another, and there you go...

 

J Mackrel Jones

 

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