I know there are a lot of experts on here, so I’m asking for recommendations about non Victorinox options.
I’ve got a Victorinox Explorer Plus which I’m very happy with for daily carry around the house, outdoors, etc.
It’s on a pocket dangler thingy, so already as pocket friendly as it can be, but it is quite bulky.
I’ve been looking for a slimmer tool for when I go into the office, with a large blade, small blade, corkscrew, bottle opener, and scissors.
I fully appreciate I don’t drink wine or beer in the office and rarely need to cut things, so I don’t need all of these tools, but rightly or wrongly they are what I’d like in a second tool.
I’ve ruled out the 58mm Victorinoxes as too small, and found the 84mm Vic Waiter lacking scissors and second blade.
I think 84mm to 91mm is the right size, so I’m not looking for keychain tools like the Leatherman Micra.
The Vic Climber is nearly as thick as the Explorer, and nearly the same toolset, so I’ve ruled that out.
Closest I’ve found is the Vic Compact, but no second blade.
Modding a Vic Compact to add the opener layer and second blade would give me a Climber which I’ve already ruled out.
Modding a Vic Tourist to add scissors (and backlayer hook?) might work if 84mm scissors are even a thing?
But I think I need to look beyond Victorinox to get what I want new and without mods. So are there any office friendly (i.e. non tactical) tools available new from other manufacturers with large blade, small blade, corkscrew, bottle opener, and scissors?
Or is modding the Tourist or settling for another Compact the best way forward?
The closest I can think of is replacing the Philips screw driver on a Super Tinker for the cork screw. Or just skip the need for a small blade and get the Compact. I believe the Oxford St Victorinox store lets you build your own knife so maybe that is an option.
Thanks! I think this would be a Climber though?Originally Posted by reecie
Oh yeah you are right. Doh. I guess you can’t get want you want with out a compromise whe you go through the medium knives of their web site. Since the Compact gives everything bar the small knife that is the easiest to choose as I would guess most use the larger blade anyway.
84mm Victorinox scissors were available, but no longer. Premiums are paid by collectors and modders for used 84mm Victorinoxes with scissors, something like $60-$100.
The Victorinox Evolution 14 knife, an ex-Wenger pattern, is 6mm shorter than a 91mm Climber, but 2mm thicker and has a nail file rather than small blade.
A small Climber? An obsolete model. Feasible, somewhat expensive to do because of lack of availability of 84mm scissors and I think the 84mm Tourist is being withdrawn as the Spartan, Tourist, Sportsman and Evolution 10 are so similar. So if you want to mod a Tourist and see a new Tourist grab it.
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Last edited by BillyCasper; 15th August 2023 at 16:04.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
The pre-1967 salesman model, also known as the small tinker is 84mm.
Mine below.
Nice old one with a bail.
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Some useful info on the various models you can use https://www.carryology.com/utility/a...y-knives-saks/
Boker Plus tech tool? Bit nicer than a SAK, limited range though.
Thanks! This looks promising if there is a version with the toolset I’m looking for.
Why the need for a second blade? I have the compact and it's perfect, carry it everywhere. Scissors and blade get used daily, bottle opener handy. I've used the tweezers and emergency pen on a few occasions, even the little pin that it took me a year to know was there
Clean blade and dirty blade. Small blade for opening parcels and such, keeping the large blade clean in case needed.
So having done a bit more research:
Boker Plus Tech Tool City 3 - 96mm long, 19mm thick, 120g, so too big, and discontinued anyway;
Mercury 913-7LC - 100mm long, as thick as the Explorer, and 100g but an awl or sharp can opener instead of a second blade;
Victorinox Compact - 91mm, 15mm thick, 64.5g, has no second blade;
Victorinox Evo 14 - 85mm, 17mm thick, 74.5g but awl instead of second blade;
Victorinox Climber - 91mm, 18mm thick, 82g, has every tool I want but too close in size to my Explorer Plus to be worth it.
So it looks like a choice between the Evo 14 or Compact. Of those the Evo 14 at least has an awl.
If it were me, I'd reconsider what I need for the office. Do you need two blades? Do you need a corkscrew (honestly where serves wine that doesn't have one, unless you intend to nip to Tesco at lunch?). Are scissors a must if you have a good knife and want to keep things compact? For slim/compact, you should take a look at Victorinox models with Alox scales.
My 2 cents - this is an excellent slim option at just 6mm thick. Gives you a good useable size blade, a bottle opener, flat head and pry. Your current Victorinox is 3.5x thicker than this one, it's only 6mm and sits in a back pocket easily.
https://www.victorinox.com/uk/en/Pro...ox/p/0.2300.26
If you need the scissors then there's this one, but I really don't think it's worth going 2.5x thicker for personally (15mm).
https://www.victorinox.com/uk/en/Pro...ox/p/0.8231.26
But it's also close in size to the two-layer Spartan.
Go to wherever they carry Vic around your place and try any three-layer model, that way you will know if it's manageable or not. I'd say it should be.
Other than that, Swiza comes to mind, but their models with scissors don't have a small blade.
This is not going to be at all helpful. I never am.
Buy the one that is almost there, but lacks a second blade.
Buy an Alox Bantam for your other pocket. Trust me, you won't know it's there.
Swiza D07 is interesting. Hadn’t heard of that so thanks for the pointer.
I think these posts are the answer!
The Wenger / Boker / Swiza alternatives are much larger than the Compact.
I think another Compact, plus Bantam Alox, is the best solution.
I see you're tilting towards another solution but two points that I think are important here:
1. That model has 3 layers, so just like Climber.
2. The blade is locking so IIRC it will affect the carry legality in the UK.
Cheers! All the non-Vic options are much larger than the Climber or even the Explorer, so the Compact is the best bet.
You should be set up all right.
As an alternative to Bantam, you could consider a Wenger Eloxy (similarly, alu scales and no liners). AFAICS they're discontinued just as the whole Wenger brand, but I can see one new available on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/126048609585
Try buying it and expect to be blocked. No knife purchases or sales for British eBay accounts.
Just for interest, this is an 84mm Alox Bantam I modified by putting in scissors and wood saw layers.
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Last edited by BillyCasper; 17th August 2023 at 13:49.
^^^
I didn't know that, madness.
I own an alox Pioneer, farmer, pioneer X, cadet, bantam and a compact. The knife I carry every day is the alox mini champ, but the compact has a very good set of tools and proper sized scissors. I ended up with a little collection of SAK’s almost by accident tbh!
Love the Mini Champ, it's an awesome bit of kit. Seems crazy how many layers it has in something so small. That said, the tools do feel a little duplicative.
Alox Classic edges it for me personally as the best keyring Victorinox. Basically the same size as adding an extra key on the keyring.
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