Bring out your old Swiss Army Knife !

I do like a bit of Opinel pig-sticker. Shame not one is legal under our uniquely mental knife laws. Saw they've started a rather nice range of coloured and plastic hilts, kitchen knives too.

I have a mate who worked for lotus, and they used to hand out branded spyderco knives at trade shows.
Except for UK events, where they had to commission a special, crapper, non-locking knife.
Shameful piece of legislation.

 

My 13 year old son's knife collection. He bought his latest Swiss Army knife in Verbier this summer.
This one Check this out:Explorer

 

Saw this today
Adam posted about it earlier in thread.

 

Pottered onto an old friend in the garage, so gave it a bit of WD40 and a wipe, as you do.
At least 30 years in my possession now, other than lost in a mate's orchard for 18 months & the Fishwife burying it in her allotment for six (now banned from her use... bought her a pig-sticker instead). Hard-used. Much inappropriate prying & scraping.
Still in basically pristine condition.
Victorinox did not (do not? I hope so) F around with steel quality.

Can't think of many things I've had 30 years that are still in such good nick. Kitchen knives, maybe. Some John Lewis pans. Not much else.
Mostly carry an old Gerber multitool these days (modern ones iffy, old good), but Victorinox definitely knew what they were about.

 

Didn't even know Gerber did such trad knives, Dave.
From a period when they were right at the top of the quality scale. Sadly that declined massively with outsourced production, though things picking up a bit since Fiskars bought them. You can actually get spares now. Near impossible for a decade.

Good call on the carbon bladed pig-sticker. Obviously they rust fast without a bit of effort, but sharpen infinitely better than their standard ones.

 

My real 'Swiss Army Knife' - constant companion.
Completely illegal since our knife laws are retarded (The blade locks. Safely. The horror!), but hey. I'd rather be able to fix stuff in a pinch than be too risk-averse.
Deployed every week a few times. Saved the Fishwife from a car recovery ony a few weeks back.
I have two, as the blunt ones were lost in the attic for 10 years because gurlz are sometimes strange and do not understand important things....


Though in truth, if I'm going somewhere stupid like that London (no reason to again for the rest of my life... I hope), I will always have the remarkably good (and legal) tiny Leatherman.
It is rusty, because I'm an idiot. Covered with trace elements of Brie for a month apparently not ideal.
The scissors spring breaks easily, which is where you discover Leatherman's Lifetime warranty is incredible. These are the third I've had. Replaced no quibble & free, twice.
(Know your laws, UK people. So when some uppity teenage copper gets shirty about your tiny penknife you can be irritating enough until his greybeard sergeant says 'sorry, Sir. He's new and overkeen. I'll have a word'. (A good day, despite embarrassing the Fishwife and missing our train.))


Suppose I'm cleaning a tiny multitool now.
Not a bad way to spend half an hour.
Might just send it to Whitby & Co. for a new one as the scissor spring has gone. Again. If I can be arsed.

Edit, as now happilly cleaning/oiling all the standard Gerber stuff.
Everyone should have this facility to hand. That it is illegal is entirely ridiculous.
Twats that take a machete to the pub ignore laws. The al fresco cheese eaters and tinkerers suffer.

 

Never seen that. I shall tell the fishwife as she often can't get the blade out when she's left it in a compost heap or similar for a month.
Really are cracking knives. Simple, cheap (to an almost disposable level), easy to sharpen.

 

Shopping for silly coloured pigstickers.

Things that irritate me every time I notice them.
This is the 'official' Duke of Edinburgh Award penknife.
FFS.
I find it so patronising, over and above what any fule kno about sharp knives being much safer than blunt ones. To deliberately remove the point... y'know... the bit that starts at least half of cuts.
Notice no 'thing for removing stones from horses hooves' reamer/bradawl either, as wholesome DofE types are well-known for using them as punch daggers in between looking confused on A roads and hillsides. A bottle-opener and no guarded edge can opener too. Retarded.
Sprog alpha was sent on his DofE with a proper one, and spare Gerber.