Sosakonline Archive

Please note that all content in this section has been imported from our old Sosakonline website and may contain broken links. We are revising it as we can, but these things take time, and it's a lot of content to get through!

One of the more amusing points of my existence is that every year the first birthday present or Christmas present or card I get is from a local brewery, called Moosehead. Some time ago I must have signed up for something, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was. Just to add a bit more amusement to the story, I rarely even drink Moosehead products, and yet every year for my birthday or Christmas, or any other event, before most folks are even thinking of what to send me, there's a package from Moosehead with some coasters, coupons, a shirt or even- and get this, a pair of socks.

    If you run a Swiss knife company in Switzerland, how many blades do you make with the year 85 stamped on the tang?   How many Alox scales do you need for the annual military contract?  The Swiss are very frugal and hate to waste anything. Not very much gets thrown out. They are also very conscious of their environment. I have seen one picture from a Swiss Army website that shows an aluminum pan underneath an army truck getting refueled.  What has this got to do with SAK’s?  I think you are now starting to get the idea of how many variations can be found out there. Everything gets used. I think we all own a Standard Soldier model. Let’s look at some exceptions.

For some time now I have been wanting to write an article looking at the Victorinox Santoku knife, and I have explored several different methods of doing it. I have purchased some other, similar size/type knives to compare it to, I have filmed some cutting tests and I have spoken to some professional chefs to get their opinions on it. All of that sounded pretty dry, so I decided to go a different way and share one of my favorite breakfasts with everyone, and illustrate how useful and effective the Santoku knife is for the average person, cranking out a nice breakfast sandwich rather than some exotic or fancy dish.

Some time ago I wrote an article talking about how, in my opinion at least, the Soldier model was far superior to the typical American Traditional Lockback. At the time, many of you agreed with me, but in all honesty the comparison wasn't really all that fair- after all, how to compare a four bladed knife with a knife that has a single blade, can opener, bottle opener, two screwdrivers and an awl? It can't be done- or it can, but not as well as I'd hoped.

It's the time of year for family gatherings, meals, reunions and of course who could forget, arguements er I mean presents. A chance to catch up with those you haven't seen in ages because they live far away, and those that have just joined us and you haven't yet had a chance to meet. This is exactly how this holiday season was for me. It was Christmas eve and I was preparing to head off for one of the many meals at my in laws. I decided it would be prudent to bring at least one SAK with me, but given I had little pocket space in my “dressier” pants vs my normal cargo/combat pants, I had little left over after my keys, wallet and mobile phone. So I decided it was time for my original Minichamp to have an outing, and I slipped it into my pocket and headed on my way.

While at SHOT this year we got to have a good look inside and around a Victorinox Edition Airstream and I have to say I was blown away.  As a child we used to go camping a lot, and while we may not have had piles of money laying around, we did have a small camping trailer- a Prowler, for those who are familiar with such things.  I remember just about everyone in the campground would stare wide eyed at and Airstreams that cruised by on their way to the "good" campsites, with the sewage and electrical hookups, while we were all left to run off our batteries or generators.

Victorinox Edition Airstream


I was pleasantly surprised to find the dagger you are looking at was made in 1954.  Or at least, that is when the number was issued to ELSENER SCHWYZ VICTORIA.

While I'm sure everyone reading this is wondering why a knife made by a traditional American manufacturer from Alabama is doing on a site dedicated to Swiss Army Knives, I felt it was important to have here, and I have been wanting to put an article about Bear together for some time. 

Bear Scout Knife

 

At the Victorinox booth we learned that making a Swiss Army Knife is not nearly as difficult as it may seem- Of course it helps when you have access to a several-thousand-dollar SAK making machine and the associated tooling!

The Infamous SAK Making Machine

When westopped at the Victorinox Both, we spent most of the morning there.  It was a great time and we got to look at all kinds of new items- some we knew about, and one new series was completely new to us!  It's hard to pull a new item out without SOSAK members knowing about it, but they did it this year!