We know that throughout the 7 seasons there where a number of different SAKs used by MacGyver. And obviously that was mostly for story telling reasons than MacGyver universe reasons, but that got me thinking...

Do you think MacGyver had a collection of SAKs?

Never thought of that. I think not. One in his pocket, always there but not always needed.
Maybe he has like two or three more but a real collection? I don't think so.

Over the past 6 years, I have bought every knife I could tell he ever used, and now I only have four or five. You lose them, you give them away, you have some stolen on trips, so I think it might've been like that for him. Obviously more than once he lost them (Tough Boys, Cease Fire), had them taken away by bad guys (Unfinished business, the Golden Triangle, Humanity, Boyz n guns, etc.), and had them straight up pick-pocketed (Thief of Budapest).
So, I don't think he had a full collection of every knife he ever owned, but I would imagine he had more than just one.
I've always thought maybe every time something happened to one of his SAKs, he just bought one to replace it, and tried out a different one each time. But, if you look at the sequence of episodes, he switched from say a Tinker to a Climber in the next episode, then back to the Tinker. The pattern says he owned more than one, and just picked one up based on what he thought he would need for a particular trip.
Even stranger though, is him taking only a Recruit to Germany is GX-1, and episodes like that, because he knew he would be in the woods, yet did not take a knife with a saw. It's like even when he knew ahead of time where he was going, he didn't really pick the most logical SAK for the job.
Whatever though, he always pulled it off somehow

actually that does make sense.

I remember him saying in one episode, something about the tighter your plan is the more chance it has of going wrong, which was why he always went with an open plan, so he could adapt to unforeseen or unplanned occurrences. And the idea that he would have just a few different kinds of SAKs which would provide him with basic tools certainly works with that idea.

He seems to have lost more SAKs than collected them.

But why try a new one? A knife's a knife as long as it cuts. Of course one knife has more functions than the other.

Yeah, it takes time to really be familiar enough with them to see the difference. Basically all (large) SAKs have the same core tools. THey either start with this set: (Spartan)



Or this set: (Tinker)



Basically those were the two most common formats for MacGyver. They both have 2 layers. If you own a SAK, and look at it from the side, you can see what I mean by layers. All additional tools go between those 2 layers.



You can see the knife blade layer, and the can opener layer, separated by the scissors and saw. That's how the format of SAKs works.
Sure, you are getting different variations, technically, but for instance, when he used a Sportsman instead of a Spartan, all he gains is the nail file. Or, a Climber instead of a Spartan, and he just gained a pair of scissors (that was before the hook went with the scissors). And the two pics above, the Tinker and Spartan, you really don't even need the Tinker's phillips, because the Can opener tip works perfect for phillips anyway. So, if you get a Spartan, you actually gain the corkscrew feature and lose the redundant phillips. So sure, he tried out a thousand different models, but what was he really gaining in functionality over just a Tinker or Spartan?
So really, don't bother splitting hairs (as Mac would say to murdoc). As I said on Wikipedia, if you just get a Sportsman or a Mountaineer, you pretty much cover it all. Mac was either checking out the different combos, or based on where he was buying them, maybe only certain ones were available. In my area, it is very much like that. Target and Wal Mart carry different variations. If Mac lost one in Czechoslovakia, then that's probably where he would pick one up, and if they only have the Tinker there, that's what he buys. That was always my thought anyway.

i think he could colected them

I did a riff on this in my last story -- I used the idea that he had a preferred knife and a backup knife, and came up with reasons for the preference. Especially since I had him lose possession of both as the story progressed.

It's certainly true that "a knife's a knife", but Mac used his SAK for a lot more than just cutting things. I'm particularly thinking of some of the smaller tools -- the reamer, the small blade and the nail file -- that might be good for picking locks, depending on the size of the lock. And those are some of the tools that vary from model to model.

Today I realized I have gradually lost track of all but three of my SAKs (I had 12 for awhile...). I've had to move around a few times traveling, and stayed with quite a few different people (not so sure a couple weren't actually stolen). So I can't imagine anyone on the run always shuffling loads of junk could keep track of more than a few. I just don't picture Mac having some special box to keep track of each individual one, not really his style to be OCD about it.

I wonder if he had an "accidental collection". where he buys a new one because he can't find his old one and then after a while finds the old one again.

And over the years he's built up a collection that way.

I would imagine he was given several from people he helped as gifts of gratitude.

I would day yes on this he might had about five or six that he collected over the years.

I wonder if he was given any with company logos on?