So we know many of us here carry a SAK or a knife of some sort. What's your knife/model of choice and what makes it the best knife for you?

Me, I carry the Bantam. I like the minimalism of it but has much more than knives of similar size.

If I get a 2nd one, I'd choose one with a Phillips.

I've got a Spartan. Over here we are banned from carrying knives in public so mine has to stay home with me. I do take it with me every Thursday on my paper round, its good for cutting those plastic ties. That's the only time I can carry it legally.

It works well for me. I could get another one but I haven't been bothered.

Usually a Super Tinker here. I find myself reaching for the screwdrivers the most out of any tool, aside from the blade. The scisors on the ST also allow for a quick hair trim when I need it.

Kev

My "SAK lifestyle"... hmmm. Well I got a Tinker a long time ago, and then tried a very large number of different models as I saw all of the different ones Mac had and bought them all. I carried a Mechanic for many years because I needed pliers alot, and finally I bought a Spirit S and love the thing to death. I even bought a ton of tools and made my own variations of SAK that Victorinox doesn't offer, and I still couldn't create something as functional for me as the Spirit. If I am going somewhere and want to keep it light, I usually take my Tinker Small. I am hopelessly obsessed with SAK's so this thread title certainly caught my eye I like being able to make my own SAK's, it makes me less nervous about using them for brutal jobs, I know if I brake a blade I have a spare at home I have a friend who had a Swiss Champ forever, and he had oversharpened the blade. Because of the sentimental value, he didn't want to replace the whole knife, so I replaced just that one blade and he was a happy camper.

That would be a great thing to learn to do! I'd love to learn how to modify my own knives with my specific feature set. How do you begin? I'd love to make a Tinker with a phillips screw driver where it normally is, plus one for the end. I guess really that would be the Explorer with the cork screw removed and screwdriver added.

Kev

If you buy a Spartan Lite I could do it really easily, and that's the best knife to start with for what you're describing unless you want the scissors too. If you don't care about the scissors, the Spartan Lite would be a little thinner. You would have the first Tinker Lite I know of

Good idea! I hadn't even thought of that. It would give me the phillips on both parts of the knife plus keeping the regular flatheads as well. I like the phillips on the Tinker placement (where the corkscrew would normally be on most other SAKs), but find it hard to use on some applications. Also nice in that location when you need a bit more torque turning a stubborn screw. Best of both worlds!!! Plus how often do I use a cork screw?

Kev

Yeah that's why I prefer the tinker. I have no use for a corkscrew really.

Tinker is really the best choice for my day to day use because it's smaller than most of the other SAKs and has the blades I use the most.. knife and screwdrivers.

When I'm hiking and/or biking I carry a much larger no-brand multi-tool knife in my pack. I got this as a Xmas present from my work last year but find the large selection of tools (pliers, wood saw, file, etc) on it useful when your out and about in the woods.


*Spartan and Xmas knife.

I own both a Climber and a Tinker, however my knife of choice will always be my 91mm Tinker.

I work in the computing industry and therefore I need the phillips screwdriver much more than the cork screw. Let's face it, when there is wine, there surely is a corkscrew somewhere no? And even if you are planning on taking wine on the beach, you wouldn't forget to get a corkscrew for sure while preparing stuff...

The tinker is also a 2 layer knife, making it less bulky to carry and it has just the right tools I need...

Am now considering buying the Victorinox CyberTool 34, however that would not be my EDC for sure...

Thumbs up for the Tinker...

Definitely a Tinker for me!

Attached Image

That looks all new and shiny there Viriato.

i remember when mine looked like that.

Has anyone ever tried to polish up their SAK? I've often wondered if a little bit of car cutter/polish would work.

Maybe this link will help Rockatteer...

Swiss Army Knife Scale Refinishing