In the unending quest for the perfect hiking knife, I found this candidate ;) Wenger, the "other" Swiss Army Knife manufacturer makes several medium sized 3.5" models with a locking main blade, which is a feature I prefer. I also like to have scissors, saw, awl, can opener, tweezers and toothpick. This tool selection covers repairs, personal grooming and basic survival techniques for fire building, shelter making, food gathering and improvising.

Victorinox makes the Farmer, Hiker and Fieldmaster models that come close, but some miss out on scissors and none have locking blades. In fact, the only Victorinox models with locking blades are the 111mm models like the Trekker and others, with an increase in bulk and weight.

The Wenger S18 has the following tool list:

2.5" Locking Blade
2.75" Double-cut wood saw
2.4" Springless scissors with serrated self-sharpening design
Large flat screwdriver
Cap lifter
Wire stripper
Can opener
Nail file
Nail cleaner
Phillips head screwdriver
Reamer
Awl
Toothpick
Tweezers
Key ring

It all comes in a 3.2oz package. Cost was $29.50 US plus shipping from SwissOutpost.com.

It is a 4-layer design, making for a fat little knife, but it is comfortable in the hand with the ergonomic grips. I wouldn't want anything thicker. The weight puts it in the same ballpark with many other multi-blade knives, lighter multi-tools, and stouter 3.5" folding knives.

Edited by dwambaugh on 02/19/2010 01:09:18 MST.

Hey Dale,
Cool knife. Scissors, saw, blade = nice. I'm holding out for a Swiss Bianco Alox Bushcrafter... Knife Geek!

Edited by johnbrown2005 on 02/19/2010 21:39:13 MST.

Is SwissBianco doing a second run on those? He introduced those almost half a year ago I think.

That's what I hear... on pins and needles.

John,
I just looked at a Bushcrafter on youtube. It looks to have a blade, saw, and some sort of awl or punch. That's the EXACT knife I've been wanting Victorinox to make! Is there anything you could tell me about these?

Probably should've kept the secret to myself, now more competition when they come out... :-) Oh well, here goes: http://www.inmentis.com/SwissBianco/SwissBianco_NL_2009_4.htm

So the rest know what we are talking about...

Swiss Bianco makes customized Victorinox knives as well as his own designs as well as some splash anodized items.

The Victorinox Farmer is much like a Hiker model, but has anodized aluminum scales rather than plastic, no toothpick or tweezers, and the main blade is thicker.

So Swiss Bianco had a custom run of knives made, leaving the layer with the screwdriver/bottle opener and can opener out of the mix, making the knife slimmer, lighter, and leaving the most trail-worthy tools. He's asking $38-$42 for them. You can get a Farmer on eBay for $30 or so, making it a fair deal for a custom knife.

The slimmer knife is a great idea and moves to UL principles. I would LOVE to see the screwdriver layer replaces with scissors. You could pair the Bushcrafter up with an Alox Classic and have the scissors too.

See http://www.inmentis.com/SwissBianco/SwissBianco_NL_2009_4.htm

Thanks guys. I had been looking at that website. I'll have to keep an eye out.

The Damascus blade is pretty bad-a$$ for a SAK!

Glad im not the only SAK geek out here. Cool thing about swissbianco is that many of his custom runs are collaborations directly with Victorinox, so his custom knives come straight from the same swiss factory as the normal production knives, and are backed with the same warranty.

Another trail worthy knife is his custom alox lumberjack...its just too dam nice to bring out though.

I usually EDC an alox bantam or an alox cadet, and my trail knife for short trips is a classic with stayglow scales.

Also, according to the box in your pic Dale, it looks like the s18 has the option of having a corkscrew instead of a phillips? Ultimate car-camping knife IMO

Edited by Konrad1013 on 02/19/2010 22:39:28 MST.

If I can haul a bottle of wine, a corkscrew is certainly no problem. I'd rather have another tool or less weight on the knife.

If you want a SAK with a nice selection of tools and a {{{{{corkscrew}}}}} check out the Victorinox Huntsman. The Plus model is $25 at Wally World.

I never leave the trailhead without a wine opener

Skip to about 47sec to get the basic technique.
VIDEO (youtube)

edit : and probably hit mute first, it has some horrendous soundtrack

Edited by redmonk on 02/19/2010 23:57:07 MST.

I dont know what's more amazing. The technique used, the euro-trash soundtrack, or how publicly drunk that man is. Good stuff


Actually, has anyone seen this video? I laugh everytime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kLqahiyuSs&feature=related

Note the time stamp on the video.

Edited by Konrad1013 on 02/20/2010 00:57:36 MST.

When I was in Italy I found myself without a corkscrew.
I had a Bic pen and my shoe.
I pounded the cork through,
with the pen and the shoe!

So I totally didn't mean for that to rhyme. True story though. It was a good time.

Crap, I did it again!

Edited by T.L. on 02/20/2010 01:21:22 MST.

Are there any SAK without a knife blade? I always wanted an airport friendly SAK that had scissors but no blade.
I have the compact model that great for car camping and travel but a little heavy for hiking, it has every thing including a pen but is still slim and relatively light.

Re: "I always wanted an airport friendly SAK that had scissors but no blade."

Scissors aren't airport friendly and get confiscated too:-(

Seriously? Where wine bottles are concerned, all you need is the shoe. Forget the pen and corkscrew:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtjMKFn9IGE

Know more, carry less etc. etc.

Edited by Ramapo on 02/20/2010 06:39:21 MST.

"Scissors aren't airport friendly and get confiscated too:-("

Really is this new? I thought small scissors were alright,I brought small folding scissors on the plane before and no one said anything.

found this info on google:
"Small scissors with a cutting edge less than four inches (10 cm) are allowed in the cabin."
from:
http://www.airsafe.com/danger.htm

So it looks like SAK scissors would be ok- so does anyone know if a bladeless SAK exist?

Edited by MAYNARD76 on 02/20/2010 08:06:23 MST.

You can buy replacement scissors for the swisscard version from victorinox:

http://www.swissknifesupplies.com/site/1581080/product/30521

Thanks for that link.

I would still like a SAK with other tools like a can opener ect. I wish SAK would have a web site were you could mix and match what tools you wanted so you could you have the perfect customized SAK. I wounder why they don't do this?