Starting this blog with the "basics", let me introduce you to a very good buddy of mine, a trusty constant travel companion that has traveled around the world with me and literally and figuratively saved my butt countless times.... the Victorinox Swiss Champ pocket knife. If any single material object in the world was the very analog of my essence, my spirit in a succinct nutshell, I'd say that the Swiss Champ is probably it. I am it and it is me.
I was avidly buying upgraded models every few years as they came out, but I've had my SwissChamp for about 2 decades now. I have had ample experience with this knife and Swiss Army knives in general, have reviewed them many times, and can frankly tell you the pros and cons of every brand, every model, ever individual tool on them. I own a dozen different models (some with even more bells, whistles and gadgets), but I think that the Swiss Champ model is probably the best balance between size, price and function of all of them.
The Victorinox Swiss Champ simply has all of the useful tools with minimal redundancy, in a relatively compact package. There are a few "bigger" more loaded models, but IMO, the size of the Swiss Champ is about the largest practical size a person can handle and still effectively use the tools. Honestly, some tools work better than others because some compromises had to be made for the compact sizing. I plan to candidly critique what's good, what's great and what's just ok. In general, the Victorinox (one of only two "official" Swiss Army knife makers) Swiss Champ is a very high quality, precisely built piece of Swiss engineering, with all stainless steel tools and usually with coloured plastic scales. Customized colours and compositions for the scales are now available (including aluminum, stag, black, safety yellow, Edelweiss and traditional red). Don't confuse a Victorinox (or Wenger) with the cheaper, shoddily made copies made in China, or the bulky inelegant copies made in the US (I'm talking about pocket knives NOT multi-tools which are a different "class").
-The knife blades (main and small) are really, really sharp from the factory. I'm not kidding. These blades are like scalpel sharp. You can literally shave with them. As a functional knife I would give them my top marks if only 1) they had a locking mechanism and 2) could be deployed more easily, like with one hand. If I could go to the factory and have a custom Swiss Champ made, I would replace the main blade with the tri-tooth serrated blade (and add the locking mechanism that Wenger employs). As it is, the blades are adequate (and sharp, very sharp).
-The little mini-saw, surprisingly, is one of the best tools on the Swiss Champ! It has a very aggressive tooth pattern that just chews through wood like nobody's business on both the upstroke and downstroke. I've used it side by side with other full-size manual saws and it compares favourably.
-The so-called "metal saw"/file is less efficient. It does work. I have eventually hacked through metal with lots of effort, but it's not great. The files, one on each side, adequately do their function (which include manicuring), but I don't use them much.
-The scissors are great. With sharp blades and a clever leaf spring tension system, the tiny scissors zip through paper with great dexterity. They also trim fabric, thread, cord, hair, and fingernails effectively. This is one of the most useful tools, I find. There is a slight tendency however for the little leaf spring to slip "aside" during function, requiring a manual reset of the scissors to the "open" position. It's a very minor design problem. They are very good precise scissors, and I have even done minor surgery with them in the field.
-The micro-mini pliers... at first I dismissed them as too small to be practical and a waste of valuable space. But, upon further review and actual use in the field, I'd have to say they are a decent addition to the toolbox. They will work adequately on nuts, but I have actually found them more useful in holding smaller objects with leverage. They are built to very precise tolerances and are actually great tweezers. I have them used them as Kelly forceps when suturing, or I've bent a metal paperclip into a handy fish hook (with eye). The inner apex also has a wire cutter, which works ok.
-The little 5X magnifier lens is a nice bonus addition, and can be a lifesaver. It is a practical field lens for scientific observation, and in a survival situation, I have used it to start a fire.
-The fish scaler/fish hook disgorger tool thingy is interesting in it's practicality. It has a metric and SAE scale ruler on it, which I often whip out both to measure and to give scale to some of my photos. I've honestly never scaled a fish with it, but I often use the two-pronged fish hook disgorger as a "fork" for eating! (believe me it's safer than that razor sharp knife)
-Then, there are the usual assortment of various screwdrivers of different sizes and different heads, usually in combo with another practical tool like a can opener, bottle opener, etc. There is only one Phillips head, which is ok. There are about 6 different sizes of flathead, ranging from 1/2" all the way down to micro (useful for glasses or watch repair). Though I've used all of them at one time or another, I'm not a big fan of all the redundancy, AND, none of them "lock", so it sometimes makes tightening a screw treacherous if you apply pressure. Also be careful if you use a screwdriver for prying as there is a tendency to slip and shift closed when you don't want it to. -The can opener BTW works well and is handy to have around. I use it often.
-The very basic wine corkscrew works well and has actually been the basis for meeting many new friends while skiing, camping or hiking... LOL. Just being the only guy on the mountain with a corkscrew at the right place and time! The tiny micro screwdriver that I mentioned stores in the whorls of the corkscrew BTW.
-The leather awl/leather needle is priceless. It is a very useful tool for repairs in the field. Like a hand held drill bit, it effectively punches neat holes through wood, plastic, heavy cloth, leather, and yes, even metal. I can't describe the thousand ways I've used this, but I can aver that it is a fantastic addition to the Swiss Champ for fabricating things.
-There is a small chisel that I have not had much use for yet. I suppose it's for woodworking.
-The one implement that I have not been able to use much yet is the little metal hook. I once heard (from a European person) that store bought goods are wrapped in paper and tied with twine in Europe. The hook is for conveniently carrying packages tied with twine(like a handle), but I'm a little incredulous still.
-Finally, the Swiss Champ comes with a variety of little detachable and replaceable knickknack items that are very useful. The tiny ballpoint pen is really handy to have around. The mini-tweezers work really well. The re-usable toothpick is... well... gross when you think about it too much, but it's there. The small straight pin (hidden behind the corkscrew) is actually useful for picking out splinters, and in an emergency to use as a compass needle or a fish hook.
Overall, the Swiss Champ is a great way to efficiently carry a whole tool chest full of handy little tools with you, in a 1" X 3" package. I have mine with me almost constantly and I find myself using it at least a couple times per day. To me the Swiss Champ is worth it's weight in gold in a survival situation, and I'm surprised that many otherwise knowledgeable outdoors people don't even bother to carry even a decent basic pocket knife sometimes.
I was avidly buying upgraded models every few years as they came out, but I've had my SwissChamp for about 2 decades now. I have had ample experience with this knife and Swiss Army knives in general, have reviewed them many times, and can frankly tell you the pros and cons of every brand, every model, ever individual tool on them. I own a dozen different models (some with even more bells, whistles and gadgets), but I think that the Swiss Champ model is probably the best balance between size, price and function of all of them.
The Victorinox Swiss Champ simply has all of the useful tools with minimal redundancy, in a relatively compact package. There are a few "bigger" more loaded models, but IMO, the size of the Swiss Champ is about the largest practical size a person can handle and still effectively use the tools. Honestly, some tools work better than others because some compromises had to be made for the compact sizing. I plan to candidly critique what's good, what's great and what's just ok. In general, the Victorinox (one of only two "official" Swiss Army knife makers) Swiss Champ is a very high quality, precisely built piece of Swiss engineering, with all stainless steel tools and usually with coloured plastic scales. Customized colours and compositions for the scales are now available (including aluminum, stag, black, safety yellow, Edelweiss and traditional red). Don't confuse a Victorinox (or Wenger) with the cheaper, shoddily made copies made in China, or the bulky inelegant copies made in the US (I'm talking about pocket knives NOT multi-tools which are a different "class").
-The knife blades (main and small) are really, really sharp from the factory. I'm not kidding. These blades are like scalpel sharp. You can literally shave with them. As a functional knife I would give them my top marks if only 1) they had a locking mechanism and 2) could be deployed more easily, like with one hand. If I could go to the factory and have a custom Swiss Champ made, I would replace the main blade with the tri-tooth serrated blade (and add the locking mechanism that Wenger employs). As it is, the blades are adequate (and sharp, very sharp).
-The little mini-saw, surprisingly, is one of the best tools on the Swiss Champ! It has a very aggressive tooth pattern that just chews through wood like nobody's business on both the upstroke and downstroke. I've used it side by side with other full-size manual saws and it compares favourably.
-The so-called "metal saw"/file is less efficient. It does work. I have eventually hacked through metal with lots of effort, but it's not great. The files, one on each side, adequately do their function (which include manicuring), but I don't use them much.
-The scissors are great. With sharp blades and a clever leaf spring tension system, the tiny scissors zip through paper with great dexterity. They also trim fabric, thread, cord, hair, and fingernails effectively. This is one of the most useful tools, I find. There is a slight tendency however for the little leaf spring to slip "aside" during function, requiring a manual reset of the scissors to the "open" position. It's a very minor design problem. They are very good precise scissors, and I have even done minor surgery with them in the field.
-The micro-mini pliers... at first I dismissed them as too small to be practical and a waste of valuable space. But, upon further review and actual use in the field, I'd have to say they are a decent addition to the toolbox. They will work adequately on nuts, but I have actually found them more useful in holding smaller objects with leverage. They are built to very precise tolerances and are actually great tweezers. I have them used them as Kelly forceps when suturing, or I've bent a metal paperclip into a handy fish hook (with eye). The inner apex also has a wire cutter, which works ok.
-The little 5X magnifier lens is a nice bonus addition, and can be a lifesaver. It is a practical field lens for scientific observation, and in a survival situation, I have used it to start a fire.
-The fish scaler/fish hook disgorger tool thingy is interesting in it's practicality. It has a metric and SAE scale ruler on it, which I often whip out both to measure and to give scale to some of my photos. I've honestly never scaled a fish with it, but I often use the two-pronged fish hook disgorger as a "fork" for eating! (believe me it's safer than that razor sharp knife)
-Then, there are the usual assortment of various screwdrivers of different sizes and different heads, usually in combo with another practical tool like a can opener, bottle opener, etc. There is only one Phillips head, which is ok. There are about 6 different sizes of flathead, ranging from 1/2" all the way down to micro (useful for glasses or watch repair). Though I've used all of them at one time or another, I'm not a big fan of all the redundancy, AND, none of them "lock", so it sometimes makes tightening a screw treacherous if you apply pressure. Also be careful if you use a screwdriver for prying as there is a tendency to slip and shift closed when you don't want it to. -The can opener BTW works well and is handy to have around. I use it often.
-The very basic wine corkscrew works well and has actually been the basis for meeting many new friends while skiing, camping or hiking... LOL. Just being the only guy on the mountain with a corkscrew at the right place and time! The tiny micro screwdriver that I mentioned stores in the whorls of the corkscrew BTW.
-The leather awl/leather needle is priceless. It is a very useful tool for repairs in the field. Like a hand held drill bit, it effectively punches neat holes through wood, plastic, heavy cloth, leather, and yes, even metal. I can't describe the thousand ways I've used this, but I can aver that it is a fantastic addition to the Swiss Champ for fabricating things.
-There is a small chisel that I have not had much use for yet. I suppose it's for woodworking.
-The one implement that I have not been able to use much yet is the little metal hook. I once heard (from a European person) that store bought goods are wrapped in paper and tied with twine in Europe. The hook is for conveniently carrying packages tied with twine(like a handle), but I'm a little incredulous still.
-Finally, the Swiss Champ comes with a variety of little detachable and replaceable knickknack items that are very useful. The tiny ballpoint pen is really handy to have around. The mini-tweezers work really well. The re-usable toothpick is... well... gross when you think about it too much, but it's there. The small straight pin (hidden behind the corkscrew) is actually useful for picking out splinters, and in an emergency to use as a compass needle or a fish hook.
Overall, the Swiss Champ is a great way to efficiently carry a whole tool chest full of handy little tools with you, in a 1" X 3" package. I have mine with me almost constantly and I find myself using it at least a couple times per day. To me the Swiss Champ is worth it's weight in gold in a survival situation, and I'm surprised that many otherwise knowledgeable outdoors people don't even bother to carry even a decent basic pocket knife sometimes.
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