The Perfect Pocket Knife

I’m on my 5th pocket knife in the past 10 years.

Victorinox Hiker

This knife isn’t perfect, but it’s as close as I’ve found yet. My last two knives were a Wenger Camper 18, and a Victorinox Trekker. The Wenger’s blade was too short, and they didn’t have a model with saw, but without scissors- unless you have a specific need for scissors, don’t get them! The Victorinox Trekker, now the precursor of the current official Swiss Army knife, was too large and heavy to regularly carry, and the blade was too dull to cut food with. The Vic Hiker is a good mix. It’s a little longer than the Wenger, very lightweight, compact, sharp, and the blades set firmly, no lock necessary. Perfect combo of knife, mini-knife, saw, screwdriver, reamer, bottle opener, can opener (which is better than the Wenger’s). $18 on Amazon, my cheapest, too. And no, I’m not marketing it I’d actually prefer its handle were metal, it just slightly larger, and the bottle opener gripped a little better, but this one’s pretty close to ideal.

Update: Well I lost the dang thing a few weeks after posting the above. I replaced it with the Victorinox Farmer, which I actually believe is a more “perfect” pocket utility knife.

Victorinox Farmer

This knife is similar to the ‘model 1961 Soldier Knife’ which was the official knife used by the Swiss Army from 1961 to 2008, except with a saw. The handle is a nice aluminum, and the blade a seems a little thicker and longer. Also, the reamer on this knife is sharp and can take over many of the simple tasks the small blade is typically used for. And, of course, no philips screwdriver, but I found the traditional awkward center placement of the Swiss knives very limiting practically. The only downside is the saw seems to be thinner than on the Hiker (much thinner than the Trekker’s), which could lead to it bending when using it on denser wood. Also, it doesn’t come with the pull out [tooth]pick or tweezers, but neither of those had much functionality. Better tweezers are good to keep handy. In all, though, this knife is very pocketable, has impeccable manufacturing, and has most of the utility you could want with nothing extraneous. Perfect!!