Victorinox Swiss Army Knives and Tools

What Victorinox makes for hunters and campers

On this site, Victorinox covers four product types: multi-tools, folding knives, fixed-blade knives and knife sharpeners. Inside those, the grid above splits into six groups:

• Classic Swiss Army knives: from keychain size to the many-tool models
• Swiss Tool multi-tools: full-size pliers with tools in the handles
• The Swiss Card: a flat card-shaped tool set
• Single-blade folders: the Evoke, the Sentinel Clip and an Alox model
• Venture fixed blades: outdoor knives with a sheath
• Sharpeners: honing steels and combination bench stones

The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go. So I'll write about the groups and what separates them, not about how many of each are listed this week. Most values in the grid came from Amazon listings and are marked that way. Where a listing doesn't say, the grid shows a dash, and a dash means nobody told us. I didn't fill it in from memory.

The Swiss Army knife lineup

Small Swiss Army knives

The small end of the lineup is keychain and pocket-change size. The Classic SD's listing gives a closed length of 2.25 inches, with a blade and scissors. In the same family by size and purpose sit the Rally, the Jetsetter, the Nail Clip 580, the Companion Slim Alox and the Bantam Alox, each with a short list of tools per its listing.

These are for opening mail, trimming a tag string and cutting a thread off a coat. A small one rides on a key ring and gets used more than a big one left in the truck. The lightweight pocket knife page covers that size across brands.

Mid-size Swiss Army knives

This is the group most people picture. The Explorer's and Hiker's listings give a closed length of 3.6 inches, and the rest of the mid-size models sit around that size. The names tell you the leaning:

• Tinker and Super Tinker: workshop-minded names, the Super Tinker with scissors per its listing
• Recruit, Rambler and Compact: short tool lists, scissors on the Rambler and Compact
• Explorer: scissors and a blade, per its listing
• Hiker and Camper: a blade and a wood saw
• Huntsman and Fieldmaster: a wood saw and scissors
• Waiter and Farmer X Alox: a short list; the Farmer X adds a saw and scissors on aluminum scales

The tool count in each listing runs from single digits up into the teens across this group. The pocket knife page covers how these compare with other brands' folders.

Large and outdoor Swiss Army knives

A step up in size, several models aim at outdoor work. The Forester, Trailfinder, Ranger 79 M Grip and One-Hand Trekker all list a blade and a wood saw. The Rescue Tool's listing names a seatbelt cutter, a window breaker and a nylon pouch, tools for a vehicle more than a tree stand. Read the listing for whether a model opens one-handed; the One-Hand Trekker says so in its name, and the others in this group don't say.

Rule of thumb: the saw is the tool a deer camp uses. Trimming a shooting lane, cutting a branch that's in the way of a blind window, notching a tent stake. Bushcraft-style jobs across brands are on the bushcraft knife page.

The many-tool models

Then there are the big ones. The SwissChamp and SwissChamp Sapphire list 33 tools and pliers. The CyberTool M and CyberTool L list over 30 each. The Handyman lists pliers and scissors, the Minichamp is the small one with the big name, and the Work Champ and Work Champ XL list pliers, a saw and scissors.

The SwissChamp's listing gives a closed length of 3.58 inches, about the same as the Explorer. So the extra tools go into width, not length. A big Swiss Army knife fits a pocket the way a deck of cards fits a pocket: it fits, and you know it's there.

In shop class, the tool that got used most was never the fanciest one. It was the one hanging closest to the door. Pockets work the same way.

Swiss army knife multi tool: the Swiss Tool line

The Swiss Tool line is the other half of the multi-tool grid. These are pliers-based tools: the listings name full-size pliers and wire cutters on nearly every one, with the other tools folding out of the handles.

The line in the grid, per the listings:

• Swiss Tool and Swiss Tool X: stainless frame, pliers, wire cutters; the X adds a blade, saw and scissors
• Swiss Tool X Plus Ratchet and Spirit X Plus: the largest tool counts, with a ratchet named in their names or titles
• Spirit X, Spirit MX and Spirit MXBS: the Spirit family, with the MX models naming a one-hand blade
• Swiss Tool BS, Swiss Tool MX and Spirit XBS: variants with their own tool lists

Several listings describe the functions as lockable, and the titles name nylon or leather pouches on some models. The pouch decides how you carry it, so check that too. Multi-tools across brands, including pliers tools from other makers, are on the multi-tool page.

Danny's take: "A pliers tool is a toolbox you can drop in the leaves." He has dropped two. He found one.

The Swiss Card

The Swiss Card Classic is a flat card-shaped holder with tools that slide out; its listing names scissors. It's a wallet item, not a field tool.

The Victorinox pocket knife: single-blade folders

Not every Victorinox is a tool kit. A small group of folders in the grid carries one main blade:

• Evoke Alox: aluminum handle, thumb stud and pocket clip
• Evoke BS Alox: aluminum handle, removable thumb stud, carry clip, lanyard hole, and a locking blade per its title
• Sentinel Clip: a one-hand folder with a pocket clip and a lock blade, per its title
• 1 Alox Medium: an aluminum-handled model

The "Alox" models list aluminum as the handle material. Everyday-carry folders across brands are on the everyday carry knife page.

Victorinox Venture fixed blades

The Venture and Venture Pro are the brand's outdoor fixed blades. The maker's Venture guide gives the blade as 10.5 cm (the listings say 4.1 inches) of 14C28N stainless steel at 59 HRC (a hardness scale), with a full tang and a TPE polymer handle. It describes a drop point blade with a flat grind, and a sharp 90° spine for scraping wood and striking a fire steel.

The maker lists other details:

• Protruding tang: a hex hole that also works as a lanyard hole
• Sheath: drainage holes, and it doubles as a blowtube for fire making
• Belt carry loop: works on a belt or a MOLLE system

The Venture Pro adds a bow drill divot in the handle, per the maker, and its listing names a fire starter in the box. Venture colors in the grid are black, red and olive. Fixed-blade picks across brands are on the fixed blade knife page, and camp jobs on the camping knife page.

Victorinox sharpeners: honing steels and bench stones

The sharpeners in the grid come from Victorinox's kitchen side, but an edge is an edge. Two kinds, per the listings:

• Honing steels: long steel rods in regular, fine, combination and helical cuts, in lengths from short to long; one older model, the 7.8303 Sharpening Steel, too
• Diamond Honing Steel Oval: an oval rod with a diamond surface
• Combination bench stones: two-sided combination stones in a long and a shorter size; the longer one lists a synthetic abrasive

Victorinox's own sharpening guide draws the line between the two. Honing realigns an edge that has bent slightly with use; it removes little or no metal. Sharpening grinds metal away to make a new edge. The guide says to hone often and sharpen far less, and to hone after sharpening. It also says softer stamped blades hone fine on a standard steel, while harder forged blades want a diamond, carbide or ceramic steel. That's where the diamond oval fits.

For a hunting knife, the guide's method carries over: hold the blade at about 20 degrees to the steel and draw it from heel to tip, a few strokes per side. Rest the steel's tip on a folded towel if you're not confident holding it in the air. A long steel lives at the cabin; a short one fits a camp kit. The sharpening rod page and the knife sharpening stone page compare these across brands.

Victorinox kitchen knives aren't a type this site lists, so they're not in the grid.

How to choose within the Victorinox lineup

Tool kit or blade first

If you want a blade for cutting, look at the Evoke, the Sentinel or the Venture. If you want a kit with a blade in it, look at the Swiss Army knives or the Swiss Tool.

Then the tools, not the count

My one opinion on this page: pick by the tools you'll use, and ignore the function count. The grid shows why. The Huntsman, Compact and Fieldmaster all list 15 functions. The Huntsman and Fieldmaster list a wood saw; the Compact's listing doesn't. Same number, different knife.

For a hunting camp, the tools that earn a pocket are a blade, a saw, scissors, and pliers if you'll fix things. A corkscrew is a fine thing. It's just not a deer camp thing.

Then pliers or no pliers

Pliers push you to the Swiss Tool line or to the big Swiss Army knives with pliers. A pliers tool is heavier and rides in a pouch. A classic knife without pliers rides in a pocket.

Then size and carry

Closed length tells you how it rides: the small keychain models, the mid-size around 3.6 inches, and the larger outdoor models. A Venture rides on a belt in its sheath. Try the carry before the first trip, not on the stand ladder.

Care and safety for any Victorinox

The maker's cleaning guide is short:

• Wash in lukewarm water with a little mild dish soap
• Brush or toothpick the dirt out, and work each tool until it moves freely
• Rinse the soap off completely
• Close it and let it air-dry before oiling
• One small drop of oil on each moving part, then work the tools

The maker also says never to put a pocket knife in the dishwasher, to use only food-safe oil made for pocket knives, and to store it closed and dry.

The maker's safety rules are worth reading once. Cut away from your body. Open only one tool at a time. Hand a knife over closed. Close it and put it away out of reach of small children when you're done.

Victorinox facts

Here's what I could verify from the maker's own pages:

• Founded: Karl Elsener opened a cutler's workshop in Ibach-Schwyz in 1884
• The original: the Original Swiss Officer's and Sports Knife was patented in 1897
• The name: the brand was named for Elsener's mother, Victoria, in 1909; "Inox," for stainless steel, joined it in 1921 to make Victorinox
• Owner: since 2000, the Victorinox Foundation holds 90% of Victorinox AG, and the Carl and Elise Elsener-Gut Foundation holds the rest
• Wenger: Victorinox bought Wenger in 2005 and integrated the Wenger knife business into the Victorinox brand in 2013
• Warranty: lifetime on material and manufacturing defects for Swiss Army knives and tools, per the maker's support page

Many listings in the grid say Swiss made. A ranked list across brands is on the best pocket knife page.

Wipe it, oil it, close it, and put it back in the same pocket. In November, that pocket is where you'll reach first.