WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT SWISS ARMY KNIVES

The Swiss Army knife ranks high in the list of awesome tools - it's like having a whole toolbox in your pocket, right next to your wang.









• 1880's: The Swiss military issued folding knives to its soldiers - these knives also included a can opener (for canned foods) and a screwdriver for disassembling the general issue service rifle.

• 1891: Karl Elsener - head of what would later become the Victorinox knife company (only one of two companies contracted to make Swiss Army knives for the Swiss military, the other company being Wenger) - began mass production of the Modell 1890. It contains a knife blade, reamer, screwdriver, and can opener.

• 1961: The standard issue Swiss Army knife was updated. The Modell 1961 has: an "Alox" handle/casing, a knife blade, reamer, screwdriver, bottle opener, wire stripper, and can-opener/screwdriver.

• 1985: In the fixit-adventurer-hacker-geek TV series "MacGyver" a Wenger Swiss army knife is pictured in the opening credits, but throughout the series MacGyver usually uses a Victorinox Spartan.

• 2008: The Swiss government updated the soldier's knife to the Soldatenmesser 08 ("Soldier's Knife 08""): large locking blade, Phillips screwdriver, can opener, small screwdriver, lockable screwdriver and crate opener, bottle opener, wire stripper, reamer/punch, seatbelt cutter, key ring, and wood saw.


LINKS:
• The Victorinox 1891 "Heritage" knife
• The Wenger 1893 "Heritage" knife
• The Victorinox Modell 1961
• The Wenger Modell 1961
• The Victorinox Spartan, a la MacGyver
• The Victorinox 2008 Soldatenmesser 08
• The Wenger "Giant" (costs $999.00 - $1,400.00)
• The Leatherman 25th Anniversary Silver Knife
• Victorinox's awesome new "Silver Tech" line of knives