COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic Belgium National Flag 58mm (1990s)

The national flag of Belgium is a rectangular flag with an official aspect ratio of 13:15 (width-to-length) but it is usually used in a 2:3 aspect ratio in practice.  It has equal vertical stripes of three colors - black, yellow and red.  The colours of the Belgium flag were adopted from the colours of the coat of arms of the Duchy of Brabant which came into existence in 1190 and once formed a Belgian province also known as Brabant.

In 1830, the flag was originally composed of horizontal stripes of red (top), yellow and black (bottom), which was flown from the city hall of Brussels at the start of the Belgian Revolution.  On January 1831, the stripes were changed from horizontal to vertical (as nod to the French flag) and on October of the same year, the Black was placed on the hoist side and attain its modern form.

Since Belgium is a federal state, the national flag and the flags of the communities or regions occupy the same rank in principle.  But in practice, when the flags are raised or lowered or carried in procession, the national flag takes precedence over all others.

Current collection as of 28 January 2015:

References:
www.wikipedia.com

COLLECTION: Victorinox 240kU Camper (Small) 84mm (1960s)

This is the Victorinox 240kU or the Camper in 84mm. The Camper is one of the most popular tool set which is still in production today albeit only in the 91mm form factor.  It has the large blade, small blade, can opener, bottle opener, wood saw, awl, corkscrew.  It is essentially a Spartan with wood saw.

The Camper model has been in production since the 1940s or earlier.  Back then, Victorinox only used numbers to identify the models.  The Camper was known as 237k Bgl. with the old style can opener.  The "k" designates that this is the smaller version which is 84mm instead of 91mm.

In the 1950s, the model number was changed to 240kU.  This is the same model as what I have in my collection :)  The "U" denotes that it has a Bail attachment point.

In the late 1960s, Victorinox started naming their popular models and Camper name was used for the model with the Spartan tool set the we currently know today.  I further discuss this name changes in my previous 91mm 1970s Camper post. Starting in the 1980s, the Camper was used for the model with the wood saw and the Spartan name was introduced for the standard tool set.

This is the knife in my collection.  The bail has been damaged and back scale has a crack.  The large and small blade tip is chipped as well.  But apart from those problems, it is still in good condition for a knife which is already about 55 years old.  It still has very good snap and after doing my usual cleaning process, the scales are like new.

Thanks Mile for getting me this! :)

References:

Victorinox Catalog 1940s

Victorinox Catalog 1950s

Victorinox Catalog 1960s

Victorinox Catalog 1970s

www.sakwiki.com

COLLECTION: Victorinox Spartan Silvertech 91mm (2000s)

The Silvertech scales were first introduced in 2008 Catalogs.  They are transparent scales with silver paint backing and are different from the normal transparent scales which are sometimes available for sale as replacement parts.  

The Silvertech scales have been used for popular models such as the Signature Lite, MiniChamp, Spartan, Climber, Huntsman and SwissChamp.a

Spartan in Silvertech scales:

References:
Victorinox 2008 Catalog
Victorinox.com

REFERENCE: Victorinox Swiss Army Knives Sizing Chart

This is an extract from the Victorinox 2012 Catalog.  It's a cool way to see in one glance all the current Victorinox models.  All rights reserved to Victorinox. I just want to share.

Reference:

Victorinox 2012 Catalog

COLLECTION: Victorinox Picknicker 111mm (1980s)

The Victorinox Picknicker is a two-layer 111mm model with a large side-locking main blade.  It also has the opener layer - can opener and bottle opener and the awl and corkscrew in the back layer.  Tweezers and toothpick are also included in the scale slots.

The Picknicker is one of the few 111mm Locking blade knives released by Victorinox in the 1980s and included in the 1989 Swiss Army Brands (SAB) Catalog.

It has been popular since then and continues to be in production (current as of 2015).

References:
www.sakwiki.com
www.victorinox.com
Victorinox 1989 SAB Supplier Catalog

COLLECTION: Wenger EVO 10 85mm (2000s)

The Wenger EVO 10 is an 85mm model with 2 layers and has very similar tool set with the 85mm Commander except is has tweezers and toothpick and has ergonomic scales hence the EVO tag.

The EVO series was introduced by Wenger in 2005 which incorporated ergonomic scales on popular models such as the Commander (EVO 10) and other models.

The original 85mm Commander which was the basis for the EVO 10 model from the 1992-1995 Wenger European Dealers Catalog.

Actual photos of the knife in my collection.

References:
www.sakwiki.com
Wenger EU Dealer Catalog 1992-1995
Wenger Catalog 2005

COLLECTION: Victorinox Cadet - Denmark Limited Edition 84mm (2010s)

I've started travelling down the slippery road of Alox Cadet collecting and these are my new pieces for the collection I've started.

These are the Victorinox Cadet only available for sale in Denmark but the knife shop who sells them ships internationally anywhere.  Before buying that over-priced "Limited Edition-collector's item-rare, hard-to-find" cadet in ebay, visit The Good Stuff Shop first to see if they have some in stock.

The story behind the reason why this Denmark shop requested for a limited edition Alox Cadet is that because of the strict knife rules in Denmark, they cannot order the regular 93mm Alox knives from Victorinox as it will not be legal to sell there. Thus the Cadet with a shorter blade will be ok to carry.

But according to my research, the Denmark knife laws in summary are most knives are illegal to carry in public except for folding knives with non-locking blade that are 7 cm or less (1).  The 93mm Alox knives' blade is 7 cm or less and is also non-locking.  In theory, the 93mm Pioneer should be legal to carry as well.

Anyway, what is important (here) is we have two new limited edition Cadets which are in the livery not yet seen before.  There are two colors currently in production, the black with red shield (Item Number:  0.2601.23G) and green with red shield (Item Number: 0.2601.24G).  The Cadet has a blade measured at 62 x 10 x 1.5 mm which is way below the 70 mm length limit.

References:
(1) https://www.retsinformation.dk/forms/R0710.aspx?id=142859