Swiss Army Knife

• Share
• Delicious

First few things that you don’t know about Swiss army knife:

• The Swiss Army Knife didn’t actually gain popularity in Switzerland.
• The efficient Swiss produce an unbelievable amount of knives per month.
• The high-tech knives were once mistaken for spy equipment.

The Swiss Army Knife: talisman of manhood, handy key chain accessory, original Autobot (that’s a Transformers joke, but never mind). You’ve probably owned one, and it’s probably been confiscated by airport security. The little red knife emblazoned with the cross and shield holds a strange power over us. We can’tnot stop to ogle a Swiss Army knife display — even if we will never have need for a “ream and punch” tool. And it’s inexplicably satisfying, upon request from the fairer sex, to go all MacGvyer with a click of a blade/Phillips head/corkscrew. Of course, you know you shouldn’t wear one on your belt like some low-rent Batman (we hope). But here are five things men should know about the Soldier’s Knife (that’s what they call it in Switzerland, where the “Swiss” part of the Swiss army is assumed).

There are two official Swiss Army Knives

In 1891, Swiss knife-maker Karl Elsener, with help from 27 other cutlery makers, filled a huge order from the military for a standard-issue knife with his original soldier’s knife (containing four components). Other makers eventually dropped out of the game; Elsener, who named his company Victorinox after his mother Victoria and the French term for stainless steel, persevered. The fine folks at Wenger were also making a soldier’s knife, and the Swiss government, paragon of neutrality that it is, gave business to both brands, which is why both bear the cross and shield, and both can rightfully claim to be the authentic article. These days, Victorinox owns Wenger, but the two lines keep separate facilities.

Americans popularized the Swiss Army Knife

The quality and ingenuity may be Swiss, but the knife got a big boost from the Yanks. During World War II, American soldiers in Europe developed a collective crush on the cool Swiss pocket tool. And soon, Victorinox enjoyed worldwide expansion in PX (Post Exchange) stores on American military bases. Among the GIs, the tool became known as the Swiss Army knife. Maybe because we couldn’t get our mouths around Schweizer Offiziersmesser. Or maybe because we weren’t so keen on Germany at the time. Anyway, the nickname took.

Not all of the Swiss Army Knife is Swiss-made

But most of it is. At the Victorinox headquarters in pastoral Ibach, even the machines that punch long strips of steel (2,500 pounds of it a year) into recognizable tools by grinding, polishing, hardening, and (excepting certain hand-made models) assembling and casing them, are made by Victorinox for Victorinox in their mechanical department. The only part of your Swiss Army Knife that’s not 100% Swiss-made, oddly enough, is the little corkscrew. Turns out, the Swiss are really good at working with steel but not so good at forging. For that, you need some Japanese know-how. A Japanese company forges the corkscrews and ships them to Ibach for assembly.

Victorinox produces 3.6 million sharp objects a month

In the Swiss Knife Valley (yep, that’s what they call it), under the same snow-capped mountain peaks in their ads, 900 Victorinox employees (most sporting knives themselves) are responsible for 350 different models of the Swiss Army Knife. Of these, Victorinox’s current owner, Carl Elsener (fourth generation), likes the Traveller, which rocks innovative features like a clock, alarm, countdown timer, altimeter, thermometer, and barometer. (We kind of dig the Rescue Tool, which comes with a window breaker and seat belt cutter). Each month, 17 million handy components are assembled from stock into shiny new knives, and 60,000 are produced a day. Toss in the cutlery, and you’ve got 120,000 new stabby-type items every 24 hours. Which makes us wonder: Who is there left to sell to?

The Swiss Army Knife almost started World War III

According to Elsener, during the infamous U-2 incident in 1960, when an unarmed U-2 spy plane was shot down over Soviet airspace, the Russians thought they’d got hold of some top secret James Bond-type stuff. And, no, we’re not talking about the plane. Apparently, Russian officials cataloged and photographed everything they found on American pilot Gary Powers, including his Swiss Army Knife, which the press called “CIA equipment.” (Which, if true, would have been a definite improvement in design over the exploding cigar sent to Castro.)

If you enjoyed reading Swiss Army Knife, you might want to subscribe our RSS feed or become our Facebook fan! or You can follow us on twitter You will get all the latest updates on all these three places.

Related posts: