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| My well used Victorinox has provided sterling service for over 10 years. Here shown with a small whetstone and pouch. |
The choices for the second tool in my collection include a very nice hand made single carbon blade Ettrick style folding knife by Arthur Wright & Sons with a 2" blade (51g), a Bahco Laplander folding saw (185g), a Sabatier kitchen knife (80g), and a very light weight Victorinox paring knife (14g). My most recent addition to these options is a Roselli R110 Puuko knife (77g)
At a fixed camp or if cooking for large groups on the trail I would supplement the Swiss army Climber with a fixed blade knife such as a 3" Sabatier or Victorinox paring or rabbit knife for food prep. Unfortunately the kitchen type knives do not come with a sheath so are not great for backpack use hence my more recent aquisition. My current favorite being the Roselli Carpenter knife.
If I were requiring a small to modest cooking fire, or using a wood gas stove and needing to size small logs into kindling I would supplement the Swiss Army climber with the puukko & perhaps the folding Laplander saw. In the UK nowadays along the trail building a fire is very unlikely. In the real world, whenever a land owner has been asked, the option to build a fire is generally declined outright, or a reason put forward, 'ground too dry', 'not just there' etc. Not to say that if a relationship is built with the land owner permission may be granted on a local level, but when trail walking contacting land owners at each stop over point is not really possible as we traverse such vast distances and sometimes we not know where we will be at a given point in time, so the Laplander saw is rarely used, the fixed blade puukko knife is more than adequate to size kindling for the wood burning stove.
In all probability the pressure on the land would be too great if everyone wanted to build a fire anyway. 12000 people a year walk sections of the Pennine Way for example. I have considered the use of a wood gasifier type stove, and carrying a laplander saw instead of stove fuel. In the end I decided that like disposable BBQ's the wood stoves are a form of fire that camp site owners will tolerate if they allow BBQ's but other land owners in the main do not. There are quite a few camp sites which strictly ban the use of BBQ / open flames already. It only takes a couple of such sites to ban their use along a 'hiking trail' and effectively one would end up carrying two stoves to make the whole journey. To allow for all eventualities might as well just take a standard cartridge gas fuel stove, or perhaps as is my preference an adaptable alcohol fuel stove of some kind - one which works as an alcohol / wood burning hybrid. It is many years since I actually carried the Laplander saw on a national trail.
Whilst on the move, backpacking and cooking for up to 3, I carry only the Swiss Army Climber, which covers 90% plus of the trips I make. The Laplander saw and the second fixed blade knife may be taken occasionally if I really think I will need them. I do not carry these other cutting tools 'just in case'. It is the Swiss army knife that has accompanied all my trips for the last ten years. The recently aquired Puuko knife is very light and actually quite useful for kitchen duties, and is great for chopping a few sticks into kindling for the wood burner. I forsee this knife being increasingly used in the future as I really like using the wood burning stove due to the weight saved in carrying additional fuel and find I can use this most evenings, reserving the alcohol fuel for the morning brew or if lighting the woodburner is not possible.
My Swiss Army Climber is kept scrupulously clean, even to the point where it has been through the dishwasher a couple of times, which I do not now recommend. To clean - remove the toothpick and tweezers, and open out all the blades and tools. Use an old toothbrush and a cotton bud in warm soapy water to remove pocket lint or dust, rinse off thoroughly and leave to dry. Using the tooth pick dipped in olive oil - drop two drops of oil into the spring holes on the rear surface, and a couple of drops at each end where the tools and blades rotate. Opening and closing the respective tools will work the oil in. On the trail a good rinse and occasionally a dunk in boiling water to sterilize is all that is required.
The reason for this attention is that this knife is not really something used for processing fire wood etc, but as a tool for the camp kitchen, a tool for the first aid kit and a tool that may be used for personal hygiene prior to being thoroughly cleaned again. I use a small belt case for the Climber and it lives in this attached to my belt or in a zipped pocket once I hit the trail, this keeps it clean and accessible. I would even consider tying the knife to my clothing through the lanyard ring in any critical situation. Interestingly if you buy the slightly larger sheath, you can fit both the Camper and a BIC lighter in there, so retaining a cutting tool and a fire lighting option in one small package which is attached to my person should I ever be separated from my pack.
So why the climber and not say the Camper or the Hiker model? why no saw? Why not just go with a a 2" single blade knife?, or even a razor? or some other cutting tool variation? To answer this I will need to explain how the knife and tools are utilized on the trail.
The most used tool is the larger blade for processing food prior to cooking, chopping shallots, garlic, chorizo, carrot and the like (yes I carry shallots on multiday day hikes, not as mad as it sounds, but that's a post for another day). The Climber is a similar size to a kitchen paring knife so great for peeling veg, and fine cutting garlic, or onion. Any knife under 3" makes cook duties a chore in my book. The blade also has some flex so it will fillet modestly sized fish and bone meat really well also. The 3" rounded end spearpoint blade is a good shape for chopping duties. The hand and knuckles are raised above the chopping surface when using the first 2 to 3cm of the blade, or its light enough to be held from above if you want to use the length of the blade. The Climber also has a secondary 2" blade which can be brought into play if the first blade becomes dull mid task, for whittling small pieces of wood, or for cutting the occasional bit of cordage or plaster.
The next most used tool are the Scissors, which are used almost as much as the blades. Scissors make it easy to open packets of food, cut sticking plaster to length, sewing cotton, and will trim nails, even a beard easily on an extended trip. The scissors are sharp, to illustrate this I recently made an ultralight pop can stove using these and a drawing pin ( well you never know when you might need one along the trail ), sweet :)
The other tools are used less, but again in the camp kitchen a beer bottle opener, can opener and a wine bottle screw pull will get used at some point on a longer trip, especially in a group setting. All the tools really do work, and work exceptionally well. Most of the food consumed along the routes, and ways in the UK that I travel, involve shopping every few days at a village shop, and then packing out the rubbish, so tackling packaging is a very common occurrence, the scissors and other tools work well for this.
There is an optional little tool for tightening spectacle screws, there is a hole punch reamer for driving thread through a leather belt, there is a hook which turns the Climber into a carry handle to save your hands when fetching water, tweezers, and a tooth pick. You can replace the tooth pick with a small biro type pen as an option. I prefer to carry a stub of pencil and keep the tooth pick as its great for cleaning and maintaining the Swiss army tool itself, rather than to be used as toothpick.
Every item on this knife is justified, and every item will get used on a longer trip more than likely. It has all the tools you are genuinely going to use and none of the ones you are not.
So what does the Climber do without:
This knife does not have a saw. If I am on a wilderness trip where I shall be processing wood and other biomass for cooking etc, I would carry a separate and really decent folding saw. My knife is thus kept clean for the other uses. I could not manage with a penknife only saw as the cooking knife then gets really dirty and full of sawdust and bacteria which is not ideal.
The balance of functionality to weight is just about right as far as I am concerned with the Climber. The 82g covers every tool I need in the kitchen drawer, and then some. I believe leaving this tool at home to save weight, or trying to save 40g or so by downsizing it would be a false weight economy in most scenarios. If really pressed I think I could manage with a smaller blade, and a pair of scissors for a short or solo trip. On a longer trip though at some point I am going to miss the other tools, and I would really get frustrated processing food with anything smaller.
Could this knife serve in a survival situation to split wood to build a great survival fire? The answer is - not really. I have split wood by making a hardwood chisel wedge with the army knife, cutting a small nick on the corner of the wood to be split, and hammering the wedge in repeatedly with another hefty lump of wood. It works eventually to split modest logs in a haphazard way, but its very very hard work. It can however be done. In 20 years I have never needed to build a survival fire, so I usually carry only this knife. If I really have to I can split small wood sticks in the short term to get a fire going and split larger logs in other ways.
The only small niggle I have with the Climber is that the second smaller blade would be better as a flat lambsfoot type blade, such as that on the Camper, instead of the spear-point. A flat edge blade is better for cutting little notches, certain whittling tasks and cutting cord. It is a very minor niggle, and one I am more than happy to live with.
The climber has no pliers. I agree pliers can be useful for lifting hot pots and pans, and pulling thread etc. I agree pliers, even better pliers or grips that can be locked closed, can be useful. I genuinely do not miss them however as I carry a lightweight dedicated pot grabber with my pots that need one on group trips and my solo pots have fold out handles anyway such as the 750ml Vargo Titanium cup. If the pot grab was lost then a wet cloth could be utilised. I have seen two sticks being fashioned and tied with cord in the middle being used similarly as fire tongs to lift pots. I have seen tent pegs being used also if the pot has suitable slots or holes. You can pull cotton etc by effectively pushing it from the entry side with a sharpened stick or the point of the reaming tool on the climber. I have not used a pliers tool for over 10 years.
So, will I ever change my mind on the Climber? or is this now my knife for life? Would I swap it for a single blade again? I doubt it, but never say never. I think however that a single blade on its own is especially suited to day hiking or for carrying as a secondary tool for back up in remote areas as the weight really is neglible, honestly that extra 100g or so is really not going to be noticed,
There are always times when that second or even third cutting tool is useful particularly if you are tasked with being camp chef, or any sort wood processing is likely. A small kitchen knife will serve for the former and a folding inexpensive Bahco Laplander would be more than suitable for the latter. Quality hard wooden handled full tang stainless steel kitchen knives are mass produced and cost a fraction of bushcraft type knives, the original American pioneers used - 'butcher' type knives, You can get a fantastic one that will keep a strong edge for around £20.00. Other knife options here include lightweight Puukko or Tommi knives such as the Roselli Carpenter which weigh around 77g, take a phenomenal edge and will double as a bushcraft or carpentry tool which is what they are designed for. Other options include the frontier style knives such as the A Wright of Sheffield- Green River, or boating knife - again lightweight options weighing less than 100g and will admirably step up to the plate in a survival or bushcraft use scenario. Other good options include the Grohmann knives of Canada - in particular the trout and bird knife. Enzo and Esse also produce some great little neck knives.
Full on heavy duty Bushcraft and Bowie style knives, often costing hundreds, at least the ones I have had a go with are not the best option for light weight trail hiking, cooking and camp duties in my opinion. For starters they are very poor as kitchen knives due in part to blade thickness ( typically 4mm ) and also because the finger knuckles often have no clearance against the chopping surface when chopping food, plus the full tang and 4" to 5" blades make them heavy, which means you have to grab the whole handle securely in a fist. The blade with means you will have to force them like a wedge through vegetables and fruit. Stiff deep blades are not great for filleting meat or fish along a bone either. Finally the polished carbon steel blades will rust or develop a patina super quickly if neglected in any way. Further-more you can't open a bottle of french wine or cut a bandage to length easily with one, never mind fixing your sunglasses or opening a beer. Would I swap one on the trail for my Climber? / Puukko combination - honestly my answer is no. On the other hand the bushcraft knife or Bowie style knife may serve better as an option for skinning a deer or taking a small tree down or splitting 4" diameter logs into kindling should the need arise - In all seriousness I cannot for-see needing to do any of this personally. A better second knife option for light weight backpacking is a Scandinavian Puukko knife, which is still robust but weighs many times less. A typical puukko including sheath is usually less than 100g versus the 250 to 300g including sheath of many full on bushcraft knives.
I have never carried an axe, even small hatchets will weigh around 500g - in my opinion a small folding saw is a safer and lighter weight option for processing wood if this is something expected in the backpacking area, the one I use is a Bahco Laplander which weights 185g. Even allowing for this modest weight I would only consider carrying this saw on a truly wild trip well away from civilization. In the UK it is rare to get into such a remote place that carrying a saw is really necessary. Furthermore, most of our wilder areas are mountainous areas with few trees.
So to summarise, I use a small single blade folding knife for day hikes, but carry a Victorinox climber on multi-day hikes and leave the single blade folder at home. Where I expect to be cooking for a group or processing kindling for the woodburner I now carry a puukko knife in addition to the Victorinox, but have used small kitchen knives in the past. Very occasionally I may take the Laplander saw as a third tool. I have never seen any reason to carry an axe ever.
Carrying knives is a very contentious issue, along with fire building, camping wild and so on. As a consideration the smaller folding knives such as the Swiss army Climber is not likely to get you into any bother from a legal perspective. If you are caught wild camping without permission and have to answer for it do you also want to be answering questions about illegal longer blades, lock knife features or even fixed blades intended for camp kitchen use. Whilst these knives at camp are seemingly justifiable they could still be seen as potentially breaking the law here in the UK. I really feel uncomfortable travelling through security barriers. on public transport and through the town centres on the way to trail head when carrying anything else but a perfectly legal 3" folding Swiss army knife. I would never ask anyone else in my group to carry any of the other tools I occasionally carry, even if that is to spread weight among a group.
Next post - Keeping your knife sharp.
Thank you for reading as always
Way of the Backpacker
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