This is the Huntsman, it’s a classic Swiss Army Knife design that contains almost everything you need in your pocket when you’re out in the wilderness.
Victorinox were one of the early pioneers of what we today call the multitool. The Huntsman model contains 15 functions including a two knife blades, a corkscrew, a reamer/punch/sewing tool, scissors, a wood saw, a hook, a key ring, tweezers, a toothpick, a can opener, a bottle opener, two screwdrivers, and a wire stripper.
History Speedrun: Victorinox
Victorinox started out back in 1884 when Karl Elsener I opened a cutlery workshop in Ibach-Schwyz, Switzerland, backed early on by an investment from his mother, Victoria. In 1891, Elsener helped establish the Association of Swiss Master Cutlers and perhaps more importantly, he won a major Swiss Army contract which brought production of Swiss soldier’s knives under his roof.
The company’s most important historic milestone came six year later in 1897, with the patenting of the “Original Swiss Officer’s and Sports Knife,” the design now widely known simply as the “Swiss Army Knife.”
Elsener adopted “Victoria” as the brand name in 1909, after his mother, and registered the Cross & Shield emblem as his trademark. In 1921, the arrival of stainless steel (“inox”) would change both the material used in the company’s knifemaking and in their name, with “Victoria” and “inox” now combining into “Victorinox.”
Over the decades the firm grew from mostly pocketknives and kitchen knives into a much larger Swiss manufacturing brand, later reorganizing as Victorinox AG in 1979. In 2000, the Victorinox Foundation became the majority shareholder, and in 2005 Victorinox acquired Wenger SA, consolidating the two historic Swiss Army knife makers under one name for the first time.
For much of the 20th century and into the 21st the Swiss Army Knife was seen as an essential everyday carry item for many, with the phrase “no man should be without one” often associated with the little red multi-function knives. They became such cultural touchstones that they have been displayed at the Smithsonian and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
The Huntsman Swiss Army Knife
The Victorinox Huntsman is a medium-sized Swiss Army knife from the company’s Outdoor range – it’s a member of the classic Officer’s knife model series but it adds a few tools that make it better suited to time spent out in the field.
The knife packs 15 functions into a 91 × 26 × 21mm frame. The core lineup includes large and small blades, a corkscrew, a reamer/punch/sewing awl, a can opener, a bottle opener, and both 6mm and 3mm screwdrivers with a wire stripper. The usual tweezers, toothpick, key ring, and multipurpose hook round out the basics.
The Victorinox Huntsman is a medium-sized Swiss Army knife from the company’s Outdoor range – it’s a member of the classic Officer’s knife model series but it adds a few tools that make it better suited to time spent out in the field.
What sets the Huntsman apart from simpler models in the Victorinox catalog are the scissors and the wood saw. These two additions are the knife’s main selling points, giving it real world utility for cutting rope, trimming cordage, or processing small pieces of wood at a campsite – tasks that a blade alone handles a lot less cleanly.
The knife is made in Switzerland and covered by Victorinox’s lifetime warranty. It’s now available to buy direct from the official Victorinox Amazon store here.
Images courtesy of Victorinox
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