I thought I would buy a Swiss Army Knife for the Hubster as his birthday comes shortly before our trip to Ireland. I went to the Swiss Army website and am boggled by the sheer quantity of knives to choose from. Since lots of you travel with them (checked baggage only, I know) what is the best model/configuration for ease of use, size and necessary attachments. Do not need a corkscrew, as long as there is a bottle opener on it. Any suggestions? BTW, I thought it would be great if he could also take it on our boat. Not that it needs to be paddle sized, LOL, but perhaps handy in the case of trouble.

Knife blades (large and small), scissors, tweezers, bottle opener, screwdriver, toothpick, sawblade, awl (for punching a hole in belts when you lose weight from walking), can opener and corkscrew. The size is 3.6 X 1 x 3/4.

A customised one from Asprey, much more elegant. Mind you I doubt an "Hubster" would appreciate it, just get him the biggest one for him to play with.

Cheesehead, take no notice of the reply from m_kingdom, he or she is well-known on this forum for snide replies to almost any query, methinks he/she has a problem relating to the rest of we inferior mortals, LOL!!

Depending on what you (or hubby) want to use it for I would consider a leatherman as well... In my opinion the leatherman is better as a portable toolbox, but the swiss army knife has more "things", assorted rare and funny tools, espcially the bigger ones. But for the boat I would prefeer a leatherman not the very least because it has a better grip than the swiss army knife.

Cobos

A Leatherman? I checked out the site - very interesting! Which model have you found to be the most handy? It has to be able to go in the pocket while on the road.

Oh lordy - my dear hubster just accidently read my post - somehow it was still up, behind on a separate window while I was working on another project (searching out cell phone info for the trip) and my surprise is spoiled. The funny thing is he quietly went down to the basement and brought up his Leatherman. Who knew?

Hi HC,

My best one has can opener, bottle opener, small, medium, large flat head screwdriver, philips head screwdriver, magnifying glass, scissors, fish hook extracter, scale scraper, ruler, saw blade, file, metal saw, large knife, small knife, corkscrew, awl, tweezers, toothpick, and a leather carrying case.

The other three have fewer tools.

ira, no fork or spoon on that thingy? Where's the Boy Scout in you?

I hope you remember to pack the knife in your suitcase and not your carry-on. Why do you need to take a knife on a vacation anyway?

dhoffman is correct. We have left a LOT of Swiss Army knives in a LOT of airports--dang. Mine was the one with the corkscrew that I forgot was at the bottom of my purse. And yes, you do need to use a knife occasionally.

>...no fork or spoon on that thingy? Where's the Boy Scout in you? <

I once had one with a fork and a spoon when I was a Boy Scout. You can't use both the fork and the knife at the same time. It was a big disappointment.

Now that your secret is out why not take him shopping for one when you land in Europe? That way you don't have to figure out which tools and how big a knife he would like. I bought my last one in Geneva where the selection is huge and the prices are low. BTW, there are two official brands of Swiss Army Knife, Wenger and Victorinox.

A quick note: I've always carried a swiss army knife while traveling. It makes the perfect tool for a quick picnic in the park.

In the past few years, I have found they are a pain to carry because of stepped up security almost everywhere. Security will ask to hold them and give you a claim ticket in lots of museums, etc. It's not a big deal but it will slow you down.

As far as the best model, I've always gotten by with a simple one that doesn't weigh me down. Large blade, small blade, cork screw, bottle opener(and those little tweezers may come in handy if you travel to Amsterdam

Good luck and good travels

I suggest you buy the "hubster" an M-Kingdom doll...he'll get a lot more use out of that than any "all-purpose" tool going. I hear they come cheap from the UK.

LOL - Lots of interesting suggestions, took me a few mintues to get the Amsterdam reference (my age showing)!

I definately was planning on putting it in checked baggage, as I mentioned in my original query. What I did not realize, however, was that we could be checked going into museums, and have that hassle.

Since he found out what I was up to, this has moved into a whole different level, where he is analyzing his travel tool/picnic providing/boat "whatever" needs, so he can pick out the one he likes best. As usual, it is proving to be one of the pricier versions - well, it IS his birthday!

The tools we have actually used are the knife blade, screw drivers (both types for tightening luggage handles), bottle opener and the pliers.

The scissors were not that useful; too small to do much. The tweesers were inferior to the standard ones in a manicure set.

I have had no need for a saw, a fish scaler, a can opener, or a finger nail file. It too was not as good as the manicure set one my wife carries.
The wire crimping/stripping tools may be used for a variety of purposes, but I have had no need for them.

Don't put those things in your pockets or carryon luggage. You will not come home with it.

I brought a swissarmy knife on my backpacking stint. Mine has a bottle opener, screwdriver, eyeglass screw driver, corkscrew, can opener, knives, and toothpick. It is a very basic model and I bought it in the Czech Rep for about 11 USD.

I only really used the bottle opener, corkscrew, and knife. It pretty much comes in handy for picnics. (and since I did a lot of picnics, it was invaluable).

Tip: Lots of guys I met could not open a winebottle using the corkscrew. The key is to screw into the cork, place the bottle in between your feet while standing, stabilize the bottle with one hand and pull up with the other while straigtening out your back. It comes out pretty easily this way.

Kneeling on the floor/ground with the wine bottle firmly gripped between the knees while pulling up on the cork works, too. The trick is to be unmoveably stable and have a death grip on the bottle somehow.

I just love those images of opening up a wine bottle.

I personally like to use the restaurant style - screw in, leverage to the lip, lift gently.