When people think of Swiss Army Knives, they usually think of Boyscouts and children. The Swiss Army Knife, however, is not a toy. In fact, many knife knuts would be better served with a Swiss Army Knife than a tactical folder.

Swiss Army Knives are so practical for a number of reasons. The obvious is that they house more tools than just a knife. This expands their usefulness and versatility. Swiss Army Knives (well, most of themm) are also small enough to carry anywhere, and are pretty much legal everywhere. Swiss Army Knives are not as treatening as a tactical folder.

Some Swiss Army Knife models are fairly large and house many tools, but some of the most practical and logical models are fairly small and only include the most useful tools. I really like the Tinker, Super Tinker, and Soldier. The Soldier has a thicker-than-standard blade, a screw driver, cap lifter, and punch. It also has Alox scales rather than plastic. The Tinker is another fairly spartan SAK, but it offers more tools than the Soldier. The Super Tinker is wider than the Tinker but includes some additional tools such as scissors.

The downside of Swiss Army Knives is that with a few exceptions, the tools do not lock open. So you cannot use a SAK as you would use a locking folder or a fixed blade.

However, a fixed blade and SAK combination is about as good as it gets.