Victorinox Solo Folding Pocket Knife

Nice! A smooth simple design with no sharp edges to wear a hole in your pocket. And at that price there's no need to whine too long when it inevitably gets misplaced.

I like the Opinel #6 and #8 for the same reasons. I like the Opinel wider handle better, but how the wood swells after rinsing the blade and makes the joint tight less.
#6 weighs 3/4 oz and is similar length as the swiss army knife. The #8 weighs 1.2 oz and is a full length blade and handle. Prices are in the $8-11 range depending on size and store.

That Victorinox looks like a nice little knife, with a blade long enough to handle utiliarian tasks and low weight. Pretty cool.

I am a fan of the Opinels, myself, and have one that's been in service well over 30 years all over the southwest, south pacific and more. They're certainly another great option, although the #8's I'm fond of are larger than the Victorinox above.

The weight is good, though. This is a 1990's Inox (stainless) version. My old reliable is a carbon steel blade, about the same weight.

There is a cutlery shop in the Pike Place Market in Seattle that must have every model of Opinel. I lust for something stainless and oaken.

We had one years ago that had a carbon steel blade and a beech handle. It would swell with moisture, making it impossible to open and would rust if not babied. It turned me off on Opinels in general. Living in a wet climate next to a ditch full of salt water is a tough order for such knives :)

To fix the swelling permanently, take off the locking ring with some snap ring pliers, file off the mushroomed tail of the rivet. If the rivet slides, you are done. Mine was bent, so I punched it out, and replaced it with a stainless steel pin. The reason the joint gets tight is because the rivet is peened and the slot can't expand when the wood swells.

ps: I tried soaking the joint in mineral oil, and coating the joint with vaseline. Neither worked for me.

Good fix, but I'd rather buy something that works without fiddling. I appreciate the look and feel of the Opinels, but I think of them as picnic stuff rather than real tools.

If Victorinox made the Solo with a locking blade, people would do back flips.

When my 30+ year old Opinel was new, I rubbed linseed oil into the open-grain end of the beech handle. Since then, it's been dunked, a good portion of the finish on the handle is worn off and the blade's been used, abused, honed and such. The knife binds a little if it's real wet, although I strive to avoid that, and the blade has darkened over time, but it's never failed to open or to cut like a razor and it's never rusted. This is one of the reasons the stainless version is in a drawer and gets used less.

Anyway, I'd love to see a store with all the Opinels in it… sounds cool.

Linseed oil is used as a furniture finish. I used mineral oil and vegetable oil -which didn't work (probably because neither cures into a hardened finish like linseed oil). Thanks for the the tip !!!

I also 2nd the performance of the carbon steel blades. They get a bit sharper, stay sharp longer, and are easier to sharpen. Never had any rust, except on the one my son left in his pack wet for a week.

I like the ease of use of the stainless though. The splotchy grey color the carbon blade turns after a few weeks bothers me when I want to cut food though (washing and drying the blade leaves a small amount of grey stain on paper towels). Polishing the blade back to shiny only takes a few minutes, but is something I'd rather not do. I also like that I can keep the stainless in the mesh pocket of my pack and not have to dry it after a rain to prevent rust.

One thing to watch with small rounded knives is that they slip out of your pocket very easily. I don't know how many times I lost such knives when I was a boy. Best to keep it in a zippered pocket or in your pack.

I was thinking that a lanyard ring would be a good option. I ground the ring mount off my Farmer model as it would diff into my hand when using the saw.