Swiss Army knives: Sharper than ever

A company as versatile as its product [Lyndon B. Johnson]( carried one. [MacGyver]( never leaves home without his. A Swiss Army knife can scale a fish, remove a splinter, help start a fire, or sew a ripped seam shut. Its powers are so impressive that a federal judge in California favorably [compared an AR-15 rifle]( to a Swiss Army knife in a ruling reversing the state’s ban on [assault weapons](. More charmingly, a researcher from the Georgia Tech College of Engineering invoked the multifaceted tool to extoll the many wonders of the [elephant trunk](. Now available in impressively specific varieties such as the [Equestrian]( and the [Presentation Master](, including some models that feature USB flash drives, the [500 millionth tool]( rolled off the line in 2017. In an age of never-ending technology upgrades and improvements, the “Original Swiss Army knife” is still a best-seller. Does this 130-year-old tool still cut it? 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Weekly Obsession] Swiss Army knives June 09, 2021 A company as versatile as its product --------------------------------------------------------------- [Lyndon B. Johnson]( carried one. [MacGyver]( never leaves home without his. A Swiss Army knife can scale a fish, remove a splinter, help start a fire, or sew a ripped seam shut. Its powers are so impressive that a federal judge in California favorably [compared an AR-15 rifle]( to a Swiss Army knife in a ruling reversing the state’s ban on [assault weapons](. More charmingly, a researcher from the Georgia Tech College of Engineering invoked the multifaceted tool to extoll the many wonders of the [elephant trunk](. Now available in impressively specific varieties such as the [Equestrian]( and the [Presentation Master](, including some models that feature USB flash drives, the [500 millionth tool]( rolled off the line in 2017. In an age of never-ending technology upgrades and improvements, the “Original Swiss Army knife” is still a best-seller. Does this 130-year-old tool still cut it? 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Alex Citrin-Safadi Need to know Coming soon: The Tokyo Olympics --------------------------------------------------------------- Quick, which new sports have been added to the summer Olympics this year? How many Olympic games have been cancelled or postponed in the past and why? Which Olympic-sized scandals [deserve a revisit](? Sign up for our upcoming newsletter [Need to know: Tokyo Olympics]( for a deep dive into the global sporting extravaganza. [Sign up for our Olympics newsletter]( by the digits [45,000:]( Swiss Army knives produced daily in Ibach, Switzerland [5 minutes:]( Average assembly time depending on the model [29:]( Functions the “Work Champ XL” offers, the most elaborate Swiss Army knife currently sold, priced at $215 [2,400:]( Metric tons of steel imported to the Swiss Army knife factory every year [400:]( Models of Swiss Army knife [25%:]( Share of Swiss Army knives that are sold in the US [2,000:]( Swiss Army knives ordered as gifts by US president Ronald Reagan, in royal blue with the presidential seal [35 Swiss francs:]( Cost to assemble your own 27-piece knife, including custom engraving, at the Swiss Knife Valley visitor center [$4.2 million:]( Box office take of the 2016 Daniel Radcliffe movie Swiss Army Man [>160:]( Confiscated and unclaimed Swiss Army-style knives auctioned by the Perth airport in Australia in October of 2019 REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann origin story The German Swiss Army knife --------------------------------------------------------------- It’s not just a clever name: Swiss Army knives were originally made for the Swiss military beginning in the 1880s. But they were made in Solingen, Germany—at least until Karl Elsener came along in the early 1890s. The owner of a company that produced surgical equipment, Elsener figured making precision knives wouldn’t be too much of a departure from his expertise, and sought to bring the contract home to Switzerland. Members of the Swiss military received the first Elsener-designed knife, complete with a blade, reamer, screwdriver, and can opener, [in 1891](. In 1897, he introduced the Officer’s Knife, which included a corkscrew. He named his company after his mother, Victoria, in 1909, then added the suffix “inox” (stainless steel was also called “[inox steel](” from the French “inoxydable”) in 1921 as a nod to the tough components. The SAK’s sterling reputation went global in 1945, when US soldiers stationed in Europe during World War II delivered rave reviews for the superior function and quality of the Swiss multi-tool. They had a [hard time saying]( “Schweizer Offiziersmesser,” the tool’s official name, and dubbed it the “Swiss Army knife” instead. fun fact! When Tim Leatherman traveled in a beat-up Fiat in the 1970s, often fixing it with a Swiss Army knife in hand, he found himself [wishing for pliers](. When he returned to the US, he created the Leatherman multi-tool—pliers included. AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais switching gears The 9/11 effect --------------------------------------------------------------- US SAK sales declined sharply after 9/11. Once a popular item at airport duty-free stores, the knives were suddenly banned from air travel. “The period after the 9/11 attacks in the US was the toughest time for Victorinox because sales of the Swiss Army knife dropped by almost 30%,” CEO Carl Elsener (great-grandson of inventor Karl Elsener) [told the BBC.]( Victorinox refused to lay off employees, instead coming up with an unorthodox solution: It leased workers to other companies, but continued to pay their wages. “We have never made a worker redundant for financial reasons,” Elsener said. The company has since adapted some of their products to be flight-friendly, including versions that contain all of the original tools minus any blades. Giphy Pop quiz What famous piece of literature referenced a Swiss Army knife-like tool 40 years before Karl Elsener invented it? The Time MachineFrankensteinThe Adventures of Tom SawyerMoby-Dick Correct. Proving that pocket-sized multi-tools existed before Elsener made them famous, the passage in Moby-Dick reads, “Assuming the exterior—though a little swelled—of a common pocket knife; containing, not only blades of various sizes, but also screw-drivers, corkscrews, tweezers, awls, pens, rulers, nail-filers, countersinkers.” Incorrect. Nope. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. Million-dollar question Does the Swiss army actually use Swiss Army knives? --------------------------------------------------------------- Absolutely. Although there have been more than 100 models issued since Swiss Army knives were invented, the Swiss army itself has used just eight of them. [According to Matt Soniak at Mental Floss](, the Swiss army generally only issues updates when other equipment or weapon upgrades necessitate new gadgets in the multi-tool. The army also has an implement not found on civilian models that can open ammunition cans and scrape carbon from firearms. Another major difference is that instead of the iconic red handle, military-grade knives are trimmed in dark aluminum. Quotable “The Swiss have an interesting army. Ever seen that little Swiss Army knife they have to fight with? Not much of a weapon there. Corkscrews. Bottle openers. ‘Come on, buddy, let’s go. You get past me, the guy in the back of me, he’s got a spoon. Back off, I’ve got the toe clippers right here.’” —[Jerry Seinfeld, actor and comedian]( AP Photo/Gene Blythe, File Knife fight Victorinox versus Wenger --------------------------------------------------------------- Karl Elsener didn’t have a corner on the multi-tool market for long. Just [two years]( after he landed the contract with the Swiss government, Wenger, a knife factory founded in Delémont in the Swiss Jura region, emerged as a competitor. Not wanting to alienate either company, the government decided to slice their knife order down the middle, with half going to Wenger and half going to Victorinox. The two produced nearly identical knives; Wenger was [known as]( “The Genuine Swiss Army Knife,” while Victorinox opted for “The Original Swiss Army Knife.” The arrangement remained as such for decades, until the post-9/11 sales decline threatened to drive Wenger, the smaller company, out of business. Concerned that Wenger would be sold to foreign investors, Victorinox [stepped in and purchased their competitor](. “Keeping the Swiss cross in Swiss hands is the best way to move forward,” Carl Elsener said, adding that the purchase would put the firms on a better footing to compete with cheap copies. Victorinox and Wenger now make cutlery, luggage, perfume, kitchen gadgets, and watches. Listed The Giant: The largest Swiss Army knife ever made --------------------------------------------------------------- Wenger once made The Giant, a nine-inch-wide, seven-pound tool with 87 implements that could perform 141 functions. Originally retailing or [$1,300](, it’s not currently for sale by Victorinox/Wenger—but you may be able to snag one from a third-party retailer [on Amazon](. Be sure to read the reviews—the tongue-in-cheek comments on the seemingly endless array of implements are just as inventive as the tool itself. (“So far I’ve only opened about half of the things on it and taped it to a Roomba, it’s been making small repairs around my home while [I’m] at work.”) Here’s a list of some of the more unique tools you’ll find somewhere in The Giant: - Double-cut wood saw with ruler - Chain rivet setter - Shoe spike wrench - Divot repair tool - Fine metal file with precision screwdriver - Double-cut wood saw with ruler - Cupped cigar cutter - Watch-case back-opening tool - Snap shackle - Mineral crystal magnifier - Compass - Straight edge, ruler (in./cm) - Telescopic pointer - Fish scaler - Hook dis-gorger - Shortix laboratory key - Laser pointer - Metal saw - Flashlight - Micro-tool holder - Tire tread gauge - Fiber-optic tool holder - Cap lifter - Reamer - Awl Watch this! Props --------------------------------------------------------------- A Swiss Army knife, duct tape, bobby pins, and a paperclip—those are the items in MacGyver’s core arsenal, says Kate Guanci, former prop master for the show. Or watch a vintage clip of television’s most creative problem solver using a Swiss Army knife and “a plant from the Urtica family” to create a poison blow gun. take me down this 🐰 hole! The original EDC --------------------------------------------------------------- Carrying a Swiss Army knife is just the beginning, and even a little basic, for the “everyday carry” or “EDC” community. [Vox looks at the online preoccupation with preparing for every possible]( contingency—and the urge to document what’s in your pockets. Giphy poll Which is the most useful? [Click here to vote]( A Swiss Army knifeAn AR-15An elephant's trunk 💬let's talk In last week’s poll about [cookies](, 43% of you said you would trust no third-party cookie alternative to follow you around the internet, 24% and 20% said you’d consider first-party data tracking and Google’s FLoC model, respectively, and a mere 13% said you’d be OK with identity-based tracking. 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20Swiss%20Army%20knives&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) [🎲 Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Stacy Conradt](, edited by [Annaliese Griffin](, and produced by [Tori Smith](. [facebook]([twitter]([external-link]( The correct answer to the quiz is Moby-Dick. Enjoying the Quartz Weekly Obsession? [Send this link]( to a friend! Want to advertise in the Quartz Weekly Obsession? 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