When it was time to teach SoWeWentDaughter knife safety for American Heritage girls I looked all over to see if I could find my Swiss Army Champion knife for her. Finding that the Champion is no longer in production, I needed to find another knife for her. Thinking through what has kept me carrying my knife for three plus decades I searched through the Victorinox product line and determined the Swiss Army Explorer (Also available without the leather case) had all of the major tools that I use on a regular basis.
The Explorer provides the basic needs of a short and long knife blade. The long blade is great for cutting rope, zip ties, whittling, and carving. For opening packages I prefer the short blade.
While I do use the blades quite a bit, I find myself more prone to use the scissors than the blades with cutting strings or threads. The scissors are very handy for small paper cutting needs and more delicate trim work than a knife blade.
With the basic requirements of a knife out of the way, one of the most important tools on my knife is the Philips head screwdriver. I use this screwdriver more than any other part of the knife and is one of the main reason my Swiss Army knife goes in my pocket every day. While looking at the Victorinox offerings, I specifically wanted the Philips head screwdriver version below. There is another version that is a regular P2 size, but the way Victorinox shaped the head of the below screwdriver allows it to work great with P2 heads while tapering down to a fine point that works on much smaller screw heads. I use this screwdriver all the time to open battery compartments of all size screw heads with ease. Also, the ability to put the screwdriver at a 90 degree angle makes it so this screwdriver can be used in tight spaces. This was a must in any Swiss Army knife I looked at.
Quickly following up the Phillips head screw driver is the flat head screwdriver. I don’t use this one as much, but it still comes in very handy. In addition to being a flag head screw driver this tool also has the bottle opener attachment. This is very handy for opening bottled drinks and canned goods.
You will notice the bottle cap opener has a strange notch cut into it. I knew it had something to do with wires, but I never really used it. While writing this post I decided to look it up. Apparently this is a wire stripping guide to be used in conjunction with the main blade. Since this works with the main blade, it works much better on models with fewer layers/tools since it is always on the opposite side of the main blade. For this model, the main blade is too far away for this feature to work.
In addition to opening bottled drinks, this knife also has the can opener. While tedious to use, this can opener has come in very handy on various occasions camping when a regular can opener was left behind. Also included on this tool is a smaller flat head screw driver at the tip. While it can’t get into tight places, it does come in handy where the other flat head screwdriver is too wide.
There are other tools included on this model that I have used occasionally. The magnifying glass comes in handy for looking at fine print or small objects, although it would work better if it had the correct magnification to start a fire in an emergency situation. The awl is useful for piecing materials and repairing equipment.
The Explorer comes with an attachment, the hook, that isn’t on my knife and I have never used it. This looks like an interesting tool to be used as a sturdy hook to carry parcels, pull twine/string tight, pull string through a hole, pull out tent stakes, and possible many other uses. I expect SoWeWentDaughter will find good uses for this tool over time.
As seen above, this model also includes the toothpick and the tweezers. At first I really liked the toothpick, however over time the questionable cleanliness of the toothpick made me less willing to use it (at least without washing it first). While less likely to use the toothpick, the tweezers have come in handy more than once to remove splinters and work with small items.
Lastly, it wouldn’t be a Swiss Army Knife without the corkscrew. This has come in handy multiple times at parties when a corkscrew is no where to be found. While it doesn’t come with the explorer, I recommend adding the Mini Screwdriver to the corkscrew. This provides a handy screwdriver for eyeglass repair.
All around, the Swiss Army Explorer has the tools that I use on a regular basis without many extras. I believe SoWeWentDaughter will use this knife for years to come and I plan on giving the knife to SoWeWentSon when he is ready for Cub Scout Bear Claw adventure. For camping and daily use, I recommend keeping the Explorer Swiss Army knife with you at all times.
– SoWeWentDad
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