farmer / peasant knives
Victorinox has produced a whole series of solid pocket knives under the umbrella term "farmer's knife", although the term "farmer's knife" was not officially used until the 1950s. In the 1922 catalogue, these pocket knives are simlayer called "pocket knives Ia quality".
Characteristic of the farmer's knife series were the curved design of the scales and metal bolsters on the pocket knife head. The tools were those that were mainly used by the rural population. There were tools such as a sack awl for sewing/repairing potato or vegetable sacks, a hook blade, saw, large screwdriver, reamer, etc.
This series existed from the beginning of the 20th century until the 1970s. While there were still 6 models in the 1909 catalogue, in the 1920s there were a total of 36 different models, which were offered in up to 3 sizes and in different variants. There was the so-called "Courante version", a standard version. This meant a pocket knife with iron bolsters, polished blue. There was also a so-called "1/2 fine version". The jaws were made of nickel silver, polished blue. In addition, there was the "fine version", which could be manufactured and ordered on request. This meant nickel silver bolsters, brass liners and the tools shiny black. All knife handles were originally made of black fiber.
Victorinox in the mid-1920s, further variants were added. There were farmer's knives made of carbon steel with scales made of fiber or horn II quality, farmer's knives made of stainless steel with horn scales I quality. An internal catalog also notes that farmer's knives made of stainless steel and handles made of Horn II quality were only sold by the competition.
The first farmer's knives were probably only 112 mm in size. Other sizes were added later. The 1922 catalog lists 3 sizes, 112 mm, 100 mm and 90 mm. From the 1931 catalogue, the sizes were 106 mm, 100 mm, 95 mm and 90 mm. These sizes then remained until the end of production.
The numbering of the farmer's knives was special and different from the numbering of other pocket knives made by Victorinox. An example numbering is the number 3/25. The first digit indicated the size (ie size 3 = 95 mm), the second digits the model (ie model no. 25). In the digits for the size, the 1 meant a size of 106 mm (at the beginning 112 mm), a 2 the size 100 mm, the 3 a size of 95 mm (at the beginning 90 mm) and the 4 a size of 90 mm. The model numbers ran from 1 to 36. The number in the model designation has no meaning, as it does for army knives, for example, but it was simlayer a consecutive numbering.
sizes for the sake of simplicity, and not broken down into the individual sizes as is the case with the other pocket knives.