Why I Recommend The Swiss Army Knife For a First Pocket Knife.

As a knifeaholic, I am frequently asked by friends and family what I would recommend for someone's (usually a child's) first pocket knife.  I always give the same answer, a Swiss Army Knife.  Sure there are other good choices for pocket knives out there, and I usually carry others now days, but there are a lot of ways in which the humble Swiss Army Knife is hard to beat, especially for younger users.  This is geared mostly toward buying a child their first knife, but for the most part applies equally to adults.

1.  First off, there is the price.  When buying a first knife, it is pretty likely that you are not going to want to put a whole lot of money into the purchase.  But you are also not going to want to go too deep into the bargain basement and buy something that is not worth what you spend on it.  Really cheap knives, even by some well know brands, frequently are not put together as well as you would hope, have lots of play (looseness) in the blades, and frequently use substandard steels that are not really designed for being used as a cutting tool.  Swiss Army Knives though are very reasonbly priced, and put together as well as any slipjoint knife I have ever seen.  There is amazing consistency in the quality they produce, and use a steel they formulated themselves especially for their blades and tools.

2. Blade steel -  Obviously, blade steel is important enough to make or break a knife.  It affects how well it holds and edge, what kind of work needs to go into sharpening it, how it reacts to stuff it won't cut through, and how susceptible it is to rust and corrosion.  As mentioned above, Swiss Army Knives feature a specially formulated blade steel.  First off, it is extremely resistant to rust and corrosion, so chemical damage of any sort us very unlikely under normal circumstances.  It is a fairly soft steel, as far as blade steels go, which means that its edge retention is honestly not great; however, unless you are cutting a lot throughout the day it should not be an issue.  The softer steel gives other benefits though, in exchange for its less than stellar edge retention, all of which make it great for a first pocket knife.

• Easy to sharpen - Softer steels are easier to sharpen, and for someone who is likely just learning to sharpen, this will be most welcome.  Since this was originally designed as an army knife, the steel is kept soft enough to be suitable for field sharpening, which means that almost any hard surface you can find could theoretically be used for sharpening.  I can get mine shaving sharp using the bottom of a coffee mug or the edge of a car's window.  In any case trying to sharpen harder steels can be frustrating, but it is one less thing to worry about in this case.
• It will bend, not break - Sometimes when cutting, you will run into something you didn't intend to run your blade into (e.g. a staple in cardboard).  Harder steels can be more brittle and may chip unexpectedly.  The softer steel will likely just bend a bit and can usually be straightened out with sharpening. 

3. Tool selection -  Most Swiss Army Knives have more tools than just blades.  You can choose different combinations, so pick what you may need.  I think three layers is about as thick as you may want to go for pocket carry though.  The scissors are great in particular, and give first time users a safer, easier to use alternative to a knife blade in may situations, and it ads a cool factor.

4. Color - The Swiss Army Knife is well known for its bright red color, although others are available.  Being able to choose a bright color though makes it easier to find if dropped or lost, which is probably going to happen to the first time knife owner.

There are a few models that do feature locking blades if that is important to you as well, but for safety, every folding knife should be treated as though it does not lock, since locks can fail.

If you do look to purchase a Swiss Army Knife, make sure it is either made by Victorinox or by Wenger.  Wenger was recently bought by Victorinox, and lines are being merged, but there are still Wenger's out on the market.

The Swiss Army Knife is an amazing tool that will give anyone years of service.  It may not be the ultimate knife in every respect, but will do an amazing amount of work, and you will be hard pressed to find a better value in pocket knives anywhere.  I may carry other tools now days, locking folders, Leatherman multi-tools, but regardless of what else I carry, I always have a Swiss Army Knife on me.