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My Childhood was a Lie

I've just dug out the knife I've owned the second longest -- I acquired my "Swiss Army Knife" soon after my first folder, an official blue-handled Cub Scout knife. I'd expect the "Swiss Army" arrived aometime around 1962 -- I was 12.

I knew the knife was out in the barn in a cardboard box. And had been ever since we moved up to Maine in 1993. I ciould clearly remember packing the knife for the move.

Well, ...this is embarrassing, it is NOT a Swiss Army knife! It is not Victorinox OR Wenger!

The reverse tang stamp on the master sheepfoot blade reads "STAINLESS / MADE IN / SPAIN" -- the obverse stamp, pictured, has a logo (mounatins? sailboat?) and the letters DIC (mayeb PIC?).

I've done some googling and looked around in Goins and cannot find DIC/PIC.

...I've spent 50 years thinking I had a Swiss Army knife as a kid.

Who the heck is DIC?

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Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on July 22, 2011 at 10:36

I think this will be a wild goose chase right up there with my attempts at finding out what German company produced a Swiss Army Knock-off stamped "Rostfrei" witht he word "Rallye" on stamped into the obverse scale. The world may never know. Tthat said and knife made in Spain in 1962 was probably a decent inexpensive EDC. Looks to have faired well over the years.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Child on July 22, 2011 at 12:07

I think maybe I'll pop onto BritishBlades and inquire there about a Spanish cutler with the DIC stamp.

Do you have any strong feeling about what the logo represents?
I've learned that I'm horrible at interpreting graphics. Once someone tells me, "...yeah, that's the Alp d'Huez and the Matterhorn from the west with a thundercloud in front" ...I, of course, immediately see what's described. But, before the explanation, I'd thought I was looking at a chimpanzee on a tricycle.

Tobias Gibson said:

I think this will be a wild goose chase ......

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Permalink Reply by Tobias Gibson on July 22, 2011 at 13:14

I see the chimp on the tricycle! Don't assume DIC is a cutlery company. It could be any type of company or retailer. Remember Hibbard and Klein are not knife makers but they sell knives stamped Hibbard and Klein. Sears sells knives stamped "Craftman" All you can really assume is the knife is made in Spain by a company or business that uses DIC as a name or an acronym for the business. The best I could come up with is a Samual Dic, a company in Spain that currently deals is scrap steel/metal and DIC inc. which is company that prints stuff on steel. Who knows if they dabbled in knife production back in the 1960s. Remember back then, Spain was controlled by Franco a lot of things have changed since then

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Permalink Reply by Wayne Whitted on July 23, 2011 at 12:09

Interesting. I do not have any info for you about that tang stamp but I can tell you Aitor has been a Spanish knife company making fairly good quality Swiss Army look alikes for a long time. Maybe this is related to them somehow? Just a thought.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on July 24, 2011 at 19:47

Jim,

Let us know if you find anything on it

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Permalink Reply by Jim Child on July 25, 2011 at 11:15

Jan Carter said: ...Let us know if you find anything on it

I had posted a query on the Bernard Levine forum over on BladeForums.com and I'm real certain that a couple of the guys over there nailed the full story/origin:

Quote Originally Posted by tltt on BladeForums.com:
If no-one offers up a brand, I'd look at PIC( Precise International Corp), a post WWII importer that imported a lot of sporting goods from Spain during the '60's-70's. The D might be a badly stamped P. Just a thought.

Quote Originally Posted by tvranesic on BladeForums.com:
That's exactly what it is. PIC used the pick/mountain marking during the early part of the stated timeframe.

And, I guess I better credit Toby G. here with his suggestion that DIC (PIC) might not be a cutler at all, but rather maybe an importer/retailer.

One of the other BF guys suggested I be looking at a Spanish cutler -- Aitor -- that he says has made some fairly impressive "Swiss Army lookalikes". I'll go down that road next -- it would be nice to know who made the knife for PIC.