Heeeyho Readers! Coming by with another SAK restoration
Dad is the ultimate SAK (Swiss Army Knife) terminator. He says a new one is due... and I wonder why. It's gonna be his third 58mm SAK. Although his first and second lasted quite a while, it's clear that using a little pocket-knife as a key chain is not briliant.
I don't complain. His beaten up SAKs are fun to restore and give space to a bit of relaxing manual labor. Remember the first SAK restoration (here and here). New scales are (generally) all it takes to renew a mistreated Victorinox, since the overall construction in aluminum and stainless steel are made to last — and they do last! Sort of.
Dad came by for barbecue last Sunday, when he handed me his Victorinox. "See if you can fix the scissors", he said. Sweet funcken baby goat! Broken scissor springs are common thing in Victorinox knives, but poor little Classic SD is beyond a mere spring swap. No way I'm giving back his knife in that condition. To the workbench...
Something is not right when there's rubber band wrapped around the knife (not seen here). That click expected when shutting the tools had long gone, explaining the cheap-ass solution to keep the knife shut.
The money rubber band left a disgusting gunk stuck to the scales, though the scales themselves were in one piece — a miracle. The Victorinox shield logo is missing; big bummer there.
First thing is to disassemble the knife to deep clean all that nasty dirt collected over the years and finally discover why the tools are not snapping anymore.
SAK scales pop out pretty easily. We just need some type of lever to gently force them out and voila. Placing old scales back may require a drop of epoxy glue; not always the case with new scale replacements.
The missing click issue is evident once the scales are out — a broken backspring there is.
Addendum, before readers think I'm crazy: Victorinox offers an amazing warranty service. Users send the knives in, specify what's needed and receive back the knife in pristine condition. They even sell spare parts, though not all of them, so I'm not sure where modders buy theirs. The point is: 58mm Classic SD (model) SAKs aren't expensive, hence, it's cooler to fix/modify than sending for warranty.
Continuing...
Four brass rivets hold the chassis together. I manually drill and press them out to access the depths of our little sak.
Have you ever seen the internals of a Victorinox SAK? It's interesting to notice how each tool works. That snapping sound we hear when opening/closing the tools is produced by the backsprings.
In this case, four backsprings: one for the knife, one for the nail-file, and two for the scissors. The knife and nail-file are mounted stacked together and equate (both) the thickness of the scissors. Two opposite backsprings broke in half, explaining why the tools wouldn't lock anymore.
Here's the before and after cleaning.
Stainless steel is wonderful. A toothbrush and kitchen de-greaser restores the shine. Now we can access the issue with the springs. Two solutions come to mind 1.: buy replacement springs 2.: buy a used donor knife. Price plus shipping don't justify the hassle.
With two intact springs, our last hope is to assemble the sak without a tool. It makes sense to eliminate the nail-file, since it's the least used of the three. The scissors, on the other hand, requires two stacked springs (that we don't have); it still works with only one, I hope.
The new config would be: knife in one side with its spring, scissors on the other side with one spring. I'd need to make a spacer to fill the gap left by the nail-file and the two broken springs.
Test fitting
Here's how it's gonna be. Knife and scissors setting a rather simplified Victorinox. Not ideal, but a way to keep the sak alive. I made a hard plastic spacer that'll be swapped for aluminum if I find the right thickness plate.
I press the rivets back into place and prepare to tackle the scales.
Tackling the scales
The original red cellidor scales aren't in bad shape; only the logo is missing. I wanted to make new wooden scales for this sak, although it feels kinda boring to repeat the same design as the previous ones. It's hard to innovate with only one type of wood available.
With that in mind, incorporating a new handmade cross logo into the existing scales seemed more challenging. If it works, great; if not, new scales are inevitable.
With a huge 9mm hole into the scale, there's no going back. The idea consists of a handmade button that'll be fitted where the original logo was. Grabs a .38 cartridge, a piece of wood, and a fuck ton of patience to sand.
Several aspects can be improved in the future. For example, using epoxy resin to make the buttons. I tried... but it's out of reach for me at the moment. So far I'm content with the brass cross glued onto the wooden button. After hours of sanding, it's nearly unnoticeable and the button feels flush to the scale upon touch. I still need to polish the scales with plastic polisher.
Final result
The awesome part of modifying Victorinox knives is that we can always go back and re-do everything. All we need are donor parts, brass rivets, creativity and patience. Bored of your sak? Swap scales to make it different. Wanna go crazy? Take it apart and build something completely different.
I'm glad that this sak is back to life, when it could very well become a donor. Better to become a laboratory to my wild ideas then ending up in a parts box.
I took some photos with the big camera of the final product.
Before / After
The real question is...
Should I give it back to dad?
I hope you've enjoyed this journey.
Peace.
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~Love ya all,
Disclaimer: The author of this post is a convict broke backpacker, who has travelled more than 10.000 km hitchhiking and more than 5.000 km cycling. Following him may cause severe problems of wanderlust and inquietud. You've been warned.
Wow. Impressive work. I didn't know that people repaired these things or that the warranty works cover such things also. Well done, he will be chuffed! Give it back!
Hey, thank you! I believe Victorinox offers lifetime warranty, though I've never sent any knife to them (just heard of). For these tiny knives I don't thinkc it's worth it. It would be awesome if they sold spare parts for hobbysts.
Spare parts would be the business. I had an old broken bladed one that I eventually threw out. Gaaaar!
Super impressive! Where did you learn all those skills?
And cheers for bringing me back to my pocket knife, Victorinox days that now have been long gone...
Very good question! I guess curiosity brought me this far (and years of watching Youtube videos hah)
I wish SAKs were cheapper over here, just to modify the heck out of them. I found some used ones, but shipping costs exceeded the price of the knives
Does the warranty cover long lost Swiss Army knives? Making me wish I still had my old one but I can't even remember when I lost it. Lovely job you did with that one.
Damn! Do you remember the model? I had to stop using my first one, fearing I'd lose it too eventually. Let's hope yours didn't end up buried somewhere 🫤
Sadly, no. It was roughly the same size as the one you were working on but beyond that I don't recall. Who knows, I've definitely owned enough for one to turn up sooner or later.