My Champion - An Introduction

[Helz]

I've lurked about for quite a while on forum here, usually searching for answers to issues I had come up with my kit and carry. But thanks to the great info here, (and RotoKid at SOSAK), I finally got around to a project that's been on my list for a long time now, and I thought this might be a perfect chance to say hi.

The project was refurbishing the Champion that my parents bought me when I was 7 or 8 years old. It was the first pocket knife I had that was new and all mine. I carried it on countless family camping trips and outings to the mountains, the perfect explorers tool. Then as time went on, it ended up in a toolbox somewhere and got superglue spilled on it causing one of the scales to pop off. Then it just found it's way to where a lot of our miscellaneous kid stuff goes as we move out an on our own...a box in our parents basement. A succession of other SAKs followed...including a Tinker, a Cadet, countless classics, 4 Signature Lites, and most recently a Red Alox Cadet.

But then about a year ago, I came across that box, and my Champion, looking a bit worse for wear. I decided I needed to save it, so I brought it home and put it in my to do box. Finally this past month, I got around to reading the forums here and finding where to get replacement scales/parts and how to go about refurbishing it. The parts arrived yesterday, and I spend a couple hours cleaning, and tuning...adding the correct size keyring, new tweezers/toothpick, new spring in the scissors, and new scales. I also bought different color scales for my Spartan, and swapped them out as well.

Here's a few pics of my refurb:

BEFORE:





AFTER:





And a in-process shot on my Spartan:


More pics here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/helz/sets/72157603431577556/


So...Hi, and thanks for all the great info in the posts. I look forward to contributing more out here.

 

[yud]

Wecome, that looks great I love the Champion

[Mr. Whippy]

Fantastic. 

These are amazingly tough little tools, eh?

[Smitty44]

Congrats on bring a great old tool back to life,looks real good,and welcome to the forums Helz,hope to see and hear more from you.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

Welcome to the forum mate, and nice restoration 

[AHB]

Thanks for sharing and Welcome Helz.    

[Gareth]

Very nice mate, good job on the restoration.  Welcome to the forum.

[turbov21]

Good show!  Welcome to MTO.

[Neil]

Nice to see a SAK brought back to active service.  Welcome aboard 

[sawman]

Definitely deserved saving, great work. Welcome to the forums 

[nuphoria]

Good job, and nice to have you here

[bren10man]

Excellent work!!

The Champion was the first SAK I ever bought NIB, and this is the type of SAK I everyday carry.....

[Helz]

Thank you all for the warm welcome, it's great to finally add a little something out here.

I  do have to say the work that many of you have done is an inspiration, and I really think messing around with SAKs is going to become an addiction sooner than I'd like. I've also got a few Gerber MTs and several Spyderco folders, and while useful, they just never reached the companion status my SAKs have.

Which brings me to a question about my next project.

I've had this one for several years (10+-) as well, an with the recent success I had, I'm going to put new, black, plus scales on it.



The thing is...I'm not sure what it is. I thought when I bought it, it was called a Tinker, but then after digging around on SAKWiki and SmartKnives I found out that it wasn't. The closest thing I can find to it is a Deluxe Tinker, but this one doesn't have the hook on the bottom, so I don't know if it's just a variant of the Deluxe Tinker, or if it's another model name all together.

Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks again!

[bren10man]

What you have pictured is a pre-1991/pre-hook Deluxe Tinker.  Hook was added in 1991 timeframe.

Alos, another dead giveaway of its age is the pliers.  They do not have the wire crimper as the post-1991 pliers do.

I have a NIB Super Timer I bought recenlty that has the hook but not the crimper.  Also, I have a black scaled Swiss Champ back home in CONUS purchased in 1988 from Smokey Mountain Knife Works that has no hook and no plier crimper.  And, I have a Deluxe Angler (RARE!!!) that has the hook, but no wire crimper, either.

Question for you: do you see a slit running down the phillips screwdriver?  If you do, then your knife also has a can key, which can be used to open Spam cans of ham, etc.

Welcome to our world!!!!

[WhichDawg]

great job!

I luv seeing the old ones made perdy again!

use it well