DAK cap lifter question

jerseydevil · **on:** July 27, 2015, 04:09:16 AM

I got myself a DAK marked KL89 last week. I cleaned it up today, and it came out great, good snap to all the tools, nice edge on the blade, etc. One thing I noticed though - the cap lifter does not have the sharpened inside edge to it. I thought that knives before 1993 had this feature?

The tools are all brushed finish. Any ideas?

detron · **Reply #1 on:** July 27, 2015, 04:21:13 AM

Quote from: jerseydevil on July 27, 2015, 04:09:16 AM

I got myself a DAK marked KL89 last week. I cleaned it up today, and it came out great, good snap to all the tools, nice edge on the blade, etc. One thing I noticed though - the cap lifter does not have the sharpened inside edge to it. I thought that knives before 1993 had this feature? The tools are all brushed finish. Any ideas?

I show that went away around 1979 or 1980, the real experts will be along shortly I am sure

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #2 on:** July 27, 2015, 04:25:13 AM

detron · **Reply #3 on:** July 27, 2015, 04:27:06 AM

Quote from: 50ft-trad on July 27, 2015, 04:25:13 AM

see expert arrived and gave an expert answer

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #4 on:** July 27, 2015, 08:58:32 PM

Judging by the lack of response, I can only assume that the resident SAK experts agree with my assessment

kirk13 · **Reply #5 on:** July 27, 2015, 10:53:14 PM

All I can confirm is that my KL89 is the same as yours Tom

AimlessWanderer · **Reply #6 on:** July 27, 2015, 11:56:27 PM

See, I told you.......

jerseydevil · **Reply #7 on:** July 28, 2015, 12:03:38 AM

Quote from: 50ft-trad on July 27, 2015, 11:56:27 PM

See, I told you.......

I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw his post earlier......

jazzbass · **Reply #8 on:** July 28, 2015, 12:07:51 AM

Quote from: jerseydevil on July 27, 2015, 04:09:16 AM

I got myself a DAK marked KL89 last week. I cleaned it up today, and it came out great, good snap to all the tools, nice edge on the blade, etc. One thing I noticed though - the cap lifter does not have the sharpened inside edge to it. I thought that knives before 1993 had this feature? The tools are all brushed finish. Any ideas?

I think the confusion is that pre-1993, the Model 1961 Soldier and the Pioneer were not the exact same knife. The main difference was in the opener layer - the M61 openers were thicker (2.7mm IIRC vs 2.25mm of the Pioneer). At first both product lines had the inner edge sharpened as "wire strippers", but only the Pioneer line had a notch in their caplifter for all of your "wire bending" needs (this same notch was on the 84mm and 91mm lines as well). The Pioneer loses the sharpened edge on the caplifter I think around 1973 when they dropped the "Elinox" stamp and started using the "Victorinox" stamp. (I don't have an official date on this, BTW. This is just drawn from observation - all Elnox knives that I've seen are sharpened, all VSSR knives are not). The M61 Soldier keeps the sharpened edge until 1993.

In 1993 the M61 Soldier drops it's thicker opener layer in favor of the thinner layer from the Pioneer, making the two lines virtually the same except for the scales. In doing so, the Soldier loses the somewhat useful stripper in favor of the all but useless bender notch from the Pioneer.

So - what of the KL98 DAK? Well, those were based on the Pioneer and not the M61 Soldier of the time. So they featured thinner caplifters without the wire stripper, just like any Pioneer made at the same time would have.

jerseydevil · **Reply #9 on:** July 28, 2015, 03:37:13 AM

Great answer, thanks!

Joe58 · **Reply #10 on:** July 28, 2015, 04:44:09 AM

Quote from: jerseydevil on July 28, 2015, 03:37:13 AM

Great answer, thanks!

Yes, thank you for that explanation and the pictures. I really hadn't thought about it like that. Or didn't realize that is more the proper answer.

Appreciated!