How difficult to disassemble a Victorinox?

[IBeOmega]

Hi all. New to the forum here.
I recently lost my Mountaineer to some unfortunate circumstances , so I'm carrying my humble old Super Tinker for a while and I've been reminded how much more use I have for a Phillips-head than a corkscrew. This makes me curious how much of a PITA it would be to swap out the corkscrew on a new-to-me Mountaineer for a Phillips bit (I should have no trouble finding an ebay basket case from which to pull the part). I know removing the scales is easy, but once that's done what am I looking at to get at the hinges for these?

[ddogu]

 

[Don Pablo]

Welcome to MTO! 
Relevant info:
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,44794.0.html
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,9808.0.html

[captain spaulding]

I’m sure a modded will come along and give you a full detailed write up of how to do this and we have many threads on the matter as well. I’m of no help but you may be lucky in that since you only want to swap out the corkscrew you should only have to drill out one pivot pin and you can probably slip in the new Phillips without disassembling the entire knife. Again, I’m not a SAK modded and someone will be along shortly to confirm this and give you some good info. 

Oh and welcome aboard!

[Mechanickal]

Welcome!

I used this tutorial to learn from:
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,9808.0.html

Contains everything you need to know like drill sizes etc.

[Marc_in_NS]

According to NIX and Mechy...all you need is a chunk of railroad track...

[twiliter]

The Grand Prix are discontinued, but they still come up on fleaBay once in a while. >> http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Grand+Prix

[jalind]

Recommendation:
Find an old Tinker . . . 91mm or smaller 84mm . . . the Phillips are identical on them . . . with a thrashed and trashed main blade beyond recovery which will make it pretty cheap. A look at the photos (i.e. on ePrey) should tell you if the end of the Phillips has been chewed up, which would be rather unusual. I've found the Phillips on thrashed and trashed Tinkers to be in excellent condition. It's one of the stronger tools and difficult to damage. If it looks like it has a split down the tip, it's not damage, it's a Can Key Phillips made to be also used as a Can Key. Victorinox put a slot down the end of the Phillips for a few years for that purpose.

This is how I accumulated a number of Tinkers to harvest Phillips from in making a few Apprentices out of Waiters. Just found a badly trashed small Tinker with a Can Key Phillips (I could deduce it from the photos) which will convert a Waiter into a Can Key Apprentice in the coming week or so.

Be patient when doing the peening. I use a small ball-peen hammer and a very small anvil on the back side of a small vise for it. There are some good videos on YouTube showing the peening. It's not hard to do if you take your time.

John

[jalind]

I’m sure a modded will come along and give you a full detailed write up of how to do this and we have many threads on the matter as well. I’m of no help but you may be lucky in that since you only want to swap out the corkscrew you should only have to drill out one pivot pin and you can probably slip in the new Phillips without disassembling the entire knife. Again, I’m not a SAK modded and someone will be along shortly to confirm this and give you some good info. 

Oh and welcome aboard!

True - replacing a corkscrew with a Phillips is one of the easier mods although a bit of spring compression is required to get the replacement lined up with the holes in the liners.

Welcome to the forum.

John

[Lynn LeFey]

The answer to the OP question is... it's not very hard at all, assuming you have ...

1) a drill
2) a metal punch
3) replacement bushings, because you will likely damage some or all of them on the side you drill out, and...
4) new rod stock.

I recently did my first, followed very quickly by my second SAK mod. Let me explain 3 and 4 above. The tool is held together by brass pins of 2 sizes, 2.5mm and 2.2mm. There are 4 pins, two of each size. The pins on the ends are 2.5mm, and the two in the center are 2.2mm. The end pins and one of the 2 center pins all have brass bushings on either end of the pin. It is pretty likely that you will mess these up drilling the old pins out. So, of the 6 bushings on a knife, you might ruin 3. If you take apart a SECOND knife, then same thing would likely happen, and you should then have 6 useful bushings with which to reassemble a knife. Okay, so point number 3 is PROBABLY not a big deal. Number 4 is a REAL issue, and the best solution is to just go in the 'tools for sale' forum on these boards and get some pin stuck from someone selling it.

HOWEVER... I would generally say it's faster and less expensive to just buy a SAK in decent shape off ebay than to do a mod. I only did the mods as a learning experience.

For the record, here's a link to the thread of my first mod.
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,76613.0.html

[IBeOmega]

The Grand Prix are discontinued, but they still come up on fleaBay once in a while. >> http://www.sakwiki.com/tiki-index.php?page=Grand+Prix

Thanks. I'll keep an eye out but they don't pop up often, and it seems like very few that do have the hook. My sanity in the winter depends on that hook.

[bunch of useful advice]
HOWEVER... I would generally say it's faster and less expensive to just buy a SAK in decent shape off ebay than to do a mod. I only did the mods as a learning experience.

Thanks for all the advice - should come in handy if I try to do this! As for buying one on ebay, the problem is the toolset. I probably won't happen upon the right incarnation of the aforementioned Grand Prix for a price I'm willing to pay, and the only other stock SAK that has the same set of tools is the Swiss Champ - I have one of those beasties in my hiking daypack but I don't like it for daily carry. So if I want that toolset I'm kinda' stuck.

[jalind]

The answer to the OP question is... it's not very hard at all, assuming you have ...

1) a drill
2) a metal punch
3) replacement bushings, because you will likely damage some or all of them on the side you drill out, and...
4) new rod stock.

I recently did my first, followed very quickly by my second SAK mod. Let me explain 3 and 4 above. The tool is held together by brass pins of 2 sizes, 2.5mm and 2.2mm. There are 4 pins, two of each size. The pins on the ends are 2.5mm, and the two in the center are 2.2mm. The end pins and one of the 2 center pins all have brass bushings on either end of the pin. It is pretty likely that you will mess these up drilling the old pins out. So, of the 6 bushings on a knife, you might ruin 3. If you take apart a SECOND knife, then same thing would likely happen, and you should then have 6 useful bushings with which to reassemble a knife. Okay, so point number 3 is PROBABLY not a big deal. Number 4 is a REAL issue, and the best solution is to just go in the 'tools for sale' forum on these boards and get some pin stuck from someone selling it.

HOWEVER... I would generally say it's faster and less expensive to just buy a SAK in decent shape off ebay than to do a mod. I only did the mods as a learning experience.

For the record, here's a link to the thread of my first mod.
https://forum.multitool.o...ex.php/topic,76613.0.html

Corkscrew/Phillips and other back layer transplants thankfully do not get into the bushings which takes it to another level in which it's not just the bushings but 84mm vs 91mm also makes a difference. In general, though, I agree, if one can be found at a decent price, it's not worth the mod effort to recreate a model that was discontinued

John