Finding one's SAK in the Dark

[Tuisto]

Okay, so I have a bit of a weird question. If one wanted a (specifically 91mm or 111mm, but I guess certain solutions could potentially work for other sizes) SAK that was visible in the dark, i.e. if on a nightstand or if dropped whilst on a nighttime hike in extremely low-light conditions, what would one do? I have a few of the Stayglow scales and I was hoping to avoid that being the answer, since I like plus scales on my 91mms and don't want to cannibalise them from my Japanese Emergency Tool (which has Stayglow plus scales). I was thinking something like a tritium vial or possibly even GITD paint (although I'd also prefer not to mar some of my SC scales)? Possibly a GITD fob (although I really don't like stuff dangling from a SAK, so anything that could obviate the necessity for a fob would be superior). What do you guys do? What would you guys recommend? Attaching some photos of my Stayglow models for discussion. The Classic SD there is pretty old at this point and has been on whichever keychain I'm currently using for at least 12 years.

P.S. This is (at least) the second thread I've started in the last week. FWIW I apologise for gunking up the forum with my incessant questions! I just love hearing you guys' recommendations; you guys are all awesome.

[nate j]

Well, you’ve already at least considered the two options I have used and would have suggested, namely stayglow (or other GITD) scales and various types of glow fobs (anything from GITD fishing beads to tritium).

To be frank though, I don’t worry much about being able to find my SAKs in the dark.  I carry a decent flashlight or two, and as long as I could find a flashlight, I would find my SAK.  If I wanted to further stack the deck in my favor, I might choose brighter (but wouldn’t have to be GITD) scales, i.e. red, orange, or yellow rather than black or camo.

[Tuisto]

Well, you’ve already at least considered the two options I have used and would have suggested, namely stayglow (or other GITD) scales and various types of glow fobs (anything from GITD fishing beads to tritium).

To be frank though, I don’t worry much about being able to find my SAKs in the dark.  I carry a decent flashlight or two, and as long as I could find a flashlight, I would find my SAK.  If I wanted to further stack the deck in my favor, I might choose brighter (but wouldn’t have to be GITD) scales, i.e. red, orange, or yellow rather than black or camo.

You know, I'm glad you mentioned tritium because I think I like that option most. Even if it were in the form of a small fob. I think that would be very useful and at least very visible in the dark. I have, however, absolutely no idea where to find them, haha. I've checked the River site but haven't had much luck there (but perhaps I'm not searching correctly...). Thanks for your recommendations! Have you used tritium vials as a fob of sorts? I also like the idea of a lighter shade for the scales. That makes sense.

[Huntsman]

There's a fantastic thread in the mods section about making your own glow scales

[fullbreakfast]

You know, I'm glad you mentioned tritium because I think I like that option most. Even if it were in the form of a small fob. I think that would be very useful and at least very visible in the dark. I have, however, absolutely no idea where to find them, haha. I've checked the River site but haven't had much luck there (but perhaps I'm not searching correctly...). Thanks for your recommendations! Have you used tritium vials as a fob of sorts? I also like the idea of a lighter shade for the scales. That makes sense.

I think you could carve a niche into a Cellidor scale that would fit a 6mm x 1.5mm tritium tube and glue one in. With a Dremel or similar it ought to be fairly easy. That said, I only just got a Dremel and I haven’t tried working on SAK scales with it.

[LoopCutter]

There are third party scales that offer GID abilities.

I just added scales to a 58mm that work as promised.

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I found on the river site.

Also, more grippy to, as well as having 91mm sizes.

Reasonable solution at fair price imho.

[BClogic]

I found on the river site.

Also, more grippy to, as well as having 91mm sizes.

Reasonable solution at fair price imho.

Hey Loop, what is this River Site you two speak of? Or is it top secret!?!?!

[LoopCutter]

Hey Loop, what is this River Site you two speak of? Or is it top secret!?!?!

River like the AMAZON in Brazil!  😉. No secret.

I am not aware of a MISSISSIPPI or NILE, online shopping  option.

[BClogic]

River like the AMAZON in Brazil!  😉. No secret.

I am not aware of a MISSISSIPPI or NILE, online shopping  option.

  I feel like i have egg running down my face while walking down a side walk covered in banana peals and oil slicks with a piano roped at about the second floor.....

[LoopCutter]

There are NO DUMB QUESTIONS…

[PitCarver]

I've been thinking about the darkness thing too, lately.

I used to have above average night vision but in the last few years that ability has definitely gone down.

I believe that a tritium fob would definitely be the way for me.  My second thought would be some GITD scales.  The trouble with anything that's GITDu is it needs to be exposed to enough bright lite for it to work for a short time.

[Tuisto]

I've been thinking about the darkness thing too, lately.

I used to have above average night vision but in the last few years that ability has definitely gone down.

I believe that a tritium fob would definitely be the way for me.  My second thought would be some GITD scales.  The trouble with anything that's GITDu is it needs to be exposed to enough bright lite for it to work for a short time.

So, regarding the GITD, I think there are different versions/recipes/variants of it. For example my watch has GITD paint on the hours and on the hands. The watch is about 20 years old now and yet the GITD lasts pretty much into the early hours of the morning. However, my Stayglow Classic barely 'holds a charge' at this point anymore. So, I think that there's a possibility of GITD working for this purpose but I'm not sure how to go about ensuring that it's the correct kind.

[pfrsantos]

There are NO DUMB QUESTIONS…

So, you're the one not reading my posts, huh?...

 


 

[LoopCutter]

So, you're the one not reading my posts, huh?...

 


 

Oh. I READ them!  Just never understand them…

 

[pfrsantos]

Oh. I READ them!  Just never understand them…

 

 

[nate j]

You know, I'm glad you mentioned tritium because I think I like that option most. Even if it were in the form of a small fob. I think that would be very useful and at least very visible in the dark. I have, however, absolutely no idea where to find them, haha. I've checked the River site but haven't had much luck there (but perhaps I'm not searching correctly...). Thanks for your recommendations! Have you used tritium vials as a fob of sorts? I also like the idea of a lighter shade for the scales. That makes sense.

I haven’t personally used tritium vials.  For my needs, I could never quite justify the hassle and expense.  If you want to go that route, however, I believe this would be a good place to start:

https://tecaccessories.com/pages/primer-on-tritium


Below is a pic of some things I have used and tried over the years.  As others have noted, the major downsides of anything GITD are that (1) light exposure is required to charge, and (2) there is significant variation in quality, i.e. brightness and duration of glow among different materials and objects.  Though, I have been known to “juice” mine in advance of need by hitting them with the turbo mode of one of my powerful flashlights.

[Tuisto]

The thing attached to the Olight in the top left corner there — is that a string of GITD beads?

[nate j]

The thing attached to the Olight in the top left corner there — is that a string of GITD beads?

The light in question is actually a (now discontinued) Fenix E30R.  But the answer to your question is yes, it is string of GITD beads.  The beads are GITD fishing beads (package shown lower left), and the string is GITD microcord (spool shown lower right).  The string is sized such that it can be used by me as a wrist lanyard.

If I managed to think ahead, I could walk around all day with the string of beads hanging out of my pocket, and it would be about as charged as it could be by the time it got dark.

This arrangement worked reasonably well for finding the flashlight in the dark, though of course brighter and longer lasting glow is always desired.

I went with microcord size because the cord needed to be small enough diameter to fit through the holes in the beads, and I also wanted it to be small enough that I could tie it directly to the flashlight without the need for a split ring.  However, I don’t think the fact that the cord was GITD was really additive.

One negative is that that arrangement does add a noticeable amount of weight to the flashlight.

The first pic is taken with my iPhone’s enhanced low light mode.  The second pic is much more representative of what it looks like to the naked eye.

[Tuisto]

Hmm, you know, the more I think about it the more a GITD scale just makes sense.

[Echotech]

I’ve gone the tritium route with my keychains. Not super bright but still easy to find when dark.

As a big fan of TEC Accessories I use a mixture of their P7 suspension clip, python clips and Isotope tritium fobs. They also have an Embrite glow fob that saves mucking around trying to get tritium which isn’t always easy

[Tuisto]

I’ve gone the tritium route with my keychains. Not super bright but still easy to find when dark.

As a big fan of TEC Accessories I use a mixture of their P7 suspension clip, python clips and Isotope tritium fobs. They also have an Embrite glow fob that saves mucking around trying to get tritium which isn’t always easy

You know, I was trying to avoid a fob/vial/anything dangling from the SAK since I really don't like anything hanging (I find it gets in the way of using the screwdriver when it's vertical), but that tritium vial looks so small that I don't think it would really get in the way that much. I wonder what happened with tritium; last time I bought it — about 17 years ago, I think — it was pretty widely available. I guess since it's technically a radioactive isotope maybe regulations surrounding it changed or something? Or it's possible I just got lucky when I bought it years ago and just found a relatively cheap one pretty much immediately?

[Huntsman]

There's a fantastic thread in the mods section about making your own glow scales

Found it:
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,82762.0.html

This is a very, very impressive mod and an even more impressive tutorial

[nate j]

I wonder what happened with tritium; last time I bought it — about 17 years ago, I think — it was pretty widely available. I guess since it's technically a radioactive isotope maybe regulations surrounding it changed or something? Or it's possible I just got lucky when I bought it years ago and just found a relatively cheap one pretty much immediately?

I posted this link earlier in the thread, but in case it got overlooked, I think this is a good place to start for US folks looking for tritium:

https://tecaccessories.com/pages/primer-on-tritium

[nate j]

Found it:
https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,82762.0.html

This is a very, very impressive mod and an even more impressive tutorial

That is impressive work.

I wonder how it would look  :think:with some of the commonly available translucent scales, e.g. red or blue.  I’m guessing not quite as bright, but would save the time-consuming process of stripping the paint from the silver tech scales.
 

[LoopCutter]

That is impressive work.

I wonder how it would look  :think:with some of the commonly available translucent scales, e.g. red or blue.  I’m guessing not quite as bright, but would save the time-consuming process of stripping the paint from the silver tech scales.
 

I would suspect any of the other translucent scales would prevent the proper light to activate the GID powder.

The SilverTech scales are the only CLEAR scales I am aware of.

I would suspect that the active light spectrum to activate GID would require blue and red wave lengths.

Just a guess!🤪

[nate j]

I would suspect any of the other translucent scales would prevent the proper light to activate the GID powder.

The SilverTech scales are the only CLEAR scales I am aware of.

I would suspect that the active light spectrum to activate GID would require blue and red wave lengths.

Just a guess!🤪

After reading a bit more about this, it seems UV light is what is really needed to effectively and efficiently charge GITD items.

So the red translucent scales probably wouldn’t work at all.

But the blue scales, with blue glow, might work IF they pass enough UV/near UV to effectively charge the material.

[MadPlumbarian]

Interesting, nothing like a good GITD item, waaaaaay back in the day I bought a good size can of gitd paint cause I put stars on our nieces ceiling, gitd things are cool, I bought paracord ends both gitd and whistles, one backpack I added the ends to and with the amount of zippers on the pack and the fact that the pack was next to the widow come night it looked like someone shot it with gitd paintballs, lol..
JR

[Tuisto]

You know what's wild. My wife is going through some boxes of my old stuff that her mom brought from my grandma's place to her place in Des Moines. My wife sent me this photo and I'm just thinking... I don't own one of those? I don't remember ever purchasing that and I have absolutely no clue where it is... I must've given it to a friend or something.

[Reinier]

You know what's wild. My wife is going through some boxes of my old stuff that her mom brought from my grandma's place to her place in Des Moines. My wife sent me this photo and I'm just thinking... I don't own one of those? I don't remember ever purchasing that and I have absolutely no clue where it is... I must've given it to a friend or something.

That's funny.

Reminds me of this thread: https://forum.multitool.org/index.php?topic=79907.0
Geeeez... it's been more than seven years

[Tuisto]

I know, eh? It's a weird feeling haha. I have a close buddy whose father (may he rest in peace) was always encouraging of my knife-collecting and would teach me outdoor and survival skills. He was a great extra parent and really stepped in when my mom left. I owe a lot of my knife love to him, haha. I think I may have given the Stay Glow Climber to that friend.