Victorinox service - my thoughts

[MARIOS7319]

A few days ago i received a package from Victorinox.
This package had 4 Swiss knives that i have send them for repair a month ago.
This was the second time that i had send them some knives for repair.
The first time i was satisfied 100%, this time almost 100 % satisfied.
The 4 Swiss knives were the Damascus Pioneer, a old Fisherman, a old advertising (Swissair) Spartan and a old mini Electrician.

As you can imagine the most importan was the Damascus Pioneer.
I have send it for repair because i had discover that the alox scales was starting to loose the black color. It was like the metal rejected the color, in some spots.
I have never used this knife and also i have never put anything (like alcohol etc) to clean it.
Maybe the anodising went wrong to this knife, i don't know why this happent.
(I have accidentally erase the photos that i had take for Victorinox, before i send the knife.)
Anyway the first thing i did, after i opened the package it's to look at the Pioneer.
In first, it look like they had replace the alox scales.
I said to myself: wow, wonderful job.
But then i noticed this.

In the tip of the blade was a area that the etching doesn't show the damascus pattern. The same but smaller to the other side of the blade. And it isn't from the sharpening of the blade.
So they didn't repair it but they replace it, i don't know why they did that.
Maybe they think that it was time consuming, who knows.
Here is a photo comparison of the old and the new Damascus Pioneer.

It is little disturbing to see the blade like so, but if i was to choose between the blade and the defective alox scales i will choose the blade.
After all it has a more beautiful and interesting pattern in the back, than my old Pioneer had.

Also i don't want to have another stress time, waiting to see if the knife was received to the factory in Ibach and then to wait to receive it back.
And here is the family all together.


The second thing that i want to tell you is that in the old Fisherman, after the repair
the put new scale on it (even if i wrote to them, to try to keep the old one).
But to tell the truth, they did put a new blade with the same tang shield.




The other knives was ok. Also i haven't pay anything for the repairs.
So these are my thoughts about the service of my Swiss knives, i will  like to read your opinions about it.

[Marius]

Marios, I would not worry about the Pioneer blade not showing the pattern there. Why: it's normal not to. The acid etching and polishing that reveals the pattern is normally done before the final sharpening. Thus the sharpened edge will not show any pattern since all layers will be polished to form one single level surface there, so to speak. The only thing that seems maybe a bit out of ordinary is the angle of the sharpening in that area, resulting in what appears to be a bit too much of a 'slope'. Sincerely, I would not worry about that, especially if you like more he pattern overall.  Enjoy the new Damascus Pioneer!

Nice job on that Fisherman with the old style blade.

What a difference sending to Ibach makes.. Here in Canada I think that the service center won't even accept a LE. I only had one SAK repaired here, a regular SC. It took couple of months and it came back reassembled with a wrong backspring for the main blade and a bent liner.

[T.J. Hooker]

Also i don't want to have another stress time, waiting to see if the knife was received to the factory in Ibach and then to wait to receive it back.

Do Victorinox email you when they receive the knife?

[Marius]

TJ - in my case there was no confirmation that my SAK was received. Also, there was no letter sent back to me with the repaired SAK, just the SAK.

Marios, I looked again at the Pioneer photos and I think that I see now what you meant. That area with the pattern missing is separate of the sharpened slope. Is this true? If so, I think you may want to contact them to ask for an eventual another replacement.

[dks]

The part missing the etching lines looks quite uniform. I assume that something was covering that part when the acid that makes the lines visible was used, maybe a holder. Or, maybe that bit got polished accidentaly and the lines were removed.

[MARIOS7319]

Also i don't want to have another stress time, waiting to see if the knife was received to the factory in Ibach and then to wait to receive it back.

Do Victorinox email you when they receive the knife?

Nope, i had to ask them, after seeing the postal info of the shipping number of the package.

[MARIOS7319]

That area with the pattern missing is separate of the sharpened slope. Is this true? If so, I think you may want to contact them to ask for an eventual another replacement.

The part missing the etching lines looks quite uniform. I assume that something was covering that part when the acid that makes the lines visible was used, maybe a holder. Or, maybe that bit got polished accidentaly and the lines were removed.

My thoughts exactly. If you look closely the area with the pattern missing is separate of the sharpened slope,so either something was covering that part or it got accidentaly polished.
I will write a mail to Victorinox to see what they will tell me.

[rmagralha]

Marios, mine is similar to yours, let us know what they tell you...I might do something in case it is really a defect. 

[Aleister]

Marios, did you sent it to the Greek reseller or directly to the factory? Also, what was the course of action you followed?

[MARIOS7319]

Marios, did you sent it to the Greek reseller or directly to the factory? Also, what was the course of action you followed?

As i said above, i sent them directly to the factory after a communication with the Victorinox.
I had sent a mail with photos and i was asking if it possible to change the alox scales.
They replied that: please send the knives to the factory for repair.
If i sent them to the Greek reseller, it will take twice the time because the reseller only ships when it has a lot of knives for service.
I have sent a mail and i am waiting to see what they will say about this minor defect.

[Aleister]

Thank you Marios

[MARIOS7319]

Until now they didn't respond to my mail.
I have sent them a second one and i am waiting to see if they will not reply also.

[MARIOS7319]

Finally they replied to my mails, here is their answer:

Dear Mr. Kardaras
 
Thank you for your mail and patience. As we ckecked your input carefully with the corresponding persons we needed some time. The resume is as follows :
 
As we can see from your photo, the shadow of the blade is in the tolerance and this is not due to a fault during the acid-treat-process. When we polish/deburr the blade this small shadow will appear.
 
If you feel (you have the original and not only the photo) that we should check it here in Ibach, you are welcomed to send it to us, but we can’t promise anything.
 
We hope that this explanation is fine for you. We thank you for your cooperation and trust in our proudcts.
 
With best regards,
 
Marlies Stadler
Victorinox AG


So they think that this is not a defect but rather a ''shadow'' of the blade and that is in the tolerance and this is not due to a fault during the acid-treat-process.
I don't fully understand the meaning of ''shadow'' of the blade, because in my eyes the blade has a area that the etching doesn't show the damascus pattern.
Now if they think it's normal, then probably they are more Damascus Pioneers with that minor defect out there, than we know.
Anyway i am glad that they respond and as for the knife i decided to keep it as it is.
As i wrote before i don't want to have another stress time, waiting to see if the knife was received to the factory in Ibach and then to wait to receive it back.
Also i don't want to risk to receive another Damascus Pioneer with some other minor defect.

[crackout]

Ever since I modded together my Bantam Voyageur the broken spring on the scissors was a problem. I was able to fit a 91 spring in there but it just wasn't perfect. So I wrote Victorinox where I could get the springs from (84mm springs are discontinued, that's why you can't by replacement springs anywhere anymore). It's a been a week now with no reply. But today I received a letter from Switzerland, inside 3 84mm replacement springs. Awesome!
Such a nice manufacturer. I carry my SAKs even more proudly from now on.