October 30 day minimalist SAK challenge

[jalind]

I have actually used the hook to help me put back a bike chain that fell off it's cogs a few months back, which made it a less messy job than it might have been, and I guess with Plus scales it also serves as a pen holder, but on the whole I'd rather have an awl...

If you have a chain jump the chain ring inside toward the frame or outside toward the crank while you're riding there is a way to get it back on again by manipulating the front shifter and deraileur to force the chain back on again while slowly pedaling. Was taught this technique by a couple who used to race semi-pro. Jumping off the cogs while riding is another issue entirely; hopefully that is not what happened! I carry several pair of surgical gloves now for roadside repairs. Anything needing rear wheel removal involves the chain and fixing flats is rather grimy. His hook use with the chain also got my attention because you've got to get the chain onto the cogs when putting a rear wheel back on.

This guy, who may never have used the hook before, was extremely thankful to have one on his SAK!. Who knows what adventure may befall you without warning . . .


John

[kaput]

Day 12/30
The banana knows what's coming next.  I think it might "peel" out of here...
(Image removed from quote.)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

So that's why the Banana Dancers were AWOL earlier today!

John

NO FRUIT, MUFFIN OR CHEESE ON THIS PAGE IS SAFE!!

[mrynnr]

Day 12

Cadet helped me take apart the vacuum for some cleaning. Opened up some packages...

[jday2727]

Due to a couple of family emergencies, I haven't able to do this challenge properly, so I will withdraw. Thought I'd post one more pic though, my first 111mm. A fireman with slide lock. I'll be good to go for the November challenge!

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

[zrxoa1]

Day 12...

Used the Centurian to open a pack of Oreo Minis...



Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk

[Mizedog]

Due to a couple of family emergencies, I haven't able to do this challenge properly, so I will withdraw. Thought I'd post one more pic though, my first 111mm. A fireman with slide lock. I'll be good to go for the November challenge!

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

I hope all smooths out for you.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[Mizedog]

Day 12/30
The banana knows what's coming next.  I think it might "peel" out of here...
(Image removed from quote.)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

So that's why the Banana Dancers were AWOL earlier today!

John

NO FRUIT, MUFFIN OR CHEESE ON THIS PAGE IS SAFE!!

Interrogation, a speedy trial by its peers,

 was followed by a sentencing to life on the chain gange.


And,  that's the end of today's cheese fest.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

[Ron Who]

Due to a couple of family emergencies, I haven't able to do this challenge properly, so I will withdraw. Thought I'd post one more pic though, my first 111mm. A fireman with slide lock. I'll be good to go for the November challenge!

The Fireman is a great knife! I carry one nearly every day Mine is liner locked but the slide lock is easier to operate.
PS Hope everything's OK with your family now.

[mrynnr]

Bought a used techno... it's on the way and I won't be able to use until Nov!

[m47mu74nt]

day13:
my 03 Soldier, on a book page presenting the Wenger SI

[hiraethus]

Due to a couple of family emergencies, I haven't able to do this challenge properly, so I will withdraw. Thought I'd post one more pic though, my first 111mm. A fireman with slide lock. I'll be good to go for the November challenge!

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

I hope all smooths out for you.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

+1. Thanks for taking part.

[glenfiddich1983]

Day 13



It's not red like T14's beautiful one, but it is a Voyageur

[Fortytwo]

Day 13

Today I'm back with the Wenger and here it is with the fruit of yesterdays endeavour.

[T14]

T14 day 13. Imitation is an attempt at flattery 

[glenfiddich1983]

T14 day 13. Imitation is an attempt at flattery 

 

[magentus]

Day 13. I can only wonder at what Swiss Soldiers had to endure with their nails growing longer, nostril hair all over the place, eyebrows spreading like ivy and no tools to deal with any of it. 

WP_20161013_002 by magpie2112, on Flickr

[glenfiddich1983]

Day 13. I can only wonder at what Swiss Soldiers had to endure with their nails growing longer, nostril hair all over the place, eyebrows spreading like ivy and no tools to deal with any of it. 

WP_20161013_002 by magpie2112, on Flickr

Nothing a sharp knife blade can't deal with 

[magentus]

Day 13. I can only wonder at what Swiss Soldiers had to endure with their nails growing longer, nostril hair all over the place, eyebrows spreading like ivy and no tools to deal with any of it. 

WP_20161013_002 by magpie2112, on Flickr

Nothing a sharp knife blade can't deal with 

Ow, my eye! 

[Oxford_Guy]

It's my '07 Soldier for me today:

[jalind]

Day 09:
(Attempting it ALL single layer!)

This one will be l-o-n-g with 16 photos, some of which are a bit fuzzy and out of focus as I was more intent with getting the job done. In addition, it was very early morning and I had not consumed any java yet as I've got a daily thyroid med that must be done on an empty stomach and cannot be followed by anything for at least a half hour. While waiting for that, I decided to put the new scales on the fourth Apprentice fabricated earlier this year. All four were Economy Waiters with nylon scales and the Phillips came from trashed Tinkers. I have another set of sterilized black scales for this one. The Victorinox logo isn't on them as they're made for customer logo imprinting. Sometimes Vic will put their logo on the other side, but with these 84mm scales it's omitted entirely.

The Vic Watch Opener is put back to work again, this time to remove the nylon scales I had put back on after the conversion while waiting for Cellidor scales. I've found it the ideal tool for getting under scales and lifting them off the rivet rings. The 84mm have four rivets, but only three are used to hold the scales on; the back layer rivet has no ring and isn't used for the scales as there's another middle one right next to it. After removing the T&T and split ring, and opening the Phillips (or corkscrew) I like to start on the front side at the tweezer opening as it's typically the easiest place to get the opener between the scales and the liner.



I don't pry there as it's too easy to break or crack the scales at the tweezer opening. Instead I will slip the case knife around to the other side of the rivet and start working gently to lift the scale off of it from there.



After getting it lifted I work over between the middle rivet and the third one at the other end, prying gently between them right next to the rivet rings. The middle one almost always releases next, followed quickly by the third one.



Then I move to the back side and carefully start at the toothpick opening, above it, and not between it and the cutout. The scales on this side are more fragile because of the Phillips/corkscrew cutout, and if it's Plus scales, there will be a pen slot above the toothpick slot. It's easier to crack and break the scales on this side. Here I've gotten the knife in all the way under the end and do not pry on anything from this side of the rivet.



I then move the knife around to the other side of the rivet and start prying it up and working toward the other end as before. Patience and not using too much force is key to not cracking the scales, and to minimizing the wear and tear on the blind holes that press fit over the rivets. Scales can generally be reused at least once if this is done carefully.



The scales are off now and I will digress a bit to get a couple macros of the back layer rivet I installed and peened by hand. If you've ever had the scales off of a 91mm or 84mm Vic, you'll see the heads on this one are much larger and more robust, but still just barely small enough in height and diameter to fit under the scales. For this I'm going to do some afocal photos through a 4x/7x loupe held over the cell phone camera lens. Pictured is the loupe in 4x. There's a second lens that screws onto it to create a two  element 7x loupe which much less distortion than one gets from a single element with more than 5x magnification, which is why most are 5x. This is a very old loupe that was used for photographic work looking at film strips on a light table and on the glass focusing back of large format 4x5 or 8x10 field camera.



Should have shot this one over, but didn't as it's fuzzy from camera shake and didn't notice it until I was doing post processing with it on the computer. You can still see some of the hand peening tool marks on the rivet head which aren't evident to the naked eye.



I then put the second element onto the loupe and photographed the other head on the other side with it. The tooling marks from the peening hammer are even more evident, and this one is in better focus with much less shake.



Back to the task at hand and putting the new black sterile scales on. First step is ensuring they are aligned correctly over the rivet rings on both sides, before applying any force or pressure on them! There's a soft cotton T-shirt folded up into several layers under the knife to prevent marring the scales.



Once aligned, pressure can be applied. Sometimes they will press down onto all the rivet rings, but not often with brand new scales. I can get half or more, but there are usually one or two on which the scales are not fully seated by using hand pressure alone. Do NOT use a hammer, even with padding! That will crack them, guaranteed!!



As is typical there are a couple recalcitrant rivet rings at one end.



Time for the small bench vise with some homemade dense foam pads to keep from marring the scales. This will finish the job. I don't start with the vise as it's much to easy for one of the scales to get out of alignment with a rivet ring, and the forces the vise can generate without any tactile feedback will ruin the scales if that occurs. Once it's aligned with the jaws and pads, it's time to gradually crank down the vise to finish pressing the scales on. Note that the Phillips is open! If it had a corkscrew it would also be opened. These stand proud above the scales slightly when closed. The pressure should only be applied to the scales, not the Phillips (or corkscrew).



There needs to be a means of seeing if they're fully seated. A penlight is ideal for the task. What's more appropriate than a two AA cell Victorinox LED flashlight!



Placing the penlight under the scales will show if there's any gap between the scales and liners. A penlight head is ideal as it is small enough to easily prevent blinding glare by keeping light only on the bottom of the knife and none from coming around the vise. Not done yet as there's light still coming around one last uncooperative rivet ring. Time to crank on more pressure with the vise. i've also found it's good to let it sit for 30 seconds or so after adding a little more pressure as the pads do add a bit of compliance.



It finally passed the light leak test in the vise. Now for the final one when removed from the vise. Discovered when installing the first couple sets of scales that light will also pass between springs and liners when it's not in the vise. Examination should be done with care to determine if any light seen is between scales and liners, or springs and liners. Here some thin slivers of light are coming around the spring, but not between the liners and scales.



Bob's Your Uncle! One more fabricated Apprentice with brand new black scales.



And the Vic case back opener has proven to be an ideal tool for removing SAK scales!

John

[jalind]

It's my '07 Soldier for me today:


(Image removed from quote.)

 
The last full production year for them!

[glenfiddich1983]

Day 09:
(Attempting it ALL single layer!)

This one will be l-o-n-g with 16 photos, some of which are a bit fuzzy and out of focus as I was more intent with getting the job done. In addition, it was very early morning and I had not consumed any java yet as I've got a daily thyroid med that must be done on an empty stomach and cannot be followed by anything for at least a half hour. While waiting for that, I decided to put the new scales on the fourth Apprentice fabricated earlier this year. All four were Economy Waiters with nylon scales and the Phillips came from trashed Tinkers. I have another set of sterilized black scales for this one. The Victorinox logo isn't on them as they're made for customer logo imprinting. Sometimes Vic will put their logo on the other side, but with these 84mm scales it's omitted entirely.

The Vic Watch Opener is put back to work again, this time to remove the nylon scales I had put back on after the conversion while waiting for Cellidor scales. I've found it the ideal tool for getting under scales and lifting them off the rivet rings. The 84mm have four rivets, but only three are used to hold the scales on; the back layer rivet has no ring and isn't used for the scales as there's another middle one right next to it. After removing the T&T and split ring, and opening the Phillips (or corkscrew) I like to start on the front side at the tweezer opening as it's typically the easiest place to get the opener between the scales and the liner.

(Image removed from quote.)

I don't pry there as it's too easy to break or crack the scales at the tweezer opening. Instead I will slip the case knife around to the other side of the rivet and start working gently to lift the scale off of it from there.

(Image removed from quote.)

After getting it lifted I work over between the middle rivet and the third one at the other end, prying gently between them right next to the rivet rings. The middle one almost always releases next, followed quickly by the third one.

(Image removed from quote.)

Then I move to the back side and carefully start at the toothpick opening, above it, and not between it and the cutout. The scales on this side are more fragile because of the Phillips/corkscrew cutout, and if it's Plus scales, there will be a pen slot above the toothpick slot. It's easier to crack and break the scales on this side. Here I've gotten the knife in all the way under the end and do not pry on anything from this side of the rivet.

(Image removed from quote.)

I then move the knife around to the other side of the rivet and start prying it up and working toward the other end as before. Patience and not using too much force is key to not cracking the scales, and to minimizing the wear and tear on the blind holes that press fit over the rivets. Scales can generally be reused at least once if this is done carefully.

(Image removed from quote.)

The scales are off now and I will digress a bit to get a couple macros of the back layer rivet I installed and peened by hand. If you've ever had the scales off of a 91mm or 84mm Vic, you'll see the heads on this one are much larger and more robust, but still just barely small enough in height and diameter to fit under the scales. For this I'm going to do some afocal photos through a 4x/7x loupe held over the cell phone camera lens. Pictured is the loupe in 4x. There's a second lens that screws onto it to create a two  element 7x loupe which much less distortion than one gets from a single element with more than 5x magnification, which is why most are 5x. This is a very old loupe that was used for photographic work looking at film strips on a light table and on the glass focusing back of large format 4x5 or 8x10 field camera.

(Image removed from quote.)

Should have shot this one over, but didn't as it's fuzzy from camera shake and didn't notice it until I was doing post processing with it on the computer. You can still see some of the hand peening tool marks on the rivet head which aren't evident to the naked eye.

(Image removed from quote.)

I then put the second element onto the loupe and photographed the other head on the other side with it. The tooling marks from the peening hammer are even more evident, and this one is in better focus with much less shake.

(Image removed from quote.)

Back to the task at hand and putting the new black sterile scales on. First step is ensuring they are aligned correctly over the rivet rings on both sides, before applying any force or pressure on them! There's a soft cotton T-shirt folded up into several layers under the knife to prevent marring the scales.

(Image removed from quote.)

Once aligned, pressure can be applied. Sometimes they will press down onto all the rivet rings, but not often with brand new scales. I can get half or more, but there are usually one or two on which the scales are not fully seated by using hand pressure alone. Do NOT use a hammer, even with padding! That will crack them, guaranteed!!

(Image removed from quote.)

As is typical there are a couple recalcitrant rivet rings at one end.

(Image removed from quote.)

Time for the small bench vise with some homemade dense foam pads to keep from marring the scales. This will finish the job. I don't start with the vise as it's much to easy for one of the scales to get out of alignment with a rivet ring, and the forces the vise can generate without any tactile feedback will ruin the scales if that occurs. Once it's aligned with the jaws and pads, it's time to gradually crank down the vise to finish pressing the scales on. Note that the Phillips is open! If it had a corkscrew it would also be opened. These stand proud above the scales slightly when closed. The pressure should only be applied to the scales, not the Phillips (or corkscrew).

(Image removed from quote.)

There needs to be a means of seeing if they're fully seated. A penlight is ideal for the task. What's more appropriate than a two AA cell Victorinox LED flashlight!

(Image removed from quote.)

Placing the penlight under the scales will show if there's any gap between the scales and liners. A penlight head is ideal as it is small enough to easily prevent blinding glare by keeping light only on the bottom of the knife and none from coming around the vise. Not done yet as there's light still coming around one last uncooperative rivet ring. Time to crank on more pressure with the vise. i've also found it's good to let it sit for 30 seconds or so after adding a little more pressure as the pads do add a bit of compliance.

(Image removed from quote.)

It finally passed the light leak test in the vise. Now for the final one when removed from the vise. Discovered when installing the first couple sets of scales that light will also pass between springs and liners when it's not in the vise. Examination should be done with care to determine if any light seen is between scales and liners, or springs and liners. Here some thin slivers of light are coming around the spring, but not between the liners and scales.

(Image removed from quote.)

Bob's Your Uncle! One more fabricated Apprentice with brand new black scales.

(Image removed from quote.)

And the Vic case back opener has proven to be an ideal tool for removing SAK scales!

John

 

[Singh]

DAY 13

The problem with the combo tool is that the same motion used to open a bottle cap is the same motion used when opening a can.  The combo tool will punch through a bottle cap, and make it harder to open.

[Oxford_Guy]

DAY 13

The problem with the combo tool is that the same motion used to open a bottle cap is the same motion used when opening a can.  The combo tool will punch through a bottle cap, and make it harder to open.

(Image removed from quote.)

Although I've never had this happen to me when using the combo tool on my Alox Bantam, the worst it's done is to bend the cap up a little.

[Oxford_Guy]

It's my '07 Soldier for me today:


(Image removed from quote.)

 
The last full production year for them!

Yeah, I realised that at the time, which was one of the reasons I bought it then. I prefer the Soldiers to the Pioneers partly because I like the idea that these were the models actually issued to the military, but also I prefer the shield design and it's more comfortable to hold without the keyring attachment (I don't mind the keyring nub on the 91mm models, but it's uncomfortable on most of the Alox models), though it does make it more awkward to pocket carry, as I can't hang it from a Tec P& clip, so tends to sit horizontally at the bottom of my pocket. I should probably get a leather slip for it made up.

[twiliter]

13.

[glenfiddich1983]

DAY 13

The problem with the combo tool is that the same motion used to open a bottle cap is the same motion used when opening a can.  The combo tool will punch through a bottle cap, and make it harder to open.

(Image removed from quote.)

It's a twist off bottle cap 

[T14]

Day 09:
(Attempting it ALL single layer!)

*SNIP*

Superb tutorial John. Thank you for putting in the effort to share it with us 

[Oxford_Guy]

DAY 13

The problem with the combo tool is that the same motion used to open a bottle cap is the same motion used when opening a can.  The combo tool will punch through a bottle cap, and make it harder to open.

(Image removed from quote.)

It's a twist off bottle cap 

Oh yes, well spotted! Well that would explain it, the sides on those would grip much more tightly before the cap pops off, doesn't happen (at least not for me) with regular bottle caps.


The combo tool is not as robust a pry tool as the dedicated openers, but I usually (not this month <sigh>) have a Leatherman Brewzer on my keychain for pry duties...

[kaput]

13/30 oc+ eblade ala fish dish 🐟