Who else has put some work into a beat up SAK and given it a second chance?

SteveP · **on:** February 11, 2022, 04:07:08 AM

These Explorers are two of my favorites - because they are survivors.

The red one was an estate sale find. When I got it, I couldn't open most of the blades because of the dirt and oxidation. After a lot of cleaning and hard work, it has good snap in nearly all of them and is part of my rotation. (See here https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,87409.0.html for the story.)

The black one I found on eBay. As you can see from the blades, the previous owner used and sharpened them a lot. It also looks like the previous owner tried to sharpen the scissors with a pull-through knife sharpener as there was an edge on both sides of each scissor blade, making them useless for cutting anything fine. I used a diamond sharpener to re-edge the scissor blades to have just one edge each and they work great now. (And here https://forum.multitool.org/index.php/topic,87693.0.html for this story.)

Who else has a SAK that could have otherwise been landfill at worst or broken up for parts at best, if you hadn't put some work into it and given it a second chance?

Farmer X · **Reply #1 on:** February 11, 2022, 05:15:59 AM

Not yet. Some day I will. No sense trashing a perfectly good SAK because it needs a little elbow grease!

Zephon · **Reply #2 on:** February 11, 2022, 05:46:59 AM

The Tool Chest Plus I used in the Wenger challenge was a USD30 find. Took years before I decided to properly work on it with elbow grease. The end result? Enough for a 30-day challenge badge.

Aside from the usual dirt, grime, rust spots, the saw was bent at the tip and a liner. It seems to have taken a bad fall and the impact point bent some implements that they couldn’t close properly.

PitCarver · **Reply #3 on:** February 11, 2022, 03:15:09 PM

Bought a "Handyman Special" off of the eBay, couple years ago, because it had a MiniChamp II, along with a couple of classics each in various stages of distress.

The MiniChamp had it's main blade as well as the scissors look like they were used on one of the old style electric knife sharpeners. Not a purdy sight.

Long story short...
My first attempt at doing any form of SAK teardown...
Using the 2 classics as doners I was able to replace the blade and scissors, from 1, as well as adding a set of LE scales from the other. The Camo scales went onto another MC, which have been in my rotation ever since.

kamakiri · **Reply #4 on:** February 11, 2022, 05:43:03 PM

I’ve done a lot of rescuing over the years. Top of the list for time spent are:

‘73 136ka Craftsman
‘04 Spartan Lite
c. ‘50 234U

The Craftsman wasn’t so bad, but the warped or curled scale ends were probably the worst part. They were bad enough that the knife couldn’t be carried in pocket without snagging everything or anything. Next would be the lack of snap in the blade layer. The rest was mostly cosmetic…like the proud shield and making the broken double leaf scissor spring into a functional single leaf. Made the clip point look like new and duplicated a factory looking grind on it.

The Spartan Lite was probably the worst ~$20 I ever spent on a knife. It only had one problem…it was stuck shut presumably from internal corrosion. Tools on both ends were nail-breaking stuck. And I have strong, thick thumbnails. But it was a great way to learn how to make one with this issue work and snap like new without taking it apart.

The crab-claw 234 was probably one of the most technically challenging restorations I’ve done. Ironically, I ‘saved’ this knife because none of it’s parts were really good enough to be used to restore other knives. Except maybe it’s two backsprings. Smashed liner ends, missing bail/shackle, delaminating shield were the worst parts. It was in the EDC pile for a while, but I’ve put it away since.