Crown lifter toughness

T

tomsch

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2004
Messages
2,794
On a daily basis I carry and use my Vic Alox Pioneer which sees quite a bit of use especially the awl and the flat blade cap lifter. I also love carrying a GEC #15 Crownlifter. The dilemma comes in when I think about using the lifter on the #15 for anything other than opening a beer bottle. Compared to the flat blade/lifter on the Vic it seems pretty fragile. On the Vic I use it on everything from opening paint cans to twisting out pretty tight screws. I look at the #15 crown lifter and it looks like that kind of treatment would result in a twist or bend rather easily. Has anyone put their crown lifter to much real use?
rowQhAf.jpg


0pqjwIa.jpg
 
I don't really understand your question. What are you asking about? What are you thinking might bend or twist? Are you going to be sticking it in a crack and hitting it in the side with a hammer?

The caplifter screw driver works fine in my experience. It isn't fragile. I would assume the bolster/pivot area would suffer damage long before the screwdriver would.
 
I have opened paint cans and turned many a screw with the caplifter on my radio knife. It is no worse for wear. Use with confidence.
 
I understand your concern when comparing the two side by side. I too use the screwdriver on my Pioneer with reckless abandon. The one thing I do with EVERY SAK screwdriver is put the tip to a belt grinder so it bites flat head screws much better. Not sure why they come so polished/rounded from the factory as I find they tend to slip on flat head screws.

GEC sends them out the way I like my SAK once I tweak it. Like mentioned above I feel there would be no issues using the crown lifter aggressively:thumbsup:
 
Good to know that it seems robust enough to at least twist out a tough screw or open a paint can. I probably am worrying too much about it. I also have multiple alox Vics so if one was damaged that it would not be that big of a deal.
 
Forewarning: this is based off of very little research.

Carbon steels typically have a higher tensile strength than stainless, so even though the profile of the GEC is narrower, they're both probably fine for general use.

I typically open a paint can with the corner of a spackle knife and have get to bend on.
 
I have a Vic, and a BeerLow, and it is more delicate. I've not used the BeerLow flathead hard. I've tightened a screw or two. Opened a few pops. Both great knives.
 
As with any folding knife, the pivot is a weak point. Victorinox's riveted construction is probably a bit stronger. It's also cheaper to replace most Swiss army knives unless it's an antique or limited edition.

As far as the integrity of the tool... I've seen some pretty chewed up drivers on Victorinox Swiss army knives. Same goes for dedicated screwdrivers though. I haven't compared the steels and heat treat. The Victorinox's driver is a bit thicker than GEC' driver. Tools get worn. If the edge gets messed up, you can reshape it by grinding.

Unless I'm "creatively remembering" ;) I think one of Charlie's labels said to only use the driver for light prying. That made sense to me since torque can loosen up a pivot. Stick the blade of any GEC knife in a vise and bend it back and forth and you're likely going to wish you hadn't. ;) Personally, I wouldn't use a folding knife for heavy prying. I'd use a dedicated pry tool.
 
Bottle openers, can openers & screwdrivers in traditional knives are typically lower in hardness (HRC 40s or lower), as they need to be tougher (more resistant to breaking) than the blades with sharpened edges, AND they have no justifiable need for holding a sharpened edge in the first place. Being a bit lower in hardness means it shouldn't break, but it's still a little easier to bend them or twist them, or round off the crisp edges of the tool; the steel 'yields' to stress by bending or deforming, instead of breaking off.

I have one Vic SAK with a visible twist in the tip of the screwdriver blade. I think I leveraged it too much by half-opening the tool, forming an 'L' to the handle, which gives great leverage, but isn't the best for the tip of the driver, or for the pivot for that matter. On the upside, it didn't seem to loosen the pivot at all, for that tool. :)


David
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top