Hollow rivets in sak soldiers

[William Cannon]

I just joined BladeForums. I am impressed with what I have seen so far.

I am confused why commercial Vic soldiers have solid rivets. The option of a lanyard through the hole would be handy.

Do all official Swiss Army issued soldiers(Wenger & Vic) have hollow rivets and the flat section in the checkering for acceptance stamping? I have a Vic with what looks like an "8" stamped on this flat. What does it stand for?

Also, do issued soldiers come with a bale like the commercial Wenger SI? In all the photos I see, they have no bail.

Thanks

 

[cdf]

SOSAK on line has lots of articles on Wenger and Vic Soldier variants . The hollow rivet was allededly to enable the knife to be used as a plumb bob , for use with the grenade launcher . Vic. got rid of it in later iterations , Wenger kept it but installed a bail .

Legend has it that the knives were usually carried in the breast pocket of the combat jacket .

There were a few Soldiers made with the keyring a'la the Pioneer .

+Biancio will likely chime in , he served in the Swiss Army , and knows the knives intimatley .

Chris

 

[William Cannon]

Chris,

Thanks for the input. Looking closer, it is not an "8" in the stamp. It is a "K+" surrounded by what might be a strange "w". The W is shaped like a circle with the top open and a wedge silce cut out of the bottom.

Thanks,
Bill

 

[cdf]

I think thats a military acceptance or inspection mark , some have said it indicates the knife may has been repaired . Check out SOSAK , thats where the dyed in the wool SAK experts are to be found . SOSAK on line has a slew of articles on the Soldier and friends .Looks like your Soldier has seen service .

Chris

 

[swissbianco]

the 1961 soldier sak you talking had in the first years on all models an hollow rivet, it was requested for hanging the sak to ouer sturmgewehr (rifle) as an help to aim shooting granades. here some pics of the manual:

both, the wenger and victorinox, each supply 50% and both where first red alox and verry soon silver natural alox, all having the wk (waffenkontrolle) stamp its done by the swiss armory for check that the sak is up to standarts.

some different 61 sak over the years:

later, the wk stamp was gone cause there was no need to check each single sak as the quality was way good anyway. the hollow rivet was gone cause the granade mentioned was no longer used and the new ones had an different sight. only wenger did still make some with hollow rivet with bail as on the pic. there was no swiss army issued soldier with splitring on them. all swiss army soldier have an yearstamp on the bladetang. starting with 61 to o8.

victorinox did not made any hollow rivet sak for an verry long time but an happy swiss was able to get 10 pcs made, the verry last made soldier, complete red anodised as the first run, o8 blade yearstamp and some old tools used, theyr long gone too

many swiss collect the different yearstamps and only an yearstamped soldier was accepted by the swiss army but there was allways an overrun who was sold mainly only in switzerland comericially.

full size pics: http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh59/swissbianco/swiss army knives/?start=all

hope that helps

+B
swissbianco

 

[cdf]

It says a lot about Vic. quality that they felt it was no longer required to inspect new shipments ! Cant say that about many vendors ! Think how much could be saved if all vendors to the US military were that consistent .

This month's SOSAK on line has a good short article on old and new Soldiers .

Chris

 

[William Cannon]

Thanks for the detailed information. It cleared up all the questions I had on the hollow rivit.

 

[swissbianco]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw-iqDij1-s here a video that show near all alox soldier variations.

 

[Joe58]

My goodness - those all red, old style cross, with the hollow rivit, are just fantastic looking. I'd like a couple of those for sure.

Roger - you need to create a special run. And one of the black, red shield, Swiss Railway grails, so the rest of us unlucky folk that missed out can get a newer reissue, even if they aren't the first limited run. With your logo so as not to devalue the collector ones already out there.

 

[SAK Guy]

My goodness - those all red, old style cross, with the holly rivit, are just fantastic looking. I'd like a couple of those for sure.

Roger - you need to create a special run. And one of the black, red shield, Swiss Railway grails, so the rest of us unlucky folk that missed out can get a newer reissue, even if they aren't the first limited run. With your logo so as not to devalue the collector ones already out there.

+100!!!!!!

 

[wensynch]

Interesting information.

Wonder what the reason the hollow rivet isn't used anymore as it would benefit as a lanyard hole while also opening up a slot for another implement.

What's that little fixed knife at the end?

 

[Dale1736]

the 1961 soldier sak you talking had in the first years on all models an hollow rivet, it was requested for hanging the sak to ouer sturmgewehr (rifle) as an help to aim shooting granades. here some pics of the manual:

both, the wenger and victorinox, each supply 50% and both where first red alox and verry soon silver natural alox, all having the wk (waffenkontrolle) stamp its done by the swiss armory for check that the sak is up to standarts.

some different 61 sak over the years:

later, the wk stamp was gone cause there was no need to check each single sak as the quality was way good anyway. the hollow rivet was gone cause the granade mentioned was no longer used and the new ones had an different sight. only wenger did still make some with hollow rivet with bail as on the pic. there was no swiss army issued soldier with splitring on them. all swiss army soldier have an yearstamp on the bladetang. starting with 61 to o8.

victorinox did not made any hollow rivet sak for an verry long time but an happy swiss was able to get 10 pcs made, the verry last made soldier, complete red anodised as the first run, o8 blade yearstamp and some old tools used, theyr long gone too

many swiss collect the different yearstamps and only an yearstamped soldier was accepted by the swiss army but there was allways an overrun who was sold mainly only in switzerland comericially.

full size pics: http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh59/swissbianco/swiss army knives/?start=all

hope that helps

+B
swissbianco

the 1961 soldier sak you talking had in the first years on all models an hollow rivet, it was requested for hanging the sak to ouer sturmgewehr (rifle) as an help to aim shooting granades. here some pics of the manual:

both, the wenger and victorinox, each supply 50% and both where first red alox and verry soon silver natural alox, all having the wk (waffenkontrolle) stamp its done by the swiss armory for check that the sak is up to standarts.

some different 61 sak over the years:

later, the wk stamp was gone cause there was no need to check each single sak as the quality was way good anyway. the hollow rivet was gone cause the granade mentioned was no longer used and the new ones had an different sight. only wenger did still make some with hollow rivet with bail as on the pic. there was no swiss army issued soldier with splitring on them. all swiss army soldier have an yearstamp on the bladetang. starting with 61 to o8.

victorinox did not made any hollow rivet sak for an verry long time but an happy swiss was able to get 10 pcs made, the verry last made soldier, complete red anodised as the first run, o8 blade yearstamp and some old tools used, theyr long gone too

many swiss collect the different yearstamps and only an yearstamped soldier was accepted by the swiss army but there was allways an overrun who was sold mainly only in switzerland comericially.

full size pics: http://s253.photobucket.com/albums/hh59/swissbianco/swiss army knives/?start=all

hope that helps

+B
swissbianco

Can you advise me on where I can buy the solid rivets needed to assemble an Alox 93mm? Or what diameter they are?