SAK Mods! Post your pics, questions and ideas

[Barbababa]

https://imgur.com/a/ZD1yJYD

 

[315]

https://imgur.com/a/ZD1yJYD

I think you’re onto something with that denim

 

[Lee D]

I think you’re onto something with that denim

I agree. Visually appealing and unique.

 

[kamakiri.knives]

It's actually not that hard at all.

I think if I can do this, then anyone can. All you need are a few basic tools and some free time. The hardest part is simply getting the back pin out cleanly. The rest is easy street. It only requires time.

Agreed. The good thing is that it all gets easier with practice.

Anyway, I was thinking about the chisel/SD swap earlier this morning…and about doing this while reusing the pin. More specifically on a Champ that I already popped the rivet heads on but hadn’t taken it apart beyond that.

So I measured how far I’d need to push the pin to get to those two…about 10mm. Marked that with blue tape on a 2mm punch and sent the pin part way out. Backed the punch out by hand to drop the SD…then a little more to drop the chisel but leaving the punch in the CS. That could’ve been dropped too to simulate the phillips swap, but I didn’t. Put the SD in the chisel slot and shoved the punch in to hold it. Put the chisel in the SD slot and again shoved the punch in to hold it and compress the backspring. This is when the large head could be filed down so it could be sent back through another half mm, but didn’t do that either. Turned the knife over and hammered the rivet to push the punch back out and resecure all the back tools. That took me 13 minutes stopping to take some pics in between. Getting the back pin popped probably takes more time than that, if I’m being careful. Filing the large dome re-peening doesn’t take much time at all. So the whole thing wouldn’t take very long done this way.

I’ll edit tomorrow with the pics

I used:

a small cheap file
a small cheap hacksaw
a few sheets of sandpaper in various grits from p120 to p3000
a bench vise
a small 5 ounce ball peen hammer

I think a 1/16” or 2.0mm punch would help you a lot if you’re going to do much more modding and swapping.

And welcome down another slippery slope!

 

[Guy McVer]

I think a 1/16” or 2.0mm punch would help you a lot if you’re going to do much more modding and swapping.

Maybe.

But...

To fully drive out the stock pin I had to flatten the end of a small nail and drive it through the pivot slot to chase the pin out.

...although I should probably point out that I managed to bend the nail. I don't know when it happened because I didn't notice until after I was done and the nail was sitting out. An actual punch would've probably held up better.

 

[HolyRoller]

Well, it's done. Could stand more finish work, and there's some at least one big screw up. But it's together, it works, and if I keep going I'm just going to grow resentful of the project.

Newfound respect for anyone tackling these on the regular. Maybe these German Army knives just have RIDICULOUS backsprings, coupled with crappy, soft aluminum that deforms every time you sneeze, but assembling this thing really spiked my blood pressure.

 

[Spikediesel]

Well, it's done. Could stand more finish work, and there's some at least one big screw up. But it's together, it works, and if I keep going I'm just going to grow resentful of the project.

Newfound respect for anyone tackling these on the regular. Maybe these German Army knives just have RIDICULOUS backsprings, coupled with crappy, soft aluminum that deforms every time you sneeze, but assembling this thing really spiked my blood pressure.

Cool!! Nice work!

 

[Spikediesel]

Finished up another colab with Chip WValtakis I can’t say enough how awesome his engraving work is!!

 

[WValtakis]

Finished up another colab with Chip WValtakis I can’t say enough how awesome his engraving work is!!

The Aflac Duck will be pleased

 

[kamakiri.knives]

assembling this thing really spiked my blood pressure.

Well, great job getting it done! I really like the look.

But you’ve got me thinking I should start a thread on some of my assembly techniques…none of which use a jig, but leverage to bend the backspring and seat the tools within the layer. Simple, but pics and explanations would help, I think.

 

[HolyRoller]

Well, great job getting it done! I really like the look.

But you’ve got me thinking I should start a thread on some of my assembly techniques…none of which use a jig, but leverage to bend the backspring and seat the tools within the layer. Simple, but pics and explanations would help, I think.

Thanks. And absolutely.

I really dinged up the aluminum liners trying to get things lines up. Hell, I did a number on the KnifeKits barrel pins. Not entirely sure they're hardened, like the website says.

Kinda wish I just went with brass rivets, since there's no way in hell I'm ever taking this thing back apart.

 

[Guy McVer]

I'm thinking of putting either a DeWalt DWA4974 hex bit or DeWalt DWA4975 hex bit into a regular hand held 1/4" hex bit screwdriver and using it to sand off the rivets on a 91mm SAK while preserving the bushings. These are aluminum oxide grinding bits so they should work on brass.

Will this work or are the tips of these two grinding bits too large? The point is to do this by hand. I want to avoid using a power drill.

 

[tiguy7]

I'm thinking of putting either a DeWalt DWA4974 hex bit or DeWalt DWA4975 hex bit into a regular hand held 1/4" hex bit screwdriver and using it to sand off the rivets on a 91mm SAK while preserving the bushings. These are aluminum oxide grinding bits so they should work on brass.

Will this work or are the tips of these two grinding bits too large? The point is to do this by hand. I want to avoid using a power drill.

As these Al2O3 bits wear down, you might nick your bushings. I like to use an auto center punch to put a dimple in the center of the rivet. Then I put a center drill in a hand feed chuck. The large knurled disc doesn’t turn while the small chuck is being turned in a large chuck in the drill press. The small spindle has about 1” of travel inside the large spindle. The knife is held in a vise. If you open the blade(s) part way, they help keep the rivet from turning.View attachment 1906263

 

[Guy McVer]

As these Al2O3 bits wear down, you might nick your bushings.

I'll take that as a "yes", then. Either of them could be small enough to work.

I don't plan on customizing a lot of SAKs, so I doubt I will use the bit enough to wear the tip down to make it too fat. If it actually does wear down that fast on soft brass, then it should be no problem to quickly reprofile the tip and resume using it.

These bits are relatively cheap. If they work, it would give people on a budget something they could use without spending too much. Most people already have some kind of screwdriver that takes hex bits.

 

[tiguy7]

I'll take that as a "yes", then. Either of them could be small enough to work.

I don't plan on customizing a lot of SAKs, so I doubt I will use the bit enough to wear the tip down to make it too fat. If it actually does wear down that fast on soft brass, then it should be no problem to quickly reprofile the tip and resume using it.

These bits are relatively cheap. If they work, it would give people on a budget something they could use without spending too much. Most people already have some kind of screwdriver that takes hex bits.

You could turn your screwdriver into a bow drill and start a fire.

 

[Guy McVer]

Jokes aside, I went ahead and ordered both grinding bits. They were on sale so I got them even cheaper than they normally are. I also picked up an inexpensive set of 1/4 hex drill bits in a range of sizes starting at 1/16th of an inch and increasing from there. I'm just going to try this stuff out with a 1/4 hex bit driver, see how it goes, and report back. If it goes poorly then I'm only out a few bucks and I have some extra bits that I can use for other things later on.

 

[Spikediesel]

93mm Micarta Toothpick/tweezers scales pardon the dust haha!

 

[kamakiri.knives]

I also picked up an inexpensive set of 1/4 hex drill bits in a range of sizes starting at 1/16th of an inch and increasing from there.

My guess is these will serve you better. I don’t have much experience using grinding bits on soft metals, but I think there’s a reason for that. Might work ok if the tip is small enough, but I think that will also be an issue.

Also took pics for my assembly tips the other day. I’ll post another thread later, but will put up a short post here tonight after I upload the pics.

 

[kamakiri.knives]

you’ve got me thinking I should start a thread on some of my assembly techniques…none of which use a jig, but leverage to bend the backspring and seat the tools within the layer. Simple, but pics and explanations would help, I think.

Okay, so this is just supposed to be the Cliff-notes version so anyone assembling a knife in the near term may benefit.

The main thing is the arrangement of the tools and backspring as the layer is going together.

All tools from this layer are on the pins and in their proper place…only the tang of the tool to be seated/levered into position is off the backspring and to the side. A lever is used that MUST BE THINNER than the tool layer it is working on.

While pinching the liners or alox scales together, use the lever under the pin to bend the backspring:

Because the lever is thinner than the backspring and with the help of the pinch/squeeze, the layer collapses and snaps into place as soon as the backspring clears the tool’s tang:

While still pinching the layer together, simply pull the tool out and move on to the next layer. Enjoy all the time you saved.

Above, you can see what I selected from a bunch of random implements (below) I dug out which I thought could do the job of being thin enough and strong enough to do the job. These aren’t the tools I use as I made something custom to do this. I just wanted to show that there should be something around the house or shop to get this done even if it’s a small screwdriver or tine on a stainless dinner fork.

I’ll expand on the tips in another thread later…and re-write these parts if any of it isn’t clear. My other pics are of a 91mm going together from loose parts to where the lever is needed. Pretty basic stuff otherwise, but the tips are for other specifics like screw assemblies and other conditions.

Hope that helps!

 

[Guy McVer]

Coming from the limited perspective of having only removed and replaced the back pivots on one 84mm celidor SAK and one 91mm celidor SAK, I have noticed that this one pivot was responsible for the spring tension of every tool in the entire SAK. So from that perspective, it seems like the easiest way to assemble one of these would be to put all of the other pivots in place first, while leaving out the back pivot and leaving out the springs in most cases as well. This way you are doing most of the assembly while everything is loose and free to move around. Only after this would you insert the springs and back tools, and then begin driving in the back pivot. As it turns out, putting that back pivot in is rather easy if it has been tapered at one end, and once the pivot is in place, all of the tools are once again placed under tension.

That just seems to be the correct method to me at this point. I might be changing my mind about it very soon. On that note, my bits arrived. The DWA4975 (cone shape) looks like it's probably not pointy enough. The DWA4974 (bullet shape) looks like maybe it will work. Barely. We'll see. Of course I also have the drill bits to try. Even though it will be slower, I'm hoping it might actually be easier to avoid damaging the bushings when drilling by hand instead of using a power tool.

I was also thinking of taking apart an alox Minichamp and peening it into an alox Rambler (or similar) configuration. The tiny pin size might pose a challenge for disassembly. I don't really have an idea about how I'm going to approach that yet. Maybe I can tape around them, sand them flat a little bit, then punch a small starter indentation in the center of the rivet.