SAKs and Safety Pins

[Guy McVer]

Safety pins are extremely useful for many different things, and so it's not a bad idea to keep one or two with you. Attaching them to your SAK is one way to do that.

You can store a safety pin in the corkscrew of a Swiss army knife by opening the corkscrew and threading the safety pin onto the spiral. If you do it correctly so that the safety pin stays essentially aligned straight with the body of the corkscrew, then when the corkscrew is closed, the safety pin won't stick out, won't interfere with the corkscrew closing, and won't come off until you open the corkscrew again and twist the safety pin back in the opposite direction. This is an especially good option if you have a Victorinox model with nylon scales. For some strange reason, the nylon scales don't have a slot for a straight pin, and so adding a safety pin to the corkscrew is a good alternative.

You can also use the safety pin as a lanyard attachment point, but it's only useful if you've removed or lost the keyring, or if you permanently ground/filed off the keyring attachment point. In that case, a safety pin threaded onto the closed corkscrew will work as an alternate place to attatch a lanyard.

If you carry a mini screwdriver in the corkscrew, then a 28mm 19mm size safety pin should be able to fit at the base of the corkscrew while still allowing enough room for the mini screwdriver to fit. I've tested it on several knives and all of them worked.

edit: here's a crude drawing

click on the image to see the full view in a new window

28mm 19mm seems to be a magic size for a safety pin, because it also seems to work well on the 58mm Victorinox models. Just put it on the key ring. It doesn't really seem to get in the way of anything, or interfere with any of the tools. If it ever does get in the way, then you could simply remove it and put it back on after you're done with whatever you're trying to do.

edit 2: I have a box full of different safety pins and I got the sizes mixed up. I wrote 28mm when in fact I had been using the 19mm size. I have gone back and corrected this post after realizing the mistake I made.

 

[afishhunter]

A "pocket wife" (sewing kit) can be handy to have in your gear to replace a button, fix a ripped seam, or sew on a patch, too.
They usually have a couple safety pins in them.

 

[A.L.]

I don't want to seem like a hater but I have never needed the safety pin.. nor have I needed the small can opener. Maybe if I was traveling all the time I would.

 

[Guy McVer]

I don't want to seem like a hater but I have never needed the safety pin..

You mean the *straight* pin, right? The one that goes into the small hole in the back scale? Those are a different kind of pin.

I've used the straight pin a lot, actually. Mostly I've used it as a tiny scraper, but I did also use it a few times to help remove a splinter. You can also use one as an improvised compass needle by rubbing it with a magnet. I keep tiny magnets in all of my 91mm SAKs just in case. There's a couple of places on pretty much every 91mm SAK where you can store a small magnet.

Victorinox charges way too much for those straight pins... I bought a box of like 50 off-brand straight pins for a couple bucks and they work exactly the same as the ones from Victorinox...

 

[hsherzfeld]

I carry a safety pin threaded through the hinge of the P-38 can opener on my keychain, mainly to keep the blade from opening.

 

[Guy McVer]

I bought a box of like 50 off-brand straight pins for a couple bucks and they work exactly the same as the ones from Victorinox...

So... I was just organizing some things and came across these pins that I mentioned here, and I remembered something.

I've heard that you can store a short straight pin in a keychain size 58mm swiss army knife if it has the magnetic combo phillips bottle cap lifter tool, but I never had any pins that were short enough to try it with.

Well I just realized that you could cut a pin down to the required length with a small pair of wire cutters... so I did. And the trick works. You can in fact store a straight pin in a 58mm swiss army knife by tucking it into the inside edge of the combo tool. It actually works. The pin even stays in place when you open and close the tool.

Any 58mm knife with the combo tool can securely store a small straight pin. The magnetic phillips tip holds the end of the pin in place, while the inside of the cap lifter portion holds the head of the pin and stops it from moving around. Then when you close the tool, there's no way for the pin to fall out.

With a pin stored this way, you have everything you need to improvise a makeshift compass.

You could probably also re-sharpen the tip of the pin by rubbing it on some sandpaper, in case you had to cut it down to the proper size to make it fit.

I carry a safety pin threaded through the hinge of the P-38 can opener on my keychain, mainly to keep the blade from opening.

I do that too! I also taped a small neodymium magnet to the flat part of the can opener, and the tape also covers the sharp tip of the blade as an extra safety measure.

 

[tiguy7]

You mean the *straight* pin, right? The one that goes into the small hole in the back scale? Those are a different kind of pin.

I've used the straight pin a lot, actually. Mostly I've used it as a tiny scraper, but I did also use it a few times to help remove a splinter. You can also use one as an improvised compass needle by rubbing it with a magnet. I keep tiny magnets in all of my 91mm SAKs just in case. There's a couple of places on pretty much every 91mm SAK where you can store a small magnet.

Victorinox charges way too much for those straight pins... I bought a box of like 50 off-brand straight pins for a couple bucks and they work exactly the same as the ones from Victorinox...

The Vic straight pins are stainless and worth a buck. It’s the postage that kills you. So I get them at the Blade Show. In a pinch, a safety pin can be attached to any item of clothing.

 

[Guy McVer]

The Vic safety pins are stainless and worth a buck.

Good point. The ones I bought say they're made of nickel plated steel. I haven't had any issues so far, but they're probably nowhere near as corrosion resistant as stainless steel, or especially Victorinox stainless, which is practically invincible when it comes to rust. It's legendary.

 

[Guy McVer]

Some final tidbits to add:

I found that a straight pin will securely friction-fit into the scissor slot on a Victorinox 74mm Ambassador.

With the shield emblem facing you and the scissors on the right side, rotate the Ambassador to the left so that the scissor slot is facing up towards you. Slide the pin into the space between the tip of the scissors and the right side edge of the slot. You will feel that it has a tight fit. The pin will not fall out unless you open the scissors.

A small flat 3mm diameter magnet will also fit on the side of the Ambassador's knife blade, and it will not interfere with any of the tools opening or closing.

If you look down at the spine of the knife blade while it is closed, you can see that it has a cutout on the same side where the finger nail file folds down next to it. At the base of the knife blade where the tang is, there is a small empty gap which the nail file isn't quite long enough to fill. That's where a magnet can fit. Open the knife blade and put the magnet there on that side of the blade, all the way down at the base where the cutout starts. You will see that the knife and the nail file can both open and close perfectly without the magnet getting in the way or falling out.

Credit for the next two tips goes to Felix Immler's youtube channel.

On all 91mm Victorinox models with a can opener, a 6mm diameter flat round magnet of 2mm thickness will fit into the inside of the can opener tool. With a magnet stored there, you must first open the tool next to the can opener before opening or closing the can opener itself, otherwise the magnet will get in the way.

On all 91mm Victorinox models with a parcel hook, a 3mm diameter flat round magnet will fit inside the parcel hook. I was able to fit 3 of them into this location by stacking them on top of each other. The tool can then be opened and closed without the magnets interfering.

edit: I've also just now discovered that a straight pin will fit under the parcel hook, as long as the head of the pin is on the side to the opposite of the pivot where the curved part of the hook rests. If you have magnets stored in the hook, they will help hold the pin in place. This is a great solution for storing a straight pin in a nylon Huntsman, since the nylon scales don't have a pin slot.

 

[Guy McVer]

Victorinox charges way too much for those straight pins... I bought a box of like 50 off-brand straight pins for a couple bucks and they work exactly the same as the ones from Victorinox...

The Vic straight pins are stainless and worth a buck. It’s the postage that kills you. So I get them at the Blade Show. In a pinch, a safety pin can be attached to any item of clothing.

Good point. The ones I bought say they're made of nickel plated steel. I haven't had any issues so far, but they're probably nowhere near as corrosion resistant as stainless steel, or especially Victorinox stainless, which is practically invincible when it comes to rust. It's legendary.

Quick update.

I was going through my bits and bobs. I have small bag with the cheap pins and another small bag with around 10 Victorinox pins in it.

The Victorinox pins have all tarnished somehow over the last year, while the cheapo bulk pack of nickel plate pins are all still nice and shiny. Go figure. I also checked the various pins stored in my SAKs. Same thing. Oh and the cheap pins are slightly longer too. That's one of the main ways to tell them apart.

 

[TheArab]

I took a lifetime supply of straight pins from my mother's house, she's had them since she had a clothes shop.. Everything she had back then they bought from Italy(20 years ago), so I'm guessing they were made there.

They fit perfectly in my 91s.

 

[BennyBlade]

Safety pins are great. I likes using pins to remove splinters and a diaper pin can be used to clean narrow holes. Safety pin can turn a shirtsleeve or pantleg into a bag... I bet there are millions of uses.