Swiss Army Knife Shackles/Bails - Removable?

M

Mark in Oz

Joined
Jan 4, 2012
Messages
173
I'm thinking of something like this old little (84mm long closed) single blade Swiss Army Knife to stuff in my coin pocket, but was wondering about the shackle, or as Victorinox call it, the bail. I've read the bail is removable, leaving the hollow pin.
Sentry Knife Stamped Elinox 1a.jpg
My questions are:
Q1. Once removed, can the bail be put back on, and still be trusted for keyring carry?
Q2. If left on, does it get in the way, in your pocket or when using the knife?
 
From the looks of that bail, that is not a hollow rivet set up. I think if you try to remove the bail, you're going to critically mess up that knife. I'd leave it be, but that's just me.
 
Interesting Jackknife, thanks. It didn't occur to me there may be different types of bails. How can you tell which is removable and which is not?
 
If you look at your knife, you can see how the shackle is riveted on. The rivet head is peened over on top of the ends of the shackle. Look at the hollow rivet head on my Wenger SI, and you will see how the shackle has ends that are just bent and depend on only the spring tension of the metal to hold the shackle in place. There's no rivet head peened over to hold the ends of the shackle. With a small screw driver, you can just lift the ends of the shackle clear of the hole in the hollow rivet.
14812124226_0dcc048c59_c.jpg



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Look at these and compare them to the set up on your knife.
 
Do not remove, since that bail looks looks like if its removed, the rivet that holds it in place will also come out, or at the very least, become loose resulting in loose scales. That's an interesting piece that I would save as a collector, and get yourself a newer 84mm single blade for less than $20.00.
 
Hey Mark, is this closer to what you were thinking?

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It doesn't have the bail, and this one is smooth alox. It's been sitting on my shelf unused (by me) and I would be up for a trade if it's what you were looking for. I think both are discontinued in red and yours is an older vintage which might be worth more but I would be happy to work out the difference with you. I live in Melbourne as well by the way, so shipping would be cheap. Let me know if you're interested, I'm not sure if the smooth alox is a deal-breaker for you.
 
Awesome response, thank you. Previous to this I'd only seen photos of the hollow rivet with the bail already removed, so the photos are particularly appreciated.

What are peoples experience with the bail? Do they get in the way when in use? Or even while in your pocket??
 
Alnamvet68 said:
If you're not careful, you may close the blade onto the bail, resulting in a nick.
Click to expand...

That's the only downside I know of. You have to be a bit more careful with the knife. But since I grew up with boy scout knives that had bails, then I joined the army where we had both the demo knives and TL-29's with bails, I am very used to them. I wish more knives had bails, as I like to attach a lanyard to my knives when possible. I spend a good deal of time on small boats from spring through fall, and I once lost a knife over board because it had no bail. That hurt, don't want to do that again. :eek:

I like bail's.
 
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