Twisted SAK blades?

UnknownVT · Jun 23, 2004

Is your SAK blade twisted?

Don't be too hasty in answering "no" -

Look at the typical SAKs closed -

Notice how the main blades have to be at an angle to fit in with the opposite tool?

Now this would account for perhaps the blades not being quite straight in-line with the body.....

BUT now look carefully please at the blade's grind from the edge side (use one eye) - especially on the Soldier -

Notice how the blade's grind is not symmetrical? In fact looking closely it's almost as if it was twisted - like someone had grabbed the blade face and twisted the blade.

This is still there, just not quite as pronounced, on the regular standard SAKs.

Again once we realize that the asymmetrical grinds are there so that the main blade can fit nicely with the other tools - it then makes sense.

But viewing the blade in isolation - it is TWISTED!

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/

StuntDouble · Jun 24, 2004

Vincent, you must have been reading my mind. I picked up a Soldier a few days ago, and I noticed the same thing when I was messing around with it. I thought it was defective at first, until I realized that was the only way it would work. It doesn't seem to affect cutting ability at all though.

Chris

PWork · Jun 24, 2004

Take a look at some stockman models. Some of them actually have the blade BENT at the tang so it will nest next to the blade beside it, especially the cheap ones. The way the SAKs are is a much better way of doing it.

Paul

steve1701d · Jun 24, 2004

The Electrician's model is the same way. Small price to pay to have the reamer on the end of the knife instead of the middle.

If you look at most stockmen knives, the sheepsfoot has to be bent and twisted a bit to make them fit properly, too. Slick way to keep the width of the knives down (Buck avoids this somehow,though

).

Morgoth412 · Jun 24, 2004

PWork said:
Take a look at some stockman models. Some of them actually have the blade BENT at the tang so it will nest next to the blade beside it, especially the cheap ones. The way the SAKs are is a much better way of doing it.

Paul

Absolutely true. Almost all multi-blade slipjoints have bent blades to fit around the others. It affects cutting performance in no way at all.

The only exception I can think of is Buck slipjoints, which have seperate backsprings for each blade.

Very cool, even though it has no purpose other then eye candy.
-Kevin

Denix · Jun 24, 2004

Wow! I've been EDCing a SAK for 15 years now, and never noticed it till today

Learn something new everyday!

Guy

Don Luis · Jun 24, 2004

The "twist" is known as "crink" and is common in multiblade knives, you can easily see it in a typical 3 blade, 2 spring stockman and many other traditional folders.

James Y · Jun 24, 2004

The Buck slipjoints avoid the crink but instead each blade has its own backspring. So for the number of blades it makes for a thicker knife.

I've always been aware of the assymetrical grinds on SAKs and other slipjoints but never was bothered. In fact, on SAK's the screwdriver is often ground unevenly so it doesn't need crinking.
Jim

Lavan · Jun 24, 2004

Oh....whew..... was lookin at da corkscrew.

Morgoth412 · Jun 24, 2004

James Y said:
The Buck slipjoints avoid the crink but instead each blade has its own backspring. So for the number of blades it makes for a thicker knife.

I've always been aware of the assymetrical grinds on SAKs and other slipjoints but never was bothered. In fact, on SAK's the screwdriver is often ground unevenly so it doesn't need crinking.
Jim

Suprisingly the Buck 303T that I use at home is very thin. Thinner then a two backspring Schrade UH. The Buck 301 is probably thicker though.
-Kevin

UnknownVT · Jun 24, 2004

Don Luis said:
The "twist" is known as "crink" and is common in multiblade knives, you can easily see it in a typical 3 blade, 2 spring stockman and many other traditional folders.

PWork said:
Take a look at some stockman models. Some of them actually have the blade BENT at the tang so it will nest next to the blade beside it, especially the cheap ones. The way the SAKs are is a much better way of doing it.

Thanks Don and Paul.. interesting.

Although I've known for years that the SAK blades had to be asymmetrical to fit in with other tools/blades - I didn't know this was called a "crink".

I know the Victorinox blades are deliberately ground asymmetrical - "twisted" if you will - do other brands really set a bend to fit the blades - or is that just the cheapies?

Thanks,

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/

UnknownVT · Jul 1, 2004

Lavan said:
Oh....whew..... was lookin at da corkscrew.

ha-ha-ha!

- yes indeed-y that is one tools that's deliberately twisted,
very twisted of you to see that

But there is another one -
- that seems to be actually bent......

It's one of my favorite tools - the Combination Tool - with large screwdriver/can-opener/bottle Cap-lifter/wire-stripper combined in one tool.

The close up of the Scientist and Economy line Waiter - shows the distinct bend in the combo tool -

When I first noticed this bend in the combo tool way back in 1988 I thought I had actually bent the tool myself....
It wasn't until months later when I had a chance to see another combo tool on another Scientist did I realize that this was a deliberate bend.

However on looking at the combo tools more closely I also found I had a regular full-priced Waiter that does not have a bend in the combo tool -

This Waiter was bought December/1988 (middle of photo) - but as one can see the other two Waiters both have bends in the combo tool - also the Scientist I have from Aug/1989 also has a bent combo tool. So I don't know what happened on this Waiter.

The Bantam Alox was from 1998 - it has a bend - but doesn't show well in the photo - but can easily be seen in the flesh - but a Dec/1991 Bantam Alox (with keyring) does not have a bend.

So it looks like the majority of combination tools have deliberate bends in them - but there may be a few out there without bends.

The only sample of the older style (less angular) combo tool I have is on the Economy line Waiter I got and EDC from Jan/1982 - this one sample does not have a bend as seen in this comparison photo - the other two newer style combo tools both do have bends even though the photo does not show that well here -

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/

Josh Feltman · Jul 1, 2004

Very interesting. I own several SAKs and never even noticed.

--Josh

Daniel Moore · Jul 6, 2004

Yes my soldier is! PHEW, thought I was alone! The large blade has a slight twist. Thanks for making me feel normal

dunc5 · Jul 6, 2004

yes i can see it on the main blade of my huntsman , thanks for that .

dunc

Daniel Moore · Jul 8, 2004

Could someone do me a favor? If you have an affected blade, particularly the Vic Soldier, could you angle it so that a beam of light runs down the blade length and tell me if there is a bend or some other feature on the blade causing light to bend about 1/2" or less from the tang running vertically? I just noticed it today.

Edit: It's appears on both surfaces of the blade, and it's VERY light sensitive as far as visibilty, so you might have to play with your angles.

k473 · Sep 8, 2004

hello everybody!
I think that I have a little problem with my sak <victorinox handyman>.
after a hard try to open a bottle of a nice greek wine, I mentioned that the last spiral of the corkscrew was in a light contact to the handle under. It wasn't adjacent to the handle, but just one of the spiral of the corkscrew <the nearest to the edge> was "touching" the handle, when the knife was closed.
As I am a perfectionist, but without any kind of related skills, I opened the corkscrew and I held it with a towell and I tryed gently to bend it slightly.
After this attempt, the corkscrew does not contact anywhere with the handle.
But I worry if I caused a damage to the body of this tool...
It seems like always <just fine!>, but...
Have got any similar "experience"? Or anything related to tell?
Has the corskrew of your sak, any contact point with the handle?
Thank you all.
<I feel so ashamed for my english...>

T. Erdelyi · Sep 8, 2004

In the old days of slipjoints, before CNC grinders, cuttlers used to kink a blade with a hammer and a special anvil to get the blades on multi bladed slipjoints.

If everything was square and perpendicular it would make for a very fat knife.

WadeF · Sep 8, 2004

Taking a picture of a series of knives like that is NOT an accurate way to judge if the blades are twisted. You would have to photograph each one straight on in the center of the lens's field of view. Each knife to the right and left of center will appear more and more twisted as they get further away from center.

I'm not saying they aren't twisted, just that taking a photograph like that isn't a good way to judge.

UnknownVT · Sep 9, 2004

WadeF said:
Taking a picture of a series of knives like that is NOT an accurate way to judge if the blades are twisted. You would have to photograph each one straight on in the center of the lens's field of view. Each knife to the right and left of center will appear more and more twisted as they get further away from center.

I'm not saying they aren't twisted, just that taking a photograph like that isn't a good way to judge.

Agreed that using a camera lens especially a wider angle lens to photograph will have some geometrical distortion and perspective distortion - so that objects toward the outer edges may be rendered more distorted than real life.

However the "twist" here is that these photos were taken with a flatbed scanner!

I'm not saying a flatbed scanner is totally free of distortion - there is some "perspective distortion" that I have noticed as the scanning elements do not strictly look straight up through the flatbed plate glass - and like a camera lens it is outer edges that are most affected - but it is minimal compared to camera lenses and there is no geometrical distortion to speak of.

Because I am aware of the outer edge perspective problem I lined the knives in question up along the middle of the flatbed plate glass to minimize this effect and made sure the most twisted blade of the Victorinox Soldier was centered in the scan area........

I hope that mitigated some of the problems - plus I did ask people to actually look at their blades to see the twist for themselves - so the photos were really just illustrations - and NOT meant to be absolute/accurate measurements - I think they fulfilled that capacity?

--
Vincent

http://UnknownVincent.cjb.net/
http://UnknownVT.cjb.net/