Back to Black - Swiss Army Knife.

Changing the handles on a Swiss Army Knife (Easy)...

I do like the iconic red Swiss Army Knife 'scales' (handles), the traditional red pocket knife is iconic AND it looks less threatening if you are caught carrying it as it's recognizable as a 'pen knife'.

That said, it's nice to have a change every now and then and I am smitten with the Victorinox - the manufacturer of Swiss Army Knives - black scales. I already have one SAK in black and and I fancied changing my current pocket carry - a 'Handyman' - to rock a set of black handles as well.

Luckily, this is a very easy project as Victorinox and several third party manufacturers supply additional handle sets and accessories kits, in fact you can even 3D print your own designs if you want. I bought a black kit off eBay and so I just had to look up the process of removing the old handles up on YouTube...

The Handyman...

I should quickly explain why the Victorinox Handyman model of SAK is my favourite all-rounder crafting/DIY companion.

My main crafting hobby is light woodworking and making my little 'peg' figures, that so it's really handy (forgive the pun) to have a multitool in my pocket that has a bias to cutting and shaping materials. The 'Handyman' has just about every tool I would require to be a carry anywhere mini-workshop; including file, saw, scissors, knife, etc, etc...

It as big as I would feel comfortable with, with its 5 layers of tools and you definitely notice it's in your pocket. So, I wouldn't carry this every day, when out and about on non-crafting days I switch back down to something like my 3 layer Camper or Tinker models.

Going Through the Change...

As you can see in the video tutorial I included above changing scales if a pretty simple process IF you do it properly. Simply forcing the old scales off by just prying them 'cold' will result in damaging the attachment points inside the handles. So, follow the heating method...

Boiled the kettle and left the thermometer in the container with the boiling water until it came down to >70C. I'm using my everyday 'Tinkerer' SAK to lever the loose scales...

It only took a couple of minutes for the scales to soften - I was surprised - and then I slipped the thin short blade of my other knife under the seam and began prying the scales up (do watch the video as there is a particular way to do this that make the lifting easy)...

Don't boob like I did and leave the little accessory tools in the knife (the tweezers and the tooth pick)! 😏 It doesn't do any damage, it's just saves you from the now loose accessories pinging out when you remove the handles...

My mini vice is for model-making so - conveniently - the vice grips are made of comparatively soft rubber/plastic, so the grips wont mark my new scales. Even so, as precaution I covered teh grips with masking tape...

And bingo! The new scales clipped in without huge amounts of pressure AND because I used this hot water technique the old red scales are in perfect undamaged condition and should be alright for using again should I wish to.

All in all, a nice little project to get me back into the swing of things. I think I will make a paracord lanyard for this knife next.