Please, not the white socks and sensible sandals at the same time. I replaced mine with a Leatherman years ago.Yesterday I used the magnifying glass in mine to remove a bee sting from my wailing daughters foot. I wouldn't be without one in the house. Keep it in your 'man drawer' in the kitchen.* (Not nearly as exciting as the places that Scepticalscribes end up in - but hey ho...) I've also got a Leatherman in there - which again is surprisingly useful.
They make great presents for Dads at Christmas - it's far more satisfying using a shiny new Swiss Army knife to open up all those battery compartments for the kids than rooting about in a drawer for the philips screwdriver.
* I think all I need now is a beard, some white socks and a pair of sensible sandals...
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Swiss Army Knives
- Thread starter puma1552
- Start date
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Here's a pic of the retired forest green that arrived last week (right) compared to the currently produced hunter green (left).
Collection:
I do need to replace my mini champ on my keychain sooner than later however, as the scales are starting to crack/fall off after getting knocked around for a couple years. I would be tempted to track down a blue alox to try, but I can't give up the ultra-useful pen in the mini champ.
Collection:
I do need to replace my mini champ on my keychain sooner than later however, as the scales are starting to crack/fall off after getting knocked around for a couple years. I would be tempted to track down a blue alox to try, but I can't give up the ultra-useful pen in the mini champ.
Here's a pic of the retired forest green that arrived last week (right) compared to the currently produced hunter green (left).
Collection:
I do need to replace my mini champ on my keychain sooner than later however, as the scales are starting to crack/fall off after getting knocked around for a couple years. I would be tempted to track down a blue alox to try, but I can't give up the ultra-useful pen in the mini champ.
Enjoy them.
As you are a collector, naturally, you will wish to collect as many as possible. However, speaking personally, I prefer the shade of the current "hunter green" to the recently retired "forest green".
I find it interesting to read through and see all the variations of Swiss Army knives.
I've been a Case fan for a while and have quite a few of them, although I'm not a collector. I tend toward the medium size "stockman" 3 blade pattern. I rotate through two different ones-one in CV steel with amber bone handles and the other stainless with "composition"(yellow plastic) handles. I prefer a carbon steel(or CV in Case-speak) blade both for sharpness and for how easy they are to sharpen, but won't carry one in the summer due to rusting and am even careful in the winter about keeping them oiled.
I also have several other Cases that belonged to both of my grandfathers.
Case makes good, honest pocket knives with customer service that's second to none, but I've always appreciated how useful a Swiss army knife can be.
I've been a Case fan for a while and have quite a few of them, although I'm not a collector. I tend toward the medium size "stockman" 3 blade pattern. I rotate through two different ones-one in CV steel with amber bone handles and the other stainless with "composition"(yellow plastic) handles. I prefer a carbon steel(or CV in Case-speak) blade both for sharpness and for how easy they are to sharpen, but won't carry one in the summer due to rusting and am even careful in the winter about keeping them oiled.
I also have several other Cases that belonged to both of my grandfathers.
Case makes good, honest pocket knives with customer service that's second to none, but I've always appreciated how useful a Swiss army knife can be.
So I got a completely unexpected gift from my wife tonight - a complete kit to assemble your own swiss army knife. Very cool idea - in theory - more on that later.
Kit with the assembly instructions. Note the assembly instructions don't really account for the fact that of the four pins that hold everything together, only two are alike. Three have the same length, but one is barely thinner, and the fourth pin is both shorter and thinner. The instructions also don't account for any of the little washers:
My wife actually got me a different set of extra scales, the silver tech ones which I intend to use (also comes with a duplicate of the large blade in the kit, this one just says it was self-assembled but I just used the regular blade in the kit):
So I sit down to assemble it, which is really a three hand job when you figure there are 3-4 main pins that hold everything together and a couple springs (not springs in the traditional sense, but rather long metal pieces under tension, see the 4th and 5th pieces from the left, two pics up from here) - usually you need to hold everything in place around 2-3 of the pins and then push against the spring and snap a tool in against the spring under tension where the last pin is. Not to mention you are playing with knife blades here. Nonetheless, I managed to get everything together myself.
So I get everything together, and notice the last outermost layer of metal doesn't seem to go together that well. I figure maybe I just need to muscle it into place when I put the scales on, so I grab those and start to do that, when I realize that the pin heads simply don't align with the designated holes for them in the scales. I look closer, and realize that the already somewhat poorly detailed instructions actually mistakenly have the two outermost metal layers drawn in the mirror image of how they are supposed to be, so the scales will never be able to be installed. So I take the whole thing apart, and then attempt the mind-bending assembly not only as a mirror image of what's on the instruction card but also trying to install it with the pins pointing up (as I don't have enough hands to hold the pins in place to install everything horizontally "into the page" as laid out on the card) and building the knife "up" into the sky.
So after like 2.5 total hours - embarrassing as I am an engineer - I have the knife back together, correctly this time. Everything seems to have gone together well and the tools all open and close with the familiar snap that they should. However, now it seems so obvious but I wasn't thinking ahead - the pins are far too long for the assembled knife. Not only that, they are also pointed on one end.
The brass pins need to be cut to size for this knife before the scales can be put on and the knife can be completed:
Baffled, I look at every piece of documentation and in the corner of the instruction card there is a QR code and it says visit the Victorinox website to find a store to assemble the knife. WTF? And then I look on the flap of the box when you open it up and it says "Make an appointment and build your personal companion for life."
This is my finished product, for now:
So you sell me a build your own swiss army knife kit that I can't build myself, and have to go to the store and make an appointment to finish building? Pretty disappointed, to be honest. There's no reason they couldn't have just cut the pins in the kit to the correct length for this knife, since this isn't some universal kit where you can build any kind of knife, it's a specific model (Spartan I believe but I will verify later once complete).
My wife did an awesome job picking this out as we both thought this was a super cool idea. But the crappy-ass instructions and the fact I can't actually build it myself pretty much defeat the purpose. It was also more expensive than a normal Spartan. For what it's worth my wife did comment to the guy at the store when she bought it that the instructions didn't seem to be the most detailed, and he said there should be a YouTube video somewhere of the installation, which I never found. Clearly the guy at the store also didn't realize I am supposed to build this knife at their store...
-Grade of A for wife's idea
-Grade of A for idea of a kit to build your own knife and getting to see how it all goes together
-Grade of C- for poor instructions
-Grade of D- for making a build yourself kit you can't actually build yourself
Kit with the assembly instructions. Note the assembly instructions don't really account for the fact that of the four pins that hold everything together, only two are alike. Three have the same length, but one is barely thinner, and the fourth pin is both shorter and thinner. The instructions also don't account for any of the little washers:
My wife actually got me a different set of extra scales, the silver tech ones which I intend to use (also comes with a duplicate of the large blade in the kit, this one just says it was self-assembled but I just used the regular blade in the kit):
So I sit down to assemble it, which is really a three hand job when you figure there are 3-4 main pins that hold everything together and a couple springs (not springs in the traditional sense, but rather long metal pieces under tension, see the 4th and 5th pieces from the left, two pics up from here) - usually you need to hold everything in place around 2-3 of the pins and then push against the spring and snap a tool in against the spring under tension where the last pin is. Not to mention you are playing with knife blades here. Nonetheless, I managed to get everything together myself.
So I get everything together, and notice the last outermost layer of metal doesn't seem to go together that well. I figure maybe I just need to muscle it into place when I put the scales on, so I grab those and start to do that, when I realize that the pin heads simply don't align with the designated holes for them in the scales. I look closer, and realize that the already somewhat poorly detailed instructions actually mistakenly have the two outermost metal layers drawn in the mirror image of how they are supposed to be, so the scales will never be able to be installed. So I take the whole thing apart, and then attempt the mind-bending assembly not only as a mirror image of what's on the instruction card but also trying to install it with the pins pointing up (as I don't have enough hands to hold the pins in place to install everything horizontally "into the page" as laid out on the card) and building the knife "up" into the sky.
So after like 2.5 total hours - embarrassing as I am an engineer - I have the knife back together, correctly this time. Everything seems to have gone together well and the tools all open and close with the familiar snap that they should. However, now it seems so obvious but I wasn't thinking ahead - the pins are far too long for the assembled knife. Not only that, they are also pointed on one end.
The brass pins need to be cut to size for this knife before the scales can be put on and the knife can be completed:
Baffled, I look at every piece of documentation and in the corner of the instruction card there is a QR code and it says visit the Victorinox website to find a store to assemble the knife. WTF? And then I look on the flap of the box when you open it up and it says "Make an appointment and build your personal companion for life."
This is my finished product, for now:
So you sell me a build your own swiss army knife kit that I can't build myself, and have to go to the store and make an appointment to finish building? Pretty disappointed, to be honest. There's no reason they couldn't have just cut the pins in the kit to the correct length for this knife, since this isn't some universal kit where you can build any kind of knife, it's a specific model (Spartan I believe but I will verify later once complete).
My wife did an awesome job picking this out as we both thought this was a super cool idea. But the crappy-ass instructions and the fact I can't actually build it myself pretty much defeat the purpose. It was also more expensive than a normal Spartan. For what it's worth my wife did comment to the guy at the store when she bought it that the instructions didn't seem to be the most detailed, and he said there should be a YouTube video somewhere of the installation, which I never found. Clearly the guy at the store also didn't realize I am supposed to build this knife at their store...
-Grade of A for wife's idea
-Grade of A for idea of a kit to build your own knife and getting to see how it all goes together
-Grade of C- for poor instructions
-Grade of D- for making a build yourself kit you can't actually build yourself
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Instructions aside, it's a nice thoughtful gift. Kudos to your wife.
Alright so I went to the Victorinox store last night and they helped me finish this off, I just had to stick some remaining little washers around the pins, then use a special tool to clip the pins down to the height of the washers, hammer them to mushroom the pins against the washers to hold them in place, then use a vice to squeeze the scales on. Then oiled it up and I'm good to go with a homemade Spartan model. Works just as perfectly as a store bought one. Really love the SilverTech scales too. It's a really good size and is just the right thickness too - my only comparison for a 91 mm knife is a full-tilt Swiss Champ, which is pretty thick.
It was actually pretty cool to go there and get to sit down at a special station where they have all these knife parts and tools and finish building my own. Would recommend if you have a Victorinox store nearby, armed with the knowledge that you can't finish it completely at home or could go to the store and build the whole thing there.
It was actually pretty cool to go there and get to sit down at a special station where they have all these knife parts and tools and finish building my own. Would recommend if you have a Victorinox store nearby, armed with the knowledge that you can't finish it completely at home or could go to the store and build the whole thing there.
So I got a completely unexpected gift from my wife tonight - a complete kit to assemble your own swiss army knife. Very cool idea - in theory - more on that later.
Kit with the assembly instructions. Note the assembly instructions don't really account for the fact that of the four pins that hold everything together, only two are alike. Three have the same length, but one is barely thinner, and the fourth pin is both shorter and thinner. The instructions also don't account for any of the little washers:
My wife actually got me a different set of extra scales, the silver tech ones which I intend to use (also comes with a duplicate of the large blade in the kit, this one just says it was self-assembled but I just used the regular blade in the kit):
So I sit down to assemble it, which is really a three hand job when you figure there are 3-4 main pins that hold everything together and a couple springs (not springs in the traditional sense, but rather long metal pieces under tension, see the 4th and 5th pieces from the left, two pics up from here) - usually you need to hold everything in place around 2-3 of the pins and then push against the spring and snap a tool in against the spring under tension where the last pin is. Not to mention you are playing with knife blades here. Nonetheless, I managed to get everything together myself.
So I get everything together, and notice the last outermost layer of metal doesn't seem to go together that well. I figure maybe I just need to muscle it into place when I put the scales on, so I grab those and start to do that, when I realize that the pin heads simply don't align with the designated holes for them in the scales. I look closer, and realize that the already somewhat poorly detailed instructions actually mistakenly have the two outermost metal layers drawn in the mirror image of how they are supposed to be, so the scales will never be able to be installed. So I take the whole thing apart, and then attempt the mind-bending assembly not only as a mirror image of what's on the instruction card but also trying to install it with the pins pointing up (as I don't have enough hands to hold the pins in place to install everything horizontally "into the page" as laid out on the card) and building the knife "up" into the sky.
So after like 2.5 total hours - embarrassing as I am an engineer - I have the knife back together, correctly this time. Everything seems to have gone together well and the tools all open and close with the familiar snap that they should. However, now it seems so obvious but I wasn't thinking ahead - the pins are far too long for the assembled knife. Not only that, they are also pointed on one end.
The brass pins need to be cut to size for this knife before the scales can be put on and the knife can be completed:
Baffled, I look at every piece of documentation and in the corner of the instruction card there is a QR code and it says visit the Victorinox website to find a store to assemble the knife. WTF? And then I look on the flap of the box when you open it up and it says "Make an appointment and build your personal companion for life."
This is my finished product, for now:
So you sell me a build your own swiss army knife kit that I can't build myself, and have to go to the store and make an appointment to finish building? Pretty disappointed, to be honest. There's no reason they couldn't have just cut the pins in the kit to the correct length for this knife, since this isn't some universal kit where you can build any kind of knife, it's a specific model (Spartan I believe but I will verify later once complete).
My wife did an awesome job picking this out as we both thought this was a super cool idea. But the crappy-ass instructions and the fact I can't actually build it myself pretty much defeat the purpose. It was also more expensive than a normal Spartan. For what it's worth my wife did comment to the guy at the store when she bought it that the instructions didn't seem to be the most detailed, and he said there should be a YouTube video somewhere of the installation, which I never found. Clearly the guy at the store also didn't realize I am supposed to build this knife at their store...
-Grade of A for wife's idea
-Grade of A for idea of a kit to build your own knife and getting to see how it all goes together
-Grade of C- for poor instructions
-Grade of D- for making a build yourself kit you can't actually build yourself
Alright so I went to the Victorinox store last night and they helped me finish this off, I just had to stick some remaining little washers around the pins, then use a special tool to clip the pins down to the height of the washers, hammer them to mushroom the pins against the washers to hold them in place, then use a vice to squeeze the scales on. Then oiled it up and I'm good to go with a homemade Spartan model. Works just as perfectly as a store bought one. Really love the SilverTech scales too. It's a really good size and is just the right thickness too - my only comparison for a 91 mm knife is a full-tilt Swiss Champ, which is pretty thick.
It was actually pretty cool to go there and get to sit down at a special station where they have all these knife parts and tools and finish building my own. Would recommend if you have a Victorinox store nearby, armed with the knowledge that you can't finish it completely at home or could go to the store and build the whole thing there.
Great and most imaginative idea for a gift, a pity about the actual execution. Kudos, and a roux of applause to your wife.
Alright so I went to the Victorinox store last night and they helped me finish this off, I just had to stick some remaining little washers around the pins, then use a special tool to clip the pins down to the height of the washers, hammer them to mushroom the pins against the washers to hold them in place, then use a vice to squeeze the scales on. Then oiled it up and I'm good to go with a homemade Spartan model. Works just as perfectly as a store bought one. Really love the SilverTech scales too. It's a really good size and is just the right thickness too - my only comparison for a 91 mm knife is a full-tilt Swiss Champ, which is pretty thick.
It was actually pretty cool to go there and get to sit down at a special station where they have all these knife parts and tools and finish building my own. Would recommend if you have a Victorinox store nearby, armed with the knowledge that you can't finish it completely at home or could go to the store and build the whole thing there.
Great postscript to the story of your wife's gift. Delighted to see that you were able to complete actually putting the knife together - that must have been extremely satisfying even if you had to head in to an actual Victorinox store to ensure that it could be done.
Still, you now have in your possession a knife that you put together, and that the store was able to put the finishing touches to. What a wonderful story. And full marks to your wife for an imaginative and thoughtful and original gift.
Alright so I went to the Victorinox store last night and they helped me finish this off, I just had to stick some remaining little washers around the pins, then use a special tool to clip the pins down to the height of the washers, hammer them to mushroom the pins against the washers to hold them in place, then use a vice to squeeze the scales on. Then oiled it up and I'm good to go with a homemade Spartan model. Works just as perfectly as a store bought one. Really love the SilverTech scales too. It's a really good size and is just the right thickness too - my only comparison for a 91 mm knife is a full-tilt Swiss Champ, which is pretty thick.
It was actually pretty cool to go there and get to sit down at a special station where they have all these knife parts and tools and finish building my own. Would recommend if you have a Victorinox store nearby, armed with the knowledge that you can't finish it completely at home or could go to the store and build the whole thing there.
Looks awesome! Too bad I don't live near a store.
Welp, I guess I'm officially interested in more than just the little 58 mm models now that my wife got me that build your own Spartan.
I was looking on the Victorinox site and they have a "White Christmas" Climber model which is limited edition (10,000 made). Had to have it. It would be nice if it said what number it was, but oh well. Here are some pics:
Comparison to the SilverTech scales - the White Christmas does have all the same details such as the "Victorinox" text and little numbers stamped into the scales, etc., but much harder to see being solid white. Can't decide which I like better, they are both pretty great:
Classic SDs are single layer knives, while the Spartan is a two layer knife and the Climber is a three layer knife. The Swiss Champ is a 7 layer knife. Not shown - my MiniChamp II which is on my keyring:
I think the next thing I want is one with wood scales - never really liked them or thought much about them until looking at them up close - they are really nice.
I was looking on the Victorinox site and they have a "White Christmas" Climber model which is limited edition (10,000 made). Had to have it. It would be nice if it said what number it was, but oh well. Here are some pics:
Comparison to the SilverTech scales - the White Christmas does have all the same details such as the "Victorinox" text and little numbers stamped into the scales, etc., but much harder to see being solid white. Can't decide which I like better, they are both pretty great:
Classic SDs are single layer knives, while the Spartan is a two layer knife and the Climber is a three layer knife. The Swiss Champ is a 7 layer knife. Not shown - my MiniChamp II which is on my keyring:
I think the next thing I want is one with wood scales - never really liked them or thought much about them until looking at them up close - they are really nice.
There's something I've long wondered about one of the blades, and was hoping you can answer it.Welp, I guess I'm officially interested in more than just the little 58 mm models now that my wife got me that build your own Spartan.
I was looking on the Victorinox site and they have a "White Christmas" Climber model which is limited edition (10,000 made). Had to have it. It would be nice if it said what number it was, but oh well. Here are some pics:
Comparison to the SilverTech scales - the White Christmas does have all the same details such as the "Victorinox" text and little numbers stamped into the scales, etc., but much harder to see being solid white. Can't decide which I like better, they are both pretty great:
Classic SDs are single layer knives, while the Spartan is a two layer knife and the Climber is a three layer knife. The Swiss Champ is a 7 layer knife. Not shown - my MiniChamp II which is on my keyring:
I think the next thing I want is one with wood scales - never really liked them or thought much about them until looking at them up close - they are really nice.
There's a small hole piercing the awl/reamer blade. Do you know what it's for?
I don't think they'd drill a hole for no reason, so I figure it must have a purpose. But I can't think what it might be. Or rather, all the things I can think of are nutty or unlikely.
I think it's to put thread through and then you push the awl through leather or whatever so you can get the thread through the leather to sew it up...I think it basically functions as the loop on a needle.
I had honed in on a wood handled Huntsman for my next knife. Bored, I decided to look at REI's website and to my surprise, the local flagship store carries it. Surprised, and not interested in dealing with the Mall of America where the Victorinox store is, I decided to take a ride over there just to browse, had no intention of buying.
What I was most curious to see was if the knives came in a box or a see-through blister pack (Victorinox seems to use endless kinds of packaging for the same knives for some reason). Reason for this is because every wood handle knife has a totally unique grain pattern, so I kind of wanted the ability to pick one.
I go to the store and hit the jackpot. Not only did it come in a blister pack, they had like 15 to choose from. I sat there picking through them all and found one that was exactly the grain pattern I was looking for - smooth vertical grain pattern with a light variation in color, so I decided I had better snatch it up while I was there:
At four layers, it fits in nicely behind my three layer climber and my seven layer swiss champ:
The Huntsman is identical to the climber, except that it also has a wood saw. I think for a true every day carry knife, you can't go wrong with the Climber or the Huntsman (the Spartan (the SilverTech one) would need a scissors for me to every day carry it). The Spartan would be the best in terms of weight though, if you can live without a scissors.
I continue to be amazed by what a quality, hand made, Swiss-built product you can get for this cheap. I think the MSRP on this knife is north of $50 but REI sells it for $44, and I've seen it listed at reputable online dealers for $33 in wood handle trim (though I thought it was worth the premium at REI to get to pick my grain pattern).
What I was most curious to see was if the knives came in a box or a see-through blister pack (Victorinox seems to use endless kinds of packaging for the same knives for some reason). Reason for this is because every wood handle knife has a totally unique grain pattern, so I kind of wanted the ability to pick one.
I go to the store and hit the jackpot. Not only did it come in a blister pack, they had like 15 to choose from. I sat there picking through them all and found one that was exactly the grain pattern I was looking for - smooth vertical grain pattern with a light variation in color, so I decided I had better snatch it up while I was there:
At four layers, it fits in nicely behind my three layer climber and my seven layer swiss champ:
The Huntsman is identical to the climber, except that it also has a wood saw. I think for a true every day carry knife, you can't go wrong with the Climber or the Huntsman (the Spartan (the SilverTech one) would need a scissors for me to every day carry it). The Spartan would be the best in terms of weight though, if you can live without a scissors.
I continue to be amazed by what a quality, hand made, Swiss-built product you can get for this cheap. I think the MSRP on this knife is north of $50 but REI sells it for $44, and I've seen it listed at reputable online dealers for $33 in wood handle trim (though I thought it was worth the premium at REI to get to pick my grain pattern).
I had honed in on a wood handled Huntsman for my next knife. Bored, I decided to look at REI's website and to my surprise, the local flagship store carries it. Surprised, and not interested in dealing with the Mall of America where the Victorinox store is, I decided to take a ride over there just to browse, had no intention of buying.
What I was most curious to see was if the knives came in a box or a see-through blister pack (Victorinox seems to use endless kinds of packaging for the same knives for some reason). Reason for this is because every wood handle knife has a totally unique grain pattern, so I kind of wanted the ability to pick one.
I go to the store and hit the jackpot. Not only did it come in a blister pack, they had like 15 to choose from. I sat there picking through them all and found one that was exactly the grain pattern I was looking for - smooth vertical grain pattern with a light variation in color, so I decided I had better snatch it up while I was there:
At four layers, it fits in nicely behind my three layer climber and my seven layer swiss champ:
The Huntsman is identical to the climber, except that it also has a wood saw. I think for a true every day carry knife, you can't go wrong with the Climber or the Huntsman (the Spartan (the SilverTech one) would need a scissors for me to every day carry it). The Spartan would be the best in terms of weight though, if you can live without a scissors.
I continue to be amazed by what a quality, hand made, Swiss-built product you can get for this cheap. I think the MSRP on this knife is north of $50 but REI sells it for $44, and I've seen it listed at reputable online dealers for $33 in wood handle trim (though I thought it was worth the premium at REI to get to pick my grain pattern).
Lovely looking knife and long may you enjoy using it.
What is the difference - or what are the differences - between the Huntsman knife and the Explorer knife?
The Explorer is the same as the Huntsman, except the wood saw is replaced with both a magnifying glass and a phillips screw driver.
Ah. Thank you.
I asked merely because (almost) every Swiss Army knife I have had, - going back over twenty years - has been an Explorer. (And while some of them were given away to local staff, others were occasionally feloniously removed).
The screw driver is handy, and - ash an elections expert, and needing to scrutinise ballot I rather like the idea of having a small magnifying glass on my person.
Another week, another couple knives -
Decided to try the alox scale models out - I picked up a silver one, as well as a 2015 Limited Edition. This is the first year they are doing this, and this year's color is steel blue. Next year's will be a different color. I actually quite like the alox.
Silver:
2015 Limited Edition:
Decided to try the alox scale models out - I picked up a silver one, as well as a 2015 Limited Edition. This is the first year they are doing this, and this year's color is steel blue. Next year's will be a different color. I actually quite like the alox.
Silver:
2015 Limited Edition:
Another week, another couple knives -
Decided to try the alox scale models out - I picked up a silver one, as well as a 2015 Limited Edition. This is the first year they are doing this, and this year's color is steel blue. Next year's will be a different color. I actually quite like the alox.
Silver:
2015 Limited Edition:
Interesting. I'm surprised to see this given your response when I recommended the Limited Edition earlier in this thread.
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Received this retired rust brown classic in the mail today. Unfortunately it is going back for an exchange as they sent me a regular classic, not the classic SD i had ordered (only difference is the nail file doesn't have a flat screwdriver tip, it's just pointy. but all my others are SDs).
I like the color though, fits in well with my rainbow:
Difference between old style Classic and Classic SD (SD for screwdriver):
I like the color though, fits in well with my rainbow:
Difference between old style Classic and Classic SD (SD for screwdriver):
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Received this retired rust brown classic in the mail today. Unfortunately it is going back for an exchange as they sent me a regular classic, not the classic SD i had ordered (only difference is the nail file doesn't have a flat screwdriver tip, it's just pointy. but all my others are SDs).
I like the color though, fits in well with my rainbow:
Difference between old style Classic and Classic SD (SD for screwdriver):
Each to their own, and I suppose that the collection would have felt somewhat sullied if you had retained this one.
However, the difference between them reminds me of those pictures - you know the ones where two - initially apparently identical pictures are placed side by side, and you are asked to 'spot the 10 differences' between them. I used to love them as a kid.
Decided to do a quickie tarnish removal on the sterling silver one, so here's a quick tutorial with pics as it can be used for any sterling silver item.
All you need is baking soda, boiling water, and tinfoil. Vinegar helps if available, but not completely necessary. In fact I also cheated and used baking powder instead of baking soda, as we don't have the latter at the moment. Baking powder contains baking soda, so it will work, but I think for best results you want baking soda and vinegar, but to my eye it is a bit whiter, if not gleaming like last time. Will try again with baking soda and vinegar at some point. Unfortunately exposure to air tarnishes silver, so I'm sure I'll be doing it again sometime.
Slightly tarnished/yellowed knife:
1. Boil water:
2. Place tinfoil in bowl, with knife and baking soda on the tinfoil. There will be a reaction between the baking soda, the tinfoil, and the silver. You can look the reaction up online, it's pretty simple. Chopstick is to flip the knife by its keyring to expose the other scale to the tinfoil:
3. SLOWLY pour the boiling water into the bowl (there's a foamy reaction here), covering the knife and dissolving the baking soda:
4. Let is sit for a minute or two and let the chemistry do it's thing on the backside scale:
5. Flip:
When it's done, then remove it and rinse it thoroughly under cold water, opening up all the tools to flush everything out. Dry, oil the tools, and done.
It's probably too hard to see from the pics, but it is a cleaner/whiter silver now than before. That said, it didn't turn out as good as the first time I did it (at which point it came out absolutely gleaming), probably because I'm using baking powder instead of baking soda, and no vinegar. There's still a little bit of tarnish around the logo this time.
All you need is baking soda, boiling water, and tinfoil. Vinegar helps if available, but not completely necessary. In fact I also cheated and used baking powder instead of baking soda, as we don't have the latter at the moment. Baking powder contains baking soda, so it will work, but I think for best results you want baking soda and vinegar, but to my eye it is a bit whiter, if not gleaming like last time. Will try again with baking soda and vinegar at some point. Unfortunately exposure to air tarnishes silver, so I'm sure I'll be doing it again sometime.
Slightly tarnished/yellowed knife:
1. Boil water:
2. Place tinfoil in bowl, with knife and baking soda on the tinfoil. There will be a reaction between the baking soda, the tinfoil, and the silver. You can look the reaction up online, it's pretty simple. Chopstick is to flip the knife by its keyring to expose the other scale to the tinfoil:
3. SLOWLY pour the boiling water into the bowl (there's a foamy reaction here), covering the knife and dissolving the baking soda:
4. Let is sit for a minute or two and let the chemistry do it's thing on the backside scale:
5. Flip:
When it's done, then remove it and rinse it thoroughly under cold water, opening up all the tools to flush everything out. Dry, oil the tools, and done.
It's probably too hard to see from the pics, but it is a cleaner/whiter silver now than before. That said, it didn't turn out as good as the first time I did it (at which point it came out absolutely gleaming), probably because I'm using baking powder instead of baking soda, and no vinegar. There's still a little bit of tarnish around the logo this time.
Decided to do a quickie tarnish removal on the sterling silver one, so here's a quick tutorial with pics as it can be used for any sterling silver item.
All you need is baking soda, boiling water, and tinfoil. Vinegar helps if available, but not completely necessary. In fact I also cheated and used baking powder instead of baking soda, as we don't have the latter at the moment. Baking powder contains baking soda, so it will work, but I think for best results you want baking soda and vinegar, but to my eye it is a bit whiter, if not gleaming like last time. Will try again with baking soda and vinegar at some point. Unfortunately exposure to air tarnishes silver, so I'm sure I'll be doing it again sometime.
Slightly tarnished/yellowed knife:
1. Boil water:
2. Place tinfoil in bowl, with knife and baking soda on the tinfoil. There will be a reaction between the baking soda, the tinfoil, and the silver. You can look the reaction up online, it's pretty simple. Chopstick is to flip the knife by its keyring to expose the other scale to the tinfoil:
3. SLOWLY pour the boiling water into the bowl (there's a foamy reaction here), covering the knife and dissolving the baking soda:
4. Let is sit for a minute or two and let the chemistry do it's thing on the backside scale:
5. Flip:
When it's done, then remove it and rinse it thoroughly under cold water, opening up all the tools to flush everything out. Dry, oil the tools, and done.
It's probably too hard to see from the pics, but it is a cleaner/whiter silver now than before. That said, it didn't turn out as good as the first time I did it (at which point it came out absolutely gleaming), probably because I'm using baking powder instead of baking soda, and no vinegar. There's still a little bit of tarnish around the logo this time.
Fascinating post, and great tutorial.
For once, the pictures you have posted actually enhance and improve the learning experience (unlike those indecipherable diagrams you tend to see in instruction manuals).
Now, as it happens, I have a few - more than a few, if I am honest - items made from sterling silver. Fish knives, a Mont Blanc fountain pen, napkin rings……
Hm..