Restomod of a badly beaten Victorinox Camper- changing the scales

On a flea market some time ago I got myself a cool, but really badly battered Victorinox Camper... but for 3€ or summat.  

Now Victorinox has really changed my outlook on bushcraft knives in general.  Maybe it is because I am getting old, but a Victorinox Ranger really is my most used knife these days.  Rather light, always on board and rather unproblematic with the authorities, it really shines in a lot of applications, if you know how to use it. 

I think that will be a topic for another post.

 Anyway, the knife I got had a bad dent on the small whittling blade. On the detour from the flea market, I did a little bimble through the woods, and picked out a random sandstone and ground it flat against a broken tile also lying around not doing anything, and used it on the small blade.  

This worked out pretty well. I will show you how to use a sandstone as a grindstone in a future post.  The beauty of a SAK, however, is that, while the tempering of the blade is really resilient, while having a more than adequate edge retention, it can be maintained with next to no provisions.  

The other day, I had ordered some new scales. I did not need to upgrade to the Plus scales, but I ordered new goodies in red, too.  I am a fashion victim, too, sometimes, you know? 😉

But, of course, there was a reason for it,  since the scales were a bit damaged, too.  

Those had arrived, and I watched the awesome tutorial by the master of SAKs himself. Look here: 

That said, I changed one thing, and that was adding some detergent to the boiling water.  Removed the tweezers and toothpick, and put the knife into the hot, no longer boiling, water. I took some tongs at the ready to take it out of the water after some five minutes. The scales get a bit softer afterwards. 

Using the small blade on another SAK, i popped off the scales as Felix suggested, getting between liners and scales between the two hindmost rivets.  Worked a cinch. You have to be a bit careful and have a little patience, but the scales come off with a rather satisfying "pop" 😉. 

Taking care to thoroughly clean the liners and working the blades underwater for some time (you can also use Q-tips or a piece of handkerchief or paper towel wrapped around the tweezers), 

Thoroughly dry the liners afterwards. 

Starting with the corkscrew side, handpress the scales onto the rivets. 

Use a towel, some tape, or felt inlays to protect the scales from scratches, you can use a vise to press-fit the new scales in place. 

And just like that, you have a knife that is almost like new.  

This is the real beauty of a SAK.  That knife is over 45 years old, and it is now ready for a good time in the woods again.  

A use for the #Victorinox multi purpose hook

Now those Victorinox Swiss Army knives are really a strange thing. I mean, I do make knives myself, and some of them are pretty decent ahem, and I own quite a lot of production knives.  As a kid, I was into those Rambo movies like many others and had to have a Rambo knife. Broke it in no time, of course, because crap.  Got a Ka-Bar lookalike (yes, those WERE different times, and NO, I never, ever, hurt anyone  but myself). But I also carried a small Wenger SAK in my pocket.  I still have it, after 47years.  I sharpened, as in reprofiled it, maybe twice in all these years.  

I grew up in the woods, as you guys know.  I really used my knives. Ages ago, I went on the bushcraft train, mostly because it was simply a name for what I have done all my life.  I have never claimed to be the best or even mediocre, I just kept doing what I have always done.  

Now, with coming of age, so to say, I find that more often than not, I just take my SAK, sometimes two, into the woods, actually, and the guys who know me personally will cry out now "Wut?" , leaving my other knives at home.  Not because of some fear of the authorities or for other ideological reasons. But because these knives, provided you know how to use them, have little to no limitations as to what you can do with them. 

They are some of the most underrated and misunderstood knives in the bushcraft and survival community.  I say that because, like it or not, you will most possibly not use a knife against a wild boar attack.  Not even a Khukhuri.  Plus, like that or not, we are also not allowed to do any such thing as wild camping or starting a fire outside designated campsites. All that tactical special forces mumbo jumbo is just hot wind.  You can go foraging inside very strict regulations, take home a certain amount of mushrooms and other natural provisions, and if it is tolerated by the authorities, take a small diametre deadwood stick to whittle.  You are not entitled to sleep in the woods whatsoever, except in an emergency.  There are slightly lighter regulations on private property, but actually it is almost like that even the owner is not allowed to do anything in the woods than selling timber and planting trees.  

What you can do with a knife in the forests of Germany is strictly limited.  Of course I do love my Helle Fjellkniven Eggen, Norwegian hunting knife, and Temagami, my Casström Woodsman and No10 and all those other lovely bushcraft knives.  Using them gives you the feeling as if you were free.  But since you are not allowed to take wood for a fire, there is no need for batoning or anything like that. If you want to split wood for a spoon, fork or netting needle, well, the SAK can do this, too, if you know what you are doing.  

Now I must admit, I dismissed these knives for a long time, until Felix Immler made me see the light. Visit his YouTube channel https://youtube.com/@feliximmler?si=cAjloXVcVbsHkXh_ 

if you haven't already or buy his books, what this guy does certainly is an eye-  opener. What I want to say is that I simply wasn't aware of how versatile these mini toolboxes actually were.  

Take this multi-purpose hook, for instance. A lot of people would like not to have it on the knife.  Maybe it is not essential. I thought as much myself.  But it is a really handy asset on the knife if you learn how to use it.  I used it for making cordage from grass, which really worked great.  

 There is a saying in Southern Germany: "Des is koa rechta Bua', hoat ka Feitl und ka Schnur. "(That is not a real boy who has neither cordage nor knife). With a SAK, you can have both.  Now that I am getting old 'ish I realize that even as a kid, when I always had a more or less huge knife on my belt, the even smaller Wenger was what I used most.  

If you want to do feathersticking there is no faster way I know of than using a SAK.  

Do not get me wrong. It is a reality check, maybe a reality shock, for me, too.  Maybe it is a case of "the more you know, the less you carry". 

Anyway, if you leave the "special forces" mumbo jumbo behind you, a SAK is a world of its own to discover.  I would not throw away my other knives for the properties of the Vics.  Of course not.  But before you dismiss a SAK because it lacks prestige, you might try out the many possibilities.  

My pants are a whole lot lighter now least.  😉 

Making a ceramic sharpening strop from junk

The other day, on a stroll to Fritz' place, I found a piece of Ceramic, maybe from an electrode or a filter.  

Had a piece of roe deer antler lying around not doing anything (also found in the woods, taken with permission from the owner, the hunter and the bureau of forestry commissions.). 

Took out my Victorinox SAK, and hey presto, five minutes later got myself a super high tech Ceramic sharpening strop.  

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