COLLECTION: Victorinox Classic iamninoy iamcory Limited Edition 58mm (2010s)

Today marks the 29th anniversary of People Power Revolution (also known EDSA Revolution).  This post is a tribute to all the regular people who braved the street known as EDSA and the iconic personalities to overthrow an oppressive government.

In 2010 Victorinox, in partnership with the Ninoy and Cory Aquino Foundation,  released a limited edition yellow classic.  It is a Classic with yellow cellidor scales printed with the portraits of Cory and Ninoy Aquino in the front scale and in the back, the iconic Ninoy Aquino eye glasses with the iamninoy iamcory inscription.  It also has a special yellow box.

Ninoy and Cory Aquino were two of the most respected and celebrated leaders of our country, the Philippines.  Their eldest son, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III is currently the incumbent (15th) President of the Philippines.

Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino II was a senator during the 1960s and 1970s and was a constant critic of the Marcos regime.  He was arrested when Martial Law was established in 1972.  Following a heart attack, he was permitted to travel to the United States for medical treatment.  After recuperating, he toured America; attending symposiums, lectures, and giving speeches in freedom rallies opposing the Marcos dictatorship. He decided to go back to the Philippines knowing fully well what can happen.  He was assassinated at the Manila International Airport in 1983 upon returning from his self-imposed exile. His death catapulted his widow, Corazon Aquino, into the political limelight, and prompted her to run for President as member of the UNIDO party in the 1986 snap elections.  This turn of events ended the 21 year-Marcos regime after the EDSA People Power (peaceful) Revolution on February 1986.

Corazon "Cory" Aquino was Ninoy's widow and run against Ferdinand Marcos for the Philippine Presidency in the 1986 snap elections.  The elections declared Ferdinand Marcos was the winner but widespread cheating prompted Filipinos to revolt on February 1986 and was known as the EDSA People Power Revolution, a peaceful revolution (without bloodshed) that resulted to the forced departure of Marcos and establishment of a new government and constitution led by Cory Aquino.

References:
http://www.ninoyaquino.ph/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benigno_Aquino,_Jr.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corazon_Aquino

Bonus: watch great videos of Ninoy's speeches at www.youtube.com/NinoyAquinoTV

COLLECTION: Victorinox Cadet - Denmark Limited Edition 84mm (2010s)

I've started travelling down the slippery road of Alox Cadet collecting and these are my new pieces for the collection I've started.

These are the Victorinox Cadet only available for sale in Denmark but the knife shop who sells them ships internationally anywhere.  Before buying that over-priced "Limited Edition-collector's item-rare, hard-to-find" cadet in ebay, visit The Good Stuff Shop first to see if they have some in stock.

The story behind the reason why this Denmark shop requested for a limited edition Alox Cadet is that because of the strict knife rules in Denmark, they cannot order the regular 93mm Alox knives from Victorinox as it will not be legal to sell there. Thus the Cadet with a shorter blade will be ok to carry.

But according to my research, the Denmark knife laws in summary are most knives are illegal to carry in public except for folding knives with non-locking blade that are 7 cm or less (1).  The 93mm Alox knives' blade is 7 cm or less and is also non-locking.  In theory, the 93mm Pioneer should be legal to carry as well.

Anyway, what is important (here) is we have two new limited edition Cadets which are in the livery not yet seen before.  There are two colors currently in production, the black with red shield (Item Number:  0.2601.23G) and green with red shield (Item Number: 0.2601.24G).  The Cadet has a blade measured at 62 x 10 x 1.5 mm which is way below the 70 mm length limit.

References:
(1) https://www.retsinformation.dk/forms/R0710.aspx?id=142859

REFERENCE: Victorinox Alox Cadet Colors 84mm (2000s)

There's a Victorinox collection sub-group which has a loyal following of international collectors that are always waiting for new limited edition (LE) releases from Victorinox.  It's the people who collect Victorinox Alox Cadets.  The alox Cadet is an 84mm 2-layer SAK which is very popular intro SAK for users and collectors alike. The tool set consists of a main blade, nail file, cap lifter, can opener and sometimes key ring attachment.  It measures 84 x 22 x 8 mm in length, width and thickness respectively.

The Silver w/ red filled shield is the "normal" model

List of colors released:

2006: Copper
2007: Silver, Red, Black, Gunmetal Blue, Autumn Orange, Olive Green
2008: Hunter Green (Target stores in the US)
2011: Bright Orange (Item Number: 53048)
2011: Dark Blue w/ silver outlined shield/logo, numbered, 50 pcs only
2012: Red, Silver, Blue, Orange, and Black - 2012 LE - no key ring
2012: Bright Green - no key ring, numbered, 50 pcs only
2012: Violet - no key ring, numbered, 50 pcs only
2012: Violet - w/ key ring, 35 pcs only
2012: Blue including shield/logo, 50pcs only
2012: Gold including shield/logo, 50pcs only

2013: Black, Green w/ red shield background, Denmark only

2013: Blue w/ red shield, numbered, 50 pcs only

2013: Moonlight Silver Gray - Swissbianco exclusive

COLLECTION: My First Victorinox Plus 84mm (2010s)

This is another variant of the My First Victorinox model with an additional saw layer.  It is still marketed for the kids and is often packaged in a box and a lanyard included.  

This Translucent Red model is item number: 0.2373.T.  It is also available in Translucent Blue (Item Number: 0.2373.T2) and Translucent Pink (Item Number: 0.2373.T5) cellidor scales.  It is also available in Nylon red scales (Item Number: 2.2373).

REVIEW: Victorinox Climber and Super Tinker 91mm (2010s)

The Victorinox Climber and Super Tinker are two of the most versatile 3-layer SAK currently in production today. Apart from the standard main blade, small blade, can opener and cap lifter on the front layer, it has the scissors which is very handy in any environment.  They also have the awl with sewing eye and parcel hook in the back layer.

Both are virtually the same except for that the Climber has the corkscrew and the Super Tinker has the philips screwdriver in the back layer.  

Personally, my choice will always be the Climber aka Super Spartan (get it?) in the 3-layer SAK category (considering only the models currently still in production).  I feel the philips screwdriver in the back layer is awkward to use.  I prefer the inline philips screwdriver as it feels like a normal screwdriver design (long handle, inline).  Also, the can opener tip is small enough to be used in place of the philips screwdriver.  Having the corkscrew in the back layer also enables you to carry the mini screwdriver that is very useful in many situations (like fixing eye glasses, small toys, etc).

Anyway, whatever you prefer, you can't go wrong between these two amazing SAK models.

Comparison Photos: Climber (left) and Super Tinker (right)

HOW TO: G10 Liner mod for Victorinox Tinker 91mm

I've recently helped out a member of our SAK Collectors Facebook group.  She was asking to mod a regular Victorinox 91mm Tinker and replace all the aluminum liners with G10.  The SAK will be used during sailing and the aluminum liners doesn't play well with salt water.

G10 is basically a glass cloth-reinforced epoxy sheet or better known as fiberglass.  G10 has extremely high mechanical strength, good dielectric loss properties, and good electric strength properties, both wet and dry. It's mainly used in the electronics field (reference 1).  In the knife/SAK modding world, it's usually used as a liner for knives used in saltwater environments where other metallic liners will suffer from galvanic corrosion.  It is also an easy way to add color to the modded knife without resorting to anodizing metals.  It is also used to lighten the overall weight of the knife.

The mod started with disassembling the knife as posted here.  

Before starting to cut and sand the G10 material, some safety precautions.  Fiberglass dust in general is very toxic and can harm your (and the people around you) lungs.  Wear appropriate respirator (I use a 3M industrial grade respirator).  As an added precaution, I wet sand G10 only, never dry.  I do this while wearing the respirator.  Do the cutting outdoors while wearing a respirator and some gloves, fiberglass edge is sharp enough to cut your fingers. 

I cut the G10 material (yellow, 1mm thick in this case) into 95mm x 25mm portions and then proceed with drilling the holes before I cut the outline.  In this way, I can ensure that the holes are always aligned with respect to the outline of the liner.  I use a jeweller's saw with #3 saw blade.

I'm currently using a very crappy dremel workstation as my drill press which suffers from a lot of play and sliding during drilling.  I usually use the old liners as my drilling guide to minimize the sliding of the bit once it hits the material to drill.  I drill the two outer holes and the put pins to ensure alignment and then drill the two inner holes.  

After drilling the holes, I proceed to cut and shape the outline. I use fresh liners (not used as a guide for drilling) so that I'm sure that the holes are not damaged.

After these processes, I finally get the finished G10 liner.

Assembly is just straight forward.  I you're familiar with my SAK Deconstruction posts you can use them as guides during the assembly process.  Just make sure to have enough brass pins for the number of layers you're assembling.  I usually test each layer for the "spring back" after every layer is assembled, so that I can quickly spot problem before all the layers are assembled.  

After cutting and peening the brass pins, you will get something like this. Be careful during peening, don't over peen them.  Always check the tools (including the back tools) after 1-2 hammer strikes.  I learned it the hard way when I over peened the (first time) the outer pin and then (second time) the inner pin.  Good thing is I learned my lesson after those two mishaps.  If you over peened, the only fix is to drill out the pin and re-start peening it using a fresh pin.

Also, make sure to file the peened pins so that they are flushed against the brass spacer.  The cellidor scale will not fit of there's a bump on these pins.

Another set using transparent G10.

Last shot of the two before shipping.

Reference:
(1) http://www.eplastics.com/G10_FR4_Glass_Epoxy_Sheet