Wood Swiss Army Knife Scales

I’m a fan of Swiss Army Knives. 

While I have a Leatherman Wave that I love and use every day, I still carry a SAK as well. I got my first one when I was about six, inherited from my grandfather. Much to my regret, I lost it at some point when I was a teenager. I acquired another one, a Victorinox Huntsman, about 25 years ago, and a few others over the years, including a Victorinox Climber.

While placing an order with Tom (RotoKid at SOSAK Online) for some paracord and other odds and ends, I decided to order some wooden scales, Thuya Burl to be precise, to jazz up the Climber. (Terrific guy to deal with incidentally. Also, his dad Tim (FelineVet at SOSAK Online) is worth considering if you want to buy a Swiss Army Knife. All the SAKs that he sells fund his Feline Veterinary Emergency Assistance Program, a charity to help people pay for emergency procedures for their cats that they might not otherwise be able to afford.)

First step was to pop the original Cellidor scales off.

And this is what it looks like under the surface.

There are three brass pegs on each side that the scales pop on to.

The way I figured out where to drill the holes in the wooden scales was rather low tech. I put them where they needed to be and pressed against them, leaving an imprint in the wood.

These marks were then circled with a pen...

...clamped in place...

...and then drilled out.

The holes ended up a little wider and a smidgen deeper than they really needed to be, but whatever. I also contemplated carving out grooves for the tweezers, toothpick and possibly a pen, but quickly gave up on that as the pain in the ass factor would be far too high.

The epoxy would take care of that.

Slather it on the inside of the scales, filling the holes.

Did my best to remove any epoxy that had oozed out and then clamped and rubber banded the scales down. 

The next day I set to the scales with sandpaper, removing any excess epoxy, making them flush with the edges and rounding the scales.

I still have some fine tuning to do here and there, some more sanding in spots, and then oil the wood, weave a fob for it, and I will have a very personal SAK.