A U.S. company called Tortoise gear makes a ferro rod called the FIREFLY that replaces the toothpick on both large & small SAK's. These mini ferro rods even have glow in the dark plastic end caps. An easy & excellent addition to your knife. I've switched out all my SAK's to this modification as fire is probably the most important survival tool that you can have with your Swiss Army Knife. There are several sites on RUclips that have videos of the Firefly in action.
I indeed mention that very device in part 1 of this video ruclips.net/video/fSEK2iuZjfg/видео.html but I also show how I've made my own SAK ferro rod for a dollar [plus shipping]
update for yall, they recently released a ferro ro that screws into th4e corkscrew the same way the screwdriver does, and a tinder that nests under it. very cool, i backed the kickstarter and edc mine.
@@theguywitheyebrows IMO their more essential product (as cool as the toothpick replacement is) are the tinderquick analogues that screw into the corkscrew along with either their FireAnt or the little eyeglass screwdriver. It pains me what the corkscrew screwdriver set costs, but I'm likely to pick one up anyway because it's convenient. I've seen a few people clamp the pen into the corkscrew as well, but more often I see it clamped into the parcel hook. It's not something I intend to use except in an emergency anyway, since I use my Zebra F-301 compact (I've opened it up with a needle file to accept Fisher cartridges, though I'm not carrying a Fisher cartridge in it right now…) Still, increasing the number of options you have when things go wrong is important…
Hi I used to keep some homemade tinder ( cotton mixed in with petroleum jelly) in a sealed drinking straw in my kit, but after looking at this video it got me thinking. Instead of a drinking straw I used heat shrink tubing to which I heat sealed one end with a lighter and a pait of pliers, stuffed the tinder into the tube and then twisted this onto the corkscrew of my Swiss Army Knife. I then use a lighter to gently shrink it onto the corkscrew. It shrinks down enought to keep the tinder in place without the tubing stopping the corkscrew closing. To use it, you simply untwist off the corkscrew and cut open with your swiss army blade and then as usual fluff it up.
@@cmikewilson . I've now switched to the tortoise gear as per another post. The shipping is a bit dear if you live in the UK but it's a much neater solution
Be careful. Other similar looking screwdrivers may not fit properly. My ebay source seems to have gone belly up but here is the exact model name to seek out: www.amazon.sg/Cal-Hawk-Tools-CSDP6N1-Screwdriver/dp/B06X9MNXZZ Good luck, because I can't find anymore to link you to, sorry. :(
Open the bottle opener. Take out the tweezers and put the plastic end in the half moon close the opener. Swing the tweezers to open and close. It can be use as a third hand or small vise or hemostats.
I do something similar but the tweezers are held shut with the split ring. It makes for a good roach clip to pass among friends.[In case you don't know, in Entomology we need to hold small insects (including roaches) in place at times and these clips are used for that purpose only, of course. LOL]
Personally, I would use the bottle/cap opener as a signaling mirror. It has 2 nice flat polished surfaces and it is already attached to a large handle :) Thanks for the fantastic ideas!
Use braided fishing line and it is much less susceptible to shape memory. Also braided lines of the same diameter as monofilament are many times stronger, so this means it might also work for tying and binding things. Or you can choose a weaker strength that more closely matches the mono line and take advantage of the much narrower diameter of braid in the same strength and store it on the knife more easily.
So cool!! I have my own 65mm kind of "swiss army knife" modified from 14 to 22 functions, including a Swiss Army pen modified to fit inside :) Hopefully i will add a video of it soon. Great video, man!
Great Video! Forgive me for the intrusion, I would appreciate your opinion. Have you tried - Lammywalness Your Dream Guide (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now)? It is a good one of a kind product for discovering how to get a a FREE Edt multitool survival tool minus the hard work. Ive heard some super things about it and my cousin after many years got great success with it.
You are amazingly creative! My kits are completely different because I normally avoid micro sized gear when I can, (I don't find it as effective as bigger resources which I can still normally edc), but you are always thinking outside the box! I am impressed by your ingenuity and resourcefullness. You have some very clever ideas. Have a great day.
Re: signalling mirrors: To save your cellidor scales, you can actually just use the polished reflection of the main blade as a signal. It works beautifully. BTW, your ideas are super creative AND your delivery is excellent. You gave a terrific sense of humor. Keep up the good work!
The main blade as a mirror is certainly better than nothing but the long range reflection, say to signal a boat on the distant horizon from a life raft, is questionable. It is not meant to be an optically perfect device so the reflection gets diffuse and murky over a great range. Best to use the knife blade for short range reflections like to check if you have spinach in your teeth! Ha ha.
As proof the main blade works poorly as a long range mirror, try this easy experiment: Clean it and get it nice and shiny. Now, CAREFULLY hold it right up to your eye and notice the reflected image of distant objects you see in it is a blurry and diffuse mess. This means light traveling any useful signaling distance from it will get weak and diffuse too.
I think it's impractical to retrieve all that stuff from under the scale when you need it. I created a kit myself, with many items for when I go outdoors. It's easy to pull stuff and put them back and I don't need to disassemble any parts of my knife.
Using Paracord for shoelaces will give you seven long strands of rope to use and You won't have to wrap dental floss around your knife. It can be used for sutures once sterilized, shelter building, fishing line, clothing repairs, the shoelaces left intact can be used for an improvised serpentine belt on a car on some models, can be used to make a tourniquet in an extreme emergency (tourniquets are a last resort because long term usage can result in a loss of a limb). They can also be used to saw through Paracord and duct tape if you are ever held against your will. (RUclips how to escape zip ties or duct tape using shoe laces). Hope this helps!
The cordage and fishing hooks were a great tip thanks, I fitted both on the hollow contures on the scales on my EvoGrip s17. Just a firefly in the toothpick slot and I'm ready for disaster.
Thanks. I'll be showing a homemade "free" fire ant (like the firefly but kept in the corkscrew) + tinder kit you can make yourself in an upcoming video, by the way.
I keep a neodymium magnet attached to my knife I find I need it for testing . Could build a compass if you must. I found the 91 too heavy for edc the 51 is just right. Last one I bought from a thrift store $1 yellow on my keychain.
Victorinox also now offers other screwdriver sizes to fit the corkscrew. There is a tiny philips available, and there’s even just a straight blank tip to use as a SIM card ejector for your phone.
I bought the set. $15. The philips is actually the only one I wanted but you can't buy them ala cart. Weird color that clashes with the red scales though: green.
Thanks for your post. Admittedly little flexible mirrors are low quality but also not so hot are knife blades, even if they seem "mirror finish". What's important is not just the shiny sparkly aspect of a signaling mirror but also its DEAD flatness. Here's a test but please do it carefully because it involves holding the blade up close to your eye SO BE CAREFUL. Shine up the blade so it is nice and clean, as "mirror-like" as possible, and then hold it up close to your eye to use it as a rear-view mirror to look at objects 20 feet away or more. Notice how unlike a real mirror the images are very blurry? This proves the reflection of the sun off that surface will be diffuse and dim after about 20 feet as well, and will therefore be dim when attempting to flash a rescuer far away.
I'm in my 47th year of EDC'ing a Victorinox Swiss Champ SAK, so am quite familiar with their benefits, but I have to say that in five minutes of watching your video I have seen multiple, excellent inclusions that I've never before seen! Your ideas are original and outstanding in their practicality and I'm delighted to have found and subscribed to your suoerb channel. I also noted that you left the written instructions on screen long enough for your viewers to read them without having to rewind the video, very few people do this, so thank you for that, too.
For the fish hook you could probably use the"spider wire" style line vs the mono filiment you were using... Probably won't set a shape as easy as the mono.
Excellent mods - thanks for showing. As for your eyeglasses: Victorinox now offers a set of four different tools , flat-1.5mm, Philips000, Torx-T4 and SIM-Card-pin.
With braided fishing lines being such a thin diameter, and getting upward of 50lbs-100lbs tensile strength, I don't know why survivalist and prepers and such still go for dental floss.
Karmakshanti Vyapini You can use the edge of nearly any tool in the Swiss Army knife as a striker. I’ve struck sparks with the back of the wood saw and with the can opener. I’ve also seen ferro rods spark from being struck with a piece of broken glass. All that’s required is a sharp piece of material that is hard enough to scrape sparks on the rod.
Your videos never get old. The ideas you come up with never stop amazing me. I've been wondering and thinking about how to carry braided fishing line, and hook for emergency use for some time now and you did it. I mean here in Louisiana it's not hard to find a fishing hole. I wonder if a small split shot sinker will fit inside with the ferro rod and stow away until needed? Now you have to figure out water treatment and you'll be golden here. Keep up the great work.
Thanks. In a deleted scene I may some day post I discovered by testing that a Katadyn MP1 water purification tablet will NOT fit, even if crushed into a powder, if left in its foil packet at least. I didn't actually try it but your potassium permanganate [spelling?] in a sealed straw suggestion won't fit either, as best as I could tell.
You can carry a rolled up piece of aluminum foil at the center of your paracord lanyard. May a bowl with it and you can boil water over a fire with the ferrorod. 🤔
I'm always impressed with your ability to go several levels deeper into each item and look past appearances to find or create extra features or improvements. Hmm, I have a 2 week international trip coming up in a few months. I have been wondering what items from your past efforts, or new items you might create/modify, that you would choose (and how you would assemble it) as a traveler support kit for tourists to keep at hand when they are away from home? Not thinking for any type wilderness survival or bugout event. Items that might be usefiul while walking around and needed on short-notice? Replenished later when more convenient. Maybe some items to be in checked bags while flying and put together after arrival? Threaded needles, buttons, cash, flat pack, tapes, lights, Mack knife, meds, tools, etc, etc, etc? Thanks in advance for your ideas!
Have you heard of firecord by Equip2Endure? It has a built in orange fire waterproof strand line built in with the paracord for starting fires by Adam Francis.
I'm trying to think of survival situations where any of this might be useful.....washed up on deserted Island.....lone operator behind enemy lines? Its fun, but unless you are lone yachtsman, or special ops, I don't think it's ever going to be necessary. If anyone has had experience of using any of these little tools in real survival situations please reply. I've been in about 3 or 4 life and death scenarios....getting lost in mountains in a white out, with deep snow. ( nearly off a cliff)...falling off my boat at sea and a couple of road accidents ( one of which did not end well for me) and I wasn't looking for a knife or mini tool in any of those. However, I enjoy videos like these anyway and appreciate the ingenuity.
Indeed SAKs have shiny blades when polished, buy if you carefully raise one close to your eye (being careful not to cut yourself) and look at the reflection of what's behind you [you know, like a rear-view mirror] you'll discover that this seemingly mirror like surface actually has a very blurred image. This means reflections of sunlight will only work for short distances because the light does not have what is called a "collimated beam", so it dissipates in intensity over distance too quickly compared to a true mirror.
MeZillch, I love how creative you and how neat all of your solutions are. I also like that you are continually creating content, where most youtubers seem to be resting on their creative laurels at this point. I have adopted a variation of your mini bic carry and I am hoping to add the lock pick set you showed in this knife, but I want to learn more about the non-paper clip part and the overall creation and usage of the set. Can you make a quick video that shows more detail on it? I feel like you covered everything else really well, just not that. Thanks, and keep creating content!
Sorry, I've picked a few locks but I'm not qualified to give tutorials since I'm not very good at it. Google or RUclips "lock shim", "lock pick", "lock picking rake", and "lock picking tension tool" to learn more.
" 91mm for pocket and 58mm for keys " ? Not as far as my grandfather was concerned, he carried a Victorinox classic loose in his pocket as his only knife for years. And he used them for absolutely everything, I never even saw him use a utility knife. I don't do a keychain either so my Victorinox classics go loose in my pocket as well when I carry one.
I've tried. It's not flat enough to have a good, cohesive reflection, important for long range signaling (so the brightness does not fade past a hundred feet). This is the same reason why when you buy a hand mirror or bathroom mirror it s not simply polished metal; it is a reflective coating applied to a sheet of dead flat glass. Polished metal mirrors are OK for close range work only but the "fun house mirror" distortion makes them impractical for anything besides perhaps checking to see if you have spinach in your teeth. Open the main blade on a 91mm SAK to see what the mirror finish would look like and tilt it back and forth. Or reflect a laser off of it to see how distorted it is in the long range reflection.
If you carefully hold a clean 91mm knife blade up to your eye and use it as a long range rear view mirror you will see that the reflected image of distant objects you see is blurry, hence the reflected sun if used as a signaling mirror would similarly become diffuse and dimmer at great distances. That is, its light is not well collimated en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collimated_beam
not shure if this was mentioned, but the cybertool lite actually has a magnifying glass in it and the light is super helpful screwing in dark computer cases:)
most glorious. mirror is FLY and tinderquick too, great method for that btw, i hope i can do both one each side; that stealth cordage is MAXIMUM GLORY but where does it wrap? under the scale? very very cool, sub earned.
Could the pen when the ink runs out be used for any thing... I've thought about using the non slip type of surface for skateboards etc and put on the scales for a Match striking surface and to improve grip.
Rough surfaces like skate board tape will only ignite "strike-anywhere matches" (now rare). Normal safety matches need certain chemicals in the striking strip (red phosphorous). ruclips.net/video/y2ErAPODA6Uh/видео.htmlttps://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/The-Chemistry-of-Matches-750x530.png
It is certainly better than nothing but an ideal signaling mirror should be a REAL mirror. If you CAREFULLY hold a clean Swiss army knife blade up close to your eye and view a distant object to your side, by its reflection in the blade, you will notice it is not like a true mirror but rather the distant object appears blurred and diffuse. This also means any attempt to flash sunlight at a distant object with that blade will have a fraction of the brightness that a true mirror would because the light rays become scattered, especially over a great distance, like say to a ship on the horizon from your life raft, for example. Deceptively, the close range reflections from a SAK blade, say from a flashlight in your darkened room, will seem fairly bright, but that's because over a short distance the light rays haven't had a chance to spread much.
My experience with all these compacted survival kits is that in a pinch you lose half the stored material when trying to get at that one that you really need in that emergency. In all fairness...in an emergency...what is usually happening is that we tend to grab the nearest most convenient tool. Compacted kits are too complex to unravel....needs too much fine motor movements during the heat of the moment which are frequently happening at the most vulnerable moment such as during torrential rain...in the dark, that we tend to lose more tools in the process while trying to get at that one that you really need. And the next tool that we need unfortunately is lost due to our own neglect after the first action of getting the first tool. As a result, my emergency tools are spaced out and not concentrated in a small area that require fine motor movements like carefully peeling a sak scale. They are also stored in different containers that are easily handled and lodged in different places on my person as well as in the camp. At best in my opinion, these compacted survival tools are more novelty than true practical kits. Their use is more likely when one chooses to exercise them because your real 'go to kit' is about 20 meters away and you may want to show your grandkid something cool to have in a survival situation. Oh by the way...I still gave this video a like for ingenuity.
I carry multiple micro survival kits on me. One laced on my boot, another in the rim of my ball cap another in my wallet and the last is the SAK I carry. I also keep normal items in my pockets.
I have a serious question. When taking the scales off and putting them back on for mini survival kits, how do you keep them from getting really loose and rattling?
I take it you mean WITHOUT glue. :) I haven't done many and I usually use glue. Also mine mostly stay at home and don't get pocket carry jostling, so I'm probably not a good source to comment on the durability, sorry.
It is for emergency use only, not everyday use, so smashing it with a rock can be used as a last resort {where one wont care you ruined a $9 scale compared to dieing) but if no other knife you can also use a key or coin as a pry bar or even a strong fingernail. Once you pop one connection the remaining ones are easy, you just pull.
I bought a Sentinel with great expectations only to find that it has the lock of the blade on the wrong side. It works for left handed people which re less than 10% of the population. I should had stuck to my trusted Kershaw Chill.
Love the videos, but I cannot find that Bausch and Lomb lens anywhere! Does anyone know where I can find that exact style? I want to hide one in my Cybertool as well.
Both videos - parts one and two - are fascinating and require the minimum of manual dexterity to accomplish. It's also good that you stress how removing red scales should really only be done after softening that side of your Victorinox in hot (preferably boiling) water, to minimise cracking around the plastic rivet "receptacles" inside each handle scale. FYI, you can buy 2TB memory sticks that are the size of a wireless mouse "dongle" - which could be adapted to fit inside the early key-ring SAKs, which started life with a swing-out memory stick - with a huge 2GB capacity..! Moore's Law at work with Victorinox... These micro-memory sticks may not yet be as reliable as Kingston or SanDisc products - but it will only be a matter of time until you can store your entire musical, and photographic files on something the size of a standard USB plug. Then we'll see what effect such micro-miniaturization has on the sale of Altoids...
فعلا ايقونة جميلة جدا يجب ان تكون داخل جعبة كل شخص في حياته اليومية اقطتي مجموعة مؤلفة من 8قطعة من سكين فيكتورينوكس وحتى سكين المطبخ والمس الرائع والفعال... فيكتورينوكس تسعدك على البقاء في الحالات الطارئة ولكن جزيل الشكر والتقدير .... 🇱🇧🇱🇧🇱🇧🇱🇧🇱🇧🇱🇧
Why would you hide a signaling mirror in the scales of a Victorinox knife when the blade of the knife itself is an excellent, much larger mirror? Not only is it hard to get to inside the scales, but you risk ruining your knife when you need it most.
The blade is not a perfectly flat surface. It's ever so slightly concave due to the large diameter of the grinding wheel. I would use the bottle/cap opener. That has 2 nice flat polished surfaces!
Do you own a 91mm SAK? Clean the main blade and try this experiment. Walk over to a window where you can focus your eyes on a distant object or "infinity" (this simulates an airplane you spot or ship on the horizon you are attempting to signal from your life raft). Now instead of viewing it directly hold the blade up to your eye (careful you don't stab yourself) and look at the same distant object but this time by reflection off the bade. Notice how blurry the image is? This means an attempt to reflect sunlight off the blade at a distant object will similarly be blurry, diffuse, and dim, but better than nothing I suppose. Don't be fooled by the success at viewing or reflecting to nearby objects. A REAL mirror is much better and won't have this blurred image.
All is well, thanks, I just have too much work and other things to attend to so videos are on a back burner for the moment, but there are more in the works.
Because the shiny blank blades aren't dead flat so when reflecting the sun to a distant ship on the horizon the diffuse refection seen from thousands of feet away won't be dim. The plastic mirror I show is also poor, actually, becuase it is not thick enough to be dead flat. Ideally it should be glass or thick Lexan.
Hot water, BUT NOT BOILING, to soften the plastic and then a thin blade knife as shown on the little ones here: ruclips.net/video/xdGbHKHnPn4/видео.html It is still risky that you might break the plastic fastening holes but if you do you can always super glue on the broken hole.
Can anyone link a video showing how to replace the White light on a penknife Victorinox with a Red light. I want to mod an onyx penknife to have a red light. I'm a great grandmother, anyone know how to do this?
I bought my Duracell "Quantum" AAs at my local supermarket years ago, but they may have been discontinued. Here's a more current one with "Powerchck": us.amazon.com/Duracell-MN1500B4Z-CopperTop-Batteries-Technology/dp/B000YHO5MI/ref=sr_1_24?c=ts&keywords=AA+Batteries&qid=1673034366&refinements=p_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A23534439011%2Cp_89%3ADuracell&rnid=2528832011&s=hpc&sr=1-24&ts_id=389577011
RUclips no longer has messaging between 'tubers, and I don't give out my email, but if you want to post a link here to a photo service storing your images I'll be sure to check it out!
@@MeZillch Well, what I wanted to say was, I discovered that the back scales of my victorinox ranger have several of these empty "slots" in the metal. I was able to cut a piece of micro ferro rod (firesteel.com) and squeeze it in. I also cut a piece of pencil lead and did the same in another slot. I sanded the pencil lead a little bit first (it was a tiny bit too fat). I'm not sure if I'm the first to discover this? Anyway try it out!
![[🎨NEW] Give Me Back My Color! | Baby Shark Toy Song | Colors for Kids | Baby Shark Official](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eb-q569nES8/mqdefault.jpg)
A U.S. company called Tortoise gear makes a ferro rod called the FIREFLY that replaces the toothpick on both large & small SAK's. These mini ferro rods even have glow in the dark plastic end caps. An easy & excellent addition to your knife. I've switched out all my SAK's to this modification as fire is probably the most important survival tool that you can have with your Swiss Army Knife. There are several sites on RUclips that have videos of the Firefly in action.
I indeed mention that very device in part 1 of this video ruclips.net/video/fSEK2iuZjfg/видео.html
but I also show how I've made my own SAK ferro rod for a dollar [plus shipping]
update for yall, they recently released a ferro ro that screws into th4e corkscrew the same way the screwdriver does, and a tinder that nests under it. very cool, i backed the kickstarter and edc mine.
Yes the Tortoise gear is nice. I recommend.
@@theguywitheyebrows IMO their more essential product (as cool as the toothpick replacement is) are the tinderquick analogues that screw into the corkscrew along with either their FireAnt or the little eyeglass screwdriver. It pains me what the corkscrew screwdriver set costs, but I'm likely to pick one up anyway because it's convenient.
I've seen a few people clamp the pen into the corkscrew as well, but more often I see it clamped into the parcel hook. It's not something I intend to use except in an emergency anyway, since I use my Zebra F-301 compact (I've opened it up with a needle file to accept Fisher cartridges, though I'm not carrying a Fisher cartridge in it right now…)
Still, increasing the number of options you have when things go wrong is important…
The amount of thought and effort you put into these mods is inspiring !
Hi I used to keep some homemade tinder ( cotton mixed in with petroleum jelly) in a sealed drinking straw in my kit, but after looking at this video it got me thinking. Instead of a drinking straw I used heat shrink tubing to which I heat sealed one end with a lighter and a pait of pliers, stuffed the tinder into the tube and then twisted this onto the corkscrew of my Swiss Army Knife. I then use a lighter to gently shrink it onto the corkscrew. It shrinks down enought to keep the tinder in place without the tubing stopping the corkscrew closing. To use it, you simply untwist off the corkscrew and cut open with your swiss army blade and then as usual fluff it up.
Nice idea.
Or maybe a mini lanyard of waxed jute.
@@cmikewilson . I've now switched to the tortoise gear as per another post. The shipping is a bit dear if you live in the UK but it's a much neater solution
Great video thanks. Macgyver meets Jason Bourne.
Thanks
The screwdriver mod was exactly what i was looking for! Thanks! I imagine you could carry a pen refill too, that way. Awesome!
Be careful. Other similar looking screwdrivers may not fit properly. My ebay source seems to have gone belly up but here is the exact model name to seek out: www.amazon.sg/Cal-Hawk-Tools-CSDP6N1-Screwdriver/dp/B06X9MNXZZ
Good luck, because I can't find anymore to link you to, sorry. :(
Open the bottle opener. Take out the tweezers and put the plastic end in the half moon close the opener. Swing the tweezers to open and close. It can be use as a third hand or small vise or hemostats.
I do something similar but the tweezers are held shut with the split ring. It makes for a good roach clip to pass among friends.[In case you don't know, in Entomology we need to hold small insects (including roaches) in place at times and these clips are used for that purpose only, of course. LOL]
Personally, I would use the bottle/cap opener as a signaling mirror. It has 2 nice flat polished surfaces and it is already attached to a large handle :)
Thanks for the fantastic ideas!
Use braided fishing line and it is much less susceptible to shape memory. Also braided lines of the same diameter as monofilament are many times stronger, so this means it might also work for tying and binding things. Or you can choose a weaker strength that more closely matches the mono line and take advantage of the much narrower diameter of braid in the same strength and store it on the knife more easily.
Dental floss, not for climbing . That made me laugh. Thanks! Thumbs up
As always... great mods to tinker with. Thank you for all that you do!
I think you have made MacGyver jealous with your resourcefulness! Great mods!
That cordage trick is fucking genius, thank you for sharing.
I've been watching your video's for years keep up the inventive good work all the best from Glasgow Scotland :)
Victorinox should hire you to make better Rescue Tool they already have! With your additions, a new "Survival Tool" is born!
the mini eyeglass screwdriver mod just ruined my justification for carrying a leatherman wave, fantastic idea!
I agree!!
So cool!! I have my own 65mm kind of "swiss army knife" modified from 14 to 22 functions, including a Swiss Army pen modified to fit inside :)
Hopefully i will add a video of it soon.
Great video, man!
Great Video! Forgive me for the intrusion, I would appreciate your opinion. Have you tried - Lammywalness Your Dream Guide (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now)? It is a good one of a kind product for discovering how to get a a FREE Edt multitool survival tool minus the hard work. Ive heard some super things about it and my cousin after many years got great success with it.
your videos are consistently informative and entertaining. thank you
You are amazingly creative! My kits are completely different because I normally avoid micro sized gear when I can, (I don't find it as effective as bigger resources which I can still normally edc), but you are always thinking outside the box! I am impressed by your ingenuity and resourcefullness. You have some very clever ideas. Have a great day.
Re: signalling mirrors: To save your cellidor scales, you can actually just use the polished reflection of the main blade as a signal. It works beautifully. BTW, your ideas are super creative AND your delivery is excellent. You gave a terrific sense of humor. Keep up the good work!
The main blade as a mirror is certainly better than nothing but the long range reflection, say to signal a boat on the distant horizon from a life raft, is questionable. It is not meant to be an optically perfect device so the reflection gets diffuse and murky over a great range. Best to use the knife blade for short range reflections like to check if you have spinach in your teeth! Ha ha.
As proof the main blade works poorly as a long range mirror, try this easy experiment: Clean it and get it nice and shiny. Now, CAREFULLY hold it right up to your eye and notice the reflected image of distant objects you see in it is a blurry and diffuse mess. This means light traveling any useful signaling distance from it will get weak and diffuse too.
I think it's impractical to retrieve all that stuff from under the scale when you need it. I created a kit myself, with many items for when I go outdoors. It's easy to pull stuff and put them back and I don't need to disassemble any parts of my knife.
You are the perfect example of thinking outside the box!
Thanks for the videos.. keep up the great work
:)
Using Paracord for shoelaces will give you seven long strands of rope to use and You won't have to wrap dental floss around your knife. It can be used for sutures once sterilized, shelter building, fishing line, clothing repairs, the shoelaces left intact can be used for an improvised serpentine belt on a car on some models, can be used to make a tourniquet in an extreme emergency (tourniquets are a last resort because long term usage can result in a loss of a limb). They can also be used to saw through Paracord and duct tape if you are ever held against your will. (RUclips how to escape zip ties or duct tape using shoe laces). Hope this helps!
The cordage and fishing hooks were a great tip thanks, I fitted both on the hollow contures on the scales on my EvoGrip s17. Just a firefly in the toothpick slot and I'm ready for disaster.
Thanks. I'll be showing a homemade "free" fire ant (like the firefly but kept in the corkscrew) + tinder kit you can make yourself in an upcoming video, by the way.
I keep a neodymium magnet attached to my knife I find I need it for testing . Could build a compass if you must.
I found the 91 too heavy for edc the 51 is just right. Last one I bought from a thrift store $1 yellow on my keychain.
Love the paper clip/safety pin idea, I will certainly copy that.
Victorinox also now offers other screwdriver sizes to fit the corkscrew. There is a tiny philips available, and there’s even just a straight blank tip to use as a SIM card ejector for your phone.
I bought the set. $15. The philips is actually the only one I wanted but you can't buy them ala cart. Weird color that clashes with the red scales though: green.
@@MeZillch yeah they should all come in all of the colors
You sir are a grade A genius. Victorinox should definitely hire you.
the mirror is an interesting idea but I think the blade itself is reflective enough to use as a signal mirror
Thanks for your post. Admittedly little flexible mirrors are low quality but also not so hot are knife blades, even if they seem "mirror finish". What's important is not just the shiny sparkly aspect of a signaling mirror but also its DEAD flatness. Here's a test but please do it carefully because it involves holding the blade up close to your eye SO BE CAREFUL. Shine up the blade so it is nice and clean, as "mirror-like" as possible, and then hold it up close to your eye to use it as a rear-view mirror to look at objects 20 feet away or more. Notice how unlike a real mirror the images are very blurry? This proves the reflection of the sun off that surface will be diffuse and dim after about 20 feet as well, and will therefore be dim when attempting to flash a rescuer far away.
I'm in my 47th year of EDC'ing a Victorinox Swiss Champ SAK, so am quite familiar with their benefits, but I have to say that in five minutes of watching your video I have seen multiple, excellent inclusions that I've never before seen!
Your ideas are original and outstanding in their practicality and I'm delighted to have found and subscribed to your suoerb channel.
I also noted that you left the written instructions on screen long enough for your viewers to read them without having to rewind the video, very few people do this, so thank you for that, too.
For the fish hook you could probably use the"spider wire" style line vs the mono filiment you were using... Probably won't set a shape as easy as the mono.
I love your videos. Keep innovating and keep kicking ass.
Great tips thank you for sharing the different mods it makes sense to carry additional item's if possible.
Excellent mods - thanks for showing.
As for your eyeglasses: Victorinox now offers a set of four different tools , flat-1.5mm, Philips000, Torx-T4 and SIM-Card-pin.
I bought it and wouldn't you know the only tool I wanted, the Philips, is an ugly color that clashes with all my knives!
@@MeZillch - heat it up together with the tool of your favorite colour and switch the tools - maybe with a little help from superglue or epoxy
@@mannihh5274 Yes. I suppose a 3D printer, I someday buy, could make a new corkscrew-stored "interchangeable bit driver" too. Hmm . . .
With braided fishing lines being such a thin diameter, and getting upward of 50lbs-100lbs tensile strength, I don't know why survivalist and prepers and such still go for dental floss.
its cheap and easily available
If you are sawing off a ferocineum Rod with a carbide saw, cut a piece off the saw and use it as the spark striker.
Karmakshanti Vyapini
You can use the edge of nearly any tool in the Swiss Army knife as a striker. I’ve struck sparks with the back of the wood saw and with the can opener. I’ve also seen ferro rods spark from being struck with a piece of broken glass. All that’s required is a sharp piece of material that is hard enough to scrape sparks on the rod.
Hold the fish hook in place with a drop of hot gun glue.
Your videos never get old. The ideas you come up with never stop amazing me. I've been wondering and thinking about how to carry braided fishing line, and hook for emergency use for some time now and you did it. I mean here in Louisiana it's not hard to find a fishing hole. I wonder if a small split shot sinker will fit inside with the ferro rod and stow away until needed? Now you have to figure out water treatment and you'll be golden here. Keep up the great work.
Thanks. In a deleted scene I may some day post I discovered by testing that a Katadyn MP1 water purification tablet will NOT fit, even if crushed into a powder, if left in its foil packet at least. I didn't actually try it but your potassium permanganate [spelling?] in a sealed straw suggestion won't fit either, as best as I could tell.
You can carry a rolled up piece of aluminum foil at the center of your paracord lanyard. May a bowl with it and you can boil water over a fire with the ferrorod. 🤔
I'm always impressed with your ability to go several levels deeper into each item and look past appearances to find or create extra features or improvements. Hmm, I have a 2 week international trip coming up in a few months. I have been wondering what items from your past efforts, or new items you might create/modify, that you would choose (and how you would assemble it) as a traveler support kit for tourists to keep at hand when they are away from home? Not thinking for any type wilderness survival or bugout event. Items that might be usefiul while walking around and needed on short-notice? Replenished later when more convenient. Maybe some items to be in checked bags while flying and put together after arrival? Threaded needles, buttons, cash, flat pack, tapes, lights, Mack knife, meds, tools, etc, etc, etc? Thanks in advance for your ideas!
I don't travel much and not being able to carry a knife on board is a bummer [I never check baggage so that's not an option].
Have you heard of firecord by Equip2Endure? It has a built in orange fire waterproof strand line built in with the paracord for starting fires by Adam Francis.
This video gave me so much inspiration for my cybertool L, wow! Thank you very much!
Awesome video and ingenuity! Love it! Thanks so much.
Dude that battery tester idea is effing genius
Innovative and inspirational as always! Love the channel!
Fun to see new stuff from you.
Thanks everyone.
you are completely insane with this stuff :o
love to see a demonstration of youre ideas in the wilderness
i'm 50 and have yet to need an emmergency fishing hook and signal mirror, corkscrew however :)
I'm trying to think of survival situations where any of this might be useful.....washed up on deserted Island.....lone operator behind enemy lines? Its fun, but unless you are lone yachtsman, or special ops, I don't think it's ever going to be necessary.
If anyone has had experience of using any of these little tools in real survival situations please reply.
I've been in about 3 or 4 life and death scenarios....getting lost in mountains in a white out, with deep snow. ( nearly off a cliff)...falling off my boat at sea and a couple of road accidents ( one of which did not end well for me) and I wasn't looking for a knife or mini tool in any of those.
However, I enjoy videos like these anyway and appreciate the ingenuity.
I keep pressing the like button throughout the video! LOL
You’re really making these SAKs worthy of MacGyver. 👍🏻
macgyver find all those things. infact he make thing what is available. only need knife lol
Why not just mirror polish the main blade? You wouldn't need to remove the scale for signalling.
Indeed SAKs have shiny blades when polished, buy if you carefully raise one close to your eye (being careful not to cut yourself) and look at the reflection of what's behind you [you know, like a rear-view mirror] you'll discover that this seemingly mirror like surface actually has a very blurred image. This means reflections of sunlight will only work for short distances because the light does not have what is called a "collimated beam", so it dissipates in intensity over distance too quickly compared to a true mirror.
OMG i didnt even know this duracell feature was a thing, never seen that product before in my life 😲
You’ve obviously enjoyed designing these mods for your SAK? I won’t ever do that, but I have enjoyed watching this vid.Thank you.
You are awesome👍🏻
Amazing ideas man well done👏👏
Good stuff for the cyber tool
MeZillch, I love how creative you and how neat all of your solutions are. I also like that you are continually creating content, where most youtubers seem to be resting on their creative laurels at this point. I have adopted a variation of your mini bic carry and I am hoping to add the lock pick set you showed in this knife, but I want to learn more about the non-paper clip part and the overall creation and usage of the set. Can you make a quick video that shows more detail on it? I feel like you covered everything else really well, just not that. Thanks, and keep creating content!
Sorry, I've picked a few locks but I'm not qualified to give tutorials since I'm not very good at it. Google or RUclips "lock shim", "lock pick", "lock picking rake", and "lock picking tension tool" to learn more.
My phone and watch work as signal mirrors, but I think you need something that's around 8" squared.
" 91mm for pocket and 58mm for keys " ?
Not as far as my grandfather was concerned, he carried a Victorinox classic loose in his pocket as his only knife for years.
And he used them for absolutely everything, I never even saw him use a utility knife.
I don't do a keychain either so my Victorinox classics go loose in my pocket as well when I carry one.
i think you could use a cd to make a signaling mirror too
They work in a pinch but aren't quite as reflective as a true mirror.
BATTERY TESTER IS GOAT.
Rather than a mirror, how about polishing the knife body to a mirror finish?
I've tried. It's not flat enough to have a good, cohesive reflection, important for long range signaling (so the brightness does not fade past a hundred feet). This is the same reason why when you buy a hand mirror or bathroom mirror it s not simply polished metal; it is a reflective coating applied to a sheet of dead flat glass. Polished metal mirrors are OK for close range work only but the "fun house mirror" distortion makes them impractical for anything besides perhaps checking to see if you have spinach in your teeth. Open the main blade on a 91mm SAK to see what the mirror finish would look like and tilt it back and forth. Or reflect a laser off of it to see how distorted it is in the long range reflection.
Wouldn't the knife blade offer greater reflected surfaces to signal with?
If you carefully hold a clean 91mm knife blade up to your eye and use it as a long range rear view mirror you will see that the reflected image of distant objects you see is blurry, hence the reflected sun if used as a signaling mirror would similarly become diffuse and dimmer at great distances. That is, its light is not well collimated en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collimated_beam
good ideas, thank you
not shure if this was mentioned, but the cybertool lite actually has a magnifying glass in it and the light is super helpful screwing in dark computer cases:)
Inside a computer case?! Wow, you and your partner must be pretty small to to be doing that inside there. [Sorry,, I couldn't resist,]
@@MeZillch hehe
most glorious. mirror is FLY and tinderquick too, great method for that btw, i hope i can do both one each side; that stealth cordage is MAXIMUM GLORY but where does it wrap? under the scale? very very cool, sub earned.
Amazing very informative and creative
Second time's a charm.
Thank you!
Thank you
Great video!
Could the pen when the ink runs out be used for any thing...
I've thought about using the non slip type of surface for skateboards etc and put on the scales for a Match striking surface and to improve grip.
Rough surfaces like skate board tape will only ignite "strike-anywhere matches" (now rare). Normal safety matches need certain chemicals in the striking strip (red phosphorous). ruclips.net/video/y2ErAPODA6Uh/видео.htmlttps://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/The-Chemistry-of-Matches-750x530.png
This is just a thought I had, couldn’t you use the knife as a signal mirror?
It is certainly better than nothing but an ideal signaling mirror should be a REAL mirror. If you CAREFULLY hold a clean Swiss army knife blade up close to your eye and view a distant object to your side, by its reflection in the blade, you will notice it is not like a true mirror but rather the distant object appears blurred and diffuse. This also means any attempt to flash sunlight at a distant object with that blade will have a fraction of the brightness that a true mirror would because the light rays become scattered, especially over a great distance, like say to a ship on the horizon from your life raft, for example. Deceptively, the close range reflections from a SAK blade, say from a flashlight in your darkened room, will seem fairly bright, but that's because over a short distance the light rays haven't had a chance to spread much.
@@MeZillch
I use my Olight x9r...
🤭
My experience with all these compacted survival kits is that in a pinch you lose half the stored material when trying to get at that one that you really need in that emergency.
In all fairness...in an emergency...what is usually happening is that we tend to grab the nearest most convenient tool. Compacted kits are too complex to unravel....needs too much fine motor movements during the heat of the moment which are frequently happening at the most vulnerable moment such as during torrential rain...in the dark, that we tend to lose more tools in the process while trying to get at that one that you really need.
And the next tool that we need unfortunately is lost due to our own neglect after the first action of getting the first tool.
As a result, my emergency tools are spaced out and not concentrated in a small area that require fine motor movements like carefully peeling a sak scale. They are also stored in different containers that are easily handled and lodged in different places on my person as well as in the camp.
At best in my opinion, these compacted survival tools are more novelty than true practical kits. Their use is more likely when one chooses to exercise them because your real 'go to kit' is about 20 meters away and you may want to show your grandkid something cool to have in a survival situation.
Oh by the way...I still gave this video a like for ingenuity.
I carry multiple micro survival kits on me. One laced on my boot, another in the rim of my ball cap another in my wallet and the last is the SAK I carry. I also keep normal items in my pockets.
I have a serious question. When taking the scales off and putting them back on for mini survival kits, how do you keep them from getting really loose and rattling?
I take it you mean WITHOUT glue. :) I haven't done many and I usually use glue. Also mine mostly stay at home and don't get pocket carry jostling, so I'm probably not a good source to comment on the durability, sorry.
If you need that mirror for a signal you are beyond whatever help that mirror would give you McGiver.
He seems to using a second knife to open the knife with the gear inside. How does one peel off the scales if you don’t have 2 knives?
It is for emergency use only, not everyday use, so smashing it with a rock can be used as a last resort {where one wont care you ruined a $9 scale compared to dieing) but if no other knife you can also use a key or coin as a pry bar or even a strong fingernail. Once you pop one connection the remaining ones are easy, you just pull.
@@MeZillch Thank you for your reply.
I bought a Sentinel with great expectations only to find that it has the lock of the blade on the wrong side. It works for left handed people which re less than 10% of the population. I should had stuck to my trusted Kershaw Chill.
Love the videos, but I cannot find that Bausch and Lomb lens anywhere! Does anyone know where I can find that exact style? I want to hide one in my Cybertool as well.
Both videos - parts one and two - are fascinating and require the minimum of manual dexterity to accomplish. It's also good that you stress how removing red scales should really only be done after softening that side of your Victorinox in hot (preferably boiling) water, to minimise cracking around the plastic rivet "receptacles" inside each handle scale. FYI, you can buy 2TB memory sticks that are the size of a wireless mouse "dongle" - which could be adapted to fit inside the early key-ring SAKs, which started life with a swing-out memory stick - with a huge 2GB capacity..! Moore's Law at work with Victorinox... These micro-memory sticks may not yet be as reliable as Kingston or SanDisc products - but it will only be a matter of time until you can store your entire musical, and photographic files on something the size of a standard USB plug. Then we'll see what effect such micro-miniaturization has on the sale of Altoids...
how many mm thick is the paracord?
I usually use 550 paracord for my bracelets which is about 4mm wide.
Sempre top!!!
Is dental floss better than Kevlar?
Dental floss is free, strong, sterile (while in the original dispenser) and right in my bathroom!
فعلا
ايقونة جميلة جدا يجب ان تكون داخل جعبة كل شخص في حياته اليومية اقطتي مجموعة مؤلفة من 8قطعة من سكين فيكتورينوكس وحتى سكين المطبخ والمس الرائع والفعال... فيكتورينوكس تسعدك على البقاء في الحالات الطارئة ولكن جزيل الشكر والتقدير .... 🇱🇧🇱🇧🇱🇧🇱🇧🇱🇧🇱🇧
Why would you hide a signaling mirror in the scales of a Victorinox knife when the blade of the knife itself is an excellent, much larger mirror? Not only is it hard to get to inside the scales, but you risk ruining your knife when you need it most.
The blade is not a perfectly flat surface. It's ever so slightly concave due to the large diameter of the grinding wheel. I would use the bottle/cap opener. That has 2 nice flat polished surfaces!
You will never need any of that, you are too busy at home playing with your knives
What's that battery tester called???
I think I'll name it "Sparky": ruclips.net/video/8KER14TjkSw/видео.html
Don't REMOVE the mirror to use it - you may drop it. Keep it in the scale and use it like that.
The mirror is good to have but the knife can be used as a reflector, anyways nice content
Do you own a 91mm SAK? Clean the main blade and try this experiment. Walk over to a window where you can focus your eyes on a distant object or "infinity" (this simulates an airplane you spot or ship on the horizon you are attempting to signal from your life raft). Now instead of viewing it directly hold the blade up to your eye (careful you don't stab yourself) and look at the same distant object but this time by reflection off the bade. Notice how blurry the image is? This means an attempt to reflect sunlight off the blade at a distant object will similarly be blurry, diffuse, and dim, but better than nothing I suppose. Don't be fooled by the success at viewing or reflecting to nearby objects. A REAL mirror is much better and won't have this blurred image.
@@MeZillch good point!
@MeZillch Hope you're all right, it's just a longer break.
All is well, thanks, I just have too much work and other things to attend to so videos are on a back burner for the moment, but there are more in the works.
@@MeZillch Glad to hear that. Best wishes to you and yours.
I'm just curious, why do your hands shake while doing things.
Coffee!
Why do one need a hidden mini signal mirror on a tool thst is full of shiny blank blades?
Because the shiny blank blades aren't dead flat so when reflecting the sun to a distant ship on the horizon the diffuse refection seen from thousands of feet away won't be dim. The plastic mirror I show is also poor, actually, becuase it is not thick enough to be dead flat. Ideally it should be glass or thick Lexan.
@@MeZillch wow, thanks for the quick reply 👍
How do you take the covers off
Hot water, BUT NOT BOILING, to soften the plastic and then a thin blade knife as shown on the little ones here: ruclips.net/video/xdGbHKHnPn4/видео.html It is still risky that you might break the plastic fastening holes but if you do you can always super glue on the broken hole.
I have a survival wallet.
In it, I have a credit card which I can use in an emergency situation for a hotel room and a 3 course meal...
Can anyone link a video showing how to replace the White light on a penknife Victorinox with a Red light. I want to mod an onyx penknife to have a red light. I'm a great grandmother, anyone know how to do this?
Maybe tape a small piece of red cellophane/plastic over the existing white LED?
do you have a miniature in full resolution?
A miniature what?
@@MeZillch i mean thumbnail
@@SteelSolider1 Sorry, no. The image also appears at the end of the video in 1080 res though 17:05
Where can I find thoose batteries?
I bought my Duracell "Quantum" AAs at my local supermarket years ago, but they may have been discontinued. Here's a more current one with "Powerchck": us.amazon.com/Duracell-MN1500B4Z-CopperTop-Batteries-Technology/dp/B000YHO5MI/ref=sr_1_24?c=ts&keywords=AA+Batteries&qid=1673034366&refinements=p_n_feature_two_browse-bin%3A23534439011%2Cp_89%3ADuracell&rnid=2528832011&s=hpc&sr=1-24&ts_id=389577011
@@MeZillch Thanks for the fast reply!
😀👍🏻
I have a great new mod if you wanna hear about it... Is there a way to send you pics?
RUclips no longer has messaging between 'tubers, and I don't give out my email, but if you want to post a link here to a photo service storing your images I'll be sure to check it out!
@@MeZillch Well, what I wanted to say was, I discovered that the back scales of my victorinox ranger have several of these empty "slots" in the metal. I was able to cut a piece of micro ferro rod (firesteel.com) and squeeze it in. I also cut a piece of pencil lead and did the same in another slot. I sanded the pencil lead a little bit first (it was a tiny bit too fat). I'm not sure if I'm the first to discover this? Anyway try it out!
@@Airbugg Thanks. I've spotted a few locations for a shortened ferro rod including in my SAK Champion and Cybertool, for instance 11:22