Unusual uses of SAK tools

[kBob]

HSO's recent post on replacement scales got me all MacGyver-ish this morning thinking about SAK uses and got me hunting for the actual original intent of the dreaded SAK hook.

Any who it got me thinking about seeing if other folks had SAK stories of perhaps bizarre uses for the various tools.

For my self I am reminded of a life threating event every time I see a SAK with a cork screw.

Long time members excuse me for retelling this one as I ….remember, with advantages. (hey I am a Bob after all and WEBOBs have that duty)

Walking a few blocks down from the Gumbo shop in New Orleans one night my wife and a buddy and I were accosted by a grubby looking man initially demanding we "Leave me some money!"

My friend responded "No thanks you." and continued to walk at the same speed we had been. Recognizing the gentleman was irritated and noting that his demand now increased to "You better be damned you are gonna leave me some money!" and that an empty hand had shot into a volumous trouser pocket I shoved my wife forward after my friend and slowed to turn and walk backwards so as to keep an eye on this individual. Now I was worried for it seems three or four of his friends had appeared in one of those nooks between some of the NO buildings.

I took to walking sideways in an effort to keep up with wife and friend yet still keep an eye on Mr Thug and had my left side toward him. To say I was regretting local laws that caused my Colt Officer's Model to be in our room safe would be an understatement. Someone had told us the City of NO frowned greatly on lock back knives so my Buck 112 and sheath were not on my belt and in fact in my shaving kit back in the room

Now Mr. Thug had gotten to the point where he was threating to cut uniquely male parts of my person off and shared but uniquely customized female parts from my wife if we did not give up not only cash but everything.

I slipped a hand in my pocket that faced away from him and there found my SAK. The only blade I could open one handed in the pocket was... the corkscrew. Recognizing that if I grasped the SAK in my fist that the cork screw would protrude ever so slightly from between my fingers I figured a very crappy set of "knucks" that would likely fold and pinch the bejeebers out of me beat a hoot and a holler.

As Mr.Thug leapt closer to me I extracted the SAK with the extended cork screw peeking from my fist to hold behind my trailing leg as per US Army Combatives training of that time (The stance not the silly cork screw)

Friend seeing the deadly weep upon in my fist started laughing out loud. My wife then started laughing. Mr.Thug's friend thinking they were laughing at Mr. Thug started laughing and making comments about what would likely happen if he attacked that "Big un" (I am about 6'2" and of heavy build). Mr. Thug turned to trade insults with his friend and We made haste around the corner... and found ourselves within sight of the police station and its classic early '50's Ford patrol car.

Both my wife and buddy ribbed me for months about that deadly cork screw, but honestly it might well have saved someone's life that night.

So … what SAK tools have you used for odd purposes?

-kBob

 

[Odd Job]

I've used the awl in an X-ray beam to point out the entrance of a splinter in a patient's foot.

 

[badkarmamib]

The corkscrew is the best tool in the world for undoing knots in shoelaces.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

My having a corkscrew on my SAK got me invited to a few parties with the scientists, (and female grad students), when I worked on a research ship 30+ years ago.

 

[hso]

Pulling staples with the can opener.

 

[bikerdoc]

I take notes on how MacGyver uses his.

 

[dvcrsn]

Pulling staples with the can opener.

I used the awl on the Scout knife I used to routinely carry to pull staples

 

[earlthegoat2]

This thread brings back memories of my old SAK Camper. I found that knife in an old truck my dad had just bought. I was 10 and not allowed to have a knife by my parents yet but I had it with me through many tromps through the woods. I still have it and dug it out for a pic. A few years went by before they knew about it and by then they didn’t care.

I remember I think, the Camper and Scout were identical except the camper had the cork screw and the scout had the Phillips screwdriver.

I used the can opener plenty for whatnot was designed for. I can tell you a P38 works a whole lot better but either get the job done. Used bottle opener a bit as a bottle opener but more as some form of prying tool.

The saw was the most used item. I used that saw to clear shooting lanes for bow hunting, trim twigs from firewood, and all kinds of other youthful country living stuff. I remember cutting though a big branch bigger than my arm was at the time and larger in diameter than the saw is long. Took awhile.

I can only remember using the awl for....wait for it...punching holes in leather. Haha. Never remember using the corkscrew.

I broke the tip of the small blade off at some point. Don’t remember. It became a glorious box cutter though that I will probably resurrect now that I have the knife back out.

I take it back. The saw was not the most used. It was definitely the toothpick. Never washed that thing either....

Tweezers for tweezing.

The “Camping” label has basically worn off. It was etched into the scale slightly though.

 

[Armored farmer]

I have a SAK Nomad in my pocket when I work. It has a larger lockblade caplifter/screwdriver/ scraper that gets used often.
I do use my awl to push the pins out on my Remington shotguns and ARs

 

[bikerdoc]

A well used cadet has been on my key ring forever.

 

[bannockburn]

No unusual usage from my SAKs (got to love those tweezers), to report. Bought all my kids some type of SAK when they were old enough; never cut themselves (or anyone else for that matter), but I'm sure they have done something out of the ordinary with their knives!



The Cadet probably still gets the most use out of the SAKs that I have.

 

[earlthegoat2]

My dad carried a SAK Classic most of his life. He would lose them now and again but he had a never ending supply because one of his vendors at work always gave them out as Swag for business.

He had a Mazak and a Haas I remember. He was a toolmaker.

 

[JohnKSa]

I carry a mini SAK and have for years.

The scissors get used as nail trimmers.

I used the small blade on this knife (or its predecessor) as a scalpel to remove a small cyst of some sort from my left index finger. I don't know exactly what happened, but at some point, I noticed that when I would pick something up with my left hand just right, it would cause a shooting pain (almost like one would get from having a splinter) in the pad of my left index finger. The pain wasn't severe, but it was enough to make me sit up and take notice, and it got pretty frustrating. I could feel a small hard knot (really tiny) in my finger, but although it was small, it was apparently sitting right on top of a nerve. When something would push on the knot, it would tweak the nerve which would complain "loudly".

Went to my GP and asked her to remove whatever was causing the pain. She demurred but agreed to XRAY it. The XRAY showed nothing and she said that was all she could do.

I put up with it for awhile longer and then one night it "zapped" me again and I decided that was all I was going to take. Got the SAK out, made sure it was sharp and clean, found a pair of tweezers and with the operating instruments ready, I repaired to the bathroom to operate over the sink.

Cutting yourself open deliberately is kind of an interestingly unpleasant endeavor, even when you know the final excavation is going to be very shallow. Anyway, I got past that hurdle and started trying to find the little knot. That turned out to be more difficult than I had anticipated.

With things opened up, so to speak, I didn't have my normal landmarks. I figured maybe my best bet was to use the tweezers to see if I could get hold of anything that looked suspicious. If this sounds like a bad idea to you, you are apparently smarter than I am.

Did I mention that the knot must have been situated right over a nerve? Well, I didn't get hold of the knot, but I did get hold of the nerve with the tweezers and it was impressively unhappy about the insult. The closest thing I can compare it to was when I accidentally took hold of a live sparkplug wire while the engine was running. I swear I saw a flash of white light, and even after I let go of the nerve (which I did really, REALLY fast), my teeth still hurt. It was quite the learning experience.

Took awhile to get composed and catch my breath and then I took a different tack--I may be stupid, but not stupid enough to try that twice. I sort of squeezed on my finger, the little knot poked up out of the incision, and I clipped it off with fingernail clippers. Still have the scar. I never figured out what the knot was, but at least it's gone now.

Anyway, the SAK did the initial incision and I figure that's a fairly unusual use even if it was the blade and not one of the tools.

 

[Conelrad]

Sounds kinda like a wart...

Conelrad

 

[JohnKSa]

It was down well under the skin, It couldn't be detected just by looking, but it could be felt by pressing down hard with a fingernail to feel it in the tissue of the finger pad under the skin. Warts are easy. If you don't want to use the typical methods, you can just burn them off with a soldering iron. Smells bad though...

 

[bikerdoc]

Could have been some sort of aberrant calcium deposit

 

[Double_J]

I know of a guy who used a leather awl/marlin spike as a improvised weapon in a bar room fight. Like kBob it was used for punching. The cops let him go as the other patron involved in the fight was a frequent flyer at the county jail and it was clear he was fighting to survive.

I used the can opener as a metal scribe when I needed to cut some sheet metal in the maintenance shop.

 

[hso]

you are apparently smarter than I am.

When you could have asked for a referral to a hand specialist who would have probably done this in the office...

 

[JohnKSa]

And probably with some local anesthetic... Yeah, unfortunately that never really occurred to me. Once I struck out with the GP I didn't even think about pursuing it with another doctor.

 

[hso]

Once I struck out with the GP I didn't even think about pursuing it with another doctor.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I used the small blade on this knife (or its predecessor) as a scalpel to remove a small cyst of some sort from my left index finger. I don't know exactly what happened, but at some point, I noticed that when I would pick something up with my left hand just right, it would cause a shooting pain (almost like one would get from having a splinter) in the pad of my left index finger. The pain wasn't severe, but it was enough to make me sit up and take notice, and it got pretty frustrating. I could feel a small hard knot (really tiny) in my finger, but although it was small, it was apparently sitting right on top of a nerve. When something would push on the knot, it would tweak the nerve which would complain "loudly"...

Bonus points if you bandaged yourself with duct tape.

 

[drobs]

Not a SAK but I have my Dad's US Knife. I've used the awl multiple times to pick locks. A friend of inherited a lock box w/ no key.
I had it open in seconds with my US Knife. Box contained a bunch of silver coins.

Edited to add - I love the can opener - works really good.

There is a US Company still making these in the USA and selling them:
https://www.colonialknifecorp.com/c...ary-knives/products/military-scout-knife-2205
I picked one up go with Dad's knife.

 

[hso]

This fellow has 25 videos on different things you can use the SAK for!

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Thanks.

 

[Armored farmer]

My longtime edc sak nomad.
The stainless blades survive the occasional fertilizer baptism.
The Nomad is the larger size lockblade with caplifter/screwdriver, can opener/Phillips, awl, corkscrew, tweezers, toothpick.
I wish it had scissors.