I’m the kind of person that saves things for future use. “No, no, this use isn’t important enough for that consumable item, I’ll save it for later.”
I did this as a kid, as a young adult, and I still do it now, although at least now I’m conscious enough to fight the inclination.
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I have used the tweezers on my Victorinox Swiss Army knives, and my wife’s, but I don’t think I have ever used the toothpick. What if it gets worn? Grossly dirty? Lost?
But now I know that replacements are easily available, making me more inclined to use them.
Replacement tweezers are also available, in small and large sizes, depending on whether you have a keychain-sized tool or full-sized one.
Knowing that I can order replacement parts makes me more inclined to use these accessories more heavily on my tools, or at least with less hesitation.
Buy Now(Replacement Toothpicks via Amazon)
Buy Now(Replacement Small Tweezers via Amazon)
Buy Now(Replacement Large Tweezers via Amazon)
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The replacement tools (accessories?) are available in 6-packs, for $5-7.
Bruce
They’ve been available for at least 10 years. Maybe 20. I know I got a replacement toothpick from the army navy story when I was in my early 20s. They kept a baggie of them behind the counter because it’s so common to loose them.
Stuart
I know these aren’t new, but not everyone knows they’re out there. I might have seen them before, and figured a reminder to myself was worth a reminder to everyone.
Darth
Worth reminding or telling. I didn’t know about these until this past Christmas when I decided to get my dad a knife. However, I remembered years ago when I broke his toothpick and he was pretty upset, so I thought. What if I just bought him tons of toothpicks? Sure enough, you could. I was really happy.
Tim
I got a swiss army knife when I was a kid and used it as my edc until a few years ago (didnt want to risk losing it). Never even thought to look for a replacement for the toothpick I lost. Great post, thanks!
S cotty
Toothpicks also come in large and small varieties.
Paul in Leyden Ma.
I retrofitted my SAK with a pen. It has come in handy innumerable times. If the knife did not come with a pen it can be added by getting upgraded handles that allow for it. On my style SAK it fits in third slot (on the same side as the tweezers).
Brian
I’ve never been a fan of the toothpick, so I carry a “Manager” which has a pressurized pen (Think space pen). It has knife, bottle opener/phillips, file/slotted, scissors, tweezers and the pen(which is also replaceable). This is BY FAR the most usable little knife I could find, the pen takes it to a whole different level. Everyone that sees the pen is surprised and immediately comments that they could use that.
Koko The Talking Ape
You can also get replacements for those tiny pressfit springs in the SAK scissors.
John
i replaced my victorinox keychain knife with a leatherman micra…. havent looked back since
same real estate and infinitely more versatile… it even has tweezers… the toothpick hasnt been missed… at all.
Garrick
Since I never used my SAK toothpicks, I converted them all to needles.
It’s simpler than it sounds: Cut the toothpick off to about 1/4 inch. Heat up the the thread end of a sewing needle with a lighter and push it into the toothpick. Predrilling with a very fine drill helps, or several attempts may be necessary to melt it all the way in. Epoxy will work as well. A small vice and needle nose pliers are useful to hold things.
Much more useful than a toothpick, especially in conjunction with the tweezers to get slivers out.
BTW, the tweezers themselves can be ground down to finer tips. About a 15° angle helps.
Matthew Johnson
FYI For the SAK enthusiast, there is a SAK store in the Mall Of America in Minnesota, that has accessories and can do refurbishments.
John S
Don’t forget the “springs” like:
http://a.co/7NHC86q
for the scissors. Eventually they seem to either loose strength or pop out on me but I seem to use the scissor function a lot over the rest.
ktash
Still like my SAK, had it for decades, carry it with me most of the time. I’ve had a few of the others, leatherman, etc, but they never caught on for me. Never heard about the pen, sounds good. The lost toothpick never bothered me because I never used it. The needle idea is a good one, so maybe worth replacing.
Mike B.
I use the toothpick from my old Vic Champion quite a bit. Digging things out of crevices, as ummm a toothpick, which I guess is the same thing, but routinely for digging out o-rings where I don’t want a metal tool gouging things.
Rx9
I’m not a big fan of the toothpick. It always seemed pretty unhygenic to me. A pen would be far superior for me, especially in light of the countless crap pens I get to sign receipts with. Note to anyone on tipped compensation in the service industry (waiters, bartenders, hairdressers, etc.): invest in a bulk pack of functional pens – people will tip higher.
Changing subject slightly, one of the greatest things about the internet is how we now have access to the thousands of small parts and accessories for which it was simply not economic enough for a retail store to stock. I don’t need a toothpick for a swiss knife, but it makes me glad to know that those who do can get the part easily.