The Equivoke

Image for The Equivoke

I really like the Victorinox Evoke and Hunter Pro knives. 
But… The tool that I probably use the most in other Swiss army knives are the scissors. 
I wanted to get the best of both worlds. An Evoke with some more equipment – the Equivoke.

The model: https://www.printables.com/model/1500131-the-equivoke

Originally I thought that I would want to add almost all the tools from a Swiss Card: tweezers, toothpick, nail file, pen and pin. The small blade was never an option. 

In the end, I opted to add the scissors, pin and pen only. I have never had any use for the tweezers or the toothpick. The nail file might have been nice, but I couldn't find a good place for it.

Scale Design

Since the Hunter Pro feels more comfortable in the hand than the slimmer Evoke, I decided to model my scales loosely after the Hunter Pro. The thicker scales would also have better room for the added tools. 

When the knife was disassembled, I scanned all the parts on a flatbed scanner, and inserted the images as canvases into Autodesk Fusion. Fusion is quite lousy at positioning canvas images, so it took a bit of fiddling.

I traced the outline of the side plates and extruded the scales. Next, I made the index finger chamfer and started with the scissor pocket. It took a few iterations to get the pocket to get the locking bulge big enough to hold the scissors in place and small enough to allow for easy insertion/removal. 

The pen and pin pockets were somewhat easier to make but also needed some attempts to get the right feel. Like in the SwissCard, I made those pockets slightly bent to hold the tools in place by friction.

The side plate has an egg-shaped inset (towards the blade) around the blade hinge and a dog bone shaped outset in the middle. I had to make a cavity for the dog bone. Otherwise, the scale wouldn't sit flush. For the egg I made a low protrusion. I don't know if it is necessary, but I felt that it would make a better rivet joint.

Finally, I added a signature on the rear scale for good measure.

 

The Build

Disassembly

I started the disassembly by removing the belt clip by holding the knife against a table edge and hitting it.

I drilled the 4 mm nickel(?) rivet heads from the rear scale side. When I began, I didn't know the diameter of the rivets, so I started with a 2 mm drill bit and stepped up until the heads finally came off at 4.5 mm. Then I punched out the rivets with a small drift. 
It would have been a good idea to start with the blade "hinge" rivet and hold on to the blade until it was free. This might have saved me some minor bloodshed.

When all the parts were disassembled, I put the alox scales aside and designed and printed the new scales.

After printing, I wet sanded the new scales smooth. I used P120, P240, P400, P1000 and P2000 grit papers. P2000 was maybe a bit overkill. I wasn't aiming for a shiny finish, but I wanted it to be smooth to the touch.

Here's a comparison of an unsanded and a sanded (and somewhat scratched) scale.

I didn't want to flush micro plastics down the drain. I put the wastewater from the sanding into a bucket. The water was left to evaporate for quite some weeks. Then I wiped the bucket clean.

Assembly

I put cutlery rivets through the front scale and the side plate. 

Then the spring, rocker and blade were put in place.

The rear scale, together with the rivet pins, were added.

I put an M4 hex socket head cap screw in a vice as an anvil. With a hammer and a larger drift, I riveted the parts together.

Materials Used

Full disclosure: I haven't got any relationship with these companies, other than that I have bought their products.

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