Victorinox Vintage Scissors

Victorinox knives made before 1983 come with a slightly different style of scissors-- they have a single piece spring and a screw attaching the two blades, rather than a fixed rivet. The scissors blades are also more angular.

Scissors Maintenance

Vintage Victorinox scissors sometimes need to be adjusted. If the blades are too "floppy", use a small screwdriver to tighten the screw a bit. If the blades are binding, then loosen the screw about 1/4 turn. It's also a good idea to put a drop of oil at the pivot point once or twice a year (use a light mineral oil).

Vintage replacement springs are difficult to find. You can switch to an inexpensive, modern bent spring, but then you lose some of the historic character of the knife.

You can use the scissors on paper, cardboard, aluminum foil, plastic and other soft materials. Don't use it to cut wire or sheet iron, or you will quickly dull the blades.

Other Scissors

Modern Victorinox scissors are riveted at the joint, rather than being attached with a small screw. They also use a bent spring rather than a straight one.

From the late 1970's until about 1991, there were also transitional scissors that used the bent springs, but still had a screw attachment rather than a rivet.

NOTE-- Victorinox seems to have held on to the vintage scissors on the Ambassador and Executive models until about 1984. With typical Swiss frugality, they probably made a gradual transition as they used up the old stock of vintage scissor parts.

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