Grade A- Swiss Army Knives

Blade Condition:

Many of the A- knives will show some scratching on one or more blades. The blades may be dull, or they may have been lightly sharpened. The edge may have small nicks or a bit of "ripple" (more common on Wenger knives). The tip may be very slightly bent or twisted.

This example is about the worst we'll accept in an A- grade knife-- it has some scratching, and part of the blade was lightly sharpened. Most A- blades will be better than this one. A- knives will not have missing blade tips or changes to the blade contour.

Other Tool Conditions:

Many A- grade knives will show signs of use on the screwdrivers and other tools. However, everything is still usable. The most common problem is twisting on the tip of the small screwdriver. Next most common is wear on Phillips and flat screwdriver tips, and corkscrews that are bent slightly out of position. Files will sometimes be darkened, especially on older knives that use a harder and less stain-resistant steel. We test the scissors to make sure they still cut paper smoothly.

Blade Snap and Movement:

All A- grade knives have good blade "snap". Most of the knives in this grade will "snap" as well as the A grade knives. A few tools may be a little sluggish, and may require a light push to put them into their fully closed position. That happens most often on the openers and small blade, which seem to have weaker spring action or more friction than the other tools.

Scales and Body:

A- grade knives will nearly always have "pocket wear" on the plastic shells. Usually it is in the form of many small scratches; sometimes a few larger ones. However, they will not have deep gouges, holes or cracks.

The scratches on the example above are about the worst we'll accept on an A- grade knife. If the scratches were deeper, the knive would drop to a B or lower.

In this grade, we'll sometimes accept small nicks or broken spots in the shells (no more than 1/16" / 1.5mm). Chips are especially common on Wenger knives, which are fragile around the edges (especially near the toothpick and tweezer slots).

The example above shows the worst possible shell break that we'd accept in an A- grade knife.

A- grade knives may show a bit of corrosion or denting on the aluminum liners (the spacers between blades). It's something that does not affect the tool's functioning. Note that all Swiss Army knives have some roughness on the liner edges, even when new. They are stamped from sheet metal and not ground or polished afterwards.

Inserts & Attachments:

Grade A- knives will always have toothpick, tweezers and key ring (if they are included on the model). We replace any broken scissors springs. Models with pens will write properly. Models with flashlights or electronics will be in working order.