2026-09-15 Knives As Tools

I wasn’t aware cameras could have alternate fasteners holding them together. I don’t mean alternate literally—they are still screws—but the screw heads are unlike anything I had run into before.
I should also point out they were on Exakta cameras. This European camera manufacturer made some amazing cameras in the time 35 mm was just being introduced.

This is an Exakta II manufactured 1949-1950. It was made so you could take off the two sides of the top, release some screws in the bottom and then pull the mirror/shutter block out the top of the body shell. To easily access the screw holding the two side panels you would usually remove the knobs and advance lever. Then you would replace the knobs/lever after getting the guts out in the open.

    You discover the screws have relatively wide, curiously shallow, extremely thin slots. Note the damage—chipped chrome—from using regular screwdrivers.

    This is a small screwdriver. See how it is the right thickness and seems to be “bottomed”, but the blade exerts most of its torque where the slot is getting thinner.

    This is a bit from a really large set of screwdriver tips. Again it has the right thickness but again the torque might chip the finish. While researching repairing these cameras, one repairman mentioned he was going to build his own tool for these screws. While looking around for some way to capture the correct profile for the tip he noticed one of his measuring tools seemed to have the right outline.

I would bet it was this depth gauge—or something similar we will meet in a moment—for its rounded end to the right.

Here it is in close-up. This profile does look pretty good, except the metal is a trifle too thick for comfort.

    The same tool kit that yielded the earlier screwdriver tip had this metal spatula style tool.

    Again its tip looks like the correct profile, except the metal is even thicker.
I mulled over the problem for several days. I suspected a common table knife would probably work. These table knives are easily obtained in thrift stores.
    Again God proved his presence by my local thrift store placing about ten knives out on their “take away” table. I didn’t just grab them, I waited a day to see if anyone needed them more than I. The vast bulk of them remained the next day so I took a selection of them.

    Most of the knives were simply stainless steel, except the dark-handled one at the top was silver plated on the handle. 

    I quickly eliminated any of the blades that had serration's. They would create more damage than the too small screwdriver tips.

    This left me with these two knives. Note the bottom one has been sharpened. This no doubt makes it a better table knife for cutting meat, but I was more interested in if the really thin sharpened blade would sit lower into the screws head.

    Turns out the duller blade worked fine—admittedly at a 45º angle to the screw’s head—on the finer screw head.

    And the same knife worked fine at 90º on the smaller screw head.