If he ordered them in bulk boxing, which is most likely the case, rather than "on card" or "carded" then they probably weren't wrapped by the manufacturer and could have come as you described. A lot of manufacturers do this. There are some knock offs out there, but you can usually distinguish them by their "Close but no cigar" SAK logo.
The oil is most likely to keep the blade from rusting during storage. At times they are oiled so much that it seems like they tested the knife out on baitfish before boxing it up. However, I haven't purchased a SAK in quite some time with the exception as gifts and they were all back carded in a blister pack, so I could only get a mediocre look and can't tell you if they were dipped in oil before packaging.
The ruby scales are recent as far as I know. I don't know how long they've been doing that, so please don't qoute me. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> As much as I like Apple 'puters, I blame them and specifically the iMac for this "New Age" transparent or translucent look in design. It also can show off flaws that normally may not have been noticable otherwise. I think it's fine on tech stuff, but I like my Victorinox Old School. LOL Back to the point... I can't imagine what the issue with the glue and ink is. Victorinox has always seemed to have pretty good quality control. I haven't seen that before.
Edited by Nicodemus (12/20/05 10:17 PM)
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