How To Change The Blade On A Milwaukee Fastback

There are a lot of exciting tools made by Milwaukee for DIYers and blue-collar professionals, including drills, hedge trimmers, saws, and more. The lineup also features different utility knives, with some offering multiple functionalities. Top-end Fastback utility knives pack a screwdriver, bottle opener, and wire cutter into a single utility knife. That, paired with their affordable pricing, makes them worth buying.

The build quality of the Milwaukee Fastback is good enough to support the knife even under prolonged usage. However, the blade will eventually wear out over time. With that in mind, Fastbacks are designed so that you can swap the blades without needing to throw away the knife. The actual process of replacing the blade is quite simple, but easy to miss. If you don't know the actual method, you may find yourself going for the screws holding the blade encasing, but that won't loosen the blade. Here are the steps to change the blade on your Milwaukee Fastback and how to store it inside the knife's blade holder. 

All Fastbacks have a push button on the blade holder to release the blade. As the button is painted in the same black color as the casing, it can be hard to spot. Here's how you can swap blades on a Fastback:

1. Open the knife and find the black push button on the blade casing.

2. Press the button and pull the blade to remove it at the same time.

3. Now, install the other blade inside the casing while pressing the button.

4. Move the blade to check if it has been installed properly. You may also reopen the knife to check for any unwanted movement.

Some Fastback models like the 1502 and the 6 in 1 (1505) have room to store spare blades. While the storage is easy to spot on the 1502, the blade storage might go unnoticed on the 1505.

To use the blade storage on the 1502, simply open the knife to reveal the storage space. Now open the storage to place additional blades inside. The 1502's dedicated blade storage can store up to three additional blades. For the 1505, open the knife to see a liner at the bottom of the blade. Now, press the liner to place one additional blade inside the knife body.