Pro-Knife Laws Need Your Help!

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March 22, 2013

Three states are considering pro-knife laws that need your help, Knife Rights reports.

Pending measures in Kansas, Tennessee and Texas have been approved in lower legislative bodies and are moving on for further approval. If you act now, you still have time to help ensure these pro-knife laws will be enacted.

The one in Kansas (HB2033) would enact Knife Law Preemption and repeal the ban on switchblades, dirks, daggers and stilettos. Legislators helping the cause there include Rep. Jim Howell and Rep. Richard Carlson.

Tennessee’s progressive pro-knife law (Senate Bill SB1015) would also enact Knife Law Preemption, repeal the state’s antiquated switchblade ban and repeal the state’s 4-inch blade-length limitation. Sen. Mike Bell has been most helpful in the fight to save the knife rights of those in the great state of Tennessee.

Finally, the Texas law (HB1299) would enact Knife Law Preemption and repeal the state switchblade ban (HB1862). Rep. Harold V. Dutton, Jr., has led the fight in the Lone Star State.

Knife Law Preemption eliminates conflicting knife laws from county to county, city to city and town to town within a state, laws that act as “knife traps” to unjustly snare law-abiding knife users and build tax coffers in the applicable jurisdictions. Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Bill Adams likes to call the practice “tax farming,” and the term applies in spades in this instance.

According to Knife Rights, Knife Law Preemption has been enacted in Arizona, Utah, New Hampshire and Georgia.

For more information on how you can help visit www.KnifeRights.org.

10 Tips for Proper Knife Show Etiquette

BLADE Staff

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March 21, 2013

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Ask Permission

Always ask an exhibitor’s permission before picking up a knife from his table. Nothing’s worse than some ya-hoo barging up, grabbing a knife and launching into a spiel on how much he knows about knives. Treat the exhibitor like you would any decent human being and ask permission to pick up the knife first.

Considerations for Folders

If it’s a folding knife, after asking the exhibitor if you can pick it up, if it’s closed and you want to open it, ask if you can do so (though most every folder maker will expect you to open it, check the action, etc). And if it’s a multi-blade, NEVER open more than one blade at a time. It puts too much pressure on the backsprings and can cause undue wear and tear. If you’ve bought the knife, then open all the blades you want (though it will still cause undue wear on the backsprings). And if you open the blade(s), close it/them before handing the knife back to the maker.

Hand Someone a Knife Safely

Mind Your Edges & Tips

Your blades are your responsibility! Mind those edges and tips. Nothing is ruder than gouging someone on your 6 because you’re strolling around with a sword under your armpit like some 18th-century field marshal.

Say It, Don’t Spray It

Be careful when you are examining an exhibitor’s knife not to spray spittle on the knife. Some people tend to “spray it instead of say it,” and spittle, if not wiped off, can cause “spit pits,” or tiny rust spots.

Wait Your Turn

Never interrupt an ongoing conversation at an exhibitor’s table. The exhibitor might be in the process of selling a knife and if you barge in and start blabbing away, it may chase the buying customer off. Besides that, it’s rude.

Make Way for Business

If you’re talking to an exhibitor and have no intention of buying a knife and see someone next to you who obviously is intent on buying a knife from the exhibitor, politely bow out and give way to the potential buyer.

Leave “I’ll Be Back” to Arnold

Before leaving his/her table, unless you are really going to do it, never tell the exhibitor, “I’ll be back.” Don’t be labeled an “I’ll Be Backer”! 😉

Haggling

Don’t haggle over price with custom knifemakers. They know how much time, effort and materials they put into a knife. If you don’t like the price, move on.

Getting in Close

Using a loupe to examine an antique knife is one thing but don’t use one to examine the custom maker’s knife at the maker’s table. It’s just not very good form. Now, if it’s a custom knife sold by a purveyor, that’s different. After all, if you have a question about the knife’s authenticity, it is possible that the purveyor made a mistake in buying the knife. We all err at times, right?

These are a few of the rules of knife show etiquette. There are others. Practice proper knife show etiquette and your entire show experience will benefit as a result.

KEEPING Your Knife Sharp

Steve Shackleford

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March 19, 2013

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KEEPING your knife sharp entails more than knowing how to sharpen it. If you maintain the knife’s edge on a regular basis, it will eliminate having to re-establish the edge each time the knife goes dull.

Maintaining the edge is easy. The hard part is getting in the habit of doing it. However, once you get tired of re-establishing the edge every time your knife goes dull, you will appreciate how important the habit is.

Fine tune your edge with a GATCO TRI-SEPS. — Edge touch-ups are a breeze on the GATCO TRI-SEPS.

First, get one of the easy to use pull-through or similarly easy to use sharpeners and store it by wherever you put your knife at the end of the day. When you go to put your knife up, simply grab the sharpener and pull the blade edge through it five or six times. This should be enough to fine tune the edge and get it back to a working sharpness for the following day.

Such sharpeners as the GATCO TRI-SEPS are ideal for the job because they are easy to use and store or even carry. The TRI-SEPS, for instance, includes a chain for keyring carry. It sharpens both plain and serrated edges.

For more information on the GATCO TRI-SEPS—ideal for end-of-day edge touch-ups—click here.

Use A Hunting Knife Designed by Russ Kommer

Steve Shackleford

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March 13, 2013

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Use A Hunting Knife Designed by Russ Kommer

A hunting knife is great—and when you use a hunting knife designed by an Alaskan hunting guide who also happens to be a knifemaker, that’s even better.

A hot hunting knife is just what the doctor ordered—the Alaskan Skinner designed by Russ Kommer for Timberline.

The Alaskan Skinner from Timberline is a hunting knife designed by knifemaker Russ Kommer, who also is a long-time Alaskan hunting guide. Kommer spent most of his youth in the Minnesota north woods hunting, trapping and fishing. Idaho is where he got his start as a big-game guide in the Selway-Bitterroot Mountains. He took his passion for hunting to Alaska in 1984—which is where he also discovered his love of knives, particularly the hunting knife design, after dressing big game. He learned to design the most functional and comfortable hunting knife he could and started making versions of them in 1997.

Kommer’s custom knives include the hunting knife/skinner, camp knives, folders, “unique” fillet knives, fighters, boot knives, bowies, hatchets and tactical knives. In addition to Timberline, Kommer also has designed knives for CRKT, including the Signature line of hunting knife, and the Escalade and Extreme Mountain hunting knife models for Browning

The Alaskan Skinner features what is called an upswept blade with a hollow grind—great for high-performance field dressing, skinning and other chores associated with big game. Besides that, it will also help you prepare your meals in camp and do the other cutting chores that need doing outdoors.

The blade steel is a 440 stainless that fights corrosion and is relatively easy to sharpen compared to steels such as CPM S30V and others. The handle is a soft Zytel rubber with a palm swell to fill your hand, and finger grooves and a bird’s beak pommel to lock your hand in for any number of cutting tasks, from light slicing to heavy-duty cutting. Overall length: 9.625 inches. A black ballistic nylon sheath with belt loop is both handsome, durable and secure. Weight (including the sheath): 13.5 ounces.

Click here for more about this Russ Kommer hunting knife.

KA-BAR Knives Featured on New History Channel Show

Steve Shackleford

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March 6, 2013

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KA-BAR Knives Featured on New History Channel Show

KA-BAR Knives will be featured on a new History Channel Show, What People Earn, Sunday, March 10.

Highlighted on the show’s premier episode entitled “Beer, Knives & Football,” the 115-year-old manufacturer will star along with American brewer Samuel Adams.

The March 10 issue of Parade Magazine will run a companion piece on the new show and KA-BAR.

The show will air at 10 p.m. EST in most areas, though be sure to check your local listings.

Of the 45 products that were in the KA-BAR line in 1996, only five still remain in line and one that is/was made in the USA: the 1217 Marine Combat Knife. There are now 85 products made in the USA by American cutlers stemmed in the KA-BAR tradition born in 1898. Among them is KA-BAR’s Zombie® Knives line, the Becker Knife & Tool line, a number of Bob Dozier designs, the TDI Law Enforcement line, Union and traditional KA-BAR knives including the Dog’s Head pocketknives, the Mule line of folders, and more.

For more visit KA-BAR.com or call 800-282-0130.

KA-BAR’s USMC fighting/utility knife, an industry icon.

Some Carry-On Pocketknives Will Be Allowed

Steve Shackleford

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March 5, 2013

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Some Carry-On Pocketknives Will Be Allowed

Update: Click here to download the official PDF from the TSA outlining approved knives.

For the first time since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, passengers on U.S. airline flights will be allowed to have some small carry-on pocketknives by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The change reportedly will go into effect April 25.

Knives with “retractable blades” under 2.36 inches and narrower than 1/2 inch at the widest point will be allowed, TSA Administrator John Pistole said. However, some knives will remain prohibited, including those with “locking blades” and/or molded handles. Exactly what “molded handles” pertained to in terms of knives is unclear at this time, though handles with finger grooves and otherwise contoured for an enhanced grip appear to be targeted. Box cutters and razor blades will continue to be banned.

As a result of the knives that remain prohibited, it appears that “small pocketknives” would be those within the aforementioned blade and lock constraints with uncontoured handles such as traditional Swiss Army knives, keychain knives, utility/scout pocketknives with can openers, screwdriver blades, etc., and “champagne patterns”—wine/bottle-opening knives with corkscrews. However, it is difficult to find a utility/scout pocketknife with a blade that is less than 2.36 inches long and 1/2-inch wide. As a result, it would appear that only such knives as the Victorinox Swiss Army Classic and other similar pieces will pass muster.

Meanwhile, overseas passengers will not have to check their applicable knives when traveling through the USA.

For the latest on knives, stay on www.blademag.com.

World’s Top Knives at ECCKS March 1-3

Steve Shackleford

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February 28, 2013

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Some of the world’s top knives and knifemakers will descend on Jersey City, New Jersey, March 1-3 for the 24^th Annual East Coast Custom Knife Show (ECCKS).

Ron Lake's stag interframe tab-lock folder. (Dave Ellis photo) — Ron Lake’s stag interframe tab-lock folder. (Dave Ellis photo)

Such makers as, in alphabetical order, Van Barnett, Todd Begg, Charles Bennica, Tim Britton, Joel Chamblin, Pat and Wes Crawford, Dellana, Bob Dozier, Allen Elishewitz, Kaj Embretsen, Emmanuel Esposito, Larry Fuegen, Koji Hara, Rick Hinderer, Steve Johnson, Joe Kious, Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall-Of-Fame© member Ron Lake, Kirby Lambert, Wolfgang Loerchner, R.J. Martin, Jody Muller, Warren Osborne, T.R. Overeynder, W.D. Pease, Darrel Ralph, Steve Rapp, Bill Ruple, John W. Smith, Jurgen Steinau, Strider Knives, BLADE® Magazine Field Editor Joe Szilaski, Bob Terzuola, Brian Tighe, Cutlery Hall-Of-Famer Michael Walker, John Young and many more will exhibit, as well as top purveyors and suppliers.

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Pro-Knife Laws Need Your Help!