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.
Call or e-mail Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal today to encourage him to sign the Georgia Knife Preemption Bill passed by the state house and senate so you will not have to worry about inconsistent knife laws in Georgia when traveling to and from the BLADE Show (www.bladeshow.com). While at the show, which will be June 8-10 at the Cobb Galleria just outside Atlanta, check out the ABS forging demo featuring ABS master smith Jay Hendrickson (standing, background) and ABS bladesmith Tim Carr (forging a blade to shape at the anvil).
Thanks to your calls and emails, the Georgia House of Representatives passed SB432, Knife Preemption Bill 124-46, Knife Rights (KR) reported. “Our heartfelt thanks to Senator Bill Heath and Representative David Knight for shepherding this bill through the legislature,” the KR release stated.
However, it’s not quite over yet. Now the bill moves to Gov. Nathan Deal’s desk for his signature. Without his signature, the bill won’t become law. Please use this form to contact Gov. Deal’s office and politely request that he sign SB432(see instructions below):
When you fill out the online form, DO NOT indicate you are representing an organization or group (unless you actually are an officer or representative acting in that capacity).
Under “Please choose a category:” select “Legislation-State”
You can click the box “no response is needed” unless you need a form email response.
In the message box, a sample message appears below. You can personalize this message if you are so inclined. It does make a difference:
Dear Governor Deal,
I am writing to respectfully request that you please sign SB432, which makes Georgia’s knife laws consistent throughout the state. Georgia is very important to knife collectors and manufacturers worldwide because it is home to the BLADE Show, the largest knife show and knife event in the world. The show represents millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs for Georgia. SB432 will ensure that BLADE Show attendees will not have to worry about inconsistent knife laws in Georgia when traveling to and from the BLADE Show.
For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. For subscription information click on http://www.shopblade.com/product/blade-magazine-one-year-subscripti…?r+ssfb033012#BL1SU.
The #3EXP Mountain Man Express lever-lock pocketknife is one of Queen’s most recent models. The 3.75-inch blade is 1095 carbon steel. MSRP: $350.
Queen Cutlery Co. has been forced to cease all production and close its facility in Titusville, Pennsylvania, as of today, Jan. 10, according to a Queen press release.
Kenneth Daniels, chief executive officer and president of Queen, cited issues with cash flow as the cause of the cessation of the company’s knife production. He added that all Queen employees will be furloughed while the company goes through a period of reorganization.
The announcement posted on Queen’s website.
According to Queen’s Ryan Daniels, more information concerning Queen’s future will be released in February.
Queen made knives under the Schatt & Morgan and Schatt & Morgan Express lines, as well as the private label lines of Queen Classics, Schatt & Morgan Premier, Tuna Valley Cutlery Co., Cougar Creek Knives and Trestle Pine Knives.
Queen traces its roots back to the old New York Cutlery Co. (Schatt & Morgan), which moved from Gowanda, New York, to Titusville in 1902. The company incorporated as Schatt & Morgan Cutlery Co., Inc., and began cutlery production in January 1903. The Schatt & Morgan knives were made until 1931.
Then known as Queen City, Queen had a number of contracts with the government during World War II and also supplied other cutlery companies in their war effort. Queen City supplied product to the Jersey City Depot from May 1944 through October 1954. In addition, Queen City furnished knives for Williams Brothers Cutlery in California from Nov. 18, 1942, to December 1945.
In 1991, Queen started re-issuing the Schatt & Morgan knives, a Robeson Series in 1995, and a “File & Wire” series in 1998.
Kenneth Daniels bought Queen in 2012 and Queen had been specializing in a wide range of traditional pocketknives since then.
A measure that would have banned the sale of such beautiful mammoth ivory knives as this one by Ron Welling failed to pass muster in Washington state. (Chuck Ward photo)
Knife and ivory legislation that affects your right to own, carry and sell knives at both the federal and state levels has been heating up lately, including a victory for proponents of the sale of legal elephant and mammoth ivory in the state of Washington.
Washington’s proposed bans were overcome by a combined effort that included Knife Rights, the NRA and the Legal Ivory Rights Coalition, Mike Vellekamp of Fox Knives USA and Tim Wegner of Blade-Tech.
According to Knife Rights’ Doug Ritter, the proposed bans would not have saved a single living elephant while “taking hundreds of millions of dollars from millions of honest, law-abiding Americans. It makes no sense to unfairly penalize Americans for the illegal and immoral activities that continue to threaten elephants, and which these proposed ivory bans do nothing to ameliorate.”
Meanwhile, among the new or pending measures at the state and federal level are:
•Knife law preemption bills in Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Vermont, measures that ensure consistent enforcement of state laws everywhere in each applicable state, and a special federal knife preemption law that would protect transporting knives from state to state in certain instances;
•Laws affecting switchblades and other specific knife styles/patterns in Illinois, Maine, Nevada, New York and Oklahoma;
•New ivory bans in Florida, Illinois, Vermont, New York and Hawaii, with ivory bans pending in Connecticut, Maryland, Iowa, Oklahoma and California, and the African Elephant Conservation and Legal Ivory Possession Act on the federal level, and;
•In one of the world’s leading anti-knife nut capitals, New York Sen. Tony Avella of Queens proposed a ludicrous ban on machetes after several recent local attacks involving the utilitarian tools.
U.S. Senators Mike Enzi (R-WY) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the federal Knife Owners’ Protection Act (KOPA) this past Wednesday. KOPA would allow legal interstate travel of those transporting knives, provided the knives are transported to and from states where the law allows possession of said knives, and the knives are transported in closed containers. For more information, visit AKTI.org.
Oklahoma bills for knife preemption and to repeal the switchblade ban cleared major hurdles recently when both were passed by the Oklahoma House Public Safety Committee. Both measures head to the state House before going to the Senate. For more information on them and other state knife laws—including the ridiculous anti-machete bill in New York—visit kniferights.org.
At least two of the new state ivory laws—in Florida and Illinois—ban not only the sale of ivory but also the sale of mammoth ivory and/or make no exemptions for the sale of mammoth ivory. Meanwhile, the new punitive measure in New York would increase the criminal and civil penalties in its already existing laws banning the sale of ivory from living animals and mammoth ivory. On the up side, Hawaii has tabled its proposed ivory bans, though that scheduling “could change at any time.” For more information, visit elephantprotection.org.
On the knife front, the larger point to be made is about the intentions behind the use of a knife. Here is a group of people with serious criminal records. In another context, that could be dicey, but here it isn’t. It takes the air out of arguments for regulating knives according to specs.
Knife Skills also shows how knives can create collaborative spaces for the sake of art, business or leisure. Can a restaurant function without knives? Why do the best chefs on Earth also seek the best knives? You can’t separate food and people so long as there is a tool with a cutting edge, and that means knives. The relationship is so essential that even convicts can be trusted to preserve it.
The documentary caught the attention of more than just BLADE, too. It received a 2018 Oscar nomination. We’ll see if a knife movie brings home the big award on March 4, when the awards ceremony takes place.
Knife Skills didn’t hit theaters in a wide release, but you can stream it on Amazon Prime for a couple bucks.
Heads up: The trailer above contains some coarse language.
Happy 30th Birthday, Outdoor Edge
Denver-based Outdoor Edge turned 30 years old last month, which means it’s still clinging to the spirit of its 20s but contemplating middle age while holding down a mortgage and a couple kids. (In lieu of a birthday card, BLADE respectfully submits that joke.)
Outdoor Edge won a BLADE Magazine Knife Of The Year® in its debut year at the 1988 BLADE Show in Knoxville, Tennessee, with the Game Skinner. As BLADE‘s Steve Shackleford points out, that went on to be one of the most knocked off knives ever. No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.
Outdoor Edge exploded onto the scene with the Game Skinner. (Outdoor Edge image)
Less copied is the way Outdoor Edge got its start, simply because it’s so challenging to build a knife company from the ground up. From its news release:
From its humble beginnings as a one-man show with four prototype samples, [David] Bloch’s company, Outdoor Edge, has grown significantly in the past thirty years. Currently, the company has 24 employees and offers more than 120 products. Originally based in Boulder, Colorado, the company moved to a larger facility in Denver in 2010.
BLADE wishes Outdoors Edge 30 more great years of success!
Choose a few high-quality knives instead of a knife block set, as sets tend to have a lot of filler knives that you don’t need. Wirecutter suggests three different knives for the average cook: chef’s knife, paring knife and serrated knife.
Brian Tighe, maker of the “Twist Tighe” in all Damasteel damascus steel, is slated to be among the world’s top custom makers exhibiting their knives at the 23rd Annual East Coast Custom Knife Show Friday through Sunday, March 2-4.
Produced by Steve D’lack of Hawthorn Galleries, the show will be held at the Westin Hotel-Jersey City Newport in Jersey City, New Jersey.
For more on the latest knives, knife legislation, knifemaking instruction, knife trends, knifemakers, what knives to buy and where and much more, subscribe to BLADE Magazine, the World’s No. 1 Knife Publication. For subscription information click onhttp://www.shopblade.com/product/blade-magazine-one-year-subscripti…?r+ssfb030112#BL1SU
One of knifemaker John Lewis Jensen’s classic art knives is in the Mesa Art Museum’s 34th Annual Contemporary Crafts Exhibition, Jensen announced in an e-mail release.
Located in Mesa, Arizona, the museum will feature the knife as one of 47 selected pieces in a highly competitive juried exhibition through March 31.
For more information visit www.mesaartscenter.com or http://www.jensenknives.com.
