A Direct Question to Sal Glesser

Bob6794 said:
Quite a few of my professors in college were cops and we're teaching on the side because they wanted to. We're taught a few things, don't admit anything, two cops are not your friends, they can lie to try to get info, and don't trust them for starters. But also knowingly carrying a knife that's illegal is a bad idea, if you get caught up in something you now have an illegal weapon. Life just got a whole lot harder for you. And it's a bad idea to rely on being friendly to a cop to stay out of trouble, it's better to just keep it legal from the get go.
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This is good advice. :)

FWIW, cops have job to do and, if you have contact w/one and s/he does not know you, s/he will have absolutely no inclination to give you any slack regardless of how "nice and honest" you think you are.

S/he will enforce the law as s/he understands it and it's best to be on the "right" side of the law whenever this happens, unless you already know the cop or have some other special relationship (like being an active duty or retired LEO) that may allow him or her to consider giving your situation more discretion but even this is no guarantee that you'll get out of an arrest or citation for whatever violation is involved.
 
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Well all the talk in the world is not getting to the problem on this one. First off I am a Spyderco fan and I love the Autonomy 2 but I have to say this is an issue. The knife was designed to be 3.5 inches, the first specs that came out show 3.5. Look in the 2018 mid year catalog. Look on all the major online knife stores and they used the mid year specs and put this knife on pre sale per those specs at 3.5 inches. Then 2019 catalog comes out and it shows 3.61 inch blade. I will say it this show two things, the right hand is not talking to the left hand and a failed QC not for quality the quality is there for sure but a failed QC for Specs. I measured my knife again, If you hold the tape one way it looks a little longer than 3.5, if you hold it another it is dead on. It really urks me that it is so close and they changed the specs. If I lived in a State that allowed a longer concealed blade than 3.5 it would not be an issue. I will say this I am now not the only one asking about this, a person over on Spyderco forums is asking too! I think to be honest, Spyderco needs to decide the actual blade length across the board and have all catalogs and online stores correct the blade length.
 
Hi Rick,

I don't think it is the issue that you think it is. The actual knives will be 3.5". I discussed this with Eric yesterday. You said that your knife measured 3.5". It's possible that all of the pieces except mine (which was an early piece) measures 3.5".

sal
 
RickJ said:
Well all the talk in the world is not getting to the problem on this one. First off I am a Spyderco fan and I love the Autonomy 2 but I have to say this is an issue. The knife was designed to be 3.5 inches, the first specs that came out show 3.5. Look in the 2018 mid year catalog. Look on all the major online knife stores and they used the mid year specs and put this knife on pre sale per those specs at 3.5 inches. Then 2019 catalog comes out and it shows 3.61 inch blade. I will say it this show two things, the right hand is not talking to the left hand and a failed QC not for quality the quality is there for sure but a failed QC for Specs. I measured my knife again, If you hold the tape one way it looks a little longer than 3.5, if you hold it another it is dead on. It really urks me that it is so close and they changed the specs. If I lived in a State that allowed a longer concealed blade than 3.5 it would not be an issue. I will say this I am now not the only one asking about this, a person over on Spyderco forums is asking too! I think to be honest, Spyderco needs to decide the actual blade length across the board and have all catalogs and online stores correct the blade length.
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Judging from has been posted so far, although it is important to see the consistency you are looking for in the literature, the key factor when push comes to shove is more to do with whether the actual blade could possibly be measured in a way that brings it over the 3.5 inch mark. Where I live there is a 3 inch rule and I seem to remember playing around with a ruler on some “UK legal” knives and finding several ways a pedantic LEO (and therefore possibly a court down the road) could find it slightly over. All this where there was absolutely no discrepancy in any literature and with very popular knives. With all the weird and wonderful blade profiles and bolster profiles just about any blade can be measured longer than described. What would be great is some kind of recognised certification that a particular knife meets certain legal criteria but I think that is wishful thinking unfortunately. So the only way to guarantee not having any problem at all sounds like buying a knife that cannot be measured over the legal limit in any way? If so that’s a real headache because even a UKPK for example comes over 3 inches if measuring from where the blade stock becomes visible at the index finger choil to the tip with a ruler.
 
Bob6794 said:
I read through California law a few years ago on knives to check this out. Don't quote me on this or take it as legal advice, I believe it is measure from tip of the handle to tip of the blade. It specified specifically in simple easy to understand language to describe how it was to be measured.

Quite a few of my professors in college were cops and we're teaching on the side because they wanted to. We're taught a few things, don't admit anything, two cops are not your friends, they can lie to try to get info, and don't trust them for starters. But also knowingly carrying a knife that's illegal is a bad idea, if you get caught up in something you now have an illegal weapon. Life just got a whole lot harder for you. And it's a bad idea to rely on being friendly to a cop to stay out of trouble, it's better to just keep it legal from the get go.
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Cops are your friends, your coworkers husband, your uncle, and your savior when armed thugs carjack your car and they get it back intact in ~2 hrs :) If you're not friendly to cops you're being rude.
 
brownshoe said:
Cops are your friends, your coworkers husband, your uncle, and your savior when armed thugs carjack your car and they get it back intact in ~2 hrs :) If you're not friendly to cops you're being rude.
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Just in case you misinterpreted, no one said not to be friendly to cops. Just not to rely on friendliness to get you out of trouble and rely on keeping it legal instead.
 
Buttersongguy said:
Just in case you misinterpreted, no one said not to be friendly to cops. Just not to rely on friendliness to get you out of trouble and rely on keeping it legal instead.
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He says straight up, "cops are not your friends...they can lie...don't trust them..." That's not really friendly :)
 
RickJ said:
Well all the talk in the world is not getting to the problem on this one. First off I am a Spyderco fan and I love the Autonomy 2 but I have to say this is an issue. The knife was designed to be 3.5 inches, the first specs that came out show 3.5. Look in the 2018 mid year catalog. Look on all the major online knife stores and they used the mid year specs and put this knife on pre sale per those specs at 3.5 inches. Then 2019 catalog comes out and it shows 3.61 inch blade. I will say it this show two things, the right hand is not talking to the left hand and a failed QC not for quality the quality is there for sure but a failed QC for Specs. I measured my knife again, If you hold the tape one way it looks a little longer than 3.5, if you hold it another it is dead on. It really urks me that it is so close and they changed the specs. If I lived in a State that allowed a longer concealed blade than 3.5 it would not be an issue. I will say this I am now not the only one asking about this, a person over on Spyderco forums is asking too! I think to be honest, Spyderco needs to decide the actual blade length across the board and have all catalogs and online stores correct the blade length.
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The difference in measurements are due to the fact that sometimes the sweep of the the blade gives you a different blade length depending on which side of the blade you measure from. Off the top of my head I can say the spydiechef has a large belly and the handle where it meets the blade is angled so you'll get a different blade length if you measure from tip to bottom of edge or tip to base of spine
 
brownshoe said:
He says straight up, "cops are not your friends...they can lie...don't trust them..." That's not really friendly :)
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I believe he was actually quoting advice from cops lol. I didn’t understand they were being rude about themselves though, I just think that it’s the kind of advice a professional would give you if they were trying to keep you out of trouble. For example I would be surprised if their advice was to have the mindset you just met your best buddy when pulled over by someone who you don’t know and they don’t know you. The fact is strangers are not friends but I would agree with you they do a great and difficult job for us so would always advocate a respectful and friendly demeanour as being the most helpful one in any interactions.
 
sgt1372 said:
This is good advice. :)

FWIW, cops have job to do and, if you have contact w/one and s/he does not know you, s/he will have absolutely no inclination to give you any slack regardless of how "nice and honest" you think you are.

S/he will enforce the law as s/he understands it and it's best to be on the "right" side of the law whenever this happens, unless you already know the cop or have some other special relationship (like being an active duty or retired LEO) that may allow him or her to consider giving your situation more discretion but even this is no guarantee that you'll get out of an arrest or citation for whatever violation is involved.
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You're paranoid. I've carryed knives for 6o years and been pulled over drunk, on drugs, having had accidents, arrested for petty crimes and everything else and not once has a cop harrassed me about a pocket knife. If you're respectful, calm and do as they say you won't have any problems.
I also took knives to work and showed my friends autos, butterfly knives, and all kinds of knives and nobody flipped out. Maybe young American men are watching to much TV. If you are not a criminal and not STUPID you shouldn't have a problem.
We don't live in a police state and if we did I would start buying guns, not knives.
 
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sgt1372 said:
This is good advice. :)

FWIW, cops have job to do and, if you have contact w/one and s/he does not know you, s/he will have absolutely no inclination to give you any slack regardless of how "nice and honest" you think you are.

S/he will enforce the law as s/he understands it and it's best to be on the "right" side of the law whenever this happens, unless you already know the cop or have some other special relationship (like being an active duty or retired LEO) that may allow him or her to consider giving your situation more discretion but even this is no guarantee that you'll get out of an arrest or citation for whatever violation is involved.
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humbug! Cops are good people, not hitler SS. Some even like knives themselves. We don't live in a police state. Show respect, obey and keep your mouth shut and chances are you'll be just fine.
 
lieferung said:
At risk of sounding political (though mostly pro knives): if you follow Knife Rights you know this is not necessarily true, and especially untrue in NYC.
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Yeah. New York city. It's not really part of America. But mostly they seem to bust black people with any excuse, because there is a lot of black crime and cops are confronted with it every day. Not saying that's good but that's the way it is. Chicago is the same way. Not Denver metro or SLC where I grew up. A lot of it may be how you are dressed how you behave. I could tell you stories.
 
New York City is where many, if not most, Americans trace their heritage...Ellis Island. It's as American as immigrants :)

My uncle was a NYC cop. He didn't harass people because he had more important things to do and he hated paperwork. He would confiscate a knife if being used as a weapon, I got a few of those (e.g. a linoleum hawk bill knife being used in a fight.) However if he kept the knife, he didn't arrest the owner. They were happy to skip a felony arrest for the price of a cheap knife. My uncle was happy to do a solid for two men with a problem and take a weapon out of the hands of a hot head...and skip the paperwork :)
 
lieferung said:
The difference in measurements are due to the fact that sometimes the sweep of the the blade gives you a different blade length depending on which side of the blade you measure from. Off the top of my head I can say the spydiechef has a large belly and the handle where it meets the blade is angled so you'll get a different blade length if you measure from tip to bottom of edge or tip to base of spine
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I agree with what you are saying, I think the Spyderco rep that measured the knife at 3.61 and then the rep that allowed it to be printed in the 2019 catalog after the mid 2018 catalog showed 3.5 and all major online stores had it at 3.5 should at least now correct the 2019 catalog. It is on digits right! and to be clear I am talking about the Autonomy 2. I see what you are saying.
 
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Sal Glesser said:
Hi Rick,

I don't think it is the issue that you think it is. The actual knives will be 3.5". I discussed this with Eric yesterday. You said that your knife measured 3.5". It's possible that all of the pieces except mine (which was an early piece) measures 3.5".

sal
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Mr. Glesser, that is good news, I will say that your 2019 catalog should reflect that. It is on digits and should be able to be fixed but in the end that is up to you. Love the knife and from the start was my plan to EDC it and I have been since I got it.
 
We can change the digital catalog. I'll have to check the printed catalog, which cannot be changed, at least not this year.

sal
 
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