Anyone ever had their blade length checked?

BlueSpartan007

BlueSpartan007

Joined
Dec 23, 2015
Messages
227
This has been on my mind for quite a while, especially recently.

Just for perspective, I'll give you a little background. A couple weeks ago, I had to go to the SS office. I walked in, and upon be greeted by the officers in the entrance, I was hit with the usual "Take everything out of your pockets." I realized I had my Shenanigan on me, and I had let the officer know of it (not aggressively, just a notification so it wouldn't take him by surprise). The Shenanigan just meets the standards of 3.5" blade limit here where I'm at. After letting him know, he had actually asked to see the knife, instead of what I thought would be a return trip to the car to keep it their for the time being. Now at this point, I thought if I was ever to have had the length of one of my knives checked, it would be in that moment, given the size of the knife. He just kind of took a glance it and said, "Yeah, you probably shouldn't have that here," and I did end up returning it to my car. It was interesting, because I'm assuming that means if I had a little sak chained to my keys, it would have been acceptable.

Now I'm not faulting the officer for anything whatsoever, nor am I questioning that he may not have acted appropriately given his authoritative position. For all I know, it could have been an exchanged honor, in which he didn't believe my knife needed to be checked, or that I'd be carrying an illegal blade on me in the first place. And obviously, they have got much more important things to do than hold up the line just to examine the dimensions of my knife, a rather insignificant task in the scheme of things. It had just made me wonder, when would blade length actually be checked if not in that moment?

Fast forward to a couple days ago, and I had come across a post in the Exchange Forum. The knife for sale was an Emerson Horseman (Mini CQC-8), which is measured at 3.54". Now obviously 3.54" is more than 3.5", and I came to accept that I had to pass on it. Although, as I'm sure some people don't follow the given laws, if it was that knife I had been carrying to the SS office, I'm assuming the officer probably wouldn't have checked it with the little difference in blade lengths.

And I know things may depend on what cop you run in to, or obviously if I had caused previous offenses (I haven't). If it was a more populated city, stricter laws, etc. And I have and will remain conscience when buying any knives.

So, pretty curious, but has anyone actually ever had their blade length checked/measured by any authority? If their is anyone with previous or current experience in authoritative work that just so happens to have read the situation with thoughts, It'd be much appreciated input.
 
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I've never had my knife inspected in such a manner, but I've also never had to surrender my knife for such an inspection. I don't really ever go into government buildings aside from the post office. Last time I went into a courthouse was 2012 for a speeding ticket, and I didn't regularly carry a knife at the time.
 
Only time it happened was on a cruise, they only allow non-locking blades of 3" or less, so they had to check my Case Peanut to make sure it's within the limit. No issues, the guy just looked at it and waved me through.
 
If there was a knife I really wanted, 0.04" over the legal carry limit would not keep me from getting it.
and if I were that worried about it, I'd have no problem shortening it 1/25", or any length for that matter.

Never had the length of my blade checked, but did get turned away from touring the inside of hoover damn just for having a knife. Guess I'll never see it...
 
Comeuppance said:
I've never had my knife inspected in such a manner, but I've also never had to surrender my knife for such an inspection. I don't really ever go into government buildings aside from the post office. Last time I went into a courthouse was 2012 for a speeding ticket, and I didn't regularly carry a knife at the time.
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I don't usually either. That was my first time going their, and I don't really see myself needing to go back. I guess I feel like they'd end up checking just about every chance they get, or the law could, and as said before, is probably easily being abused.
 
MaximIsayev said:
Only time it happened was on a cruise, they only allow non-locking blades of 3" or less, so they had to check my Case Peanut to make sure it's within the limit. No issues, the guy just looked at it and waved me through.
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I would hope that it turns out that way every time.

jpm2 said:
If there was a knife I really wanted, 0.04" over the legal carry limit would not keep me from getting it.
and if I were that worried about it, I'd have no problem shortening it 1/25", or any length for that matter.

Never had the length of my blade checked, but did get turned away from touring the inside of hoover damn just for having a knife. Guess I'll never see it...
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Yeah, part of me regrets not pulling the trigger. I thought about modding it too. It's just if there is a law, they've got to draw the line somewhere. And although I highly disagree with where it's set, can't really argue with something .04" over or .5" over the limit. Might have to keep this in mind the next time I run into this, though. But that's where I get so irritated, because I'm not sure what would happen even if I had something .04", if they're not too concerned as to not check with they have the perfect opportunity to.
 
Never. Of course the only times I've had an LEO ask to see my knife was more to admire it/see what I was carrying than for any other reason.
 
Long before 09/11/2001, I was carrying a pocketknife through security at the airport. I placed the knife (a Gerber LST, if I remember correctly) in the tray as I passed through the magnetometer. The security guard picked up the knife, opened it, laid the blade across the palm of his hand, saw that the blade was not as long as his palm was wide, and handed it back to me.

That didn't strike me as a particularly scientific measurement method, but who was I to argue?!

-Steve
 
I never carry in a government building. Where I'm from they always have a sign posted saying "no knives or weapons". That being said, security stations with metal detectors aren't sobriety checkpoints. If I knew I had something on me that wasn't allowed I'd probably just say "I forgot something in my car" and turn around. No need to take the chance I say.
 
The Whip said:
Long before 09/11/2001, I was carrying a pocketknife through security at the airport. I placed the knife (a Gerber LST, if I remember correctly) in the tray as I passed through the magnetometer. The security guard picked up the knife, opened it, laid the blade across the palm of his hand, saw that the blade was not as long as his palm was wide, and handed it back to me.

That didn't strike me as a particularly scientific measurement method, but who was I to argue?!

-Steve
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Definitely not the most conventional method I've ever heard of. Seems a little restrictive if you ask me! The idea of subjective measurements in general is probably my biggest concern. For example, if an officer happened to measure from pivot to tip, or anything else non-traditional he might prefer, most every knife I carry would fail!
 
Last time anyone took any kind of measurement of a blade was when I was stopped for a violation on my motorcycle and the cop held the blade to the width of his hand. I guess he was checking for a 4" length.

I had a SAK confiscated at an amusement park in Canada a long time ago. I was wearing it in a belt pouch and a group of security followed us around the park and finally converged on us. I had to take a receipt for the knife and they mailed it back to me upon my return to the U.S. and sending them the claim ticket. They never measured the blade. Just took the knife.
 
EChoil said:
Last time anyone took any kind of measurement of a blade was when I was stopped for a violation on my motorcycle and the cop held the blade to the width of his hand. I guess he was checking for a 4" length.

I had a SAK confiscated at an amusement park in Canada a long time ago. I was wearing it in a belt pouch and a group of security followed us around the park and finally converged on us. I had to take a receipt for the knife and they mailed it back to me upon my return to the U.S. and sending them the claim ticket. They never measured the blade. Just took the knife.
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At least you got it back. If the TSA takes a blade, it goes into a pile that eventually finds it's way to a pawn shop to get sold at a steep discount.
 
I wouldn't hesitate to buy a knife which is advertised (or commercially listed) at 3.54"...when 3.5" is the legal limit.
I have various knives that almost always fall somewhat short of their advertised blade-length...even brand new top flight CRK Sebenzas.
I measure in a straight line from the tip, down the center of the blade where it hits the scale, generally near the pivot point.
I've never seen a cop that carried a vernier caliper, and a regular tape measure would never be able to easily determine such a small difference.
If I were really concerned, one light sharpening of the blade will automatically pull a bit off of the tip, and thus the blade-length.
I just think that most cops have better things to be concerned about...
 
Kenpo149 said:
I never carry in a government building. Where I'm from they always have a sign posted saying "no knives or weapons". That being said, security stations with metal detectors aren't sobriety checkpoints. If I knew I had something on me that wasn't allowed I'd probably just say "I forgot something in my car" and turn around. No need to take the chance I say.
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I had not intended to take it into the building, it was merely a lesson learned. My apologies, I don't think that was emphasized in the post. And I was already addressed to empty my pockets, so I figured safer to let them know than to try to play it cool. If there's any chance that I may come across suspicious, I do my best to avoid it. Suspicion is a nasty thing...
 
I have never had mine checked. At one time the blade length limit in my state was 4 inches, but that law was repealed and there is no length restriction.

I never carried a knife that exceeded that limit while the law was in effect, and I still don't.

I used to be a cop, many years ago, back when the 4" limit was in place. I don't recall ever measuring anyone's knife. If we did need to, I believe the tool of preference would have been our clear plastic traffic accident diagram template. It had a ruler built into it. I am sure all of that is done on computers now but in my day, pen and paper was the technology available.
 
EChoil said:
Last time anyone took any kind of measurement of a blade was when I was stopped for a violation on my motorcycle and the cop held the blade to the width of his hand. I guess he was checking for a 4" length.

I had a SAK confiscated at an amusement park in Canada a long time ago. I was wearing it in a belt pouch and a group of security followed us around the park and finally converged on us. I had to take a receipt for the knife and they mailed it back to me upon my return to the U.S. and sending them the claim ticket. They never measured the blade. Just took the knife.
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Man, width of the hand again. I guess if they know how long it is, but I have pretty small hands and mine measures just shy of Tenacious blade length, so that is slightly concerning! Haha.

Grease said:
At least you got it back. If the TSA takes a blade, it goes into a pile that eventually finds it's way to a pawn shop to get sold at a steep discount.
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I had this same thought before reading this, that is quite the effort for them to take. Glad you did get it back though, EChoil! must of been quite the relief.
 
I did.

This girl I was seeing produced a tape measure from her backpack during a hike. She asked me to see my knife and so I showed it to her. She carefully measured the blade, and exclaimed, surprised: "THREE INCHES???".

I proceeded to give her a lesson in knife using by cutting a large branch from a three and carving it into a very nice spoon. She understood then that three inches was more than enough.

Sorry, I had to.
 
I've never had a knife measured for length but I am also very careful that my blades are within the letter of the law. Our blade length limit here is 5.5" and that can be pretty restrictive if you are trying to buy outdoor fixed blade knives. I had the idea that I needed a new outdoor knife and it seemed like all the ones I found that I liked were just over 5.5". I finally managed to find a Ratmandu that is just under the limit. When I travel to unfriendly jurisdictions I always check their laws and the last time I had to go through Mass. it was particularly painful because I had to go through all of my old junk knives to find one with blade less than 2.5".

The Whip said:
Long before 09/11/2001, I was carrying a pocketknife through security at the airport. I placed the knife (a Gerber LST, if I remember correctly) in the tray as I passed through the magnetometer. The security guard picked up the knife, opened it, laid the blade across the palm of his hand, saw that the blade was not as long as his palm was wide, and handed it back to me.

That didn't strike me as a particularly scientific measurement method, but who was I to argue?!
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I had heard this back in the days when they allowed small knives on airplanes and it doesn't seem very scientific. I had a certain small Gerber that I kept specifically for airplane carry. I had also heard that the security guards would use their badge as a reference for measurment, the width of the badge supposedly being equal to the maximum allowable blade length.



Grease said:
At least you got it back. If the TSA takes a blade
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My daughter was on a return trip and didn't pack her checked bag correctly so she left MY Delica in her carry-on. There was some kind of service at the airport where they would take the item and mail it back to you. I don't know if she ever found out the total cost but there was a charge at the airport plus "shipping and handling fee" that the person at the airport didn't even know the amount of. She did get the knife back a few weeks later.

A few years ago she was standing in line to get into the courthouse for jury duty and remembered she had her Tenacious in her purse. She called me with her cellphone and asked if her knife would be a problem. I told her to get out of line and hustle that knife back to her car!

My wife rushed to the hospical last summer when I was hauled to the ER. She didn't know she had to go through a full metal detector inspection to get into our hospical and she forgot she had her Kabar Dozier in her purse so the police confiscated it. It's not an expensive knife but had some sentimental value so I went by a week later and reclaimed it.
 
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