Every Knife Maker's Worst Nightmare?

Ramiel

Ramiel

Joined
Aug 5, 2011
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With recent tragedies in the US and around the world involving violence, I've been thinking a lot. One of the things that I've thought about and wondered about is as knife makers, is your worst nightmare to hear that one of your products was used in a violent crime? We all see how the media tries to turn the makers of these items (guns, knives, etc) into criminals themselves, criticizing them for "enabling" the violence. Do you prepare for the worst? The media scrutiny etc. that could come?

I know I am not alone in saying I pray to God every day that violent crimes would cease, but the realist in me knows it won't. It can only be a matter of time before another tragic event will happen where a knife is involved and a knife maker we'll all know will have his knife on display as the instrument of violence.
 
I think this would change drastically depending on what you mean by 'used in a violent crime'. For instance, I would be down right appalled if I made a knife and I found out someplace down the road used it to commit murder. Now flip that situation around and say the knife was being carried by a normal law abiding citizen and it was used in a violent manner to protect their own life from someone that was intent on killing them. True, the knife may have still taken a life, but I would have far less negative feelings about how it was used in the second situation. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be proud that my knife was used to harm anyone in anyway. However, I maybe proud would be the right word to use that something I made was able to serve someone without failing them when they were counting on it the most (again applies to second situation only).
 
JSMcustoms said:
I think this would change drastically depending on what you mean by 'used in a violent crime'. For instance, I would be down right appalled if I made a knife and I found out someplace down the road used it to commit murder. Now flip that situation around and say the knife was being carried by a normal law abiding citizen and it was used in a violent manner to protect their own life from someone that was intent on killing them. True, the knife may have still taken a life, but I would have far less negative feelings about how it was used in the second situation. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be proud that my knife was used to harm anyone in anyway. However, I maybe proud would be the right word to use that something I made was able to serve someone without failing them when they were counting on it the most (again applies to second situation only).
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Yeah, I agree with you. I should have prefaced the post by saying that I'm asking about law-breaking situations. A situation where an innocent is attacked by a criminal with a knife etc. I am 100% behind people using guns and knives and any means necessary to defend themselves and others.
 
I have thought about it quite a bit. At the risk of sounding callous... it doesn't worry me at all. I make tools, collector items, and defense knives. They're not harmful weapons until someone with bad intentions uses them that way.

I have zero control over what someone does with one of my knives after it leaves my shop.

Just the other day a woman down in the Portland area tried to run over her husband (who is a cop) with an F-150.... Ford had no control over her going nuts and using the truck as a weapon.

And this topic hit pretty close to home, because I had 4 knives stolen out of my truck back in 1999. A couple years later, one of them was recovered when the police arrested a 19 year old kid chasing another 19 or 20 year old around the movie theater with the knife.

It pissed me off when the police acted like I was some sort of bad guy because my name was on the knife.... clearly I had absolutely nothing to do with that nonsense.

Would it be tragic? Of course. Would I feel blame? No.
 
Well, I just realized I sort of confirmed your OP.

My PERSONAL feelings are that I have no control over it.

But I'm sure you are right, that the media would jump at the opportunity to sensationalize my role in such a situation. Which sucks, because it's another element that I would have no control over.

So in that regard... yea, that would suck.
 
My Great Grandfather invented the Automatic Knife. It was considered a gentleman's knife as it was intended to open without breaking a fingernail. They weren't cheap and only a wealthy man could afford one. The knife evolved to include a wide variety of patterns. A New York Senator pressed for legislation to outlaw the "Switchblade" after viewing the movie Rebel Without a Cause. He determined too many people were being killed with Switchblades and if they were outlawed, there would be a decline in the murder rate. We all know about the increase in the murder rate in the US, but that is an issue for another thread. My point is, it was never the intention for the Automatic Knife to be used in a violent crime. Because it is, is no reason to feel guilty if it is. When I was young, a man was beat to death on the town green with a bat. Should Louisville Slugger Corp. feel guilty or should baseball bats be outlawed because someone was killed with one? Of course not. On second thought, what about the good our knives accomplish in the act of saving a life, i.e. cutting a seatbelt, someone tangled up in a rope or some other life threatening situation. The problem lies in the heart of man. Jeremiah 17:9 says the heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can understand it? Cain killed his brother Abel, but we don't know what weapon he used. Was it a rock? A stick? Maybe a knife. Whatever it was, it was something that was not what it was created for.
So we are free to create our knives without guilt and hope it will not be used in a violent crime.
 
I make tools; I can't control what people do with those tools.

It is highly unlikely that a criminal would spend hundreds of dollars on a custom knife.
 
I don't spend too much time worrying about what people do with the knives I make. Truth be known, I don't care. I know some of my knives have a militaristic look about them, and would certainly serve the purpose of killing. However, since most are still in my possession, that really doesn't matter. The people I have given my knives to are known to me (all but two, anyway), and I just can't see them slipping into psychosis and going on a killing spree. But if they did, I have no concerns about my knife being the thing that triggered the psychotic break. And short of that, I have no concerns about how my knives might be used.
 
NickWheeler said:
I have thought about it quite a bit. At the risk of sounding callous... it doesn't worry me at all. I make tools, collector items, and defense knives. They're not harmful weapons until someone with bad intentions uses them that way.

I have zero control over what someone does with one of my knives after it leaves my shop.

Just the other day a woman down in the Portland area tried to run over her husband (who is a cop) with an F-150.... Ford had no control over her going nuts and using the truck as a weapon.

And this topic hit pretty close to home, because I had 4 knives stolen out of my truck back in 1999. A couple years later, one of them was recovered when the police arrested a 19 year old kid chasing another 19 or 20 year old around the movie theater with the knife.

It pissed me off when the police acted like I was some sort of bad guy because my name was on the knife.... clearly I had absolutely nothing to do with that nonsense.

Would it be tragic? Of course. Would I feel blame? No.
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I sure hope you claimed the knife as stolen property and recovered it from the police!
 
The likelihood of a bad person ordering, waiting for and paying for a $200-1500 custom/handmade fighting knife and using it to commit a crime are so incredibly remote that it doesn't concern me at all.
 
I am in agreement with most of the folks who have already posted. I make tools... and unfortunately tools can be used to hurt people. I think I would have moral issues with making money off of a model that got famous because of a violent crime but I wouldn't lose sleep over something I have no control over. I would hope that my blades bring more positive interaction than negative.
 
Mitchell Knives said:
I make tools; I can't control what people do with those tools.

It is highly unlikely that a criminal would spend hundreds of dollars on a custom knife.
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Two very good points. It would be near impossible to regulate how products are used by the consumer. Accountability for criminal action lays with the individual committing those acts. No knifemaker should lose sleep over something like that--you're likely doing far more good than bad. Besides, in the absense of knives, criminals could just use any sharpened instrument; crimes will always be committed, regardless of the availability of weapons, because evil will always exist in some form. Just my .02
 
It wouldnt make me think twice about it. I mean heck do companies that make automobiles, baseball bats, plastic bag, hammers, screwdrivers, ...... the list goes on and on. This is what annoyes me beyond belief about todays society and train of thought. A knife on someones belt aint gonna do a darn thing on its own.
 
I agree with Quint. Any object can be turned into a "weapon" in the hands of someone with malicious intent. It's nearly impossible for the maker to know the intent of the buyer.
 
If I were a "Snap-On" salesman and sold a screwdriver to a "Whack-O" and he later used it to stab his entire Sunday School class......... Should I feel bad?????

Homey don't think so. "Homey don't play dat".

There are, and will always be, idiots among us. Guns, knives, screwdrivers, ball bats....... the list goes on.......... An idiot is an idiot and unless we can identify them early, they will wreak their havoc regardless. We can only hope that we are not one of those idiots.

Robert-O
 
I wanted to come back and post again because I think most guys are looking at this the way I did... "Would I feel bad or fault for the crime?"

Which is a simple no.

But I think the OP is looking toward the idea of how we would handle the media if (most likely WHEN) they took the opportunity to try to tag us as part of the guilty party. Which I am pretty confident they would be all to happy to do.

Do I agree with that notion? Hell no!!! But I can certainly see it happening.


And not to turn this into a political thread, but the thoughts/feelings floating around in this thread parallel (to me anyway) a lot of the gun control arguments. James, Corey, Robert, me... etc. We would apply for a concealed carry permit, wait our county's wait time, get the permit, and buy our pistol... then use it for shooting enjoyment or worst case scenario--- defending our family. Much like upstanding folks order a knife from us, wait the time, and pay us a fair price for our work.... Whereas the POS dirtbag steals a gun and uses it to harm people, or uses a $5 kitchen knife, or like in my case--- steals knives from my personal property and then tries to use them to harm someone.



FWIW- I got ONE of the 4 knives back... the one the kid they arrested had. Ironically, the detective that called me grilled me for about 10 minutes about what I knew about knives. Back then, I marked my knives: Nick Wheeler - Winlock, WA. Which is a town of about 1,000 people. Now how many Nick Wheelers do you think there are in a town of 1,000 that make knives??? :confused: :rolleyes: A real Sherlock Holmes right there.... ;) :D



BTW- William, great to see you carrying on your highly respected family name and GREAT post as well!!! :)
 
i have personal experience of this .one of my knives was used in self defense stabbing .the first i new of it was the photo on the front page of the paper of my knife covered in blood it was a shock.the person who used it was attacked after a argument in a bar by a man with a axe he grabbed him in a bear hug after a few cuts to stop him using it.the attacker dropped the axe and pulled a knife and started stabbing him .the man pulled his own knife and started stabbing back which the attacker did not like and ran off.having the knife saved the mans life should he have been carrying it where he was hell no.it was a eight inch bowie which i do not make any more this was 15 years ago and i stopped making them straight away.its hard to explain my feelings on this as i know its the person not the object but i still don't make them .both people survived but the man attacked does not look the same.the media did not track me down as i live 400kms away but it was still a shock to see the knife on the front page.
cheers john
 
I had a pair of machetes back in the 70's that were marked Juan Corona which happened to be the name of a mass murderer who was chopping up farm workers in California in the early 70's. I had bought the pair for change in the mid 60's; but when Juan came the public's attention I sold them for a pretty penny just because of the logo. So if this is any indication it may not be such a bad thing. True story.
 
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