Help needed in Canuckistan.

kwessel · Jan 28, 2009

Does anybody out there know where I can purchase the RAT RC4 in Canada?...or...has any Canadian out there imported one successfully from the U.S.? I just had a knife seized by CBSA and I don't want to give them another opportunity to add to their collections.

cmdionne · Jan 28, 2009

There's a Canadian subforum in the Knife Community section. Someone there should help.

Alberta Ed · Jan 28, 2009

Check Army Surplus stores in your area. I saw some at one in Calgary, I think. On a related topic, I see that the World of Knives store at one mall here is closing.

Dekz · Jan 28, 2009

kwessel said:
Does anybody out there know where I can purchase the RAT RC4 in Canada?...or...has any Canadian out there imported one successfully from the U.S.? I just had a knife seized by CBSA and I don't want to give them another opportunity to add to their collections.

What knife was seized?

I buy all my knives online and have never had any problems. And that includes assisted openers.

I can't see how you would have any problems with them when importing an RC4. We basically have no laws regarding fixed blades.

stabman · Jan 28, 2009

Dekz said:
What knife was seized?

I can't see how you would have any problems with them when importing an RC4. We basically have no laws regarding fixed blades.

The only restrictions on fixed blades are ones with the "brass knuckle" type of handle, and push daggers.

Brad "the butcher" · Jan 28, 2009

I ordered a RC-3 and had no problem having it delivered to Vancouver. Very suprised they took your RC-4 its just a fixed blade and not even large. Did they give you the reason for the seizure?

kwessel · Jan 28, 2009

Dekz said:
What knife was seized?

I buy all my knives online and have never had any problems. And that includes assisted openers.

They grabbed my Griptillian. Strangely enough, I bought another one here in Toronto but had to pay twice as much. Don't ask me how the Canadian vendor got them into the country. I couldn't tell you and Canadian Customs won't address that issue with me. WTF?

petah · Jan 28, 2009

Someone screwed up on the declaration. It's a CAMPING TOOL!!!

We have no size restrictions on knives...

stabman · Jan 28, 2009

petah said:
Someone screwed up on the declaration. It's a CAMPING TOOL!!!

We have no size restrictions on knives...

But if they can FLICK a knife, they'll seize it.
That will be why the Grip got snagged.
Have the vendor tighten the pivot, or remove the blade when shipping cross-border.

Dekz · Jan 28, 2009

kwessel said:
They grabbed my Griptillian. Strangely enough, I bought another one here in Toronto but had to pay twice as much. Don't ask me how the Canadian vendor got them into the country. I couldn't tell you and Canadian Customs won't address that issue with me. WTF?

stabman said:
But if they can FLICK a knife, they'll seize it.
That will be why the Grip got snagged.
Have the vendor tighten the pivot, or remove the blade when shipping cross-border.

I always order from NGK, and they quite often tighten the pivot or even zip-tie the knife closed! I couldn't believe that customs would let a knife through like that. Or maybe I'm wrong and customs actually put the zip-tie on? Hmmm, I should ask NGK if they ever do that.

In any case, I've ordered about 10 knives from them and like I said, NEVER had a problem.

You won't have a problem ordering a fixed blade. IIRC the only things that are not allowed are any holes for your fingers, push daggers, and I believe double edged is a no-no too but don't quote me on that.

C.S. Graves · Jan 28, 2009

Dekz said:
In any case, I've ordered about 10 knives from them and like I said, NEVER had a problem.

You won't have a problem ordering a fixed blade. IIRC the only things that are not allowed are any holes for your fingers, push daggers, and I believe double edged is a no-no too but don't quote me on that.

I've bought a plethora of big and dangerous-looking knives, as well as many smaller, less intimidating ones, and only had one seized temporarily due to "heritage issues" later cleared up by an affidavit from the seller.

The finger hole thing concerns me, as I was hoping to get a kerambit from Australia before too long.

I've known a few customers officers in the day, and not sure they can be trusted to make consistent and sensible judgements.

ColdOne · Jan 28, 2009

A single hole finger guard is ok, integral brass knuckles are not.

Kerambits are fine. I have already imported 3 Busse BARF knives with no issues and have a Koster Survivor on order. No worries there.

BenchmadeBoy · Jan 28, 2009

Yes, we need more info. Did you get your Grip off Fleabay? Sometimes vendors don't tighten the pivot. I have brought 4 Grips into Canada (3 by mail, 1 by land) and never had problems. Also,CBSA seizing anything with no explanation at all sounds odd

As for RC-4, check out knivesshipfree.com. You should have zero problems bringing in a fixed blade to Canada.

cdf · Jan 28, 2009

Double edged is not Illeagal in Canada . It's just a bit harder to justify on the street . Simple poscession is no problem .

Chris

C.S. Graves · Jan 28, 2009

cdf said:
Double edged is not Illeagal in Canada . It's just a bit harder to justify on the street . Simple poscession is no problem .

Chris

This much I figured... I once got a Fairbairn Sykes reproduction that was inspected by customs in Montreal.... even came with a booklet of the knife fighting excerpt of "Get Tough". :thumbup:

Good to know folk have gotten kerambit and similar objects here though.

stabman · Jan 28, 2009

Dekz said:
and I believe double edged is a no-no too but don't quote me on that.

Double edged is fine.

Dekz · Jan 28, 2009

stabman said:
Double edged is fine.

I DISTINCTLY said not to quote me!

stabman · Jan 28, 2009

Dekz said:
I DISTINCTLY said not to quote me!

Hmm, I suppose you did!

kwessel · Jan 28, 2009

BenchmadeBoy said:
Yes, we need more info. Did you get your Grip off Fleabay? Sometimes vendors don't tighten the pivot. I have brought 4 Grips into Canada (3 by mail, 1 by land) and never had problems. Also,CBSA seizing anything with no explanation at all sounds odd As for RC-4, check out knivesshipfree.com. You should have zero problems bringing in a fixed blade to Canada.

Actually, I bought the Grip from a guy who sells through this Forum! We talked about tightening it down...he even zip-tied it, wrapped it in plastic and duct taped it, but they seized it because of the "centrifigal force" clause. What I don't get is how some vendors here in Canada are able to get them into the country. WTF?

kgd · Jan 28, 2009

I've bought all my RC products from Knivesshipfree. They charge $5 USD on top of the quoted USD price for shipping to Canada. Never had a problem with them and they have all the RC-products in stock, including the custom JRE sheaths. Great company to deal with and Derek has made good publically on any issues that have been reported to date.