Internet buying of knives into BC, Canada

[woodybushman]

good day my fellow blade hobbyists!! i will introduce myself later.

I am a avid fisherman/hiker person, and own several fixed blade skinning knives, general purpose fishing/camping knives etc. I buy a couple of knives a year, and was wondering: What are the laws regarding buying a fixed blade knife via the internet from a US internet store ? I live in BC, Canada, and have extensivley browsed the Customs Canada and criminal code to figure this out....there is nothing listed except for the usual illegal knives , weapons etc....but nothing about your average fixed blade hunting knife...

help!! i have found a beautiful stag handled bowie knife, that i would love to carry when hiking/camoing/hunting for slicing steak, cutting branches etc/....i just do not want to fork out the money and then have the Customs guys seize the knife....

 

[mrd74]

Fixed blades are safe to import with the exception of pushdaggers.

 

[coyotebc]

Just before Christmas my mom ordered a Case bowie from a dealer in Florida and it arrived in Maple Ridge BC without a problem.
It did take 5 weeks to go through customs, but it may have been the time of year as well, also the courier companies will screw you on brokerage fees

 

[silenthunterstudios]

I buy a couple of knives a year

Step away from the computer sir, and do not come back to this site again. After several months here, you will be buying every knife that you see. You will become a zombie like the rest of us, chanting Sebenza and Strider as you blindly walk into the local cutlery store! You won't have any hair on your body, because you have shaved it all off testing the sharpness of your knife.

Welcome to Bladeforums, have a good time here. If you can stick to a couple knives a year, you're a tougher man than I am, or most of the guys here . Have fun.

 

[woodybushman]

thank you for the warm welcome!!

also thanks to all for the information. I may just get stuck in front of the computer, browsing all the beautiful tools of our hobby!!!

now to purchase that stag handle bowie!!


update...just talked to a customs person on the phone. he said no problem on regualr ol hunting knives and bowies, just dont be ordering and switchblades etc,,,,

 

[slayt]

I use a recieving company in Sumas Wa which is just across the border from Abbotsford BC. If I were you I would find a place just accross the line from Van and have your purchases shipped there.
I have had friends who have had their folders seized because the blades dropped to easily. Could have been solved with an allen wrench but try convincing Canada Border Services of that.

 

[woodybushman]

I found a CDN online retailer, and have already recieved one knife that i ordered three days ago! awesome service and shipping, no duties either!

 

[Charliegoodfellow]

Woodybushman,

Mrd74 pretty much said it. Fixed blades are easy to get into Canada, but no pushdaggers. Check out www.truenorthknives.com they are based in Montreal (so no customs required) and will Fed Ex anything on the site to you in BC. Hope that helps, because this country's knife laws are (explative)'ed,...just read bill c68 part III. there's a prohibited list of weapons in there somewhere, but I assure you a fixed blade with a stag handle will pass through canadian customs.

Charlie.

 

[Athame]

Fixed blades are safe to import with the exception of pushdaggers.

What's been peoples experience with importing Karambits. It's not a push dagger but I can see some ****tard in customs saying that it is. Imput please

 

[Ragnar]

I’ve got an online store, and I send knives to Canadian customers quite often. Delivery is sometimes horribly slow, but they get through eventually. Most of my knives are non-threatening Scandinavian types, suitable for camping, hunting, fishing, woodworking, etc. If it’s at all reasonable for the type of knife ordered, I mark the customs label “woodworking knife”. Since the words “puukko” and “tollekniv” actually mean “woodworking knife”, this is the case more often than not.
Last Fall Canadian customs tightened their procedures, and for a while I discouraged any sales into Canada, whether of knives or anything else. Parcels were delayed weeks or months. In October of last year they were reporting a backlog of about 150,000 parcels at the Vancouver clearing station, with delays of 5 weeks.
http://canadaonline.about.com/od/postalservices/a/mailbacklog.htm
Worse still, parcels were sometimes returned without any understandable explanation. I’ve learned to deal, and things are getting through again, although it’s sometimes still slow. (Like a week or three to get to Toronto when I can SEE the skyline from where I’m sitting.)
All parcels need the complete address of sender and receiver, written in print not cursive, letters. Times New Roman works. The name of the country must be in all capital letters. (Yes, they are this picky, can you say “Mother, may I”?) The customs label must be properly completed of course. Don’t use quotation marks on the label to indicate the same item as on the previous line. There are two different customs forms (green or white) depending on
how much the parcel weighs and how you are sending it. Be sure you use
the right one.
Even when it was bad, everything was either delivered or returned, so they weren’t confiscating anything. I’ve had things lost in the pipeline for up to six months, but it’s currently running a week or two to Eastern Canada, and another week or two to Western Canada (different customs center).
The private carriers like UPS have other problems. IMO, the mail is still the
best way in most cases.
I hope this helps.

R
Ragweed Forge
http://www.ragweedforge.com/

"A knifeless man is a lifeless man." -old Nordic proverb

 

[Athame]

Ragnar,

thanks for the advise--I went ahead and shipped a Strider HS
hoping for the best. My main concern was someone in customs
thinking that a karambit was essentially a push dagger, which are
illegal in Canada.


Bill