Legal blade lengths in UK...

I

Interested

Joined
Jun 16, 2000
Messages
6
Anyone happen to know the longest legal blade length in the UK? I'm considering buying a 5" blade and want to know if its legal or not, I'm not sure if the limit's 5" or 4.5"
Can anyone help?


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If you do a search on this forum I'll bet you'll get an answer. I've heard from your fellow Englishmen that you guys are nix on knife carry?

Brandon

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I've got the schizophrenic blues
No I don't
Yes I do...
 
Any length you like is legal. However, you need "good reason" to carry any fixed knife in a public place. A locking folder is a fixed blade. The Police will give you a hard time whatever. They may even try to confiscate it. Never, ever, suggest that your knife could be used as a weapon. Good reason must be specific not general. "I need it today to do a specific job". Not: I left it under the seat of my car after a Scouting trip, several weeks ago, and forgot about it.
 
You must be over 17 to purchase one. Bring attention to yourself and you end up in a lot of trouble. Have good reason and stick to your guns and be prepared to convince a magistrate that all is well. Difficult to do if you are carrying a big blade outside a School playground.



[This message has been edited by GREENJACKET (edited 06-16-2000).]
 
There are two separate laws governing carriage of edged weapons in the UK
The Criminal Justice Act of 1988 limits blade length to 3" (Note the knife must not exceed this OR be sharply pointed). It would seem that a 2.9", sheepsfoot folder would be OK, but.. The Prevention of Crimes Act 1953 forbids the carriage of any offensive weapon in a public place without lawful authority or reasonable excuse (it's up to you to prove this reasonaleness). There are in our law no "defensive" weapons. So, a rather Catch-22 situation.
Of course none of this actually reduces violent crime.

 
"Good reason?"

My good reason to carry a knife is that God gave me rather weak teeth and rudimentary claws in an evolutionary trade-off. The hairy-armed person who figured out how to put an edge on a suitable rock made it possible for us to be recognizably human in the first place. I wear a wristwatch whether or not I have an appointment to keep, and I carry a pen and/or pencil because I am a literate person whether or not I have a specific writing task ahead of me, and I carry a knife because I am a human and not an ape.

A knife comes in handy for all sorts of random tasks that involve separating matter. Like cutting a string, or making a sandwich, or opening a package. It can also come in handy in an emergency, which need not involve a human assailant, and emergencies are by their nature unforseen, so one should carry a knife all the time.

And in a perfect world where nobody needed a weapon, I'd probaby carry a slightly larger knife, because it wouldn't scare people.

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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
My good reason to carry a knife is that God gave me rather weak teeth and
rudimentary claws in an evolutionary trade-off. The hairy-armed person who
figured out how to put an edge on a suitable rock made it possible for us to be
recognizably human in the first place. I wear a wristwatch whether or not I have
an appointment to keep, and I carry a pen and/or pencil because I am a literate
person whether or not I have a specific writing task ahead of me, and I carry a
knife because I am a human and not an ape.
Click to expand...

Now that is one hell of a sig.! Well put!

JK
 
I was out with two members of Scotland Yard last night who are working an investigation with me here stateside.

I showed them the knives I had on me and they laughed saying I'd have been "nicked" in Britain for any one of them.

I didn't ask specifically, but from the tone of the conversation we had over the past few days, I got the impression that to be "legal" in England the knife had to be non-locking and three inches or under.

I will try to remember to ask specifics when I speak to them this weekend.

Blues

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Live Free or Die

Some Knife Pix
 
Interested - Welcome to the forums. It is my understanding that if you carry such a large knife in the public domain in the UK, you will be explaining it every time it is seen and you will be perceived as an "oddity", if not "dangerous". Why would you want to attract such attention anyway?

They are very sensitive to "weapons" in the UK at this time. Even hunting is being challenged. When in England last, I was challenged that "Americans are always shooting each other". My response was probably not proper, but I said, "at least we aim. Here in the UK you blow each other up indiscriminately". But it does give one the idea that there is tension in the UK as to violent crime.

Nicely put James. Would you be so kind as to post the same on the AKTI forum?

sal

[This message has been edited by Sal Glesser (edited 06-17-2000).]
 
Thanks people. I'm planning on getting hold of a Sgian Dhub (Scottish Sock Dagger). Unfortunately the blade is 5" long. I intend to keep it tucked down the leg of my boot, why? As you guys have said so many times, who knows when a decent blade will come in useful? But if the length is 2", I'm screwed. Damn! Oh well, I'll have to revert to my 'bullet-knife'. Its a British army bullet cartridge I found while out walking, it had been fired off, so it had this hole in the top, just the right size for a standard scalpel blade. Add modelling putty to give strength to the bond, and you've got a legal length knife. Trouble is, it doesn't come with a convenient sheath. Anyone any ideas on that one. Doesn't seem to be much you can't find out on this site, when it comes to knives. Just out of interest, is there anyone on the site who knows where to get hold of a seventeenth century rapier? Just a side interest of mine, being a fencer. Thanks for your help guys, both past and present.




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Okay, here is what my Scotland Yard buddy told me today regarding carrying a knife in England:

Three inch, non locking folder is okay.

Anything larger, etc would require a basis for its carry.

I have no personal knowledge other than what I have conveyed.

Hope it is helpful.

Blues

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Live Free or Die

Some Knife Pix
 
Hello Interested,
I don't know where you'd find an authentic 17th century rapier, but I know where you can find some fine replicas of swords an daggers of all sorts including some beautiful rapiers designed for hard stage use.
Check out Museum Replicas, it's a division of Atlanta Cutlery. Their web address is www.museumreplicas.com
-Guy Thomas
 
Interested,
for the rapier, check out www.swordforums.com , these guys are extremely knowledgeable. Shop around and inform yourself before you buy junk.
As far as the Sgian Dubh goes, if I remember right, one of the execptions to either the Criminal Justice or Prevention of Crimes Act is carrying edged tools/weapons that are part of traditional clothing. You could legally carry the Sgian Dubh if you wear full Scottish traditional gear, cause that knife is part of it.
Check out the exact legislation, I might be wrong (although I don´t think so).
 
... full Scottish traditional gear

[insert "under the kilt" joke here]

Remember that the Highland Bagpipe was outlawed as a weapon of war after the Bonnie Prince Charlie affair in 1745.

biggrin.gif



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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
Is it true that the violent crime rate in the U.K. is actually worse than it is here? I heard that someplace...

Uh, do you suppose we Americans have a type of "traditional dress" that includes lots of sharp, pointy knives and/or a trench broom? And if not, why not? I mean, I'm kinda small, ergo a prime target for getting picked on, and I <u>hate</u> having to resort to belting thugs with broken gin bottles when I'm on vacation. Okay, okay, I'm just kidding. Though that's pretty much what you'd have to do, if the creep wasn't frightened off by your black-coated, tactical mobile phone, right?
wink.gif


When I lived in the U.K. I carried an Endura because I didn't know any better, luckily I didn't get "nicked" for it since I am little and innocuous enough that nobody bothered to search me. Also, nobody hassled me -- then again, I don't look like I have any money, either...

Last time I went back to visit friends I had no problems taking a little SAK along for general utility, but still got comments about "that's a freakin' huge pocketknife", so next time I will probably bring the Micra and hope they think it's "cute"...
biggrin.gif
 
Thanks for the site for the rapiers, guys, swordforums doesn't seem to be working, but museum replicas has got a beauty. About the traditional scottish dress, er, no thenks. I like kilts 'n' all, but can you imagine the looks you'd get? Mind you, I get funny enough looks walking round in long leather coats with biking boots, but that's just me.
Thanks again,
Interested

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If your manner of dress gets you "funny looks" from conventional sorts of people, it might well get you "funny looks" from authority figures. If you want to carry a knife whose legality could be the subject of an expensive arguement, you might want to look as "normal" as you can manage.


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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001
 
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