Non-aggressive knife names? Does it matter?

elkins45

elkins45

Joined
Jun 17, 2006
Messages
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This thread was prompted by one going on in General where a guy wants a tactical knife that is non-tactical in name and appearance, while still being tactical? Confused? He says he doesn't want to give politicians any ammo by having an aggressive looking or aggressively named knife. He doesn't want to be stopped by the cops carrying something named Retribution, Night Stalker, Paramilitary, Murder Tool, Baby Flayer, etc.:D

So that started me thinking: does he have a valid point? Would a knife with a 'bloodthirsty' name like 'Military' be looked upon more unfavorably that something like 'Worker', for example??

Could this be an issue? Should Spyderco circumvent this potential problem by releasing some nice Sport Utility knives with names like Camper, Utility, Scout, Whittler, etc.? Your thoughts?
 
I'm not sure name is a big deal. If the name isn't on the knife, how's anyone going to know? The only reason a person will know offhand is if they are a knife person, and then it doesn't matter. I guess if it makes the paper and the paper for some reason mentions the name, but it's not going that far unless something happens that's going to overshadow a name anyway.

Appearance and size, he might have a point. If it's big enough that it looks like it could take off a limb, NKP's are going to get worried. And to a lesser extent, I'd say something like ZT knives (e.g., the 0301) look a lot more aggressive than a plain, silver blade like most Spyderco knives. Along the same line, I've seen quite a bit of talk within Spyderco forums of how the yellow salts go over well with NKPs, with some thinking of them almost closer to toys than potential weapons.

Offhand, the only Spyderco folding knife designs I could see a larger-than-normal amount of people thinking of as offense-oriented are the matriarch and civilian, and maybe the spyderhawk and police.
 
elkins45 said:
Could this be an issue?
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Nope.

A knife is a knife. The only time the name of a knife matters is on these forums when we're discussing knives. And only then the names matter to tell which knife is which.

In the 99% of the day not spent on BFC it doesn't matter if you have a KillCo Bloodletter or a Basket Full o' Puppies Pruner, that object in your pocket is a knife. Only people interested in knives care what the name is.
 
In the "your knife rights " section of Blade mag, I've read that it could very much hurt you in court even though you may have been using the knife in self defence.

Don't think it would mater as much if you just had one on you, but then again alot of that may depend on the officer on duty at the time.

Our knife laws have changed in GA this year...it now states you can't carry a knife that was made for offence or defence. Most LEO's I have asked haven't even heard of the new law, and others didn't really know what it meant. It is very confusing and is open to many knives it seems....would a swedge, the word Combat on blade, or any tacticle knife be against the law to carry here???? I'm not sure, I never got a straight answer, so i quit asking, but do now try to carry a more sheeple friendly knife when I go into town(which is not often).
 
Psychopomp said:
Nope.

A knife is a knife. The only time the name of a knife matters is on these forums when we're discussing knives. And only then the names matter to tell which knife is which.

In the 99% of the day not spent on BFC it doesn't matter if you have a KillCo Bloodletter or a Basket Full o' Puppies Pruner, that object in your pocket is a knife. Only people interested in knives care what the name is.
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"Ladies and Gentleman of the jury. The Defendant bought this knife, entitled 'Military' for one sole purpose. He claims it is to protect his life, I say he bought it with the intention of harming another human being with a will to cause death. Look at the knife. It's huge. Tell me where you would need four inches of blade outside of the kitchen. Even the name speaks volumes about how it was intended to be used."

:rolleyes:
 
Psychopomp said:
Nope.

A knife is a knife. The only time the name of a knife matters is on these forums when we're discussing knives. And only then the names matter to tell which knife is which.

In the 99% of the day not spent on BFC it doesn't matter if you have a KillCo Bloodletter or a Basket Full o' Puppies Pruner, that object in your pocket is a knife. Only people interested in knives care what the name is.
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I disagree. It matters to way more people than us. Esp a Judge and Jury if it ever came to that.

There is some great reading on court case's in the "Your Knife Rights" that is often in Blade mag. Not in every issue, but several a year.
 
Josh K said:
"Ladies and Gentleman of the jury. The Defendant bought this knife, entitled 'Military' for one sole purpose. He claims it is to protect his life, I say he bought it with the intention of harming another human being with a will to cause death. Look at the knife. It's huge. Tell me where you would need four inches of blade outside of the kitchen. Even the name speaks volumes about how it was intended to be used."

:rolleyes:
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Replace that 4 inches with 2 inches, though, and I think the speech loses substance. But then make it 8 inches named "Helper," and it still sounds bad. I really think it's appearance and size over name. In your version it certainly doesn't help the defendant's case, but it's not the ultimate measure of how the knife is going to be taken, I don't think.
 
The looks and name of the knife do play a role in the prosecution of people. A knife that is marketed as a deadly weapon will obviously be looked upon as being worse than say a SAK that is pint with flowers on it. To the average person who inquires about a knife, probably not a big deal. Just comes down to when you find yourself in a poor situation that it truly matters.

Obviously amongst BF members, nobody would care. If the knife was amazing and everyone liked it, but it had a funny name, they'd joke about the name not fitting the knife and that'd be that. It is all relative.
 
kreole said:
Replace that 4 inches with 2 inches, though, and I think the speech loses substance. But then make it 8 inches named "Helper," and it still sounds bad. I really think it's appearance and size over name. In your version it certainly doesn't help the defendant's case, but it's not the ultimate measure of how the knife is going to be taken, I don't think.
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:confused: Show me a 2" folding knife with an aggressive sounding name.

I think the name is just as important as the length and styling.
 
Just because I can turn on the TV and see a commercial with some guy taking a crossover off rode doesn’t mean that its not going to get stuck 20 feet from the road. Just because the name has a “scary” name doesn’t mean that it’s a weapon of death. Case in point the Military, aggressive sounding name, designed as the perfect utility knife.
 
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Maybe some day Spyderco will have to change to a number letter allocation.
MIL21 PMIL14 Max2
z0tdntknw.gif
 
J.Mattson said:
Just because I can turn on the TV and a commercial with some guy taking a crossover off rode doesn’t mean that its not going to get stuck 20 feet from the road. Just because the name has a “scary” name doesn’t mean that it’s a weapon of death. Case in point the Military, aggressive sounding name, designed as the perfect utility knife.
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Yes, but try explaining that to people who are absolutely flabbergasted when I pull out my Ladybug (in yellow nonetheless) to open a package.

Them: "Is that a knife?"
Me: "Yes."
Them: "Why do you carry a knife?"
Me: "To open boxes, trim my nails, cut thread and cord, etc"
Them: "I didn't know you had such a deadly object on you. Be careful with that, I don't want to get cut."
Me: "I'm not going to cut you, it's safe."
Them: "Like hell it is, you should have seen my cousin's friend's daughter. She almost cut her finger off with a knife."

It's at that point where I scream and lunge at them with my 2" folding knife. :rolleyes:
 
Josh K said:
Yes, but try explaining that to people who are absolutely flabbergasted when I pull out my Ladybug (in yellow nonetheless) to open a package.

Them: "Is that a knife?"
Me: "Yes."
Them: "Why do you carry a knife?"
Me: "To open boxes, trim my nails, cut thread and cord, etc"
Them: "I didn't know you had such a deadly object on you. Be careful with that, I don't want to get cut."
Me: "I'm not going to cut you, it's safe."
Them: "Like hell it is, you should have seen my cousin's friend's daughter. She almost cut her finger off with a knife."

It's at that point where I scream and lunge at them with my 2" folding knife. :rolleyes:
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riz_aaroni said:
The looks and name of the knife do play a role in the prosecution of people.

To the average person who inquires about a knife, probably not a big deal. Just comes down to when you find yourself in a poor situation that it truly matters.
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Well said, and very true. Just because we know the name/look may not mean it is a Bad intent knife, doesn't mean you won't get tore apart if in court.
Some reading of actual court case's will clearly tell you this is very true.
 
Supmonkeyface said:
Alrighty, this thread is now about teaching people how to do those moving smilies: Go.

:confused::D
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When I hit the Quote button for that post I got this (I removed the HTML tags):

img]http://img116.exs.cx/img116/1231/z7shysterical.gif[/img] img]http://www.v-rodforums.com/forums/images/smilies/rofl3.gif[/img] http://img116.exs.cx/img116/1231/z7shysterical.gif[/img

So I guess they are just image tags like any other...you just have to know where some moving smilies are to link to. I've learned something new tonight.

Now, off to the garage to design the new Spyderco folding knife: the Spyderco Nun Dismemberer! No? How about the Spyderco Dahmer? Manson? Geen?
 
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