Pet peeves about knife discussions and youtube videos

Status
Not open for further replies.
On fixed blades I don't think that blade handle ratio matters much. On folders it does matter a little bit more. I first really noticed it when I switched my EDC from an M4 Contego to a plain black PM2. In my mind I break folder groupings into classes over 4", sub4", sub3.5", and sub 3". These groupings from what I understand are to fit into Fed State and City knife laws. As I was working in New Jersey and NYC I wanted carry options that dropped me into a friendlier grouping.(I also bought a Delica) The Contego raises eyebrows pretty much everywhere but I was surprised to find that my new PM2 was nearly the same size. Don't get me wrong the PM2 is one of the best knifes for the price out there right now and I think its a true classic but I do have do worry a little bit even if it is legal to carry vs a 940 looks so much smaller there is a good chance no one will ever give me a hard time even if it is to large.

I think it is a context issue. I am from a small town in eastern WA and people commonly carried 6" folders and never had problems with police. East coast is so much different.

I have to say I am a big fan of the way benchmade uses their space. That said I am carrying a GB2 and am loving it more that any knife I have bought in a long time.
 
One that gets me is that in California, there is this idea that if a blade is at or shorter than the width of your palm, as measured from the web of the thumb to the center of the blade of the hand (i.e. directly across the center of the palm), that you are good to go legally speaking. I have even heard police officers spouting this. The truth is that it is legal to carry a blade of any length, fixed or folder, in a stowed position (sheathed, cased, closed and locked etc.), in California. As long as it is in full and clear view (such as worn on a belt, or clipped on the outside of a pocket). There are of course exceptions to this. In places like a courthouse or police station it must be no longer in blade length than 4 inches. And on any kind of academia premises it must be no longer than 2.5 inches unless necessary to do work on those premises.

While this idea about using a body measurement to determine if you blade is of legal length is not entirely irrational. It's not really all that helpful either. Because we don't all have the same palm width. If this is an acceptable measurement to go by we might as well do carpentry work in fingers, spans, and cubits. It's not a good standard because it is inconsistent. And even if you go off the smallest palm size that seems reasonable (The average palm size of an adult female is 2.9 inches) your still well above the legal length if you want to be within the law in all places and at all times.
 
Helleri said:
One that gets me is that in California, there is this idea that if a blade is at or shorter than the width of your palm, as measured from the web of the thumb to the center of the blade of the hand (i.e. directly across the center of the palm), that you are good to go legally speaking. I have even heard police officers spouting this. The truth is that it is legal to carry a blade of any length, fixed or folder, in a stowed position (sheathed, cased, closed and locked etc.), in California. As long as it is in full and clear view (such as worn on a belt, or clipped on the outside of a pocket). There are of course exceptions to this. In places like a courthouse or police station it must be no longer in blade length than 4 inches. And on any kind of academia premises it must be no longer than 2.5 inches unless necessary to do work on those premises.

While this idea about using a body measurement to determine if you blade is of legal length is not entirely irrational. It's not really all that helpful either. Because we don't all have the same palm width. If this is an acceptable measurement to go by we might as well do carpentry work in fingers, spans, and cubits. It's not a good standard because it is inconsistent. And even if you go off the smallest palm size that seems reasonable (The average palm size of an adult female is 2.9 inches) your still well above the legal length if you want to be within the law in all places and at all times.
Click to expand...
It is perfectly legal to carry any size of manual-opening folder concealed in the state of California. Fixed-blades must be worn openly.

In some cities/counties (like Los Angeles) there are laws that say it is ILLEGAL to OPENLY carry ANY knife with a blade 3" or longer (with exceptions for work and recreational activities). But even in those jurisdictions it is still perfectly legal to carry any size manual-opening folder CONCEALED.

And not to get all nit-picky, but on school property k-12, ALL fixed-blades and locking folders are illegal in this state (California). Only slipjoints with blades no longer than 2.5" are legal.

And NO knife will be allowed into any courthouse. They have metal detectors manned by the sheriffs department.

Here is a link to California's official government website where all of it's laws can be found (with some searching)- http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml

And you're right about the whole "width of your hand" measuring thing, it's completely laughable. :D
 
Last edited:
Helleri said:
One that gets me is that in California, there is this idea that if a blade is at or shorter than the width of your palm, as measured from the web of the thumb to the center of the blade of the hand (i.e. directly across the center of the palm), that you are good to go legally speaking. I have even heard police officers spouting this. The truth is that it is legal to carry a blade of any length, fixed or folder, in a stowed position (sheathed, cased, closed and locked etc.), in California. As long as it is in full and clear view (such as worn on a belt, or clipped on the outside of a pocket). There are of course exceptions to this. In places like a courthouse or police station it must be no longer in blade length than 4 inches. And on any kind of academia premises it must be no longer than 2.5 inches unless necessary to do work on those premises.
Click to expand...

I take it you haven't been in a courthouse for a while? I was on jury duty last year and NO weapons allowed at all. The known exceptions to me are Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland not allowing blades longer than 3". And that's my pet peeve as I go from time to time to SF and Oakland.
 
Rey HRH said:
I take it you haven't been in a courthouse for a while? I was on jury duty last year and NO weapons allowed at all. The known exceptions to me are Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland not allowing blades longer than 3". And that's my pet peeve as I go from time to time to SF and Oakland.
Click to expand...

I flat out REFUSE to go to those places... not because of the knife laws ;)
 
Kwon Kwang said:
Everyone keeps complaining about long videos! I like when a reviewer goes in depth and really talks about a knife. It's just fun for me. My favorite knife reviewers (in no particular order) are cutlerylover, nutnfancy, X4CTO, The Late Boy Scout and WeAllJuggleKnives - all for similar reasons. Though I disagree with all of them at times (just a part of being human), they're all intelligent and experienced gentlemen who know what they're talking about.

This Millennial generation and their attention spans...;)
Click to expand...
I don't care how long the videos are. Reviewers need to cater to as wide a market as possible, so I understand that. With that being said, there is a demographic who want to get the specs, and see the knife as clearly as possible, as they are looking at an internet purchase, and are unable to handle on in real life. If you get the technical data out upfront, with plenty of clear 360° showing of the knife, followed up by their opinions etc, then they would appeal to even a broader demographic, and get more views.

I don't know if Nutnfancy reads the forums anymore, but if he does, take it as constructive criticism. I believe it was in 5th grade that my teacher, Mrs. Kellerson taught the entire class that anything put out into the public domain, was rightfully open to be criticized. If you don't want to be criticized, don't put it out there.

Maybe they don't teach that lesson anymore.
 
My pet peeve is about the guys who think a knife has to cost a car payment or be custom to be worth anything. Because honestly what are you really buying it for? No safe queen museum pieces. It just never made any sense to me.
 
In Canada we can't have autos so flippers are the next best thing I guess, so people want them to act like autos. Personally I want any knife I buy to open reliably in the way it's intended so yes I want my flipper to flip open fast and all the way without any special tricks. I really don't want to be say up on a ladder with one free hand and have to mess around getting the thing to deploy properly or worse, think it's open when it's not and some how cut myself. As far as blade to handle ratio goes, wasted space bugs the crap out of me. It doesn't stop me from using my PM2, but every time I look at it, I wonder why the blade doesn't go to the end of the handle when closed? Of course some knives make no sense to have a 50/50 split like small carving knives, a small handle would make it useless in some cases. But in those cases it's not wasted space, just practicality. I think the whole blade to handle thing concerns EDC style knives where people want the most blade they can have in a compact pocket friendly package. My new Mantra is fitting in this role beautifully !
 
Ankerson said:
I try to keep mine short and to the point as possible, but then I don't shoot that many videos and haven't done one in awhile. :)
Click to expand...
I'll be honest, your review of the San Mai III Natchez Bowie, convinced me to pull the trigger on one back in the day.

I also think your fondling of that knife in the video, may be illegal in some states :)
 
shogun730 said:
My pet peeve is about the guys who think a knife has to cost a car payment or be custom to be worth anything. Because honestly what are you really buying it for? No safe queen museum pieces. It just never made any sense to me.
Click to expand...

It's all relative. Someone who has purchased only $20 off-the-shelf knives at Dick's will be getting a tool that cuts but will be puzzled over anyone who spends $70 on a Kershaw or Spyderco. The guy who has purchased only Kershaw or Spydercos will be puzzled over anyone who buys more high-priced brands like Hinderer or Chris Reeves. Those who have only puirchased Hinderer and Chris Reeves will be puzzled by..and on and on..It goes in both directions. Some will automatically deride a more expensive offering with the claim that you aren't getting anything a [insert price here] dollar knife won't do.
 
I'm pretty forgiving as far as reviews go, but I always roll my eyes when the knife stays closed on the table for over half the video while an invisible voice talks through specs that are easily found with a little google-fu. Usually, I'm looking for info about how a knife fits in the hand, or what it looks like in a pocket, or how well it opens/closes, etc.

That being said, I'm usually happy with written reviews with pics. :thumbup:
 
Mind is SHOW THE GODD*MN KNIFE DONT HOLD IT OFF CAMERA HALF THE TIME. That and I wish they would hold it like they're using it more. I thought about a mini grip but every video I watched they rarely held it as if they were using it so I couldn't tell how it would look and feel to actually hold in hand.
 
BubbaGump said:
It's all relative. Someone who has purchased only $20 off-the-shelf knives at Dick's will be getting a tool that cuts but will be puzzled over anyone who spends $70 on a Kershaw or Spyderco. The guy who has purchased only Kershaw or Spydercos will be puzzled over anyone who buys more high-priced brands like Hinderer or Chris Reeves. Those who have only puirchased Hinderer and Chris Reeves will be puzzled by..and on and on..It goes in both directions. Some will automatically deride a more expensive offering with the claim that you aren't getting anything a [insert price here] dollar knife won't do.
Click to expand...

I see your point, however, there is a line where quality doesn't go up as much as price. A $100 spyderco may be 5x better than a $20 whatever, but a $500 Chris Reeves won't be 5x better than the spyderco. Maybe a bit better f&f, maybe a slightly more "premium" handle material. But once you get into the range of a company that has consistent QC and HT, going up from there is just going for status or something you want specifically, not really an objectively better product. Is a $2000 4" fixed blade going to be 20x better than a BK16? Objectively, no. It would just be for personal preferences, not performance (which isn't to say it wouldn't be better at all, hopefully my point is somewhat clear).
 
I like long knife reviews with lots of footage of shooting and cleaning deer. I like them even better with a thick Japanese accent and broken English.

"Hullo knife people."

Virtuovice should be on everybody's subscribed to list on YouTube.

Nutnfancy too. At least he's having a ball.
 
pinnah said:
I like long knife reviews with lots of footage of shooting and cleaning deer. I like them even better with a thick Japanese accent and broken English.

"Hullo knife people."

Virtuovice should be on everybody's subscribed to list on YouTube.

Nutnfancy too. At least he's having a ball.
Click to expand...

And his crazy sharpening of 300 or so BRKTs.
 
killgar said:
It is perfectly legal to carry any size of manual-opening folder concealed in the state of California. Fixed-blades must be worn openly.

In some cities/counties (like Los Angeles) there are laws that say it is ILLEGAL to OPENLY carry ANY knife with a blade 3" or longer (with exceptions for work and recreational activities). But even in those jurisdictions it is still perfectly legal to carry any size manual-opening folder CONCEALED.

And not to get all nit-picky, but on school property k-12, ALL fixed-blades and locking folders are illegal in this state (California). Only slipjoints with blades no longer than 2.5" are legal.

And NO knife will be allowed into any courthouse. They have metal detectors manned by the sheriffs department.

Here is a link to California's official government website where all of it's laws can be found (with some searching)- http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes.xhtml

And you're right about the whole "width of your hand" measuring thing, it's completely laughable. :D
Click to expand...

My bad, I was wrong about open carry extending to folders.

Rey HRH said:
I take it you haven't been in a courthouse for a while? I was on jury duty last year and NO weapons allowed at all. The known exceptions to me are Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland not allowing blades longer than 3". And that's my pet peeve as I go from time to time to SF and Oakland.
Click to expand...

Well state law is more of a launching point. There is also municipal bi-law, ordinance, policy, and regulations which can serve to place further or more stringent restrictions and prohibitions. Some cities have flat out tyrannical treatment of certain things. For instance the city of Santa Cruz made bi-laws that forbid sleep from 11 P.M. to 8:30 A.M. anywhere in public. And prohibit the use of tents, tarps, and blankets in public during those same hours. Their basically trying to make it illegal to be homeless (without directly saying "it's illegal to be homeless"). And that's not idle law making either. They have dispatched the sheriffs office to dismantle illegal encampments and make arrests before.
 
Last edited:
G III said:
I see your point, however, there is a line where quality doesn't go up as much as price.
Click to expand...

It depends on how quality is defined. Blade steel? Fit and finish? Tolerances? Durability? Aesthetics? It's well beyond what I would be willing to spend, but people wouldn't be buying custom knives for $2,000 if they didn't feel there was a quality advantage that justified the price. What that advantage is depends on who is evaluating it and what is important to them. But regardless, irrespective of what type of product or services are under discussion, people will always scoff at more expensive goods and services as a waste of money, just paying for a name, etc.. and those with the more expensive goods will often tend to look at lesser priced as inferior somehow. That's just the way things work.
 
G III said:
I see your point, however, there is a line where quality doesn't go up as much as price.
Click to expand...

And this is how it is with any consumer product. Computers, cars, washing machines, toilets, and yes, even knives. Is the Ferrari 10x better than the Honda? Nope. But when you get to that upper level of performance it gets more expensive to achieve. The consumer must decide if these increasingly slight gains in performance are worth the price, which is just an opinion of what one likes and thinks is beneficial.
 
That whole width of the Palm thing is what they used to tell children so they didn't carry large knives.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top