sharpening clips

S

scubasteve4sq

Joined
Mar 20, 2012
Messages
141
I'm curious as to why nobody usually sharpens the clip on their knives? Is it a safety thing? I know I've seen usmc kabars with sharpened clips. Just curious!
 
Personally if my fixed blade has a clip I usually sharpen it.
I think most dont like you said for "safety" but mines between my ears
I just think dagger when im using them .
and warn non knife aficionados that the "top" is sharp lol
 
scubasteve4sq said:
possum do you mean legal as in they are against the law to have in some places? Or like liability legal?
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against the law in some places. i guess nothing on a sharp knife will ever protect it completely against the stupidity of people. :D

for example: here in germany i can legally carry a 12cm fixed blade in public. however if the spine is (partially) sharpened it becomes illegal. supposedly it is due to the fact that it cements the weapon like intent of the blade, like a dagger for example.
of course if your intent was to carry it as a weapon/fighter in the first place there is nothing wrong with sharpening it.

just a though, i think for some very large knives it doesn't make sense to sharpen the whole spine due to the way they are employed in a fight. but i am just guessing.
 
vilePossum said:
against the law in some places. i guess nothing on a sharp knife will ever protect it completely against the stupidity of people. :D

for example: here in germany i can legally carry a 12cm fixed blade in public. however if the spine is (partially) sharpened it becomes illegal. supposedly it is due to the fact that it cements the weapon like intent of the blade, like a dagger for example.
of course if your intent was to carry it as a weapon/fighter in the first place there is nothing wrong with sharpening it.

just a though, i think for some very large knives it doesn't make sense to sharpen the whole spine due to the way they are employed in a fight. but i am just guessing.
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The spine can be sharpened in Germany as long as the sharpened section doesn't exceed 4cm.

Also what is a legal definition of "sharpened"?
:D
 
Jens Schuetz said:
The spine can be sharpened in Germany as long as the sharpened section doesn't exceed 4cm.

Also what is a legal definition of "sharpened"?
:D
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ah okay, didn't know about the 4 cm limit. i guess the guy telling me was doing better safe than sorry. as for the legal definition... well it depends on the cop sacking you, doesn't it?
 
vilePossum said:
ah okay, didn't know about the 4 cm limit. i guess the guy telling me was doing better safe than sorry. as for the legal definition... well it depends on the cop sacking you, doesn't it?
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Lol. Yes. For us sharp is when it shaves, for the policeman if he can push it through a Berliner (the soft pastry)

Double edges are not allowed in Germany. Thus most people would assume that a sharpened spine is not allowed to be carried.
If however you look into the law then you see they only talk of a double edge if the second edge is longer than 4cm. Everything under that length is therefore legal.

Does the policeman know that? Probably not but any charges wouldn't stick in court.

Anyways cops in Germany are nice and if you explain to them the legal details they'll be happy to learn something if they aren't angry for other reasons. I was never searched by any. Maybe during soccer games, but there no knife of any kind wouldn't be allowed anyways.
:p
 
My understanding is that the 12/4cm fixed blade exceptions to the German knife CARRY law were the result of actions by the still influential German hunting groups, particularly those in what we might call the more conservative Lander in the south of the country like Bavaria. The traditionalists along with the local the manufacturers are also the ones who managed to get the typical short/wider bladed German style automatics left off of the banned list.
Jen's the soccer game is a good example. I was told by some German knife guys that the ENFORCEMENT of these newer laws has primarily been directed at what one might call obvious hooligans and has not resulted in the more broadly applied "stop and frisk" type programs that we have seen in places like New York and London.
 
jdm61 said:
My understanding is that the 12/4cm fixed blade exceptions to the German knife CARRY law were the result of actions by the still influential German hunting groups, particularly those in what we might call the more conservative Lander in the south of the country like Bavaria. The traditionalists along with the local the manufacturers are also the ones who managed to get the typical short/wider bladed German style automatics left off of the banned list.
Jen's the soccer game is a good example. I was told by some German knife guys that the ENFORCEMENT of these newer laws has primarily been directed at what one might call obvious hooligans and has not resulted in the more broadly applied "stop and frisk" type programs that we have seen in places like New York and London.
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That makes sense. They pushed their fixed hunting knives through but didn't care about folders.
In Germany you can have either one hand opening folders or locking folders, not both.

Now I'm looking for a one handed, or maybe even assisted, strong slip joint.

No luck so far.
UK penknife or the sanremu one handed slippers are just too weak.

I guess I have to go with some 12cm fixed knives instead when I'm in Germany this summer. I know the cops wouldn't search me anyways but I'd still like to keep things legal.

Also even if a fixed blade is perfectly legal random peeps on the street would make sure to let you know what they think about that dangerous murder weapon on your hip.

So alternatively to a strong one handed/assisted slip joint I could go with a small fixed blade inside my pocket or have just bigger pockets.

Are you just happy to see me or is that a 12cm (24cm oal) seal pup in your tactical cargo shorts' front pocket?
:eek:
 
wow I had no idea Germany had such agressive knife laws. Here in Florida I carry my 6" drop point hunter on my belt at all times, it's completely legal and I've never been hassled about it.
 
You guys get all the great beer though so it's even Stevens I guess. :-)

I love me some weihenstephaner hefe weissbier dunkel

And Chimay cinq cents
 
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The law was passed a couple of years back. In the old days, meaning the 1980's when I was a young man traveling in Europe, you could buy automatics at tobacco shops on the local high street in West Germany. They used to display them in the front window. It was the same in some other countries in Western Europe. You also used to be able to buy a switchblade when you were picking up your new bong at head shops in Amsterdam :eek::D I don't remember of they had automatics but you could still buy basic local pocketknives at tabac stores and gas stations in France as late as 2007. I bought my little Laguiole at a truck stop on the Autoroute L'Este in 2006.
scubasteve4sq said:
wow I had no idea Germany had such agressive knife laws. Here in Florida I carry my 6" drop point hunter on my belt at all times, it's completely legal and I've never been hassled about it.
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My understanding is that clips are sharpened for "back cutting" in knife fighting / defensive roles. Functionally, as a hunting, camping, or work knife, it really serves no purpose that I'm aware of, other than thinning the point even more, which may or may not be desirable.

As for using a knife defensively, I think there are dozens of better options available, before I would pull out a knife as my first resort, despite the implications of my username. :D
 
You might get hassled with no legal effect in some towns, but you can carry pretty much any knife unconcealed in Florida. The only truly illegal knife under Florida law is a ballistic knife which is considered contraband and illegal to possess, manufacturer or carry. just like under Federal law. Carlos Garcia, the owner of Intratec, the company that made the infamous Tec-9 "assault pistol" also briefly made the Russian style ballistic knives in his Miami plant in the early to mid 80's before they were outlawed. Our family business was in the same building, so I got to look at some of them. Useless for the most part, but interesting.
scubasteve4sq said:
wow I had no idea Germany had such agressive knife laws. Here in Florida I carry my 6" drop point hunter on my belt at all times, it's completely legal and I've never been hassled about it.
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There were some uses of knives for defense in Iraq and Afghanistan, but what I was told by folks who had spent time there and in particular by one colonel who was a customer of mine and an adviser to Iraqi Army units, is that big blades were an effective way to avoid a fight in some instances. I was told that for "cultural reasons", folks that part of the world are apparently frightened more by big knives than by firearms.
knife to a gunfight said:
My understanding is that clips are sharpened for "back cutting" in knife fighting / defensive roles. Functionally, as a hunting, camping, or work knife, it really serves no purpose that I'm aware of, other than thinning the point even more, which may or may not be desirable.

As for using a knife defensively, I think there are dozens of better options available, before I would pull out a knife as my first resort, despite the implications of my username. :D
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Illegal in California too. The laws here are quite reasonable. Any sized fixed blade as long as it's open carry (sheath is fine), any folder size is fine including concealed carry. Technically you can carry a machete or sword, but I would highly recommend against it.

There are two exceptions that I'm aware of. San Francisco and some other city that I don't live in.

California restrictions -

Daggers (sharpened clip included as I understand it)
Bali Song
Switchblade/Gravity knives (assisted is okay)

Only problem is that any random police officer may not know or understand the specific laws. I often carry a Fiddleback Forge bushcraft fixed blade (thanks Andy!) and have received no flak from law enforcement. I'm a pretty reasonable person though and respect the laws.
 
Yeah I don't expect to actually use a knife in a fight, I just wondered why nobody sharpened clips, plenty of people make daggers and seem fine with it, but you never see sharpened clips, I just found it odd.

I'm glad I asked, this is an interesting discussion
 
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