How To shorten up blade length BK16

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Dec 26, 2011
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I live in CT. with it's moronic less than 4" cutting edge law for unrestricted carry. I have a bk16 user that I've been considering shortening to 3&15/16" so I'm in compliance if ever questioned. Any recommendations on the best way to do this? i.e.: reprofile the spine or the cutting edge? best way to acheive this? Open to suggestions, I like this 16 for edc around the house and in the kitchen, I can live with it being 3/16" shorter. Thanks all.
 
A spine reprofile would keep it closer to original.

Easy Answer:
Grind the edge square, just ahead of the sharpening choil, to get down to the length of cutting edge that you need....or...increase the size of the choil.

:thumbsup:
 
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if you have a belt sander and a bucket of water, you can use a sharpie to color in the parts you want to remove and then do that -- it'll change where the point rides, making the blade look more like a modified santoku -- which should actually work really well in the kitchen and still be functional in camp.
grind a little, dunk, swirl, repeat frequently. Use light pressure and take the metal off slow, dunking frequently so you don't heat up the blade enough to mess up the temper -- it'll still take less than 10 minutes.
a blue 120 grit sanding belt will do to remove the steel you want gone.
 
Yup. Belt sander.
You could keep the same blade shape without too much trouble.
My HF belt sander was one of the best $40 I ever spent.
 
Regrind from the spine if you must.
If you do it from the edge, the edge will get too thick.

Over here in Rhody we're restricted to no more than 3" from tip to front of scales.
But in CT I believe there's an "appropriate use" clause in the law (check for yourself, I am not a lawyer). However that probably nixes a BK-16 for general EDC. LOTS of great options under 4" without "fixing" the lovely BK-16... Excuse for more knives! :D
 
Regrind from the spine if you must.
If you do it from the edge, the edge will get too thick.

Over here in Rhody we're restricted to no more than 3" from tip to front of scales.
But in CT I believe there's an "appropriate use" clause in the law (check for yourself, I am not a lawyer). However that probably nixes a BK-16 for general EDC. LOTS of great options under 4" without "fixing" the lovely BK-16... Excuse for more knives! :D

you mean like a BK14 with extended Izula scales from TKC?
 
Thanks all. I ended up increasing the size of the choil to give a 3&15/16" cutting edge. 5 minutes with the Dremel and a stone and I'm good to go.

I'm NOT a lawyer by any means..... But I'd be leery of what I carried in areas/cities with heavy restrictions.
Me personally, I wouldn't carry Anything that was modified from it's factory original specs. If used in an incident of self defense, for instance..... A good (Bad) lawyer could make the case that the modified knife was altered, modified to be "tactical", more Dangerous, more Deadly.....I know, Stupid Right?

Even if your area uses "cutting edge" as a length.... Most blade manufactures include the choil in their blade length....
In fact Kabar calls out the length to be 4.375" on numerous search engine results....

Also as a side note..... I'd never carry a knife that sounded all mall ninja like…. "Black Ops Tactical Black Mamba Death Dagger"
How do you explain in Court that you really didn't go out looking to kill people with that thing?

My Glock does Not have enhanced trigger springs, sights, muzzle breaks... whatever. And Definitely no "Hot Re-loads"

….And fortunately I'm in one of the safer states as far as stupid laws concerning self defense.
Just something to think about. :D

Buy a smaller knife!
 
I’d like to tell Crag he’s being paranoid and ask him what size tin foil hat he wears. But he’s probably right in this crazy lawyer infested world.
 
I think it's more of a concern the firearms/self-defense world.
If you carry a weapony knife as a weapon, then maybe.

I am not a lawyer:

Blade length measurements will surely be performed on the actual knife in question, not by referring to a website.
CT's law is written with respect to "edged part of blade", which could be interpreted as "length of cutting edge" or the "obvious blade-part which has an edge", and that might include the edgeless part up to the handle/scales. I don't know if this is settled case law in CT.

The ABS and AKTI measure blade length from the tip to the forward-most portion of the handle/bolster/scales. This usually yields the longest blade length, and thus is the most conservative measure for legal purposes. This is the standard that my adjacent state (RI) uses, and we're limited to 3" under that rule. This standard pose a problem in the case of handle-less/scale-less blades, and I don't know if that has been settled in case law anywhere. For my own strategy, I would apply the conservative standard even if I lived in an edge-measurement state to make sure that any ambiguity would resolve in my favor. While RI allows OPEN carry of larger knives, and knife doesn't have to be completely invisible to be considered "concealed".

I hope Knife Rights comes to Southern New England...
 
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