What the heck? Does Cold Steel not own a ruler?

Yeah they own a ruler, the most ruler-ist, measure-ly ruler in the world! edit to add, I just measured my 4" Voyager and it's over 4" in length. cool.
 
sd550 said:
Whew, at least this has SUBWAY off the hook for a little while :p !!
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Same issue, It's just a different manufacturer...

Alberta Ed said:
Um, so...? Do they still cut? Such small variations would fall into the permissible zone IMHO.
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When you buy a dozen eggs, is 11 or 13 still a dozen? (Bakers dozen withstanding)
Would a judge see a 3" blade that was stated to be 2.5" by the manufacturer as being in "the permissible zone"?

Unfortunately there can be more to this than just someone feeling like they are getting jipped...
 
I understand the OP point of view. I will be very concerned about blades being longer than stated on paper to avoid getting in trouble if a picky officer pulls out a ruler and checks your knives. If they get to that point you probably have been doing something not that smart, but anyway, it could happen. Also, maybe someone is trying to compare two knives to see which one provides him with the longest blade for a certain task... and the lack of precission while measuring, could lead him to pick the wrong knife.

Does anyone know how Spyderco measures his blades and how accurate those measurements are? I just noticed this very same morning that the length of the blades, as well as the weight, is expressed also in metric system (mm and gr)...
 
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Mine is ok...
 
It's just some rounding going on. Happens with everything.

picking a measurement with smaller granularity lets you be more accurate even if you're rounding.
 
Custom knife makers measure from pivot to tip as well . At least some do . I bought a custom with a 4.1 inch blade measured from the pivot.
 
I think South Park did an episode on this. Ok, it wasn't about "knife" size, but it may as well have been. Let's just say that Cartman was really pissed that his "knife" was only 1.2".
 
This is a tempest in a teapot. Frank touched upon the reason already, though it doesn't seem to have satisfied anybody.

Look at the Cold Steel site. Every knife measurement is listed in whole inches. One significant digit.

Have any of you ever seen a knife company (or any other) that produced dozens upon dozens of different products all to specifications that were precisely measured by whole inches? Or could this perhaps be a series of approximations meant to help potential customers approximate the size differences between small, regular and XL models of knives?

I'm sure Lynn Thompson has plenty of rulers. I'm also sure he doesn't give a rat's rearend if people are offended by imprecise approximations that are obviously so to anyone who applies even a little bit of common sense to their materials.

Mikel_24 said:
I understand the OP point of view. I will be very concerned about blades being longer than stated on paper to avoid getting in trouble if a picky officer pulls out a ruler and checks your knives. If they get to that point you probably have been doing something not that smart, but anyway, it could happen..
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Enforcement of knife length laws, at least here in the States, is largely at the discretion of the LEO. If you are trying to skirt a hard limit of 4" for a blade, for instance, and you buy a folder that has exactly 4" of steel from bolster/end of handle to tip, any ornery LEO who wants to pad his stats can simply claim the knife is longer because of the tang of the blade. All he has to do is state to a judge that he is measuring from the pivot, or any other arbitrary point on the blade, and your blade is legally confiscated (plus you'll probably be facing some fines).

Long story short, if you're relying upon Cold Steel marketing materials to keep your wallet intact or your butt out of jail, you're missing the point immensely.
 
jbmonkey said:
You just made my point. Every brand does this. Maybe and it's a big maybe...Tops like cold steel doesnt make their knives right?
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Tops does manufacture their knives, which is what makes it so odd.
On the newer knives they offer, their measurements seem to have been actually measured. :D
Still off a bit at times, but not saying a blade that's over 6 inches is only 4.5 inches...and if anyone tells me being THAT far off doesn't matter...
 
knarfeng said:
They said "4 inches"? Well, technically speaking, when reporting measurements you round the number up or down to the closest significant digit.

If it only has one significant digit (4") then you round it up or down to the nearest inch.

Just sayin'
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So a knife actually .2" thick should be advertised as 0" thick? :D

What do we do with .5"?

We could have lots of fun with this.
 
jbmonkey said:
Atki is a political lobbyist for the industry among other things but their diagram isn't the end all be all of measurements. Quoted from your link.... "Manufacturers, makers and other entities engaged in the commerce of knives are encouraged to utilize the standard in product descriptions and advertising."

Key word is encouraged...not an absolute. So no im not wrong. Same goes for all makers over and under. This is why there is tolerances. No maker is absolute perfect. I get you see it different than I do, so be it.
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Sell a knife as having a 4" blade when that blade is, instead, 3.75" long and a jury can end up deciding if the .25" is a "material" departure from your express warranty that the blade is 4" long. That warranty exists under the law of all fifty states. Uniform Commercial Code Sec. 2-313(1)(b) and (c). The existence of the ATKI standard would be probably admissible in evidence.

I have had an number of knives depart from the advertised length, but was never upset about it. Obviously, YMMV.
 
It may be wrong to single CS out.
But that just makes it an industry wide issue, not a non issue.
 
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