I’ve never been into weapons but for some reason I really liked butterfly knives when I was a teenager. Other than a small pocket knife and kitchen knives, it’s the only knife I’ve ever owned. Since they’re illegal in most of the US, I don’t currently own one but this would be a nice compromise. It was never about having a blade but rather about doing neat tricks. Wonder how well balanced it is.
I used to be pretty good with a butterfly knife before the panicked & banned them. I’ve always carried a pocket-knife though. It’s one of the accoutrements of a Gentleman. Like a hip-flask and a light.
This looks like a great way to get arrested! 
Right up there with the switchblade combs. Be careful when and where you carry, and when and where you deploy.
(Friend of mine had a lockblade knife that she’d worked on, and worked with, enough that she could flick it open just about as fast as a switchblade. I don’t know whether she ever had to pull it on anyone.)
Yeah, butterfly knifes have been illegal since 1959 in the UK, I think. I also think that the multitool element is sufficiently blade-like to be considered a knife as opposed to a knife-like novelty item. It is a pity because I think that butterfly knives are a particularly safe knife to carry, but I guess that teddy boys must’ve been using them to menace upstanding citizens in the '50s or something. Well, I suppose that they are a weapon rather than a utility knife.
(I learned this by being prosecuted for carrying one, so this is wisdom that was gained at great personal cost.)
1989, surely? I remember buying a t least two butterfly knives in the 80s. I think you’re thinking of flick-knives (we used to buy 'em on school trips to France & sell them on. International arms-dealers, we were…)
You’re right - flick and gravity knives are specifically forbidden in the 1959 legislation. I checked the 1989 legislation and didn’t spot any specific balisong-related legalese, although there was also a Scottish 1989 law that does mention butterfly knives. Maybe I missed it. A police officer told me it was the 1959 law that I was breaking, but then again, who trusts a cop?
I also noted that there’s quite a long list of mainly Japanese agricultural tools which are banned outright in the UK; I can only assume that the UK parliament are terrified of ninjas.
SWEET. I bought a batch of bali song beer openers last year as Christmas presents for friends, the martial arts, switchbladiness is awesome. Having a multi-tool with you at all times is a mark of being a get shit done sort of person, the combination? Unstoppable. Must have.
Well, quite.
I’m pretty sure they were banned in the late 80s, in one of our regular knifecrime hoohaas. Tho it may have been a later piece of Serious, Life-Saving Legislation. Our Lizard Overlords love all that crack. Makes 'em feel important.
I’m with you on the general knife crime panic front, although a balisong is primarily a weapon so I think in the instance of that particular item it’s a reasonable position. A practical weapon that can be useful to have around sure, but you can also open champagne with a sabre, without diminishing its weapon-hood. I’m not really a fan of ‘tactical’ pens either, though that is the opposite - taking a useful everyday object and sticking klingon spikes on it until it is a weapon that bleeds ink.
I prefer my booze without glass fragments
Tactical pens should be inserted into the rectum of their foolish owners, yes.
I’ve been pulled many a time with a lock-knife, but have explained it away as being a useful tool (which it is). My current one is a black Gerber that looks quite foolishly ‘tactical’, but it’s a lovely little knife, and very light & easy to use for all it’s anodised black. As an inveterate nail-biter with squishy, blunt finger tips, I reserve the right to have a pointy thing in my pocket (I can’t even pick money up off the damn floor without it…).
Fixed blade knives are legal given a good and lawful reason for carrying them (work or hobby, but don’t rely upon the hobby reason because coppers) but folding knives with a locking mechanism don’t seem to be legal in public at all. Which is weird seeing as Opinel knives (perfect camping knives to my mind) have a rotating locking collar, and are for sale all over the place.
As far as I understand it, a lock-knife with a blade under 3.5" and a reasonable explanation for having it is fine (it’s always worked for me; I even walked through the metal detectors in a crown court with one absent-mindedly in my pocket). Opinels are lovely things, I could shave with mine, but they’re a bit too big, or small, & the blades are fragile.
What’s legal varies WIDELY by location. Know your local rules; know the rules of anywhere else you’re going to be carrying.
Gilbert and I were discussing the UK. Laws vary widely, but butterfly knives appear to be maligned almost everywhere. They’re even banned in the Phillipines.
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