Start Here
- Knife History. Stone, copper, bronze, iron, steel, the folding knife, stainless and the powder steels of today.
- The History of Switchblades. Huntsman's springs, Schrade's button, the paratrooper M2, the 1950 panic, the 1958 act and the repeals since 2010.
- A Brief History of the Folding Knife. From a bone-handled blade at Hallstatt to the pocket clip.
Law and Culture
- Crazy Knife Laws Around the World. What other countries ban, and why.
- Ballistic Knives. The knife that fires its blade, and why it is banned almost everywhere.
- The Smallest Switchblade. A curiosity with a history.
- Knife Laws in All 50 States. Where the history left the law, state by state.
- Knife Law Watch. The cases that could change it next.
Behind the Knives
- A7 Zastava. The OTF made with Zastava Arms, and the heritage behind it.
- Darby's Warrior Support. A hunting weekend with a veterans' organization in Arkansas.
- How We Research Knife Laws. Sources, method and what we will not claim.
The Current Chapter
The MagnaCut fixed blade, the everyday OTF, the titanium-clipped folder and the Zastava collaboration.
People Are Asking
How old is the knife?
At least 2.6 million years: the oldest widely accepted stone cutting tools, from Gona in Ethiopia, predate our genus. The knife history guide has the whole line.
When was the switchblade invented?
Spring-fired knives appeared in the late 1700s, probably in Italy. George Schrade patented the first practical American push-button knife in 1892.
Why were switchblades banned?
A 1950 magazine article and a run of 1950s films tied the Italian stiletto to juvenile crime. New York banned sales in 1954 and Congress passed the Federal Switchblade Act in 1958. The history of switchblades tells it.
Are switchblade bans still in force?
In five states. More than twenty have repealed theirs since 2010, and four federal cases are pending. Knife Law Watch tracks them.
