The Texas State Senate now has the bill, HB1935 before them. Passed by the Texas House, although somewhat anticlimactic Director of Legislative Affairs, Todd Rahtner, has been in Austin for a week working with the Texas State Senate to ensure that any bill that emerged would still be an advance forward for Texas knife owners. HB 1935, as amended now eliminates daggers. dirks, stilettos, poniards, spears, swords and Bowie knives from the Texas statue, effectively allowing them to be carried anywhere in the state.
In order to get the bill moved, the amendment stipulates that knives with blades over 5.5-inches are now defined as "location restricted" knives. Meaning that except for schools, federal buildings, correctional facilities, colleges, houses of worship, and bars the knives may be carries state wide.
We in the knife industry would like to express our appreciation to our House sponsors, Primary Author, Rep. Frullo, Joint Authors, Reps. Dutton, Moody, Springer, Coauthors, Kuempel and Lambert.
By Chuck Karwan, Editor, Tactical Knives Magazine
By Denis Prisbrey, field tester for Tactical Knives magazine
These Colonial Knife Corp. fast one–handers are appropriately named.
One of the lessons my grandfather learned early, and passed on down to me, was the necessity
for a man to have a knife on board during daily life. The knife Grandpa took with him
everywhere, every day, whether in bib overalls or church suit, wasn’t fancy. No super steel, no
exotic handle materials, no tactical leg harness, no trendy brand name and certainly no 12–inch
blade. It was a very simple and basic three–blade stockman folder with jigged bone slabs, and if
he paid more the $1.00 for it at the hardware store 14 miles from his home, I’d be astounded.
Even in this modern era with better steels, bigger blades, prettier handles and wider choice of
locks than were ever dreamed of not all that long ago, the primary purpose of a knife is to cut.
For 90 percent (and probably more) of the personal knife uses today, the buyer just needs a
nice little folder he or she can tote along in a pocket or purse, and one that only has to get its
owner through the trials and tribulations of everyday life. For the vast majority, this isn’t for
hacking through the jungles of Borneo, felling trees to build emergency log cabins along the
trail, skinning a dozen buffalo, splintering ammunition crates, reducing logs to firewood,
repelling a charging grizzly, or defending against a masked guy with a bloody chainsaw in the
woods. It’s the much more mundane things like farm or ranch chores, warehouse work, office
activities, and so on. Nothing glamorous–just every–day applications where a sharp edge beats
teeth, and scissors are not practical to carry in a pocket.
Given the basic idea, does a decent working knife have to have a designer’s name on the blade
and a $300. Tag on the box? No. Taking inflation and other factors into consideration, $25.00
today would be roughly the equivalent of $1 knife 50 years ago, and I’d argue that there is a
place in this day and age for a $25 knife. It’s even possible to get a bonus feature included for
the money. The Colonial Knife™ Corp.’s Quick Flick™ line may interest you if you should happen
to be on the lookout for a working folder. Besides some of the familiar and popular features
found through mid–sized folder knifedom in general, such as open construction, flat scales,
pocket clip and thumb–studded blades, all three of the Quick Flick models also use an assisted
opening “action”.
Neither a side–swinging switchblade nor a front popper, an assisted–action blade requires the
user to get things moving by starting the blade out manually on opening, not by pushing abutton or sliding “switch”, after which the spring takes over and “flicks” the blade the rest of
the way open top its locking position. While this can be a fun and showy way to impress people
at family get–togethers, it’s actually a useful feature when you either have only one hand
available to get the blade into use or need it in a hurry. ALL three Quick Flicks™ operate the
same general way and all are priced at $25.00.
$25 well spent–looking at the broad picture, these knives are a good buy for the hard–earned
$25 layout. No, 440A isn’t ATS–34, but it’s still stainless. You won’t feel any sticker shock or
buyer’s remorse, and you’re not going to worry about making it less “pretty” if you have to use
it hard. Will it hold an edge? Sure. How long? That depends entirely on you and what you do
with it. Use it a little, indefinitely; use it a lot, and you should learn how to sharpen a blade if
you don’t know how already. I didn’t do any testing–to–destruction on any of the three, but I
can tell you the 7005 cuts stiff hemp rope just fine, the 7002 slices up packaged beef strips
quite well for my quick and easy Ramen trail spaghetti recipe, and the 7001 opened up a couple
deliveries of strapped cardboard ammunition boxes every bit as well as 154CM would have.
Quality levels are nothing short of excellent, equal to many folders priced four or five times as
high. The fit and finish between scales and liners is first class, the actions open smoothly, the
blades are centered when closed, they show no wobble or play either closed or open, and the
handles can be tightened by user if they start to loosen a bit over time. The grinds are clean,
even and consistent, and all three clearly illustrate that the originating company’s specs and
quality control expectations on cutting tools are at least as important in considering a purchase
as the country of origin on imported models.
Many of us have high–dollar knives that we’re proud of. No matter how proud we maybe of a
$400 work of cutlery art, it’s not the one that goes to work in the corral, on the dock, in the
shipping/receiving room, up the cliff face or along the hiking trail. What does get the job done,
every day, all across America, is the equivalent of Grandpa’s $1 pocketknife. Ding it up–who
cares? Dull it–sharpen it. Lose it–you can afford to replace it. This is Colonial knife’s market for
these Quick Flick™, and assisted opening feature is a bonus.
Collectors Corner
Colonial‘s Seaworthy Knives by LeRoy Thompson, Tactical Knives magazine
The classic U.S. Navy Sailor’s Knife, along with the Civilian Rigger’s knife get reborn and ready to set sail!
Most of us who are interested in the history of knives are probably somewhat familiar with the
traditional Sailor’s Folding Knife, which generally has a sheepsfoot blade and a folding marlin
spike. I seem to remember seeing a photograph of a civil war sailor’s knife that incorporated
the marlin spike. I have also seen photographs of fixed blade sailor’s sheath knives with a marlin
spike that folded into the handle. The U.S. Navy contract for the style of Sailor’s Marlin Spike
Folding Knife most familiar to me dates from 1910.
Early examples seem to have been made by many of the well‐known Sheffield cutlers,
including Joseph Rodgers and Wostonehnholm IXL. H.M Slater of Sheffield made a Boy Scouts
Sailor’s or Riggers Knife of typical pattern. Whittingsglove of Australia made a popular version
of the sailor’s knife that incorporated a bottle/can opener blade as well as the sheepsfoot
cutting blade and marlin spike. Other makers seem to have included a second blade as well.
U.S –Made Sailors
Virtually all of the well‐known U.S. makers of folding knives seem to have offered a sailors knife
at some point in their history. In some cases the knives were supplied to the U.S. Navy or Coast
Guard. A lot of members of the Navy seem to remember a sailor’s knife from Camillus, while
Coastguardsmen remember Buck sailor’s knives. Case and Schrade also made sailors knives, the
former for the Canadian Navy, I’m sure there were others. For example I have seen references
to Ka‐Bar sailor knives as U.S. Navy issue. Ka‐Bar has made a sailor’s/Rodgers’s folder, so this is
entirely possible. Most ex‐sailors from the World War II era I’ve talked to, however, don’t
remember the sailor’s knife as being issue, instead it was available for private purchase from
the ship’s stores or from Navy Exchanges. Since two of these veterans were ship’s storekeepers,
they should know, one would assume. It was quite possible that there were some issued to
personnel who still worked with sail’s and ropes.
Behind The Sail
I did run across two interesting pieces of information about the sailor’s knife in gathering
information for this article. Sailor’s lore has been that the sheepsfoot blade on the sailor’s knife
came about because sailors were not allowed to have pointed blades. This restriction as an
attempt to keep sailors from stabbing each other when they were cooped up for long periods at
sea and tempers grew short. I have read of 19th–century‐ ship’s‐ mates breaking the points off
of sailor’s sheath knives for this reason, so there is some likelihood of a degree of truth in the
lore. On the other hand, slashes from a blunted blade and stabs from a marlin spike would
likely have been deadly prior to the availability of good antiseptics and antibiotics.
There seems to have been a long tradition of tying decorative lanyard knots for the ring
of the sailor’s knife. Some could be quite ornate.
Colonial Knife® Treasures-
The reason I got interested in researching the sailor’s knife is that I have sitting here two
examples from Colonial Knife Company (CKC) of the knife they are currently under contract to
supply to the U.S. Government. This knife is based on the original 1910 Navy design contract.
There are actually two versions of the CKC knife.
The first with brown plastic handle is the military‐style version and carries the markings “Gov.
Issue” and NSN number on the blade. The other, designated the “Riggers Knife”, has a cocobolo
handle. The cocobolo version being the civilian model and is popular with yachtsmen.
Both knives have the traditional sheepsfoot blade of about 3 inches. Blade, frame, and
other components are 440 series stainless steel, with blade hardness Rockwell 58‐60. There is
not a blade lock. The hand‐forged marlin spike is slightly curved and is about 2.75 inches long. It
does have a lever lock with a shackle/lanyard ring being pressed to release it.
I’m not a yachtsman or a sailor; I have worked a few yacht security jobs, though I was
hired for my expertise with weapons and tactical skills rather than for sailing skills. Generally, I
carried the same type of fighting knife I would have on land. Despite my lack of experience with
sails and ropes, though, I do find the CKC Sailor’s knife very intriguing. Certainly for anyone who
sails, it would serve as a useful tool, but also on the cachet of following a naval tradition of a
century or more. I can certainly think of uses for the marlin spike beyond standard naval usage
on knots so the Sailor’s knife should have some general utility as well.
Making the Sailor’s knife even more appealing is the very reasonable price. Suggested
retail for the military issue style is 49.99 and for the cocobolo Riggers knife $69.99 lifetime
warranty.
