New knife laws

[Mortblanc]

I read on another forum that some new knife legislation was on the horizon in GB and surveys were being processed to determine the course of the legislation.

Most of it seems to be an attempt to end mail order purchase of edged tools and more severe punishment for sales to under 18 year olds. also addressing the large "zombie killer blades" from what I understand. That part of the proposed legislation was apparently very vague and could be interpreted to include almost anything with an edge.

I have some opinions on this, but they are not relevant due to my location outside your country. I am also over 18 by several years. In fact, I have a grandson that is over 18.

I was just wondering if anyone here was affected or hand an opinion.

[Straight Shooter]

Not heard anything MB but i am wondering if my handsaws will be alright....axes are okay with the grain but making up door linings could be most difficult .

[Mortblanc]

It appears that right after I posted this someone started a thread up in the News section.

I would not be too certain that saws and axes are not in line for confiscation and a full ban.

At the very minimum they should probably be registered and the owners pass a full background check and certification for ownership issued by the government. After all it is nothing but good common sense legislation. You don't want nutters running around with those things!

Rusty files too! I made my first knife from an old broken file when I was 12.

I remember when I was about 19 making a machete from a cross cut saw blade I pulled out of a junk pile. A few minutes on the bench grinder and a few wraps of duct tape for a handle and I had a good machete that served me for many years.

They should also probably require a certification from the NHS that the owner of any saw or ax is not on meds for depression or any mental problems, After all, we have all seen those movies where the ax is used to chop through the door to capture the female lead star.

Then we have the chain saws. Everyone over here knows about the Texas Chain Saw Massacre. We really must do something about easy access to those power tools.

Did you ever read in the Bible in the book of Judges where a woman named Ja'el killed an enemy General by driving a tent peg through his head while he slept? I'll bet she got that tent peg off the internet and she was probably underage!

Better ban those nasty tent pegs too!

I better stop, I am doing what I said I would not.

[CharlesHarris]

Is it true that native peoples may keep a wooden war club, stone hammer or obsidian blade over 10 cm without a licence?

If I claim that I am 1/32nd Abenaki from 8 generations back, does that qualify?

Believe that was good enough for Elizabeth Warren to get a preferential minority admission to Harvard!

[Skean Dhude]

All this is true and I can't argue with any of it.

However just because it is dumb, pointless and will have a negligible impact on what it is aimed at has never stopped government before. So why now should it now?

We will simply do what you do in the US whenever a gun ban is threatened. Stock up while we can.

[Mortblanc]

Now it just so happens that I found Mora Clippers on sale a few years back at $5 U.S. each so I bought a case of 24. Enough to last me and my crew for a lifetime. I can not make a knife that good for that price!

Also being a bit of a knife maker I am constantly adding new blades to the boxes and bins of knife related bits and pieces. The boxes and bins have enlarged and expanded to the point of being ridiculous at this point.

I must say that I am more into the good quality and comfortable construction of bushcraft blades and good pocket knives over the "zombie killer" product, which is usually of lesser quality steel and its design thought out for psychological impact rather than use.

Not that I would trash an entire category of knives or apply a derogatory name to them as "zombie killer knife" has the same impact in GB that "Saturday Night Special" does here in the U.S. and both are used by the same forces to the same end, rendering the masses helpless.

We have also seen the expansion of the derogatory terms extended to all items just to blanket condemn all handguns of certain size or design.

It happens with knives here too, with the term "bowie knife" used for everything from a machete to a letter opener.

Now any fool knows that any knife can be pressed into service for any "emergency" use, be that self defense or carving a roast. Your most recent terrorist attacks have verified this, as have those from around the world.

It is equally foolish to believe that knives can be kept out of the hands of the public. Knives have been in constant use every since there WAS a public and the first chimp broke a rock and got a sharp edge.

While the government might eventually eliminate ones choice of brand, style and size of knife, they will never be able to ban the ownership of knives due to the very nature of human tool use.

What I personally advocate is that every prepper know how to choose proper scrap steel, grind a proper design and properly temper a blade. It has been a known technology for 3000 years and should not die now. The tools and metals available today make knife construction almost too simple whether one used recycled hand saw blades, wood working planer blades and chisels or the axle shafts from scrapped vehicles.

Add to this the production of various expedient shanks made from large spoon handles, screw drivers, tooth brushes, melted plastic items, broken glass and any other materials one can obtain.

I also agree with SD. Buy some good knives while you can if you are restricted to mail order purchases.

Most reading this post will be old enough to go to a shop and purchase what they need and to that I recommend that each person buy the BEST knives they can afford so they will get both excellent service and a lifetime of use.

I also realize that many preppers are not very good with a knife. Many are more scared of a sharp blade than a mad dog. I know several that cut themselves every time they use a knife and do everything they can to avoid their presence up to the purchase of slicers and mandolins and such items. Many do not understand the use of a knife and at this point in time I must point out that many have never cleaned a large game animal, or a small one for that matter. Therefore many people do not really understand what performance they need out of a "survival knife" because their imagined uses of a knife come from some fantasy realm not based in use.

As an American, and a teacher of our history, I have a bit different mindset on many survival issues. One of those bits of information not widely circulated is the fact that the blades excavated from our archaeological sites have changed only a slight bit since the first pioneers entered the trackless forest of North America.

North America was explored, hunted, settled and civilized by people carrying the same butcher knives one can buy at any supermarket toady. I can look at the archaeological remains of a Native American village and tell you which European country they were trading with by the design of the knives they buried as grave goods.

Butcher knife blades were shipped to the traders of the new world by the hundreds of dozens and each and every one of them was intended for the hands of a native hunter or wilderness settler. They were packed in boxes covered in oil and without handles so more would fit in each box. Handles were added at the trade post or by the natives themselves.

The same goes for the other major large scale edged trade good put in the hands of one and all, the hatchet. In the trackless wilderness there were not a lot of large knives in general purpose use. Most of the GP blades were less than 6" blade length. Hatchets took over the duties of the "big knife" so may favor today, and they do a much better job on larger wood.

Big fighting knives of the "zombie killer" mode?? Not so much. Folks of that era were not restricted by law as we are today and their training was different. Firearms were of single shot design and a large blade was part of their battle kit, but it was not a large knife as often as it was a cutlass or saber, even on the frontier. Lots of cutlasses and sabers in the Indian graves too!

What does this North American talk have to do with you? Only that all of your SHTF logic includes a reversion of technology and social structure and in the beginning a WOROL setting. That is the only reason the presence of large blades as offensive or defensive weapons would be a factor in survival. aything less than a total collapse of civilization renders the need for a large blade a moot point except for garden work and trimming trees.

A good bill hook is better for that work than a zombie blade!

But never fear. No matter what the ban, no matter what the law, no matter what the emergency or apocalyptic scenerio, you will have old knives, cutting edges and scrap metal to last your island for 500 years!