Spidies and South Africa

[mikewww]

Hi all,
I am from South Africa and have recently started collecting Spydies and discovered this forum. Most informative. Some Spydies are named after our animals and designed by local knifemakers (Impala, Meerkat) .

In South Africa there are absolutely NO restrictions on what knives you can buy: anything from a Ladybug to a sword! There may be laws regarding carrying. I have seen a switchblade for sale with a blade of 8 inches, and own a couple of the type where the blade is spring-driven straight out of the front of the handle.

The first Spydie I saw a couple of years ago was owned by a skydiver who carried it to cut the parachute cords in an emergency. A popular use here for such sharp knives is to cut biltong (jerky) into edible slices.

Anyone else from South Africa wanting to obtain Spidies should go to http://www.gadgetman.co.za

[sal]

Hi Mike,

Welcome to the Spyderco forum and thanx fer droppin' in.

FYI, South Africa was the first country that we exported product to. We were shipping sharpeners (202 model) to South Africa even before we made knives.

Our distributor in Joburg is great as well. I have a few custom pieces from South African makers.

Hope you enjoy your time here.

sal

[Stuart Ackerman]

Hi mike,
another SA bloke here, now in New Zealand.
I miss the freedom of carry in SA, so I carry my knifemaker's business card with me at all times when I have my Endura, "just in case". My Matriach would give the cops the Heeby Jeebies!!!
Welcome to the best forum around!


Sal, do you know Stan and Barry Gordon of SharpEdge/Sharpshooter? You would of course know Marc Ager of Ramrod.
Barry had the best little knifeshop I have ever been in, before he moved to Joburg!
Which SA maker's knives do you have, Sal?




Stuart

[BOK]

One thing I noticed about SA is that not many people carry knives compared to North America.

People are more into guns in SA I suppose.

[mikewww]

Hello Bok,

I like your Avatar! Yes, guns are popular, but new laws are afoot to confiscate most of the legally owned ones. You know, "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns." :eek:

This is one reason I am collecting Spidies: to soften the blow of having to hand in my own guns for destruction. At least .177 air rifles and pistols are now freely available without licencing.

[BOK]

Ja, hopefully it won't get to the point where you'll have to be buying pellet guns for self defense! Although at 1000m/s those things can't just be considered toys anymore...

Maybe Spyderco needs to come out with a folding biltong slicer :)

Half of SA would own one guaranteed!

[dskmanch]

hi guys - i lived in joburg from 1979 to 1998 and am now in england.

i used to frequent sharp edge in santon city - great selection of knives. :)

brought my whole :spyder: collection with me and added to it over the years. has to be kept at home though and my EDC is the new penknife.

take care guys and enjoy the :spyder: s :) :D :)

regards
david

[clovisc]

is it difficult to bring knives in/out of african countries?

and are there any african countries you know of off hand with strict laws against knives?

[Spidernoir]

Greetings Mike!

~jeff

[Shiden]

Welcome to the :spyder: Forum. Cool avator!

Shiden

[mikewww]

Hi all,

Thanks for the warm welcome, especially from Sal himself.

I have just ordered the Meerkat, as I feel I should have a blade named after one of our animals. "Meerkat" is the Afrikaans for the suricate, the little critters that live in colonies and all stand upright with their arms hanging down when possible danger approaches. They can make excellent pets if correctly handled, but they are known carriers of rabies, a fatal disease. :eek: Sadly, this Spydie has been discontinued, but the value should increase. :)

Cheers

Mike

[boxer93]

mikewww,
Welcome to the forum. Enjoy your stay. Do you happen to know anyone at the Venetia Mining Co.? They had a spyderco Q version a while back. I just saw the picture from Rawd's post. Now if I could only find the real thing :D
Chris