Folding knives over 4 inches

[Soanso McMasters]

I live in a state with restrictions on carrying folding knives over 4 inches. I know other states have similar laws. I would like to own a Native Chief, but at 4.08 inches, I can’t legally carry it in my state and many others. I’m wondering why the knife was designed this way? There’s really no utility in a blade at 4.08 inches over a blade at 3.99 inches, other than to make it illegal in certain states. The same can be said of a blade fractionally over 3 inches in some states as well.

Has anyone else pondered this question? Is there a compelling reason to go ever so slightly over a length that might prevent people from purchasing a knife? I see the point in a 5 inch versus a 4 inch. An extra inch there adds potential utility, but .09 inches adds nothing but fewer potential buyers, at least in my figuring.

[ladybug93]

this has been brought up many times about many different models. i don't know why they do it. the good thing is that it's close enough that you can pick one up and probably be legal after a few good sharpening sessions (or you could just mod it to be legal).

[Albatross]

I don't know if it's the case here, but some makers design some models around a certain handle size, making the blade length more of an afterthought.

[Accutron]

I live in a state with no blade length restrictions. I would not want them to shorten the Chief, even by a small amount, to appease arbitrary bad laws that don't apply to me. I'll take any extra blade length I can get, especially on models with 50/50 choils that eat up 1/4" of edge length.

[Wartstein]

I live in a state with restrictions on carrying folding knives over 4 inches. I know other states have similar laws. I would like to own a Native Chief, but at 4.08 inches, I can’t legally carry it in my state and many others. I’m wondering why the knife was designed this way? There’s really no utility in a blade at 4.08 inches over a blade at 3.99 inches, ...

Firstly: Let me say I totally get that it must be annoying for you not being able to carry a knife legally, just because of 0.09 inches more on the blade.

That being said:
- For me 0.09 inches (about 2.5 mm) is not totally "nothing". Admittedly not a huge difference by any means, especially related to the absolutely seen anyway rather long blade. Just enough that all other things being equal, I´d go for the blade/edge that is 2.5 mm longer (especially in the same closed length package).
- And I just happen to like a good amount of efficiency - a blade that fills all of the handle offers this.

So in a way this is about weighing aspects: On the one hand it is possible, but still some work to make a blade a bit shorter diy; on the other hand, those who like a good edge-to handle ratio: No way to make a blade actually longer
Personally, if the Chief got n 0.09 " shorter blade, I´d want the handle to become a bit shorter as well, for a more compact carry.

/ Related: What I don´t really like are blades that slightly exceed a legal limit anyway, but are nevertheless not as long as they could be: Best example: Rock Jumper: Blade 3.08", so slightly above the 3 " limit anyway. But still not filling all of the handle - if it did, it could be like 4 mm longer (as far as I recall) and make the knife even more versatile by that imo.

[Wartstein]

I live in a state with no blade length restrictions. I would not want them to shorten the Chief, even by a small amount, to appease arbitrary bad laws that don't apply to me. I'll take any extra blade length I can get, especially on models with 50/50 choils that eat up 1/4" of edge length.

I agree, but also on knives without a choil: Stretch 2, Endela and Rock Jumper could be even better knives, if they only had handle filling blades (as an example: The shorter handle of the Stretch 1 houses 6 mm more cutting edge than the longer "regular" Stretch 2 does.)

[vivi]

I live in a state with restrictions on carrying folding knives over 4 inches. I know other states have similar laws. I would like to own a Native Chief, but at 4.08 inches, I can’t legally carry it in my state and many others. I’m wondering why the knife was designed this way? There’s really no utility in a blade at 4.08 inches over a blade at 3.99 inches, other than to make it illegal in certain states. The same can be said of a blade fractionally over 3 inches in some states as well.

Has anyone else pondered this question? Is there a compelling reason to go ever so slightly over a length that might prevent people from purchasing a knife? I see the point in a 5 inch versus a 4 inch. An extra inch there adds potential utility, but .09 inches adds nothing but fewer potential buyers, at least in my figuring.

in the amount of time it took to type your post, you could have shaved .09 inches off a Chief with a basic belt sander.

Personally I like having as much cutting edge as a folder allows. It's easier to shave a bit of length off than add some on

[MFlovejp]

Spyderco has several designs that were built from the ground up to meet certain legal requirements such as a two-inch or 3-inch limit. For most of the others, however, the blade length is simply a part of keeping the scale of the handle design, which is important. I have never heard of a four-inch restriction and don’t know how common it is, but perhaps if you got some of your fellow state residents to band with you you could petition for a new design.

[TkoK83Spy]

I honestly wonder why people actually pay attention to that kind of stuff. If you like and are going to carry a larger knife that may not be legal...just keep it in your pocket when you're in the public eye. Bring a smaller knife with you as well, then pull THAT knife out if you are in public.

How often are people around police that they really worry about that kind of stuff? I've always wondered that.

[vivi]

I honestly wonder why people actually pay attention to that kind of stuff. If you like and are going to carry a larger knife that may not be legal...just keep it in your pocket when you're in the public eye. Bring a smaller knife with you as well, then pull THAT knife out if you are in public.

How often are people around police that they really worry about that kind of stuff? I've always wondered that.

No one outside of knife forums even thinks about this. Most cops I've talked to are clueless about blade length laws. Absolutely no one is going to call you out on carrying a knife .08" over the legal limit.

IMO while it's best practice to try to follow the laws to C.Y.A., I can't imagine what dumb stuff you'd have to do to make a cop be trying that hard to pin you with a crime.

I've seen countless people carrying and using 3-4" blade folders legal in the state, working downtown in major cities with 2.5" city-wide restrictions. Nobody cares in the parts of the world I've been to.

[Mushroom]

I honestly wonder why people actually pay attention to that kind of stuff. If you like and are going to carry a larger knife that may not be legal...just keep it in your pocket when you're in the public eye. Bring a smaller knife with you as well, then pull THAT knife out if you are in public.

How often are people around police that they really worry about that kind of stuff? I've always wondered that.

No one outside of knife forums even thinks about this. Most cops I've talked to are clueless about blade length laws. Absolutely no one is going to call you out on carrying a knife .08" over the legal limit.

IMO while it's best practice to try to follow the laws to C.Y.A., I can't imagine what dumb stuff you'd have to do to make a cop be trying that hard to pin you with a crime.

I've seen countless people carrying and using 3-4" blade folders legal in the state, working downtown in major cities with 2.5" city-wide restrictions. Nobody cares in the parts of the world I've been to.

It’s definitely a real possibility. Just because it hasn’t happened to you, doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

I don’t want to get into too much detail but I’ve been randomly searched by police and seen pocket knives confiscated in Boston for this very reason. The blade limit is 2.5” in Boston and the knife confiscated was 3”. The search was random, we did nothing, but the knife was still confiscated by police for exceeding the blade limit.

[vivi]

It can definitely happen. That's why I ended my post with "Nobody cares in the parts of the world I've been to." I've heard stories about NYC cops stopping people with visible clips, too.

Cities tend to be more strict than towns, especially larger international cities. That said, many cities don't give a d*** about the 2.5" laws they have on the books.

Where I've been nobody cares about pocket knives at all except for at court and at airports. Where I live the knife laws are "carry whatever you want, concealed or unconcealed, just don't stab someone with it." Don't think a random stop and frisk would hold up in court here either.

[JRinFL]

Court time is not free to the accused. You have to pay your lawyer and you lose time at work. For most, it is far cheaper to surrender the blade and sometimes pay the fine.

[vivi]

Court time is not free to the accused. You have to pay your lawyer and you lose time at work. For most, it is far cheaper to surrender the blade and sometimes pay the fine.

Not if you work second shift and represent yourself. Got a $250 ticket thrown out last time.

[James Y]

Where I live in CA, I can legally carry my Native Chief, Police 4 (which is bigger than the Chief), etc. At least where I am, I’ve never been, nor have I ever seen, anyone randomly stopped and frisked by police. So maybe I’m lucky. It certainly beats living in a location where it happens often enough that the city is infamous for it. People on knife forums like to dump on CA, but where I am, the knife laws are pretty relaxed, except of course, for courthouses, sporting venues, amusement parks, airports, schools, etc. And when I used to work at local colleges and universities as a real-time captioner for hearing-impaired students, I always carried knives; and during those several years, I was never even given a second look by campus security. Again, maybe I was lucky.

I understand the frustration of some knife models being out of reach, in terms of not being able to legally own and/or carry. For example, I can’t legally carry an automatic with a blade over 1.9” long, or a balisong/butterfly knife at all. I would really love to carry a good balisong knife, but that’ll never happen for me. Oh, well. There are plenty of great knives that are legal for me to carry.

Jim

[ladybug93]

there are already laws against threatening someone with a knife and against stabbing someone with a knife. any other law regarding knives is unnecessary in my opinion. laws limiting what you can carry are only meant to limit freedom and make criminals out of people that aren't hurting anyone.

[James Y]

there are already laws against threatening someone with a knife and against stabbing someone with a knife. any other law regarding knives is unnecessary in my opinion. laws limiting what you can carry are only meant to limit freedom and make criminals out of people that aren't hurting anyone.

I fully agree.

Jim

[TkoK83Spy]

I'd just open my Google photos and show them, I'm clearly just a knife nut that works with them and likes to take photos...nothing malicious. Some of them I won't even use to cut open anything abrasive, let alone stab someone! I don't want blood on my scales or in my pivot!

[ladybug93]

I'd just open my Google photos and show them, I'm clearly just a knife nut that works with them and likes to take photos...nothing malicious. Some of them I won't even use to cut open anything abrasive, let alone stab someone! I don't want blood on my scales or in my pivot!

no one wants blood staining the micarta of their $500 knife.

[JRinFL]

there are already laws against threatening someone with a knife and against stabbing someone with a knife. any other law regarding knives is unnecessary in my opinion. laws limiting what you can carry are only meant to limit freedom and make criminals out of people that aren't hurting anyone.

Agreed, but laws and justice are not often as closely related as we would wish.