"Switchblade: The Ace of Blades"

[Sharp Phil]

I've been reading Paladin Press' new edition of Ragnar Benson's Switchblade: The Ace of Blades. Mike Janich of Paladin updated the text with some more contemporary material and with a few other asides (as you'd expect, he found a way to incorporate balisongs -- Mr. Janich loves the balisong, as do I, so this was welcome even though such knives are not really "switchblades").



If not for the information in the book I would have had a devil of a time trying to figure out how to close the knife pictured, as the most common (and flimsiest) button lock stilettos are released simply by pushing the release button. The knife pictured has a bolster that turns on a pivot to push the clasp up off a stud or tooth on the blade tang.











The book is a fascinating look at all manner of different automatic knife mechanisms, with some lore thrown in. Kudos to Mr. Janich for making a good book better.

[Shitoryu Dude]

As the owner of a good switchblade (Boker Top Lock) I have to admit I like the thing. One handed open comes in very handy.

Why everyone wants to ban the things is beyond me. They are quite obviously NOT the "preferred choice" of criminals and gangsters. I can only attribute it to ill-informed hype on the side of law enforcement. Likewise, there are no bands of thugs roaming the streets with balisongs, nunchackos, sai, whips, billy clubs, brass knuckles, etc. As all of these things can easily be classified as a deadly weapon in the case of assault, singling them out is retarded.

[Soulend]

Think we have 'West Side Story' and the overly straight 50's to thank. Man, I haven't heard Ragnar Benson's name since the the 1980's...used to find his books in the 'Loompanics Unlimited' catalog.

Kind of surprised you weren't familiar with a bolster release, Phil.

[Sharp Phil]

I have one other knife in my collection that has a bolster release and was familiar with the mechanism, but I wasn't expecting to encounter it. I kept thinking in terms of button locks. I kept pressing the button and pushing with all my might on the blade, wondering if something was broken, before it dawned on me what was going on.

Even I occasionally get caught pushing on the door marked "pull."

The bolster-lock knife I mentioned is actually quite nice, though it wasn't terribly expensive. The picture below is the only one I have of it, and it doesn't really show the knife well, but you can sort of get an idea of what it looks like from this:

[Soulend]

When I was last in the UAE I ran across a Boker out-of-the-side stiletto switchblade I really regret not getting. Really beautiful - stag handle scales, powerful spring, great lines. One of the few switchblades that I had run across that could actually be used as a real everyday knife, not just a toy. Just didn't have $75 bucks on me at the time.