Is Assisted a Switchblade?

So I am considering buying an assisted open knife. Something like the Benchmade Barrage. I live in the state of Texas and am trying to determine if that knife is legal to carry. I have read what I can, but its pretty confusing to me. Any fellow Texans have a good handle on this?

I don't know about the laws in Texas about assisted opening knives, but an assisted opening knife is very different than a switchblade. To open an assisted opening knife, you have to open a blade a certain distance before the assisted opening takes over. A switchblade needs only a press of a button to open.

U.S. Customs tried unsuccessfully in trying to define assisted opening knives as switchblades a few years ago. Thank goodness.

Don't know about Texas, but here Kentucky an assisted-open folder is NOT considered a switchblade. BTW, the "Emerson Wave" (on either an Emerson or a Spyderco) is faster into the fight than either AO or SB. The only thing faster is a fixed blade (like the KaBar TDI). Good Luck!

Thanks. I understand that it's really not a switchblade, I was more concerned with how the state may define it. I just started researching a carry knife, so I will be sure to look at a Wave.

Unless you are willing to fight it in court, many knife laws are written and enforced on the side of the road.

Michael

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Originally Posted by ghost tracker

Don't know about Texas, but here Kentucky an assisted-open folder is NOT considered a switchblade. BTW, the "Emerson Wave" (on either an Emerson or a Spyderco) is faster into the fight than either AO or SB. The only thing faster is a fixed blade (like the KaBar TDI). Good Luck!

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If you want something dead simple and lightning fast, please check out the Emerson/Spyderco Wave: it really is fast.

That's pretty slick. So the wave is a feature and not a model, is that right? Any suggestions on model?

Texas legal definition of switch blade:

"“Switchblade knife” means any knife that has a blade that folds, closes, or
retracts into the handle or sheath, and that:
(A) opens automatically by pressure applied to a button or other device
located on the handle; or
(B) opens or releases a blade from the handle or sheath by the force of
gravity or by the application of centrifugal force."


So long as the operator does a portion of the work themselves, it's not a switchblade. Assistance by a spring is not considered a switchblade.

Thanks linuss.

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Originally Posted by FPP777

That's pretty slick. So the wave is a feature and not a model, is that right? Any suggestions on model?

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- The Wave is an Ernest Emerson patent. You can get it on virtually all of the models he makes, but his knives tend to be on the pricier side. A few other companies that license the patent are Spyderco, Fox Knives and Southern Grind. The Spyderco Delica Wave, Endura Wave and P'Kal are probably the most affordable.

So is it normal for a gun person to become a knife person. I like a lot of what I have looked at in knives.

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Originally Posted by FPP777

So is it normal for a gun person to become a knife person. I like a lot of what I have looked at in knives.

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- I was a knife person before I was a gun person. :image035:

The WAVE feature. Found youtube vid. Not my video but an OK demo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87sLytzXS_Y

I bought the first Spyderco Endura Wave I ever saw & have been delighted. Since then I've discovered (on Blade Forums) that some folks modify conventional Spyderco models into nice "wave" designs. Once I became familiar with the opening technique, I've wondered why it took so long for waves to "catch on" (pardon the pun) for folding knives. It's simply & it's fast.

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Originally Posted by FPP777

So is it normal for a gun person to become a knife person. I like a lot of what I have looked at in knives.

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It's not unusual. Sorta like an upland bird hunter getting into fly fishing, or vice-versa, or a pipe smoker getting into cigars. An appreciation for one subjects begets an appreciation for a related other.