FlashPilot, have a look at this site - Heinnie Haynes notice the prices for U.S.A. made knives like Spyderco the £=$1.66 / $=£0.60 the prices put me off a lot of the Benchmade, Spyderco, Kershaw, Cold Steel, CRKT etc. even the ones made in China - and Heinnie Haynes is one of the best knife shops in the U.K. they keep the prices as low as they can but the tax, overheads, etc. all play a part.
A folder can be split into several packages and labelled Spare parts, postal charges come into play again. It would be a real pain to have all the parts arrive except the blade or one scale or a pivot pin or stand off get lost in the post.
I usually order separate packages so it comes out below the threshold for import duty and vat, also if one gets stopped while they are dealing with that then other peoples packets get through. Not a good thing but there are sniffer dogs going over the post anyway to catch drugs etc.
Buying from the U.S.A. can be a nightmare, guaranteed an inspection and if they can they will confiscate and destroy your knife that you’ve paid for and are entitled to own, there’s not a lot that are on the banned list but the catch-all is the “gravity knife”. If the inspecting officer can shake the blade free at all then that’s a gravity knife and that’s destroyed. There is no definition of the amount of force needed to shake the blade free, centripetal force can generate more than the force of gravity but some arsey officer can jump up and down flailing his arms about and if the blade drops out then it’s off to be destroyed, makes you wonder how the shops can import knives but average man or woman can’t.
It is really any wonder that I collect Chinese made knives, they usually manage to get through, I suppose because of the volume of mail from China, they are excellent quality and they are inexpensive enough to collect and even double up on some to have a spare to re-scale or re-shape the blade.
We’re not allowed to carry a locking or fixed blade without good reason, a Chef for instance needs his tools to do his job anyone can go camping or bushcrafting and that’s a good enough reason. Balisongs and automatic knives are a big no no but nothing is wrong with an assisted opener, apart from it locking. The law states that a flick or automatic knife is one where the blade is deployed by a button or lever on the handle, nothing there about flippers or speed assist type opening where the blade is operated by initiating the opening with a thumb stud or flipper on the blade.
So it’s down to 3” or less cutting edge and non locking. You are allowed a good variety in your own home or your own property.
Another bugger problem is that the average policeman doesn’t have time in between all the paperwork to actually learn the law so situations occur leading to arrests that are rubbish and as soon as a solicitor comes on the scene the case is thrown out, but the person still has an arrest for an offensive weapon on his or her record, not good for your CV.
The annoying thing is that 99.99% of “knife crime” is committed by people brandishing a kitchen knife or a Stanley knife (boxcutter) , hardly ever a “collectable”.
Its a stupid situation brought about by a knee jerk reaction of the politicians driven by drivel published in newspapers because they never let the truth get in the way of a good story, or headline.