Large blades in the UK

[Stonedog]

I now that certains laws have been passed in the UK about a person carrying a large blade a field.

Here in the US....it seems that all the "ex-spurts" tend to favor a large, heavy blade....well after reading and re-reading Bushcraft by Kochanksi for about the 100th time, I am pretty certain that a good scandi with a 4" blade (I carry a tommi from Kellam that I handled myself, yes, extremely expensive but worth it) and a good bush axe (I carry the large roselli) that I can truly handle most any situation that come smy way while in the hard woods of Kentucky colony .

That being said I also carry a long blade.....8" hand forged butcher style knife forged by a local smith....but it is still not one of the huge 1/4" thick knives that a lot favor...its butcher knife that I use to butcher large game in the field...but in a pinch I could get by with the pukko and roselli..but the butcher is so light its as if its not there...so why not carry it??

It was all brought into prospective for me when I read somewhere once that with a stove you can boil water, until you run out of fuel, with an axe you can build a life....

Anyway, I ramble.....

 

[bloodline]

Im of a similar opinion you can get by very well with your scandi its an all rounder but use the right tool for the job if you have it, a fillet knife if you are fishing or a butchers if you have large game to prepare. I suppose it all comes down to how much you want to carry. When I buy a new knife whatever it is made to do I give it a practicability test around the house and up the woods I use it to butter bread, slice meat bone out legs and shoulders of lamb and pork then make a few tent pegs and a bit of kindling. Anything that needs doing I give the new one a go! Imagine the fun I have cutting the top off an egg with a SOG Tigershark, or boning a lg of pork with a SAK. It does make you appreciate" the right tool for the job" It also gives you a good idea of what to take if you can only choose one.

 

[gregorach]

I guess one of the fundamental differences is that there's very little call for butchering large game in the field in the UK. Our knives mainly get used for wood working of one kind or another. Personally, I've always liked to carry a knife long and sturdy enough to split reasonably-sized (say, up to 4") firewood. Although that may change now that I've bought myself a Gransfors Wildlife Hatchet...

 

[Ogri the trog]

Hi Stonedog,
I can appreciate what you are saying but here in the UK we've been legislated against for hundreds of years. We have no large game that we can just wonder off and kill - deer (as our largest prey species) hunting here is tightly regulated and the carcass is supposed to go to a registered game dealer or butcher for processing. Hence our requirement for a large blade is reduced and we find that we can get on pretty well without them - even so when the law dictates that you must have a valid reason to carry any knife be it a folder or fixed blade, it strikes me as a bit excessive - but then I'm not likely to be going out at night looking to stab someone or use it to "protect" myself

Is you post in anticipation of a trip to our small green island?

Ogri the trog

 

[British Red]

Minor addendum to Ogris post, you can process your own deer, however without the relevant certificates and inspection, what you can't then do is to sell that venison. Rather like you can still slaughter and process many types of your own livestock (for example pigs), you cannot however sell the pork without relevant permissions. I quite like this approach - e.g. "you must use commercial practice to engage in commerce - you can use somestic practice for yourself". This will cover your knives for eample - if you plan to sell the meat, you may not use knives with porous scales (wood, antler etc.) as the knife needs to be sterilised between uses to prevent cross contamination etc.

Red

 

[Stonedog]

Wow.

I knew that certain laws had been enacted against the use of the longbow, but did not know that hunting in general was that tightly regulated. Here in the Colonies, Kentucky esp, we have a hunting season that starts in mid august and runs thru mid january. During this 5 months, we have a 4 month bow season (all species), a 5 month small game season, a 3 week modern arm season for deer, 2 one week muzzloader seasons for deer and we can use a muzzle loader for any and all game large or small during season, two modern arm seasons for turkey and you can take a turkey all bow season.....and these dont include what we can hunt year round (varmits), trapping season or fishing and frog season which are year round as well......well fishing anyways!

Here in the states hunting is the common mans pastime.....out west Kalifornia can get expensive....but here in the midwest/southeast, its what we do....esp in the rural areas where I have grown up.

To bring us back on topic....I carry a knife with me everday, even to church...its super, super common to do this.....as long as the blade is 4" or shorter and a folder, no questions asked...in Ky you can even get a permit to carry a concealed hand g** if you take the classes and and your background check comes back OK...as of now 35 out of 50 state you can do the same....

Anyways....I believe the right tool for the right job....bottom line is a big knife aint a axe and a saw aint a pukko.....but you can get by.....but we all must make certain choice when heading to the bush.....

Ogri-to answer your question....no, no time soon unfortunately, my afmily is from the UK (from back in the 1760's so its been a while) and I have always wanted to go! For the pints and to play a bit o' rugby over there ( I played for 5 years in college)

 

[philaw]

Kentucky sounds like a good place to be in the outdoors, Stonedog, but something like 90% of Britons live in urban areas, so we have the knife and gun laws to go with it. I'm sure that in Chicago and New York people are not allowed to cary sheath knives and guns as easily as in Kentucky. I can't imagine bow hunting and muzzle loaders going down well in LA.

I think almost all the Brits on this site half-wish they lived somewhere like you do, and could have real adventures in big forests. I saw something in the newspaper a couple of weeks ago about population density, and just about the only country where it was higher than here is Bangladesh. :aargh4:

 

[wingstoo]

I don't want to live in Macau...

1Macau 20,824.38 per square Kilometre..Wow

LS

 

[Rebel]

I don't want to live in Macau...

1Macau 20,824.38 per square Kilometre..Wow

LS

I used to live there. It's not as bad as it sounds, it's feels less crowded than Hong Kong, London and Tokyo. You can also walk (yes walk) to China if you want some open spaces.

Not a lot of camping and bushcrafting opportunities in Macau itself though.

 

[BOD]

Glad that home is just 8 places above Greenland (0.03) with only 2.47 persons and even less in our state

 

[philaw]

You should change your newspaper mate:

http://www.photius.com/wfb1999/rankings/population_density_0.html

It was an article in the guardian based on this survey, I think. Compare the numbers for Britain and the other full-sized countries (forget city states and islands), and remember that we don't have massive high-rise cities and Wales and Scotland drag the numbers down. We genuinly don't have much open space here.

Most of the places on the Photius list that are higher up than the UK are islands, city states, or just places that are very unfortunate, like the Philippines and India.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1726592,00.html

 

[Stonedog]

So we've went from large blade laws to population densities??

I just can't make the connection....

 

[wingstoo]

So we've went from large blade laws to population densities??

I just can't make the connection....

Ahhh, just 'cos you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there...it's a modern method of camoflage...it is very cunning, so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel...

LS

 

[Zodiak]

I believe that the law in Britain could change allowing us to hunt Chav at any time of the year.

Chavs tend to gather in large herds around busy urban areas, epecially after dark and rarley appear much before 2PM.

Male Chavs tend to have blue coats but the females (Slags) are easily distinguished by their white coats and large gold hoop markings on the side of the head.

They are overly agressive with unstable temperaments and breed prolifically so it has been decided that authorised culling may be the best way of settling the problem.

(Colonials please see www.chavscum.co.uk for details)

 

[Stonedog]

Ahhh.....white trash, hood rats, or other wise folks who are just plain trashy...we even have 'em here in the rural area that I live in....but then they drive really big trucks that they cannot truly afford and wear cowboy hats and cowboy boots.....my brother in law is one......luckily his sister isnt.......

 

[philaw]

I wondered why I was subscribed to a thread on big knives, then I realised I posted on it about population density.

It was kind of relevent, though, surely? I was explaining to the colonists why we don't allow big knives in the old country; namely because there's not enough room, and every time you turn around you'd accidentally skewer someone. All of this talk of bows is just madness. People in northern England are like WMDs when they're drink WITHOUT any weapons. If they had anything as advanced as pointy sticks I'd emigrate.