Modifying a Leatherman Wave to make it legal.
- Thread starter dannyg
- Start date
Just to ask! What are the chances of being stopped and searched as you go about your business? Maybe if you are acting furtive or aggressively ok. But every day?
Jon R.
Jon R.
Nevertheless, I wouldn't recommend carrying a locking knife in the UK without good reason.
I'd think a non-locking saw was less dangerous than a non locking blade. Both must be used carefully. A better solution would be to buy a slipjoint multi-tool.
I'd think a non-locking saw was less dangerous than a non locking blade. Both must be used carefully. A better solution would be to buy a slipjoint multi-tool.
widu13
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Danny- you are quite right- you are quite likely to get turned over by the old bill. As an EDC it is illegal, for use when bushcrafting it's not.
ANY locking blade is illegal- that stretches to anything that has a blade or is sharply pointed. I also have a wave so that rules most of it out!
My advice- get another. Flog it if cash is tight and replace with a non locker. You could carry it as an EDC and rely on the old bill taking a wider and sensible view but would you drive at 10 mph above the limit and hope the old bill saw that you are a safe and sensible driver?
ANY locking blade is illegal- that stretches to anything that has a blade or is sharply pointed. I also have a wave so that rules most of it out!
My advice- get another. Flog it if cash is tight and replace with a non locker. You could carry it as an EDC and rely on the old bill taking a wider and sensible view but would you drive at 10 mph above the limit and hope the old bill saw that you are a safe and sensible driver?
I carry my Wave and a slip joint sub 3" almost all of the time.
I have never been in a situation yet when Mr Plod has thought it worth his time searching me.
I look like a middle class blimp not a thug (well not always) live in a very rural area and act in an acceptible manner in our local towns.
The only times I have interacted with the Police in the last couple of decades is when I have phoned them to report road hazzards (floods etc).
Seeing a police officer around here is rare, seeing them out of their cars is rarer.
I think it so unlikely that one of them stops me for a search that I will risk carrying my favourite tool around with me. I am sure I will find a reason to have it on me if I ever do get stopped!
The law propperly applied is not bad, but mis applied it is stupid!
And if you think laws will only be applied in the way they were written to be then just remember that Anti-terrprist laws were used to freeze Icelands assets in UK banks!
Chance of being searched are higher than most think.
Now we have random searches in train stations and the likes there's a very real risk of a completely sane and safe person carrying a locking blade being patted down and prosecuted.
Also if a crime happens NEAR you and the police get a report that someone matching your description is up to mischief, you can be stopped.
If you've got long hair, dark skin or any number of things that can get one of the legion of bad cops (the good ones aren't a problem) to single you out you're also far more likely to be stopped.
I disagree that the law isn't bad...
...I think it's blimmin terrible.
Most stabbings happen with screwdrivers and kitchen knives, and no law has ever managed to disarm the kind of scumbag who carries a knife with the intent of attacking someone.
Meanwhile, ordinary folk like us, like mums, dads and grandparents who pose no threat to anyone have to take the knife off our belt when we leave the woods, have to think about what tool to carry "just in case" we are searched and it serves absolutely NO purpose in terms of making society safer.
It's bleedin' MAD!
I hope things will change one day, but it won't likely be one day soon.
When (if?) the law allows, I'll be carrying a locking blade as EDC as they are far safer - until then I'm not running the risk.
Pity.
Now we have random searches in train stations and the likes there's a very real risk of a completely sane and safe person carrying a locking blade being patted down and prosecuted.
Also if a crime happens NEAR you and the police get a report that someone matching your description is up to mischief, you can be stopped.
If you've got long hair, dark skin or any number of things that can get one of the legion of bad cops (the good ones aren't a problem) to single you out you're also far more likely to be stopped.
I disagree that the law isn't bad...
...I think it's blimmin terrible.
Most stabbings happen with screwdrivers and kitchen knives, and no law has ever managed to disarm the kind of scumbag who carries a knife with the intent of attacking someone.
Meanwhile, ordinary folk like us, like mums, dads and grandparents who pose no threat to anyone have to take the knife off our belt when we leave the woods, have to think about what tool to carry "just in case" we are searched and it serves absolutely NO purpose in terms of making society safer.
It's bleedin' MAD!
I hope things will change one day, but it won't likely be one day soon.
When (if?) the law allows, I'll be carrying a locking blade as EDC as they are far safer - until then I'm not running the risk.
Pity.
Now heres a reason for making large flint blades. You can the call them an artifact or a pendant
Jon R.
Jon R.
widu13
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
trail2, that just won't work these days here. If it's small enough to wear as a pendant the law allows a sub 3" blade in any case, but over that and the law states it cannot be carried "just in case" you need it. It extends to any, yes ANY item that is bladed or sharply pointed and extends to axes, saws etc. Shops can be prosecuted for selling things like bow saws to under 16 year olds. A 4 or 5" flint blade is more likely to get you into trouble as an offensive weapon as it "made, used or adapted" for that purpose.
Here we can have blanket authorisations in law made by a relatively low ranking police officer (Inspector/lieutenant) that will designate an area were police WILL stop and search anyone within it. It's just not worth the risk IMO.
Here we can have blanket authorisations in law made by a relatively low ranking police officer (Inspector/lieutenant) that will designate an area were police WILL stop and search anyone within it. It's just not worth the risk IMO.
widu - unless that flint blade folded into a handle without a locking device to keep it open, it would be considered a fixed blade anyway! !
Good point about the designated areas (thanks to the terrorism act and, if I recall correctly, the criminal justice act and possibly even prevention of crime but i'm less sure about the last one) - I hadn't really thought of it in those terms, not that they disagree with what I said.
But in essence, if you walk into one of those areas you're going to be searched no matter how well-to-do you might appear. That's another reason I keep within the sub 3" non-locking folder thing. I'm just not prepared to run the risk - as annoying as it is that I have to check my bag and pockets for any locking or fixed blades every time I leave the house for non-bushcraft purposes just in case I've forgotten sonething is in there and I get searched - I don't want some numpty legal type giving me trouble for something completely innocent and reasonable.
!Good point about the designated areas (thanks to the terrorism act and, if I recall correctly, the criminal justice act and possibly even prevention of crime but i'm less sure about the last one) - I hadn't really thought of it in those terms, not that they disagree with what I said.
But in essence, if you walk into one of those areas you're going to be searched no matter how well-to-do you might appear. That's another reason I keep within the sub 3" non-locking folder thing. I'm just not prepared to run the risk - as annoying as it is that I have to check my bag and pockets for any locking or fixed blades every time I leave the house for non-bushcraft purposes just in case I've forgotten sonething is in there and I get searched - I don't want some numpty legal type giving me trouble for something completely innocent and reasonable.
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