# I just bought a new switchblade from Joyce.



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Below is the link to the knife I just bought. It's a mundane, simplistic and low-cost knife, with an uncomplicated edge that anyone could polish in their sleep.

Now, someone is going to comment that since I have about a dozen, high end and razor-like switchblades already, why would I purchase this low-ball tramp steamer?

Well, like all of you, I have honey-dews to finish. Lots of times it involves going into our downstairs pump room and finding a lost box amid the dust-bunnies or tightening up an errant leak. I might need a sharp tool, and a Boker copper Bowie would be the waste of a decent edge.

To that, as a knife salesman I should showcase what I sell, and this Boker would be an ideal switchblade for the guy or gal who only needs/wants one knife. Heck, I think Annie should have one as a defensive device and superior tool for slicing foodstuffs that drool and leak all over her kitchen.

BTW, the nomenclature on this knife contains *an error*. The knife is listed as "manual." It is indeed an "automatic."

https://www.nicnac.net/contents/en-...agner_Black_Plain_Blade_048_manual_knife.html


----------



## KUSA (Apr 21, 2016)

Is it full-auto or just semi-auto?


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

KUSA said:


> Is it full-auto or just semi-auto?


Oh, it's an "auto." I think Joyce seeks out the best switchblades, I know she has the best best pricing.

But I like this knife, and if it only came in their "assisted opening" feature, that would be okay, too. This knife will be a tool for work.


----------



## KUSA (Apr 21, 2016)

I was joking using gun terms.


----------



## stevekozak (Oct 4, 2015)

The Tourist said:


> since I have about a dozen, high end and razor-like switchblades already, why would I purchase this low-ball tramp steamer?


I find that my sleep is often disturbed by this very question! :vs_awed:


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

stevekozak said:


> I find that my sleep is often disturbed by this very question! :vs_awed:


You have to date more.

Oh, I dream of switchblades, too. Mine are all on the assembly line at the factory--which is staffed with the most beautiful, voluptuous female cutlers.

They want to sell me a switchblade for a kiss. My wife once had to call the doctor as I had been asleep for over 52 hours.

Well, can you blame a knife collector for wanting to stay in that factory?


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

KUSA said:


> I was joking using gun terms.


Well, if we use cuterly jargon, most of us would respond the same.

An automatic knife is indeed "fully automatic." An assisted opening knife works with the initial "push" of the operator's thumb. Ergo, the mechanism is "semi-auto."

And admittedly, not everyone succeeds in their use. For example, last autumn it took over six weeks for Annie to teach Slippy how to first remove the switchblade from his pocket before he hit the activation button.

...personally, I would have just burned that style of pantaloons, but I digress...


----------



## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

Yea, I have both switchblades and stilettos but after having dealt with an open switchblade in the pocket more than once I'm sticking with a manual thumb opening blade.


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

The newer "non-stiletto" models have either a sliding lock, or the activation button is set just below the level of the grip. On these up-to-the-date types, I have not seen any of them just "go off."

The one I just bought from Joyce is one of these newer styles. It will take a pounding and not fire until you press the button.


----------



## Elvis (Jun 22, 2018)

The Tourist said:


> The newer "non-stiletto" models have either a sliding lock, or the activation button is set just below the level of the grip. On these up-to-the-date types, I have not seen any of them just "go off."
> 
> The one I just bought from Joyce is one of these newer styles. It will take a pounding and not fire until you press the button.


I still think I'll just stick to my Bucklehead belt buckle knife. It's faster to get out, fast to open, and works fine for most jobs.


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

I carry two knives, a defensive tool on my right side, and a "slicing" or "eating" knife on my left.

If there's any doubt in my mind that I am nearby to a situation, I just stick my thumb in my pocket. Like all good fencing students, I practiced, practiced, practiced. In fact, while French fencing is one big 'yawn' because it's played on a strip, I found 15th Century Italian fencing more realistic. You fought in a circle and got to use a 'dirk.'

In fact, I was the one who did a perfect "head cut" to Coach Archie Simonson, a local judge who was bit shaky on the law but great with a saber.

While I'm not big on the person, I think reading stuff about Bill Bagwell's methods is valuable. He has his own line of Bowie Knives, and he did a lot to re-investigate the reasons why Bowies were so deadly.

The one thing that becomes crystal clear as you study methods is that swords, dirks, Bowie knives and switchblades all have common moves, feints and parries. Bagwell brought the move called a "back-cut" once again into blade training. It's one of the reasons why I gravitate towards the Bowie style of Boker Automatics.


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Oh, I do have to add one thing. The style of knives I carry and how I polish them has now become just a personal standard. As many of you know, I am 69.5 years old, and I am now finishing the last commercial polishing on my work area. Once I ship that out I will officially be retired.

It's two things--it's my lack of desire and my left eye. You need both of these to be good polisher, and I don't even know when my retina surgeon can arrange the cataract procedure. I also find that "diagnosing" a badly constructed knife is becoming harder, and it's not just new alloys. There are designs out now that I have never seen or disassembled.

I wanted to quit at the age of 65, but Ken Schwartz opined that polishing was getting to be a "lost craft." So, lots of us stayed in the business, but it wasn't as much fun. Now the fun factor is simply gone.

Here's an example. I am now polishing a knife for Denton. In the "old days" I would have been done in less that 20 hours. This time I had to work when my vision permitted. Not only does his knife take longer, but it negates other work that might have come in.

Recently my wife left for a day to see her mother. The dog and I spent the day noshing, listening to the radio and sleeping. It was the best "staycation" I had in years!


----------



## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

@The Tourist

I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed your stories and posts. I envy your commitment to your craft and workmanship and I am most proud to "know" you!

Sincerely, your friend!

Slippy! :vs_wave:


----------



## The Tourist (Jun 9, 2016)

Slippy, I appreciate the kind words.

Obviously I will still be a member here, but I'd like to see some of the knife guys take up polishing. For example, a guy has a knife and he just cannot get it sharp. I might take a similar knife, put it on my fixture and send out a series of photos to walk the guy through the process. That one knife might clear up the procedure for a dozen members.

And, I don't know how the cataract surgery will go. Some old guys get their 20/20 vision back. It might work for me.

I do have that red-bone Buck 112 coming, I'm looking forward to that. I'll have a defensive knife (the Boker copper Bowie), and eating knife (the Pilar at 5.4 million grit) and now a folder geared more for chores (the Boker Plus Jim Wagner). And like thousands of other guys, I'll have a Buck folder that can pretty go anywhere with you and do quite a bit.

I also would like to show guys that a dedicated polisher can take a mundane knife and make it a star. That Boker Plus Jim Wagner can do surgery in the right hands, and the red-bone Buck 112 is even cheaper than that. Heck, for the last few days that Tuxedo has ridden with me to the gym.

So, Slippy, I'll just be moving slower, but there are more than enough knives to showcase.


----------

