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Originally Posted by Billman
There are a few knife makers still working in Sheffield, so the tradition continues - even at least one Little Meister still hand making knives. Sadly British draconian knife laws have reduced sales in the UK - as a boy I (and almost every boy in my class at school) carried a penknife - today very few adults carry a knife (unlike in France and Italy) - those that do have to justify their reason if stopped by the police. The idea is to reduce knife crime - sadly those who carry knives for illegal purposes do not take heed of the law....
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you beat me to it. i do carry a sub-three inch non locking folder which is UK legal to carry w/o a reason. even tho it is legal, i have to be careful where and why i use it. if i 'scare' someone a cop could construe that as an offensive act and i'd be done for carrying an offensive weapon, even tho the knife itself is 'legal'.
i visited sheffield a few years ago, couldn't find any decent knives. only one store actually sold non cutlery style knives, most were imports and of poor quality. found one traditional maker who worked at a forge in the knife making museum. his order book was backed up for years and he was rather expensive. there was another one there as well, but he was closed at the time. many old factories were shut down & i would bet have since been razed.
john nowill still has a factory making knives, some of low quality and price, but serviceable. his stag handled seaman's knife is decent and inexpensive. his high end bowies ain't too bad. 'sheffield knives' makes some, tho i've never desired any of theirs. too many are 'stainless', i prefer high carbon steel or non-stainless tool steel alloys.
i took a trip to see wilkinson sword's HQ & sword factory a while back. unbeknown to me, they had shut up shop the week before & were closed forever. they still had a specimen of their limited edition gladius in the window when i peered in. now the 'wilkinson sword' name is only on razor blades.
sad.
i wonder who makes the miltary's dress swords. probably made in china.