Switchblade Collecting

This is a forum for discussion on automatic an switchblade knives.

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Dave. B
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 4:14 am

Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by Dave. B »

Found these online in a image search
edgeco 2 - Copy.jpg
edgeco 2 - Copy.jpg (572.85 KiB) Viewed 2465 times
Dave. B
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 4:14 am

Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by Dave. B »

edgeco 3 - Copy.jpg
edgeco 3 - Copy.jpg (641.77 KiB) Viewed 2464 times
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Panzerfaust
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Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by Panzerfaust »

I have that Edge Co. catalog somewhere. It's from about 1988-89.
Mario
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Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by Mario »

I was always fascinated by knives going back to when I was a grade schooler. Watching my parents use different types of kitchen cutlery when they were doing food prep was a fun learning experience for me. They were always concerned about me playing with them and hurting myself, so they made it a point to teach me the proper handling of knives and how to be efficient with them and protect myself. Movies also peaked my interest. Things like Norman Bates’ kitchen knife in Psycho, Jason Voorhees’ machete in the Friday the 13th films, Jack Palance’s Bowie knife in City Slickers, and the switchblades wielded by bad guys in various action movies planted a knife collecting “bug” in me that didn’t fully bloom until I was in my 30s. I did have a particular curiosity with regards to the switchblades. I wondered how they worked and I would ask my dad “How does that work? How come we don’t see knives like that in real life?” 😊 My dad explained to me that they were banned a long time ago and that’s why we don’t see them being carried by other people or for sale in stores. Years later my dad mentioned to me he used to have a few switchblades that he bought in Mexico back in 1970. He would find them at the Tijuana marketplaces for $5 each and resale and trade them at the flea markets in Southern California. One night a few years ago, I was getting home and one of my neighbors asked me if he wanted to see a new pocket knife he got. It was a cool all gold spring assisted knife with a cleaver blade and carabiner ring on the handle. He explained to me the difference between it and a switchblade and how it was legal to carry because it didn’t open with a button. He said he once had a switchblade that a cop confiscated off him and told me I could own and collect them but couldn’t carry them around. That’s when I started looking into spring assist knives and the different models available from Master Cutlery, Tiger USA, Kershaw, etc. I bought one of the Stiletto style assisted openers on Amazon. It was a brand called “The X Bay.” I liked how they had the look of the Stiletto switchblades I was used to seeing in movies. Next, my interest was focused on butterfly knives and all the cool, elaborate tricks people do with them. By this point I had a pretty decent collection of folders, assisted openers and balisongs. I was then looking into how I’d go about obtaining some switchblades for the collection. I started browsing the flea markets and came across a seller with an Italian Stiletto for sale for the price of $70. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to spend that much on one at the time. Months after, I grabbed a cheap $15 Milano Stiletto that looked like the genuine Italian one I previously saw for sale along with a few cheap Chinese coil spring side openers. By this point, the auto bug in me was in full bloom. I would then start getting some of the more high end ones like the Kershaw Rogue, the Smith & Wesson and Schrade single action OTFs, a couple real Italian stilettos, some dual action OTFs, and today I have a whopping collection of 60 automatic knives. I actually acquired a pretty big knife collection overall in a relatively short period of time. Guess it was just me catching up to a hobby I actually had in me for years but never started fulfilling until later in life.
button_man
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Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2019 2:08 pm

Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by button_man »

Dave ~ Great photo! I hadn't seen this before. Do you know the year that this ad appeared?

Circa 1985, the purchasing power of the dollar was probably 3x what it is today..... with that in mind, the prices in this ad seem pretty high for the flimsy junk that you received. I bet one of these knives cost about $3 to make in Korea. Edge Co. must have made a fortune from these things.
sammy the blade
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Joined: Sat Mar 26, 2016 7:18 pm
Location: Indiana

Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by sammy the blade »

Edge Co. was a lot better than going to Mexico for switchblades.
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whippersnapper
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Location: Michigan

Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by whippersnapper »

These were about a days pay for me back then and remember being a little disappointed with a couple Edge co purchases.
Dave. B
Posts: 63
Joined: Sat Dec 28, 2019 4:14 am

Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by Dave. B »

I'm not sure about the dates button_man, but I will estimate sometime in the late 80's. Probably between 86-89.
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Billyfish
Posts: 250
Joined: Thu May 16, 2019 8:39 pm
Location: Amity, MA

Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by Billyfish »

It was 1960 and I was 14 years old when the town cop confiscated my first one. I got a talking to at the station for that sin. Since then I've had a few over the years. Got re-interested a year or so ago lurking here and bing!
I got bit. :shock:
Roccomo
Posts: 459
Joined: Tue May 28, 2002 3:18 pm
Location: Pennsylvania

Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by Roccomo »

I wouldn’t say I’m a collector but I have loved folding knives since I was a little kid. Switchblade knives were the most interesting and completely unobtainable. As a teenager I used to wish for a way to get them but this was long before the internet. Finally, in the mid eighties, the Edge Co. came along and I was off to the races. I quickly acquired a kit Stiletto and put it together. These were fairly decent knives. I tried it as a carry piece only to discover that they don’t have a lot of utility to them. Stilettos are cool but I’m a knife user so I had to move on. The Leverlock became my knife of choice as a daily user, and save for a few year detour into Microtech land, they still are.
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HLangston
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Location: Midwest

Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by HLangston »

I think it was West Side Story that first introduced me to switchblades. The fact that they were considered "bad" was the main attraction to me.

The next thing I knew, this little 10-year old was looking at a display of lockback Italian manual openers in a pawn shop window. I went inside and asked "Are those switchblades?" The old man laughed and said no, and showed me how they worked. I bought it anyway.

When I was 13, my mom bought me my first switchblade while we were shopping in Milan, Italy in 1969. It was my pride and joy, and I still have it.

In junior high in the late 1960s, everybody wanted a Rizzuto. Colorado was close enough to Mexico that a steady supply came our way, so I bought a 9" pearl-handled Rizzuto, and later a cute little 7" pearl-handled one. I eventually traded them away for one thing or another.

Bought an OTF in Spain in 1975. Still have it.

Didn't buy another switchblade until 1987 when my wife and I were in Florence on vacation. I bought a 20cm stage-handled swivel bolster for myself, and a little stag 7cm picklock for her. Switchblades still fascinated me.

I bought three or four knives from The Edge Co. but was disappointed with them, and gave them away to friends.

Then the interwebz happened and I found The Auto Knife Newsletter, and found ways to buy them online. Then I went nuts.

So now I have about 30 vintage switchblades and about 50 more modern reproductions. I gave about half of the latter to my kids because every young boy needs an automatic knife.
Herb
button_man
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Re: Switchblade Collecting

Post by button_man »

Herb, we would love to see some of your early stuff from the 1960s and 70s.....
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