"Switchblade: The Ace of Blades"

[Phil Elmore]

I've been reading Paladin Press' new edition of Ragnar Benson's Switchblade: The Ace of Blades. Mike Janich of Paladin updated the text with some more contemporary material and with a few other asides (as you'd expect, he found a way to incorporate balisongs -- Mr. Janich loves the balisong, as do I, so this was welcome even though such knives are not really "switchblades").

If not for the information in the book I would have had a devil of a time trying to figure out how to close the knife pictured, as the most common (and flimsiest) button lock stilettos are released simply by pushing the release button. The knife pictured has a bolster that turns on a pivot to push the clasp up off a stud or tooth on the blade tang.

The book is a fascinating look at all manner of different automatic knife mechanisms, with some lore thrown in. Kudos to Mr. Janich for making a good book better.

 

[KenpoTex]

I'll have to get this book, I've always had a thing for automatics and balis. I've got an auto with the same mechanism as the one you showed in the pics. The guy at the knife store stood there and laughed at me for ever before he finally showed me how to close the friggin thing

 

[Silat Student]

I have a similar knife with an Imitation Mother of Pearl handle, the thing belonged to my grandad. It took myself and my father about half an hour to figure out how to close it (to be honest we were about to just put the daggum thing away open and stumbled on the secret by accident).