OK, I couldn't find a written reference, but I did come across these general measurement guidelines from the American Knife and Tool institute. These were recommendations for law enforcement at the time they were written. I belive they were adopted, but perhaps not in a statutory sense. http://www.akti.org/PDFS/AKTIProto.pdfflintknapper wrote:Can you point me to your source of this information please (thanks).GlockenHammer wrote:FWIW, the Federal law (which doesn't really apply here) measures from the tip to the hilt or handle--whatever would stop a penetrating stab.flintknapper wrote:There is no uniform method by which the blade is measured.
One person may interpret "blade" to mean the sharpened part of the blade only, another may think that the blade is everything from the tip to the hilt/locking mechanism.
For fixed blade knives....it could even include the "tang" which may extend all the way through the handle. There needs to be a national standard on this IMO.
I found some information regarding regulations state by state (they vary widely), but nothing federal.
See state to state here:
http://www.thehighroad.org/library/blad ... elaws.html
Sorry, that's the best I can do for now.