In frequent travels to charm spots of the North East, a favorite hang-out is The Bronx.

NYC laws state knife must be completely concealed, blade no more than 4", and if it locks open, and can be somehow flicked/slung open by a local flick artist beat cop, you will have an illegal weapon charge (gravity knife) on permanent record.

The "Salt Enuff" is my answer to the question of what to carry in addition to a SAK in front pocket for instant emergency access.

Bare clipless (clip removed by moi) sheath thumbs off clean, (old style sheath, anyhow), and a ripper/slicer/slasher supreme. The blade leads with the point on a Wharncliff and concentrates all force there.

The unique H1 steel does an upper 60 Rc near case hardness in scallops, fading to a more a mid 50's at back, and outcuts any exotic steel Spyderco has ever tested with serrations, and Spyderco is famous for flavor of the month exotic steel.

The H1 also never chips teeth, but instead would bend under extreme stress such as heavy zipties, and easily stropped/steeled back into alignment (a long smooth shank bolt comes to mind).

And photos show the blade EXTREMELY stout for small size, VERY thick edged until razor sharp scallops, and made of a steel which bends rather than breaks.

All in all, a nice little "anything goes" emergency knife. Holds great in forward or reverse, and enough butt protrudes for impact tool.

Warts would be flat bottom and corners, flair to butt where a concealment piece does not want flair, and arches too tight in bottom front and back, making this a perfect example of Spyderco handles which say, "THIS is how you will hold me, and you WILL like it."

But quite happy with it in front pocket with SAK, under 8 oz total weight both knives.

And this indeed the case in NYC. If a PO sees a handle clip from your jeans pocket they will stop you and if you're lucky just confiscate your knife. Notice I said lucky; it's a terrible law. Thankfully I live far away still in NY however but in much friendlier country. CWP are even issued here.

They are busting broadway and warehouse workers right and left, as well as easy pickin' touristas, and even sued a couple of giant retail chains for providing "illegal weapons", which were only clip-on common one-hand knives.

The law reads suchlike, "blade which opens and locks by power of gravity or centrifugal force".....they are even misusing basic laws of physics as it is INERTIA which the officer is boosting. Even The Village Voice has spoken out at length against this abuse.

It is all about headlines and good numbers for promotions....from Chief of Police to Precinct Captain....."This year we took over FIVE-HUNDRED THOUSAND illegal weapons off the streets!". So the beat cop looks for the low hanging fruit of a clip. And they have license to stop and frisk. The beat cop may not even like it, but he has orders, and numbers ARE numbers.

Who cares about someone else's record?

But, I have had ENUFF.





As a PS- sure, I could also carry up to 4" fixed blade IWB, but when they say must be concealed, they mean concealed. You are de facto in violation if it spotted, even printing, by anyone, including scared citizens whose motto for anything is, "somebody needs to call a cop." Plus, IWB is slow when buried under clothes, front trouser pocket MUCH faster (but no peeking!).

PPS- it shows that I am a fan of the H1 knives, and have not much to do with the rest of their lines. It comes from a lifetime of using and abusing knives, including the sometimes necessary scraping/gouging/prying when the knife the only tool around. There are many fine cardboard and paper and rope slicing knives and steel, but the world is not made of paper and twine. Most of the super-cutters would have rusted to smithereens or chipped/broke right off the bat compared to more mundane steels as my old Clipit in AUS8A, in many of those uses/abuses such as prying up on a spinning screw backed by a loose inaccessible nut. The H1 is tough...miracle tough for a stainless with normal 57-58 Rc edge hardness, and outright bizarre at upper 60's Rc edge hardness on serrated knives.



PPPS- also the Salt series has the old classic hollow grind, which leaves full thickness meat above the primary grind, and a plain stronger blade than the slicing oriented full-flat-grind which Spyderco seems to be trying to transition to across the board, (or as much as possible), likewise trying to go black finish as much as possible (even on H1 knives) to save polish labor while the H1 can still be had reasonably polished and one of their better finished steels today.

A BIG LATE NEWS ADDITION RE: NYC KNIFE LAWS..... after years of unsuccessful tries, Knife Rights, in cooperation with otherwise quite liberal legal defense funds and democratic elected officials, AND liberal news papers, have managed to get an amended law mirroring federal law on the "bias towards closure" through both assembly and senate, where the senate passed it unanimously, mid-June 2016.

The bill procedurally delayed but will eventually end up on Gov Cuomo's desk, and still is anything but a gimmee. But a unanimous senate passage certainly will not hurt in adding pressure....neither will op/eds in NYT/WSJ/Village Voice pushing for amendment.

Fingers are crossed that this amended law, which mirrors that of everywhere else in the entire USA except NYC enforcement, will finally stop the approximately 70,000 arrests in 12yrs flow of legal abuse.

Lofty,

Unfortunately, on 12/31/16, our esteemed Governor Cuomo (he of the "free" college education) vetoed the bill which would have 'legalized' certain types of knives in NYS, and hopefully ended some of the ridiculous prosecutions. While agreeing that existing NYS knife laws are problematic, he felt that the proposed revision was an insufficient fix.

In a further shocking development, NYC Mayor de Blasio applauded the veto.

Maybe this year...

I was born, raised and grew up in a tough NYC neighborhood.

We say ...

It's only illegal if you get caught.



And, a NYC Cop once told me ... "Better to be tried by twelve than carried by six.

Anyway ... nice knife!

Tony,

Always have your back bro.

Thanks Brother!

I was up there in the Bronx when the esteemed governator nixed the bill which mirrors federal law in its entirety....

Anyhow, found an even better one for up there, not a Spyderco, not a Salt, and not a fixed blade.

The current GAK-n-SAK is a Victorinox one-hand, liner-lock, no clip knife which still retains the normal slipjoint spring back. Pretty near impossible to open in any fling/sling, but otherwise just as quick. The civvy version of same with tweezers, plus, it comes still with the world's best toothpick, was the knife of choice all winter. So, sad to say, the Spyderco lost out and stayed in dresser drawer all winter.

It was not too bad while there, only one guy was murdered on nearest train stop.