a funny thing happened at a flea

[FreeTheArmy]

Howdy Ya'll,
thought I'd share a little snid-bit about my recent trip to Baltimore (wife's hometown). I went to a fleamarket in Dundalk to see what kind of cheap-o's might be fun to grab up. Only one knife booth in the whole place. I saw a stiletto with "ITALY" on the tang. I asked the feller, "could I see that stiletto?" he said, "Oh, you mean the switchblade? -we don't have any stilettos." I said, "that's a stiletto", he said, "no, a stiletto has a blade that comes out of the top of the handle." He handed me the knife saying, "this is an Italian switchblade." I asked if it was really made in Italy or if it was an Asian made piece. He said he ordered a bunch in from Italy. I said, "bud, this is not Italian." He swore to me it was. I said, "you ought to know more about knives if you're gonna sell them." I walked away as he was running his mouth about what he knows and what I don't.
I wanted to share that, because we're all wrong about info from time to time, but where in the hell did people get sold on the idea that a stiletto is an OTF? (I'm not arguing that any stabbing blade could not be considered a stiletto.)
That guy pissed me off a bit, I must say. The stiletto was obviously an Asian clone.
How did the stiletto / OTF misunderstanding spread? Why are the ignorant always adamant about spreading bull**** around for the rest of us to step in?
anyone with a similar experience?
all the best,
Free

[Panzerfaust]

How did the stiletto / OTF misunderstanding spread? Free

Free, I don't know how the misunderstanding started but I can tell you it was once common to call OTFs stilettos, and that I first heard the term more than 30 years ago.

[Markco the Mad otter]

Odd but many, many years ago, when I was a kid, before I started collecting I had the same idea. That stiletto was the otf type of switchblade. Really don't know where I got the idea from but think it was probably something on TV that I saw. Finally after having a friendly argument about the term I looked it up and found that it was a style of knife:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stiletto
A stiletto is a knife or dagger with a long slender blade and needle-like point, primarily intended as a stabbing weapon.[1][2] The stiletto blade's narrow cross-section and acuminated tip reduces friction upon entry, allowing the blade to penetrate deeply.[1][3] Some consider the stiletto a form of dagger, but most stilettos are specialized thrusting weapons not designed for cutting or slashing, even with edged examples.

[lars]

The idea of stilettos being OTFs was "the truth" here as well, when I was a teen in the 60s...

[peter44]

The idea of stilettos being OTFs was "the truth" here as well, when I was a teen in the 60s...

You were a teenager Lars did they have steel then

[Viking45]

I have often wondered where the rumor came from. I have corrected people on that for three decades.
Just a few months back i was talking to guy who is quite knowledgeable about firearms and even knife steels and when I showed him one of my Frank B 11 inchers and I guess at one point I called it a stiletto and he said "isn't a stiletto the kind that comes straight out?" So I enlightened him and he was happy to be corrected because he said he wants to know what he is talking about when discussing knives.

I have seen people actually get upset because they just "know" they are right in calling an otf a stiletto. I just change the subject,no sense in arguing with someone over something so silly.
I have also heard the "Real stiletto's were designed so you could just walk up to someone and stick it it in them....." story a few times.

[Markco the Mad otter]

I have also heard the "Real stiletto's were designed so you could just walk up to someone and stick it it in them....." story a few times.

sounds reasonable

[Panzerfaust]

I've also heard OTFs called "angel blades," and to tell you the truth, I called them stilettos for about five years because I did not know any better. When I first became interested in switchblades, I didn't know where any of them were made.

[Tom19176]

Since the early 70s I have been told by retail knife dealers that stilettos are OTFs as we know them...I get tried of correcting them too! Best is a dealer that told me a 1950 to60s shell puller was from the revolutionary war..Gee didn't they only have flint locks back then!....As to him not knowing it was Asian and not Italian, you have to wonder if he was taken byt the guy who sold them to him or he is just a liar....

[Panzerfaust]

Switchblade terminology is the most confusing of any hobby I have ever seen. The so-called bayonet blade, used to describe the classic blade grind of the 1950s, does not look like a bayonet at all. The 1950s blade grind is a semi-dagger IMO. The blades on the new Frank Beltrame do look like bayo blades and if you look up an image of a GI bayonet, you will see what I mean. There are so many definitions of the terms "transitional" and "derby bolster" that I don't know which to believe.

[Viking45]

I have also heard the "Real stiletto's were designed so you could just walk up to someone and stick it it in them....." story a few times.

sounds reasonable

The person making this comment is referring to an otf,he is calling it a "Real Stiletto"

The so-called bayonet blade, used to describe the classic blade grind of the 1950s, does not look like a bayonet at all.

True. Most bayonets have more of a "dagger" style blade with a blood groove.
The M6 bayonet has what resembles a "half grind" blade but is one of the closest blade grinds to what we call a "bayonet" stiletto blade.
http://e-sarcoinc.com/images/products/d ... ayonet.jpg

[Markco the Mad otter]

I have also heard the "Real stiletto's were designed so you could just walk up to someone and stick it it in them....." story a few times.

sounds reasonable

The person making this comment is referring to an otf,he is calling it a "Real Stiletto"

The so-called bayonet blade, used to describe the classic blade grind of the 1950s, does not look like a bayonet at all.

True. Most bayonets have more of a "dagger" style blade with a blood groove.

Ha ha ha, just sounds like the right knife to stick 'em with...a couple times...long skinny blade

[JimBrown257]

anyone with a similar experience?

Only about a hundred times!

I can totally relate to the frustration of your experience. To anyone this hasn't happened to, or isn't a knife-person, it probably seems like trivial nit-picking but I can appreciate it.

The dealer, the guy selling the knives, thinks they are some expert but they don't even know simple terminolgy like "OTF". The frustrating part is that they think you are the dumb one who doesn't know what a stiletto is but it is really they who are the dumb one. The whole thing reminds me of those people who are confident simply because they are too stupid to realize they are stupid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2 ... ger_effect.

When this has happened at gun and knife shows, I have often pointed out to the ill-informed dealer that many of the "side-opening Italian-style stilettos" that they are selling (the ones they think are specifically called "switchblades") have the word "stiletto" written on the blade while none of the "Out-the-front automatic knives" that they are selling (the ones they think are specifically called "stilettos") never have the word "stiletto" written on the blade. "Now, why would that be?" I ask them.

[Markco the Mad otter]

There has been a time or two that since the seller didn't know what he was selling he didn't know the right price for what he was selling either. Depending on which way he went with the price, can be a good thing or a bad thing.
Usually seems that it is a bad thing and they think they have something worth a lot more than it is.
If they won't listen, I don't wast a lot of breath on them.
Once in Mexico at a flea market these guys had a bunch of cheap switches from China. When I asked if they had anything better they acted insulted...ooops, my bad they didn't and their prices were higher than I would pay here even if I had been interested. The best thing to do here, without a doubt, was to walk away.

[JimBrown257]

When I asked if they had anything better they acted insulted...ooops, my bad they didn't and their prices were higher than I would pay here even if I had been interested. The best thing to do here, without a doubt, was to walk away.

...My experience with those trinket stores in Mexico is that, like everything else in the store, those autos are all $5. You have to poke through the box to find one that even works; then there is the border crossing issue if you do buy one.

And, g-damn, when you finally turn and walk out of the store with out buying what you looked at, you are going to get an earful from the store owner's wife about how you, and you alone, are directly responsible for their children starving to death because you didn't buy the crap knife.

-J

*I don't mean to offend any of our Mexican friends, I know that Americans can, and will, be just as bad, if not worse. Also, my heart goes out to them for the stuff they've had to deal with in the last few years.