Whatever happened to these knives??

[JimBrown257]

Hello,

Every year or so I look at some new stilettos and cool blades to add to my collection. Recently, it occured to me that knives I used to see all the time seem to have disappeared from the market. Some of them I am just wondering about but others I am actively trying to obtain. They're mostly cheapies; most of them are items I remember from when I was a kid twenty years ago and started collecting knives (finding them is kind of a nostalgia thing).


1) About seven years ago when I realized I could get autos off the internet (as opposed to scouring flea markets and gun shows; remenber doing that?); virtually every single site, including Ebay (which still sold autos at that time) had the ~$15 Korean knockoff of the Rizutto 9" swingguard. Mexican border town trinket stores still sell these for $5 each. However, I can't find them anywhere else.

2) The 38" Italian Stiletto almost every knife dealer used to feature on their site. It was kind of a novelty, like the giant wine bottle you used to see in liquor store windows; there would be a picture of someone holding it to emphasize it's massivness. It had a price tag of about $4000 but I doubt they intended to ever sell it. Why do I never see those anymore?

3) I remember seeing this knife in gun/knife magazines in the late 80s. I believe it was called something like "Black Magic" or something similar. It was a pretty interesting and novel idea: it was a fixed blade that had a OTF dual-action sheath that sprung out of the handle to cover/uncover the blade. Here is a link to some thing on Ebay that is the closet thing I can find. However, this one's sheath isn't powered by a spring; it only uses gravity to go up and down.
If that link is no longer good, you can see it in picture 1.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tekna-Micro-Kni ... 9925918751

4) Deleted

5) This is the one I really want to find. It was a cheap brass handle butterfly knife made in Pakistan. When I was a kid, I saw these everywhere. The knife dealer at the local flea market sold them for $8 each but he charged me $10 because I "lost my ID" and couldn't prove I was eightteen. You can see it in Picture 3. The stamp said "Stainless Pakistan" and the handle had seven holes (there was also one that had no holes). Unlike the typical butterfly, the handle didn't taper out at the bottom. The handle of this one was the same width at the top as at the bottom.

6) There's one more but I can only attach three pictures; see the next post.


...So does anyone know what happened to these knives or where I could find any of them? I've checked all the various seller and auction sites on the internet but they all seem to sell the exact same stuff. Does anyone have any of them that they could consider selling?

Thanks for your time!

-J

[JimBrown257]

Continued from above:

6) This one I've never actually seen for sale but I've always wanted to get one; it's a ballistic knife (Picture 4, figure). Picture 5 shows all its parts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_knife

This knife is most famous for it's cameo appearance in the 1985 Schwarznegger movie Commando. They are illegal but so are most autos in most places. However, these must be "more" illegal as they aren't readily available on the internet. I read that when they made them illegal, they used the handles for those spring loaded automatic batons (Picture 4, figure 2); of course, they look different in these pics. When I was younger, I actually made a similar device with some pipe, a strong spring and throwing knife with a light wood handle attached. Then it had a firing mechanism just like the pin system in a leaf-spring automatic stilleto. Like all cool things kids have, my mom eventually found it and threw it away. I might make another someday but I'd really like to find the real thing.


-J

[Vagrant]

I have a tekna [I had two but lost one ]

[JimBrown257]

Was I correct that the Tecna's sheath is just a gavity thing? Is there a release button (I can't see one) or does it have a puller at the bottom?

The one I remember seeing in magazine had a spring loaded sheath that came up so the handle was a bit wider. I believe it was a dual-action sheath but I never actually saw one out side magazine pictures.

I must be mistaken about the name "Black Magic" as an internet search turns up nothing.

[Vagrant]

Spring fired [only to open] the button is on the end. like a ball-point pen

[JimBrown257]

Then this might be the thing I remember from the late 80s (I could have imagined the "Black Magic" name).

The dude on Ebay is asking at least $65 (+$6 s/h). I'm not planning on bidding but does that seem like a reasonable price? If you were going to sell yours (are you?), what would you imagine the asking price would be?

The reason I ask is I might contact the Ebay dude and see if I can get him to go lower.

[whippersnapper]

The Korean Rizzuto clones seem to be pretty scarce now, but there is a member here that is trying to get some more made, only better made.

A 38" stiletto is pretty rare and when they are that big are normally one time customs. Hard to believe too many dealers had one. I bet some were sharing the same picture.

The fake Leverlettos were made in China. They were a blatant rip-off of the real Leverletto. Since most of us on the forums know who Bill DeShivs is, counterfeit knives like these are usually a hot topic. Admitting to buying one gets you tarred and feathered.

[whippersnapper]

BTW- The Ballistic knives are highly illegal for some reason. They occasionally pop up for sale on sites like gun broker.

[Tom19176]

The Black Magic had a retractable sheath that went back into the handle under spring tension. They are around some times and go for around $100. The knock off of Bill D's knife are not discussed since he is our friend and this is a tight community, and I am happy to hear they are not around anymore. The brass butterfly knife are around once in awhile. The Korean knocks off of the Rizzy are going for over a $100 now, so if your right that they can still be had for $5 in Mexico then you could soon be a rich man...lol..Have you really seen them there lately for that price!?!?!

[JimBrown257]

Since most of us on the forums know who Bill DeShivs is, counterfeit knives like these are usually a hot topic. Admitting to buying one gets you tarred and feathered.

...Yeah, see...uh...I knew that; I was just asking so I could figure out who bought them, then we could go kick their ass!

Hopefully, if there was some guy out there who didn't know that he might read this thread and now he'd know not to buy one.

I mean, if such an uninformed fool really exists.

[JimBrown257]

Tom,

The Black Magic had a retractable sheath that went back into the handle under spring tension. They are around some times and go for around $100.

...So are you saying I was correct that the auto-sheath thing was called "Black Magic" or did you call it that because I had called it that? And...

The Korean knocks off of the Rizzy are going for over a $100 now, so if your right that they can still be had for $5 in Mexico then you could soon be a rich man...lol..Have you really seen them there lately for that price!?!?!

...Are you saying this thing (see picture) that I bought seven years ago on Ebay for the modest sum of $10 is now going for $100?? It's in fine shape besides for a loose guard which is a design flaw that all of the knockoffs seem to have.

And I did in fact see them for five dollars just three years ago in both Juarez and Tijuana. They had boxes full of these knockoff (both Korean and Taiwanese made) as well as the Chinese knockoff of the standard Italian-style automatic stiletto (the kind that often has the word "stiletto" written along the blade). They were strored in the closed position so the spring was worn down and most of them didn't even snap into place when fired. You had to search to find one in good shape but some good ones were there.

I do need to point out that something that is technically illegal in the States being easily aquired for $5 in Mexico then sold in the US for $100 is not entirely unheard of

[JimBrown257]

One last thing (I hate to be the guy who floods his own thread) but I am actively looking for one of those Pakistani brass butterflies so if anyone has seen one, or has one and wants to unload it, let me know.

Thanks,

-J

[Tom19176]

First, yes the knife said Black Magic on the box and black material sheath they came with and possibly the handle and they were styled after the K 108 front opener. As for the copy of the Rizzuto, Yea the Korean Rizzuto copies have been going for that range lately and no one much understands why. The real Rizzutos are going for several hundred when found. What city in Mexico did you see them in ?

[BTB0923]

They also sell real vintage Rizzutos in Tijuana. About a year and a half ago fellow TB member Fishtail Picklock took a trip down there and came back with a couple step-bolster Rizzies. I don't know exactly what he paid, but he sold one of them to me for $60. The exact same type of Rizzy recently sold on the SD auction for $1000 (that's not a typo, there are three zeros).

[JimBrown257]

Tom,

Have you been to Mexican border towns? They have these ubiquitous trinket shops that all sell the exact same thing.

Three years ago, in both Juarez (near El Paso) and Tijuana (near San Diego), I went in several of these stores that all had a glass case by the cashier, just like many American stores have. Amongst the cheap jewlery, fake Zippos and questionable silver items, they all had a few autos, usually a rizzy-clone and a cheap Itailan-style. They would say something like $10 or $12 next to them. However, like everything else in the strore, when you looked at it, the owner would say "I like you, for you...five dollar!" All the guys in all the stores did this for everything in the store; so I'm guessing the official price was $5.

Anyways, when I asked the store owner about the autos, instead of taking the one out from the case, they would go get a box, a little bigger than a show box, that was filled with dozens of them. They were just packed in there in the closed position (probably for ten years at least) with no padding so they were mostly in terrible condition. If you took the time to go through several boxes in several stores, however, I'm sure you'd end up with several quality pieces. The whole thing is reminicent of looking at comic books at one of those 100+ house neighborhood garage sales.

Of course, then you have to go over the boarder again and that just isn't what it was just a few years ago. Going over the boarder (back into the US) is kind of a hassel (an hour minimum on foot). If they do ask what you bought, which they probably will, you just have to tell them; any tomfoolery and you are spending the afternoon in a back room with a table with a box of rubber gloves in it waiting to "talk with someone". Then when you show them what you bought, they might just see you bought some knives and let you go but they might say "You can't have these in California" and take them away. Juarez isn't too bad though. The catch there is that Juarez is currently one of the most violent, lawless places in the world.