Stupid Question about Stiletti....

[Venethia]

Ok, here's a dumb question for you guys! Regarding the Stiletti that are featured at http://www.switchblades.it and elsewhere; do their blades pop out of the front of the knife or swing out? (Yeah I know, a dumb question. I obviously know next to nothing about knives. )

A long time ago a friend of mine had a knife with a wavy blade (kris?) that came directly out of the front of the handle. I'm just curious if any companies still make knives like that.

Thanks (for putting up with my dumbo question),

Catrina

[jim d,]

Catrina,

Welcome, and there no dumb questions. Italian stiletto blades swing out from the side. There are knives where the blade comes out the front, often referred to as "OTF", imagine that . Typically, you can assume that a switchblade has the blade swinging out from the side, unless it is referred to as an OTF or a gravity knife. Gravity knives are simply OTF's without a spring, you simply hold the front of the knife downward and gravity and the weight of the blade cause it to open.

Hope this helps,

Jim

[blackjack]

Hey Catrina welcome on, nice to see more ladies on the forum. jim d, is right, no dumb questions here so ask on.
Take Care Catrina, see you on the forum
blackjack

[Vagrant]

Welcome,
The only thing I can add is that the original Stiletto was a fixed-blade dagger, designed to penetrate chain-mail armor. [I've said it before but you might have missed it]. Now the term refers to apperance not type of operation. Probably a majority of people think Stiletto means a Front-opening knife, but we try to correct that impression very politely no matter how many times we have to do it since so many people have been led to believe otherwise. The bottom line is both the word and the name are Italian so if they want to call a rubber bladed knife that comes out the back a "Stiletto" it's their right. Currently they use the term to discribe a side opening switchblade shaped like the original dagger and that is fine, although the "s" shaped guard/bolster was symetrical on the original dagger.

[the spotlight kid]

You can find an O.T.F. Kris blade on the site you linked,under O.T.F. knives! Cheers the spotlight kid.

[Venethia]

Thanks for explaining everything guys!

I guess what I'm trying to find is an OTF knife that looks like the stiletti at that website. My friend's knife had a wavy blade and had some carvings (that the right word?) in the handle. (The carvings were several sail boats on the ocean.) The handle of the knife looked just like the stiletti. (Not like the OTF knives I found on the website.)

Well my description was kind of messy there but do you guys know where I might find such a knife? My boyfriend (American) likes ships and I'd like to get him a knife similar to my friend's knife.

Thanks guys!

Catrina

[Razor_54]

Welcome Catrina. It is nice to see women who are also interested in knives. I think i know what kind of knife you are talking about. Can't remember the year they were made, but they were otf's that had the body of a stiletto or were they gravity as Mr. Jim D. mentioned. I think i had seen one last week on BA. Check out BladeAuction.