Introduction

It’s important you check the laws for knife carry in your state before making your purchase. You can take a quick glance of the laws in your state here: https://www.akti.org/state-knife-laws/ Here in Texas as long as you’re over the age of 18 there’s not much to worry about, but I recommend taking a quick look anyways because I am not a lawyer and I will not be responsible for you getting in trouble. Jokes aside I am going to skip a few knives on the list, namely butterfly knives. If you’re interested in buying some you can find them here on our website. We’re also going to skip over California’s knife laws because y’all sorta have your own country out there (no offense, but is there anything in California that hasn’t been restricted?) I also won’t be covering why these knives are/were illegal because I wasn’t born when most of these laws were made and I can’t read the minds of lawmakers. However if you know a little more than I do, feel free to drop a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

Gravity Knives

I absolutely love these knives. I actually carry one every day—a Reate model Exo-U that I’m completely in love with. We only sell the Exo-K right now but you can look forward to more stuff from Reate in 2025  (and I’ve got an article coming out soon about those, so stay tuned). My knife has a beautiful exo-skeleton design that allows the blade to retract into the handle. Wikipedia defines the gravity knife perfectly, “A gravity knife is a knife with a blade contained in its handle, which opens its blade through the force of gravity.^[1] This mechanism of opening is fundamentally different from the switchblade, which extends its spring-propelled blade automatically upon the push of a button, switch, or fulcrum lever.^[1] The main purpose of gravity opening is that it allows opening and closing to be done with one hand, in situations where the other hand is occupied. Hence, historically they have been issued to parachutists to cut off caught lines, such as lines tangled in trees, a major potential use of the gravity knife.”  Quick side note, don’t be upset with me using Wikipedia, there’s a lot you can learn on there, and it’s not like I’m writing a College level essay here.

Switchblades

A fan favorite among many collectors, the term “switchblade” carries some weight, but within the knife world, we usually refer to these knives by their opening style: “automatic.” Today, most people think of OTF (Out-the-Front) knives when they hear “switchblade,” and they’ve come a long way. Many come with smart safety features, like disengaging the blade from its rails when it’s pressed against an object or using a heavy-set lever to prevent accidental deployment. Most knife makers offer their own automatic OTF knives, with notable brands like Benchmade and Microtech leading the way. You can explore our full catalog of OTF knives here. However, while most OTF knives fall under the “switchblade” category, they don’t represent all switchblades. A switchblade can also refer to a standard folding knife with a mechanism—usually a button—that allows it to open automatically. If you’re into that style, check out our entire collection of automatic knives here.

Ballistic Knives

You may have heard of these before—they’re at the top of the list for a reason! Ballistic knives are among the most banned knives in U.S. history. These knives feature a hollow section inside the handle, usually paired with a spring-operated system. When you release a pin, the blade is launched out at impressive speeds. Under the spring system, ballistic knives can reach speeds of 35-40 miles per hour and have an effective range of about 15 feet. The spring mechanism can suffer from fatigue after heavy use, though. I haven’t had the chance to play with one yet, but I’d really like to! If anyone in the West Texas area owns a set, shoot me an email—I’d love to make a short video about them.