This book serves as a good basic introduction to switchblade knives, covering what they are, how they work, federal, state, and local laws, butterfly knives, switchblade kits, and how to use and care for switchblades.

The new edition incorporates information on all that has happened in the switchblade world since Benson's original book came out in the mid-1980s, and the state of the switchblade today.

A good place to start if you're interested in automatic knives - and what knife fan isn't?

BOOK REVIEW
reviewed by Knife World Staff

First published in 1989, Ragnar Bensons Switchblade: The Ace of Blades was long the only book available on the subject of automatic knives. Now that more specialized titles have become available, this basic introduction to switchblades has received a much-needed facelift by weapons expert Michael Janich.

Bensons book has received some criticism over the years for its shortcomings, but in this reviewers opinion it well accomplished what it set out to do — introduce the reader to an elusive subject at an inexpensive price. It is for that reason that Ace of Blades has remained a staple for the last 15 years.

Janichs updates to the book can be found throughout the text, and are thoughtfully done. Much has changed in the switchblade world since 1989, particularly with regard to their more open manufacture and popularity with knife enthusiasts, and the new text paints a much more accurate picture of the state of the automatic knife in America today. Remaining largely intact are the basic-but-useful sections on switchblade mechanisms and federal, state, and local laws.

A big improvement can also be found in the illustrations, which are more numerous and of far better quality than those found in the previous edition; not to mention more reflective of the modern switchblade knife.

Janich and publisher Paladin Press are to be commended for this worthwhile update, and for the reasonable price. It is not the ultimate collectors manual, nor a guide to the intricacies of their manufacture; but for the neophyte interested in knives that go click, Switchblade: Ace of Blades is a worthwhile introduction.

Softcover, 98 pp.

keywords: automatics, butterfly knife, switch blades, balisong, microtech, benchmade, hubertus, smith & wesson, smith and wesson, colt, latama, italian

$16.00