First 'anti-stab' knife to go on sale in Britain

[[R_H]]

Times Online

The first “anti-stab” knife is to go on sale in Britain, designed to work as normal in the kitchen but to be ineffective as a weapon.

The knife has a rounded edge instead of a point and will snag on clothing and skin to make it more difficult to stab someone.

It was invented by industrial designer John Cornock, who was inspired by a documentary in which doctors advocated banning traditional knives.

Mr Cornock, 42, from Swindon, said that the knife will cut vegetables, but will make it almost impossible to stab someone to death and will reduce the risk of accidental injuries. He said: “It can never be a totally safe knife, but the idea is you can’t inflict a fatal wound. Nobody could just grab one out of the kitchen drawer and kill someone.”

The knife is expected to sell for around £40-50 and has been tested with “very favourable” results by the Home Office’s Design and Technology Alliance - set up to research products that can deter crime.

Even though stabbing is made more difficult by this knife, a knife that can slice is still a fairly effective weapon.

[General Zod]

So, how am I supposed to carve a roast with that thing?

[Kanastrous]

Sure. Move from a stabbing attack to a slashing one.

If you still need to stab someone, I suppose there's always shish kabob skewers.

[Beowulf]

The knife seems... well... pointless.

[Kanastrous]

So, how am I supposed to carve a roast with that thing?

It still has an edge. Does your carving technique rely upon using the point...?

[General Zod]

So, how am I supposed to carve a roast with that thing?

It still has an edge. Does your carving technique rely upon using the point...?

I like knowing that if I want to, I can stab it in the center and cut outward. Getting a clean cut seems more complicated without a point.

[Kanastrous]

Good point, no pun intended.

We have some kind of Japanese kitchen knife that is rounded at the tip rather than coming to a point. Hardly ever use it.

[Plekhanov]

I wonder how much worse it is in the kitchen, it's got a bit of a point to help you do the stuff you need the tip of the knife for but it still will be clumsier than a traditional knife.

I won't do anything to stop determined criminals carrying but I suppose having one of those could help make 'domestics' a little less dangerous. I wonder how many people are killed a year by people who temporarily lose it in a heated argument and stab their partner or someone else in the home.

[General Zod]

I wonder how much worse it is in the kitchen, it's got a bit of a point to help you do the stuff you need the tip of the knife for but it still will be clumsier than a traditional knife.

I won't do anything to stop determined criminals carrying but I suppose having one of those could help make 'domestics' a little less dangerous. I wonder how many people are killed a year by people who temporarily lose it in a heated argument and stab their partner or someone else in the home.

How much you want to bet the people who are most likely to be targets of this kind of domestic violence will also be the least likely to purchase this sort of knife?

[Kanastrous]

Really.

What? I can't stab anyone with this? Useless!

[General Zod]

Really.

What? I can't stab anyone with this? Useless!

I was thinking more along the lines of: "How much does this cost? You gotta be kidding, screw that, I'll get the cheaper one with a point." Unless they made production of this kind of knife ubiquitous I can't see it doing fuck all for crime statistics.

[Plekhanov]

How much you want to bet the people who are most likely to be targets of this kind of domestic violence will also be the least likely to purchase this sort of knife?

I'm not aware of any kind of profile of the kind of people who are knifed in kitchens. I was once attacked by a mentally unstable relative in my parents kitchen and they're as respectable and middle class as you like, thankfully there was no a sharp knife at hand at that moment in time (though there are obviously several in the kitchen) so I just had a few plates thrown at me and got hit with a pan but I could potentially have been stabbed.

[Netko]

£40-50

The entire debate about usefulness is pointless when it is priced at those ridiculous prices. 50 pounds for one knife? I would hardly be able to justify that even if it was a monomolecular knife that could cut through anything, let alone it going for that price do to "safety" features. I suppose it could find itself into the kitchens of some overprotective parents, but other then that, I really can't think of anyone who would be willing to spend that much on a single knife that is probably mediocre to good as a knife but has the safety "feature".

[General Zod]

£40-50

The entire debate about usefulness is pointless when it is priced at those ridiculous prices. 50 pounds for one knife? I would hardly be able to justify that even if it was a monomolecular knife that could cut through anything, let alone it going for that price do to "safety" features. I suppose it could find itself into the kitchens of some overprotective parents, but other then that, I really can't think of anyone who would be willing to spend that much on a single knife that is probably mediocre to good as a knife but has the safety "feature".

That's pretty much what I was driving at earlier. Unless they make this type of design a "standard" for knives in that country and go out of their way to replace existing knife sets I see it doing fuck all for crimes with a kitchen knife. At best it's a useless novelty item.

[Dahak]

That's a rather mediocre price for a "good" knife. Good quality knifes, especially larger ones, can easily top that.
Cheap knifes usually tend to be, well, cheap.

[Netko]

That depends, I suppose, on how much you're willing to spend, but at any rate, the entire, well, point, of this knife design is that they should replace most to all knives in the kitchen or the entire "innovation" is useless. And unless someone has far too much money or has only a few knives in the kitchen and is willing to spend big on them, that isn't going to happen at those prices (when you can probably get a decent - not good - entire set of cutlery at that price).

[Ryan Thunder]

Really.

What? I can't stab anyone with this? Useless!

Well, when you consider that people buy dedicated weapons that they can use to blow holes in people from a hundred yards off (lolhomedefense) simply because they can do so, wanting a tool that can serve as a stabbing weapon in a pinch isn't really all that unreasonable...

[Artemas]

Its pretty funny that people thought that this would "fix" knife crime, when thugs (or anyone) can easily just use a sharpened screwdriver, or some other shiv.

[KlavoHunter]

Yes, but how often do you suspect that some chav goes out of his way to buy a carbon-steel japanese chef's knife to stab people with, as opposed to a cheap steak knife, or a razor blade taped to a hammer?

[chitoryu12]

Yes, but how often do you suspect that some chav goes out of his way to buy a carbon-steel japanese chef's knife to stab people with, as opposed to a cheap steak knife, or a razor blade taped to a hammer?

More than likely, it was meant to protect against domestic abuse in households rich enough to afford the knife. Like some sociopathic asswipe got seriously pissed and went to stab his or her significant other, rather than carrying the knife around as their own weapon.

Of course, all the person has to do is grab something else, like, I dunno, a DIFFERENT knife from the same block? Or go into the garage and grab a screwdriver or clench some nails between his fists?

In other words, it's an expensive knife that'll do fuck all to stop any form of violence. Even if every knife in the drawer was replaced with these rounded knives, there's plenty of other stuff to kill your spouse with. And let's not forget if someone is attacking YOU and you go for a knife that won't kill or incapacitate when you grab it in desperation.

[Sephirius]

Bravo England, for making another overpriced solution to a nonexistant problem, while ignoring the root causes as usual.
What if I wanted to, um I dunno, BEHEAD someone? I hear a lot more of that goes on than fatal stabbings these days in the UK.

snip hurr durr

You're doing your damnedest to earn your title these days aren't you.

[Ryan Thunder]

You're doing your damnedest to earn your title these days aren't you.

Ah, so you're asserting that its reasonable to own a gun but unreasonable to consider the usefulness of a knife as a stabbing weapon. Fascinating.

[Sephirius]

You're doing your damnedest to earn your title these days aren't you.

Ah, so you're asserting that its reasonable to own a gun but unreasonable to consider the usefulness of a knife as a stabbing weapon. Fascinating.

No, I'm saying you parroting your viewpoints on a topic UNRELATED to the original article is fucking arrogant, stupid and borderline trolling.

[Ryan Thunder]

No, I'm saying you parroting your viewpoints on a topic UNRELATED to the original article is fucking arrogant, stupid and borderline trolling.

Oh for fuck's sakes. I am not. Kanastrous brought up the idea of choosing a knife for its properties as a stabbing weapon as though it were unreasonable. I was merely pointing out that it isn't as ridiculous as you might think.

[Isolder74]

So, how am I supposed to carve a roast with that thing?

It still has an edge. Does your carving technique rely upon using the point...?

A good carving technic uses the entire length of the knife. A knife like this would be useless as the following:

Carving Knife where the point comes in handy getting the first slice started. Now you can carve a roast with out the point but with the point it is much easier.

Chef's Knife the Point comes in for delicate cuts and dicing

Boning Knife where the point is essential for almost every task it does. (and is usually the sharpest knife in the bunch and the weapon of choice for a killer after all it is what is is designed for disassembling meat)

Paring Knife which is all point

For anything other then perhaps the Steak Knives and the bread knife(which is usually already like this) this doesn't help a knife do its job in the kitchen properly.

If I didn't have points on all the knives in my set I'd feel very crippled.