I bought an excellent one in France, but elected to not bother bringing it back, it did not seem worth the grief at customs.
Oddly enough though, my keyring contains a swiss army knife which I use for mushrooming and nobody was bothered about that which if I had thought about it, I would have removed before leaving home.
My kitchen knives are Sabatier branded, all the same size and last years with re-sharpening.
I bought my Dad one for Xmas and he was mystified as to why I had bought him an expensive cooking tool, but I note that he loves it.

I do fear though, that it will not be long before we cannot buy these essential cooks tools for personal usage. A minor point compared to the dreadful knife crimes, but I can`t see any other way around it in ceasing the horrors.
As sensible users of knives for the correct purpose, you cannot even suggest to people to buy knives quick, this is a very real and big problem.

Be careful with the washing up JK - it is easy to forget just how sharp those knives can be - as a scar on my index finger shows:blush: .

RT

I think this issue over buying knives is the usual media hyped bollocks. There have ALWAYS been stabbings and when you get the media putting such crimes under a microscope reporting on every stabbing they hear of they claim there's a knifing "epidemic" amongst youngsters. What they don't tell you is that their statistics also include other cases like one I knew well about with a mid 40's housewife being stabbed to death at home by her husband. Her death was added to the number of knife crimes of one week, as "an example" to bump up the figures and try and whip up panic and frenzy.

It's hypocrisy at work again. Why is it OK for the police to carry all manner of nasty weapons like the Taser guns, yet we, the public are not allowed to be able to defend ourselves if we so choose? If someone is intent on attacking you on the street what are you supposed to do? Just stand there and be knifed to death? Somebody breaks into your home and you're supposed to just sit there and let them help themselves to all your stuff? If you try and protect your home or self you can end up in bigger trouble than the asshole with criminal intent!

One rule for the Police and another for everybody else. And what do the police do when they are on the scene and such a crime is being committed? They stand back, let the assault take place and THEN step in when somebody's on the floor dying. I should know... I have seen this happen with my own eyes two or three times. They don't want to put themselves "at risk" despite being protected to their eyeballs!

I don't feel safe on the streets a lot of the time but I'm an open target because I am not allowed to carry any form of protection on me. The police here in Liverpool do hold random knife checks, setting up "checkpoints" at stations or streets, giving them the right to stop and search everybody they don't like the look of, wasting your time and if you have nothing, you don't get an apology and if you do have a knife - no matter whether you just bought it or not for kitchen use - you get arrested.

Total sheer insanity.

Just another ploy to whip up panic and hysteria amongst the public, just like "global warming", 9/11, Paedophilia, the current financial "meltdown"... "problems" that are created, hyped up by the media to create fear and panic to make people want something to be done and therefore an excuse is there for the Government to introduce wholly unacceptable changes to the law that take more of our freedoms and rights away.

Actually a serious point from Ready teddy there, the amount of times I have cut a finger whilst wiping a knife in the washing up bowl is ridiculous and a friend of mine whilst cooking in a rush and doing the same cut some tendons in his hand and that was his cooking career over.

Elliot is also correct, knife crime has been hyped into the kids by the media who of course will look for scapegoats other than themselves.

Elliott they do the random checks in London - at most underground and rail stations. No hoodies there of course - it is to soften us up for a Police State I believe. If we are used to being stopped then when compulsory ID and limited travel ( because of green eco issues we will have a limit on the miles we can travel )
are introduced then we wont protest too much.

It is called GROOMING - and WE are being GROOMED for the Police State run by an UNELECTED PM who has now taken over our BANKS this morning without as much as a murmur from us. HITLER surely never had it this easy when he nationalised everything ? and HITLER did win an election nearly.