spydies on the road, oregon and washington

[clovisc]

i'll be flying out to a pretty sizeable watershed development conference outside of portland, oregon rather soon. think the conference itself is in washington state. trying to decide which spydies will make the journey with me...

i was wondering if anyone with experience carrying knives in those areas could enlighten me as to the knife laws, and how they're usually enforced.

also -- what are your favorite spydies for travel?????!

[foggy]

The conference is probibly in vancouver washington. I go there frequently to visit my grandparents. I don't know for sure, but you would be safest with a 3 inch blade.

[Tonie Nichols]

I live in the Eugene / Springfield area of Oregon and have spent a lot of time in Portland as well. Most communities, but not all, reference the state laws regarding illegal and concealed weapons and I've never been stopped for carrying a Spyderco clipped to my pocket. I have a friend who's a police officer in Sweet Home and he says the local law allows no more than a three inch blade.

My study of the state statutes has found that knives that are illegal to carry concealed are defined as dirks, daggers, stilleto's and knives that open through centrifugal force. The first two have been defined by case law as double edged knives. Stilleto's, I believe, seem to be generally defined as switch blades style knives. Butterfly knives obviously fall into the centrifugal force category. The Oregon Knife Collectors Association information says that Oregon case law defines a knife that opens through one hand kinetic opening techniques as using centrifugal force and therefore illegal to conceal. But this only applies to the concealed carry of these types of knives, they can be leagally carried if they are not concealed.

The State Statutes do not limit the length of a single edged blade that can be carried concealed.

If you get in trouble and the police want to get you off the street they can charge you with possesion of a deadly weapon even if it's just the keys in your pocket. They are not responsible for interpreting the law, just for disarming a situation. They'll let the courts do the interpreting.

But if you are a rational reasonable person carrying a Spyderco folder should not present any problem in Oregon.

[Puyallupknifegu]

Clovisc, my friend!! You are coming to see me!!! LOL!!

Ok, here is the deal: In Oregon, they are ok with you carrying almost anything, including autos, as long as it's clipped to your pocket and nothing concealed!

Washington, carry no more than 3.5" blade!! And NO AUTOS!!!

You might want to bring some knife money...I know some great places for you to find spydies!!!

Please let me know when you are here as I'd love to meet you!!


Tim:D

[Xplo]

Like where? I live in Portland and the Spyderco selection I've found around here is pretty limited.

[rolyat1978]

...centrifugal force...

What's that?