Editorial Policy

This page sets out how My Knife Guide researches its content. It also explains how the site dates and reviews content. It also explains how the site corrects mistakes.

Primary sources only

Every legal or statistical claim on this site links to a primary source. Legislation.gov.uk is the source for the text of an Act or Order. Gov.uk is the source for government guidance. The source for a statistic is the originating body, which includes:

• the Office for National Statistics
• the Ministry of Justice
• the Home Office
• NHS England
• the Scottish Government
• the Police Service of Northern Ireland

Secondary sources are used alongside a primary source to add context. They are never used in place of one. The House of Commons Library is a secondary source used this way.

What “updated” and “last checked” mean

Every page carries two dates. “Updated” is the date the content itself last changed, whether that is a rewrite, a new section or a correction. “Last checked” is the date every cited source was re-visited to confirm the claim still matches what the source currently says. A page can show a “last checked” date more recent than its “updated” date if the sources were re-verified and found unchanged.

Review cycle

Law pages are re-checked at least quarterly. They are also re-checked immediately after any change in the law that affects them: a new Order, an amendment Act, or updated gov.uk guidance. The statistics page is re-checked each time the underlying government body publishes a new bulletin. Trust pages are reviewed when the underlying policy or business fact changes.

Corrections

Use the contact page to report an error you find. Corrections are made to the page directly. The “updated” date then changes to reflect the fix.

How product lists are chosen

Knives listed on this site are selected and labelled using published blade figures and lock specifications checked against UK law. Blade figures come from manufacturer pages or, where the maker does not publish a figure, a named major retailer’s specification page labelled as a retailer source. No figure is estimated. My Knife Guide does not claim to have tested, reviewed in person or laboratory-tested any listed product.

Carry-status labels

Every knife listed carries one of four labels. These are defined here and used consistently across the site.

• Legal to carry: no reason needed to carry this item in public, based on its blade length and lock type.
• Good reason needed: legal to own, but carrying it in public requires a good reason or lawful authority under the law.
• Illegal to carry in public: legal to own, but carrying it in public without a good reason or lawful authority is an offence.
• Banned: illegal to sell, buy or import, and for some items, illegal to own at all.