A switchblade, AKA an automatic knife, is a knife that opens automatically with the push of a button.

Benefits of a switchblade:

• One-handed opening
• Easy to deploy
• Very rapid
• Great for emergency situations
• Fun to use

Quick History of the Switchblade

Automatic knives got their start in the mid-18th century. At the time, automatic blades were pretty much only mounted to guns for use as quickly-deployable bayonets. In 1892, George Schrade of New York started to design and produce the switchblade knife.

After WW2, the more iconically-styled stiletto knife came back from Italy with servicemen and created wide demand in the United States. Automatic knives have gotten a bad due to the tough guy movies and dime novels of the early 50's, but they are great knives for many uses.