A knife was a bladed mêlée weapon used by many humanoid races and cultures. Because of their effectiveness compared to other blunt hand-held weapons, knife weapons are usually common in cultures that have developed the ability to work metal, and often remain in use even after projectile weapons are developed.

Even before the development of metal, many primitive cultures were known to craft knives from stone. The phrase "stone knives and bearskins" was used by Spock to describe the technology available in the 1930s era. The phrase describing primitive artifacts was fresh in James T. Kirk's mind when he found a aged sheaf of old-style letters from his father after returning to Earth shortly after the time travel to the 1930s. (TOS episode: "The City on the Edge of Forever"; TOS novel: Final Frontier)

The Romulans were fond of using knives. (TOS novel: The Romulan Way)

Notable situations involving knivesEdit

• Scratch Jones threatened Lieutenant Francis Drake Reed with a knife after being hustled in a pool game on Starbase 2 in 2243. (TOS novel: Final Frontier)
• Attempting to protect the underground chambers of the Genesis Project on Regula, David Marcus attacked Rear Admiral James T. Kirk with a knife. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: The Wrath of Khan)
• Praetor Shinzon produced a knife and cut his hand while meeting with an away team from the USS Enterprise-E in 2379. He gave the bloodied knife to the Starfleet officers to prove his genetic identity. (TNG movie & novelization: Nemesis)

ConnectionsEdit

• knife article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.