# Stage Dagger retractable blade



## hamlett22 (Sep 16, 2010)

HI 

I am looking for a real stage dagger with a retractable blade.

Not a plastic thing but the real mccoy with a blade that retracts when pressure is applied to a dull pointed stage blade.

Anyone steer me in the right direction?

hamlett22


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## Footer (Sep 16, 2010)

The direction is to not use them. They don't work and are extremely unsafe. 


> Retractable daggers - We don’t carry them. We never will. If you have one, we suggest you throw it away. Today. Did you know that ... anyone who insists that retractable daggers are safe is either ignorant or a fool? The blade can press against the inside of the handle and jam without warning, leading the actor to be impaled by a blunt shaft. It happens every year. Collapsed lungs, severed veins. Well, as of today, you are no longer ignorant.


dagger rental


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## erichart (Sep 20, 2010)

Rick at Weapons of Choice has even more to say:


> Retractable knives - Also called collapsible knives. Here is a prop that can never be made safe. A retractable knife has a floating blade rather than a fixed blade. Inside the hollow grip, the shortened blade tang is surrounded by a compression spring. When the tip of the blade is pressed against something, the blade retracts into the handle, and then is pushed back out by the spring when the "stab" is over. Well, most of the time.
> 
> There are other times when the blade presses ever so slightly along the edge of the handle opening. When that happens, the blade does not retract and the actor gets impaled with a blunt "fake" blade. That is exactly what happened rather famously during a performance at an opera in New York. The singer was not only impaled, but she suffered a collapsed lung which could easily have proved fatal. When examined, the knife was found to be in perfect working order. Insurance companies began reviewing the injury rates related to these items and concluded that they are too dangerous to use. Most insurance carriers will not cover injury claims for a show in which a retractable is used, even if the injury had nothing to do with the knife, because they consider the use of retractables to be proof of an unsafe work environment. I consider them so dangerous that when I go to theatres to evaluate their weapons stock, I advise immediately destroying any retractables I find, metal or plastic. A retractable knife cannot be constructed, designed or retrofitted to be safe.
> 
> ...


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## seanandkate (Sep 20, 2010)

Any fight director (don't know what the equivilent of FDC or ASFD is in China) should be able to show you how to use a stage-worthy dagger to do what you need it to do with staging and technique. It's totally money well spent.


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## Ybles (Aug 29, 2014)

I completely understand the rationale behind removal of "retractable" blades. I am currently struggling with figuring out how to have a dagger in the back be removed and handled on stage in an intimate space. Closest audience member is less than 3' from actors. Not that we have to see it being plunged into the actor, but we do have to see it being removed. Suggestions from the crowd?


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## Amiers (Aug 30, 2014)

Plastic blade and some fine detailed paint and a sound cue for the unsheathing.


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