I know. You are on this page because your director has requested a retractable knife. Or perhaps you are doing one of the few plays that actually has it written in the script. I completely understand what you are looking for, but I’m sorry to tell you that your search will be unsuccessful. Only the cheap plastic novelty items are found in this country. Right, the squeaky toys. You won’t find one (legally) made out of metal.
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 handle, 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.
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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; 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 has nothing to do with the knife. Why? 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 retractable I find, metal or plastic. A retractable knife cannot be constructed, designed or retrofitted to be safe.
In case anyone is missing my point here, let me simplify: All retractables must be destroyed. (modified and reprinted from The Textbook of Theatrical Combat. All rights reserved.)
