Wikipedia:WikiProject Blades

Welcome to the WikiProject Blades!


 * Goals
 * Create guidelines for articles about knives and knife manufacturers.
 * Improve Wikipedia's coverage of knives, knife makers, bladed weapons, and steels.


 * Scope
 * The project covers all articles about knives, knife making, bladed weapons, and their use.

Members

 * 1)  (Amateur sword collector/sport swordsman, near-universal interest thereof)
 * 2)  (interested in everything about knives, swords, and steel)
 * 3)  (interested in knives)
 * 4)  (primitive pocketknives such as Opinel, Douk-Douk, Okapi)
 * 5)  (interested in the bladed weapons of Southeast Asia and frustrated by sparseness of existing sources)
 * 6)  (interested in the ethnic swords of the Philippines, and would like to write about them)
 * 7)  (interested in anything sharp.  Generally fixes grammar and other small mistakes)
 * 8)  (Interested in knives of all kinds.  Tries to fix up inaccuracies and improve the verifiability of articles.)
 * 9)  (interested in knives, and steel)
 * 10)  (Interested in knives, is helping with getting articles that are within the scope into the project)
 * 11)  (Interested in Swords)
 * 12)  (Interested in knives, bladed tools, and the history of knives and knife fighting)
 * 13)  (Interested in steel. Knives, Swords, etc.)
 * 14)  (David A: Interested in ethnographic edged weapons of all areas; a collector)
 * 15)  (interested in combat knives)
 * 16)  (Medieval Swords, Katanas)
 * 17)  (Collector of EDC knives, mostly folding knives made by custom makers, but also some production knives, as well as interests in knife steels)
 * 18)  (U.S. military history knives, particular from the Cold War through the post-9/11 GWOT era. Fan of Dan Winkler, Ernest Emerson, Rex Applegate, William Fairbairn, and Andy Arrabito.

Featured content

 * Ernest Emerson
 * Jim Bowie
 * Spyderco
 * Spyderco

Good Articles

 * CQC-6
 * Randall Made Knives

Open tasks

 * Just getting started! Many of these articles need cleanup: encyclopedic style, references, etc.  We have at least 2 Featured articles: James Bowie and Ernest Emerson and a bunch more with the same potential!

Categories

 * Category:Knife makers
 * Category:Knives

A-Class review
The Cutlery WikiProject's A-Class review process is a more formal process for determining if an article, as viewed by the project, meets featured article criteria. Articles successfully passing A-Class review typically soon become featured article candidates.

Notability requirements
Editors apply notability standards to all subjects to determine whether the English language Wikipedia should have a separate, stand-alone article on that subject. The primary purpose of these standards is to ensure that editors create articles that comply with major content policies.


 * We require "significant coverage" in reliable sources so that we can actually write a whole article, rather than half a paragraph or a definition of that topic. If only a few sentences could be written and supported by sources about the subject, that subject does not qualify for a separate page, but should instead be merged into an article about a larger article or relevant list.

For example, an article was once created about the Barlow knife, but the article was so short and information redundant enough that it was later incorporated into the Pocket knife article.


 * We require the existence of "reliable sources" so that we can be confident that we're not passing along random gossip, perpetuating hoaxes, or posting indiscriminate collections of information.


 * We require that all articles rely primarily on "third-party" or "independent sources" so that we can write a fair and balanced article that complies with Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy and that articles are not advertising a product, service, or organization. For this reason we should not list specific price points or retail stores to buy knives.  This would not apply to links to manufacturer's sites that contain more information and happen to list prices.


 * We require the existence of at least one secondary source so that the article can comply with No original research's requirement that all articles be based on secondary sources.


 * We require multiple sources so that we can write a reasonably balanced article that complies with Neutral point of view, rather than representing only one author's point of view. This is also why multiple publications by the same person or organization are considered to be a single source for the purpose of complying with the "multiple" requirement.


 * We require editors to use their judgment about how to organize subjects so that we have neither long, bloated articles nor articles so narrow that they cannot be properly developed. Editors may decide that it is better for readers to present a narrow subject as part of a broader one.  For example, editors normally prefer to merge information about specific knife models into the larger subject of the original manufacturer or maker, because in their editorial judgment, the merged article is more informative and more balanced for readers and reduces redundant information in the encyclopedia. (For ideas on how to deal with material that may be best handled by placing it in another article, see WP:FAILN.)  Certain individual knife models do merit their own separate articles due to historical significance, use by government agencies, or if their design was so unique that it influenced knife making or knife collecting on a large scale.

Because these requirements are based on major content policies, they apply to all articles, not solely articles justified under the general notability criteria. They do not, however, apply to pages whose primary purpose is navigation (i.e., all disambiguation pages and some lists).

Reliable sources for knife related articles
Reliable sources for knife related articles would be mainstream sources and books and magazines that specifically cover knives such as:
 * American Handgunner
 * Blade (magazine)
 * CIBLES
 * Field & Stream
 * Fighting Knives
 * Gun Digest
 * Guns (magazine)
 * Guns & Ammo
 * Knives Illustrated
 * Newsletters from knife-collecting organizations
 * Popular Mechanics
 * Soldier of Fortune (magazine)
 * Tactical Knives

This list is not "all-inclusive", and the above are merely samples.

Additional notability requirements for knife makers
There have been thousands of knife makers over the years, from many different cultures and time periods, it would be impossible to list them all. General notability guidelines for knifemakers include:
 * Blade Hall of Fame members, winners of awards at national knife shows such as The Blade Show, Blade West, Spirit of Steel, etc.
 * Design of a knife, process, or patent that has had significant impact or influence.
 * Founding members and office holders of the Knifemakers' Guild, American Bladesmith Society, or similar organizations.
 * Individual profiles or press releases of makers limited to a page or lessmay be used as a source, but on their own can not be a single source for an entire article, the subject must be covered in a larger article about them, their knives, or their influence. However, three or more smaller articles may be sufficient in some cases.
 * Widespread coverage in cutlery publications.

Templates
WikiProject Blades

Userbox

 * – Adding the userbox to your user page indicates that you are a member of WikiProject Blades.

Barnstar

 * —an award placed at another users talk page for improving Blade-related articles.

Related projects

 * WikiProject Firearms