I am looking for a gimmicked knife that has an opening in the handle to hide a length of rope (about 12" worth or so). This is used to do a cut and restored rope routine.

Anyone familiar with this?

There are at least two versions made. The easiest (and least expensive) to find is the Jim Steinmeyer’s “Knot Unexpected”. It is manufactured for and sold by Hank Lee. They put it into production in 1988 or so. I believe that still sell it. The knife is gimmicked such that the rope comes from the butt end of the handle. It looks like an inexpensive (Wal-Mart, plastic handle, bottom of the line) butcher knife.

There is another knife made called simply the “Professional rope Knife”. It looks like a hunting knife with a nice wooden handle. The handle is gimmicked in a different manner than the Hank Lee/Steinmeyer knife. I haven’t a clue who makes it. The instruction sheet doesn’t say. I got mine maybe 15 or so years ago because I liked the look better. The routine provided is different than the Steinmeyer routine. The Steinmeyer routine is stronger. However, the Professional Rope Knife can be used for the Steinmeyer routine (which is the way I use it!).

I have both and believe that the Hank Lee version will give you exactly what you are looking for and is cheap and easy to find.

Does the Hank Lee one hold an adequate supply of rope? I just hearrd from a friend who said that the handle is a little too small.

I guess you will need to determine what “adequate” means. You don’t need a lot of rope to do a cut and restored rope trick. You only need a small loop of say 6 inches (15.24 cm) or less to do the trick. Remember that Slidini used a gimmicked scissors that gave you two very small loops. Each loop was made from less than 6 inches of rope. He cut the rope twice and fooled everyone with his apparently clean and open handling.

Back to your question about the Hank Lee prop knife.

The “well” is approximately 3 inches (a little over 7.6 cm) deep by about 1 inch high (2.5 cm) by about a little less than a half inch wide (say 1.27ish cm).

I just took a 24 inch (61 cm) loop of one quarter inch (about .64 cm)of magicians rope with the core still in and it fit in the well nicely. By the way, that is the size of rope and the size of loop the Steinmeyer calls for and that the knife was built to use.

Frankly, that length of rope it is much more than you need to do a simple cut and restored rope routine. The Steinmeyer routine is more involved than cut and restored. It is a cut the rope, tie the rope, WALK THE KNOT to the other end of the rope, then untie the rope showing the know has moved, and finally hand out the two lengths of rope (let the spectator helpers keep them). It is a killer routine!

Finally, you don’t need a gimmicked knife at all. How about borrowing a knife or using one of your pocketknives (from your color changing knife set) and load your TT with a small loop of rope (another old version of the trick). Simply put the TT on as you reach into your pocket for your knife. Instant miracle!

I hope some of this helps.

I just got an e-mail from Jim Steinmeyer and am also planning on picking up a copy of his book "Device and Illusion" which shows how to make one. Then I can decide which option is best.

Thanks for all the insight.

You can't go wrong with Jim's ideas! The knife is not that difficult to make! The TT idea is the easiest to make up and use right now!

Thanks again, I plan on making the knife myself so that I can make sure it holds enough rope.