The Rules in Short at Bladesmiths Network

Last updated: 1 November 2026

Hardly anyone reads the full Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, so here is what matters most, in plain words. If anything here ever differs from them, the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy win. This is a summary, not legal advice.

Knives and the Law

• BSN is run from the United Kingdom, so UK law applies to this site and to everything posted on it, wherever you live. Something being legal where you are does not mean we will allow it here.
• Never show or present a knife as suitable for combat, fighting, violence or self-defence. Marketing a knife that way is a crime in the UK (the Knives Act 1997).
• No banned or restricted knives. That means zombie knives and zombie-style machetes, flick knives and switchblades, gravity knives, butterfly knives (balisongs), knives disguised as other objects such as belt-buckle knives, and any other knife or weapon that is unlawful to make, show, sell or possess. No posts, pictures, videos, text or tags that show or promote them.
• Craft, trade and culinary knives are welcome: forging, metallurgy, heat treatment, kitchen knives, bushcraft, collecting and history. A sharp subject is fine. How it is presented has to stay within the law.
• You must be 13 or over to join. In the UK it is an offence to sell a knife to anyone under 18, so on the Marketplace a seller can be contacted only by a member old enough to buy a knife in the seller’s country, their own and the one they are connecting from (18 in the UK and several other countries, 16 in Denmark and Austria), and sellers must be 18 or over. A red 18+ badge shows who has confirmed their age.

The Marketplace

• BSN does not sell anything and is not part of any sale. We do not take payment, hold goods or arrange delivery, and we do not check items or sellers. A deal is between you and the other member, so take care before you pay or meet anyone.
• Only makers and businesses who are 18 or over and have confirmed their age can list items. You are responsible for selling and sending knives lawfully, and nothing banned above can be listed.
• Anyone can look at a listing. Listings can be reported like anything else, and a reported listing may be hidden until a moderator decides.

What You Cannot Post

• Anything unlawful, or that helps someone commit a crime.
• Child sexual abuse material or any sexual exploitation of children. We report it to the police and the account is removed straight away.
• Harassment, threats, abuse aimed at a person, or encouraging serious violence.
• Scams, fraud, spam, impersonation, or other people’s private information.
• Pictures, videos or writing that are not yours and that you have no permission to use.
• Malicious software, or anything that attacks or tries to get round the security of the site.

Reporting and What We Do

• Every post, comment, thread, reply, Marketplace listing, Hangout message, direct message and member has a Report button. Use it.
• If you report something serious (an illegal or restricted knife, other illegal content, an under-age member, adult content, violence or threats, or a scam) it is hidden from everyone except its author and our moderators straight away, until a moderator decides.
• We aim to decide every report within 48 hours, and to act on a valid legal notice within 48 hours. The author is told what was decided and why, and so are you if you reported it.
• Decisions are made by people, not by software. They are written to a moderation log. If you disagree, email [email protected] and we will look again.
• If you think we got it wrong, appeal within 7 days: use the Appeal link in the notice we send you, or go to /appeal if you cannot sign in.
• The Online Safety Act 2023 expects services like ours to deal with illegal content, and we take that seriously.
• Breaking the rules can mean content removed, a warning, a suspension for a set time, or a permanent ban. Trying to get round a ban with a new account is itself breaking the rules.

Your Account and Messages

• Keep your login safe and do not share your account. Switch on two-step sign-in in Settings if you want a second lock.
• Direct messages are private but not encrypted. Our moderators can read one only if a member reports it, and then only that message and up to five before it. Do not use them to harass, threaten or spam anyone, or to keep writing to someone who has said no or blocked you.
• Deleted messages are kept for 12 months, or longer where needed for an open investigation or legal claim, in a restricted archive that only administrators can read. It is used only to investigate abuse and handle legal claims. This also applies to the messages of an account that is deleted.
• Hangout messages are deleted automatically after 30 days.
• Share Copy posts a separate copy elsewhere. You may use it on your own posts. Only use it on someone else’s post if they have said you can, and credit them. The copy is not linked to BSN, and deleting the post here, or us removing it, does not remove the copy. Sharing someone’s work without permission can lead to a warning or removal from the site.
• Posts, comments and builds are for members only. Visitors can see a member’s profile, not their posts.
• Profiles, events and Marketplace listings are public. Anyone can see them, signed in or not, and they can show up in search engines. Do not put anything in them that you would not want the public to see.

Your Data

• We handle your data under UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018). We do not sell it.
• In Settings you can download a copy of your data and delete your account at any time. Deleting is permanent: your profile, posts, pictures, comments, likes, follows and builds go straight away.
• Some things remain for a while, as the Privacy Policy explains: backups of our database for 30 days, the moderation log (usernames and short notes), and the message archive above.
• Pictures and videos you delete or replace are deleted from our servers within about an hour. Those of content our moderators remove are kept for 7 days so the decision can be appealed, and then deleted (content removed permanently goes within about an hour).
• We only use analytics cookies if you press Accept on the cookie banner.

Staying Safe

• What members post about forging, machinery, chemicals, heat treatment and other workshop work is not professional safety advice. Check it, and look after yourself.
• Be careful before meeting anyone from the internet or sharing personal details.
• We are not responsible for what other members say or do, but tell us when something is wrong and we will act.

The Laws Behind These Rules

• Knives Act 1997: it is an offence to market a knife as suitable for combat or in a way likely to encourage violent behaviour.
• Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 and Criminal Justice Act 1988 (with the orders made under them): they ban or restrict certain knives and weapons, and make it an offence to sell a knife to anyone under 18.
• Offensive Weapons Act 2019: stricter rules on selling knives online and a ban on zombie-style knives.
• Online Safety Act 2023: duties on services like this one to deal with illegal content.
• UK GDPR and Data Protection Act 2018: how we may use your personal data, and your rights over it.

These Rules and our Terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. Questions about any of this: email [email protected]. The full Cookie Policy explains cookies.