Hello David, 

I hope somebody with more experience in this topic will reply.  I have never traveled internationally with the number of knives you are inquiring about, so I cannot offer much insight.  You do have a lot to deal with between TSA and U.S. customs, as both of these agencies are very strict and offer not an ounce of kindness or humanity in how they perform their duties, you do not want to run afoul of them. 

I can offer my experience in domestic travel with five or six knives or swords.  I have found that the advice that you have to put an actual firearm in with your knives to be gross overkill that complicates things and could jeopardize your firearm.  For all the years I flew, since 2001, I have simply used a recognized gun case, one that is specifically made for rifles.  This has always been more than enough to get their full attention and require a lock.  In this matter I have always used my own lock.  Using a TSA lock is ridiculous since it is the TSA, or airport personnel that you are protecting against.  When I would walk up to the luggage check-in counter, they would see a rifle case and often begin to hand me a red "firearms" tag.  It is at this time that I would inform them of what I had in the case and that I would like a hand inspection or was willing to wait for special screening. 

For many years this would lead to me stepping aside to hand an agent my case and the keys to the lock while they performed that hand inspection.  This was always rather enjoyable as the agent was in awe that I had made what they were looking at and I often handed out a lot of business cards.  The case was then locked back up and the keys returned to me, so I could be on my way. 

In later years they no longer did the hand inspection but instead would run the case through an X-Ray inspection while I waited, in case they saw something that required opening the case.  Almost every time, I simply got a thumbs up and was on my way.  It is not as fun as interacting with the hand inspectors, but it was more efficient.

State sales tax is complicated, but U.S. import taxes is not- they will get it from you.  I have heard many horror stories about vendors having to pay all the taxes on entry and then settling up later on what they actually sold. 

But, once again, I will defer you to those who have dealt with this more than I have.   

Hello Kevin,

Thank you very much for the quick reply and all of your suggestion- I really appreciate it. I was afraid that it might be difficult to find a smith from EU with smiliar experience.
I will try to reach master Neels Van Den Berg or Journeyman smith Eric Markman. Both of them had to travel with knives for abs test knives set. I hope they will help me.

In regards to the luggage and protective suitcase: I have to read about airlines and airport regulation- if they allows to lock those kind of cases, I will definitely buy a proper rifle case (additional insurance as well).
Of course, there is always a risk, that the case get stolen or lost, but this is the risk I need to accept traveling internationally.

There is no similar discussion on the forum, so if I know something I will put a proper note under this conversation (for other members who might look answers for the same questions).

Hello David,

I had to travel with my test knives to blade show atlanta last June, so I can offer some insight.

I come from the Netherlands so I think the rules will be much the same as traveling from Poland.

I had the same problem as you, and I looked into getting some extra insurance or security but found that there was nothing really applicable for knives. Airport staff told me that traveling with knives is quite common and does not really need special treatment. (For instance chefs who travel with their knives all the time.) It is important to read the laws carefully so that you don't bring knives that are illegal.

What I did was make sure my knives were packed as well as I could, inside a hard case inside my big suitcase containing clothes. I also added a note warning airport staff that it contained valuable and sharp knives would they want to open it to look inside. You are not allowed to put on a lock that TSA can't open anyway so I didn't bother with a lock at all.

I will say that the suitcase of knives was never opened as far I could tell, even after a few connecting flights, both in the usa and one in Germany. I think knives show up clear in the scanners and there is no need to physically open your suitcase most of time.

I personally had no problems at all and not even a comment on the contents of my luggage, the only problem was a double edge razor that was confiscated from my carry on (even without any blades!)

I think the best you can do is package everything as secure as possible, Airports are not careful with luggage at all so a knife poking through a soft suitcase and getting damaged is a real risk. I also added a GPS tracker for some extra piece of mind, although there is very little you can do when your luggage is lost.

Hi Pieter

I was hope somebody from Europe will read this and leave a feedback! thanks a lot for all suggestions. I travel with hard suitcase, so I'm not afraid someone get hurt by not well secure blades. I'm more afraid someone can still them, but this is the risk I need to accept. GPS devide is a good idea. Maybe I will put all the knives into hard case, put a GPS devise to it and leave it unlock in my luggage. 

The problem that stay unsolved and still unclear to me is the legal transportation- I believe I need some clearance document (did you heard about ATA carnet?) to being released from any customs fee/taxation. Do you have any knowledge or expierience in this matter?

I personally did not need any legal documents, as I do not own a official registered business as a knifemaker.

I also did not have a table at bladeshow  as I just went there to do my JS test, at customs I declared that I was traveling for holiday reasons. (this was also true)

As I understand it it can be a bit of an legal gray area selling handmade goods in other countries, as the amount of money and tax involved is relatively small.

However I really can't give any legal advise on this, If you want to be sure doing the paperwork would be a good idea.

I understand. Thank you very much Pieter! I will try to find more information about that. For sure, more people have those kind of doubts, so maybe it's a good opportunity to "do something" for the society :).

Anyway, Kevin, Pieter, thank you very much for help!