I wonder at times if they do a lot of the scanning by xray machine. Then if something doesn't look right or they can't get a good view they open them up.
I have brought a knife or two up from the states and there isn't a pattern that I have seen.
I had thought of the X-ray machine answer, but then I thought about the outline of the two SYK knives, with nothing but paper for surrounding packaging, and then the other two (much more menacing and fearsome looking in comparison to the SYK ones) knives, and it didn't add up.
I think it's something along the line of what Bramel suggested, they skip a bunch, and if something grabs their attention, they open it up. I know they "played" with the BDLE, because it was littered with fingerprints on the blade, and I can't imagine Dan sending anyone a knife all smudged up like that. You think maybe there's a "closet Dawg", working in Customs? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />
Oh God, now none of our knives will come to us without being broken in by this mysterious knife nut first! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
