Though Colonel James Bowie’s eponymous knife is the best-known example, other forms of cutlery draw their names from famous Americans, such as the Harry Truman scimitar and the Patrick Henry shuriken. Slice into history with today's Groupon: for $17, you get $35 worth of knives, scissors, and more at Heimerdinger Cutlery Company, located on Shelbyville Road.

In business since 1861, Heimerdinger Cutlery Company is the Louisville area’s only German cutlery store, whittling away household worries with a bevy of sharp-sided merchandise. Stock up on miniaturized swordcraft from name-brand knifesmiths such as Wusthof, Dovo, and William Henry. Victorionx's Swiss Army pocket knives (starting at $17) cut through inconvenience with a variety of colors and added accouterments, solving situational snafus with built-in bottle openers, screwdrivers, and English-newspeak dictionaries. Hunters and fish-fetchers can direct pointed questions to the Buck 105BKS Pathfinder ($71.95), an all-purpose, 5-inch outdoor knife with a phenolic black handle. Keep culinary cutlery drawers occupied with new blades from Dexter Russell, such as specialized stickers including boning knives ($19.50), petite paring pokers (starting at $10), and Japanese chef's knives ($35), built tough enough to slice through the island nation's traditional Godzilla tenderloins.

In addition to a panoply of blades, Heimerdinger offers a natty array of scissors, shavers, and soaps from Caswell-Massey, revitalizing dull façades with sharp-eyed snips and suds. Customers can browse Heimerdinger's lighted display cases housing a pair of 70-pound shears, whose 6-foot blades were once used to shear the tops off of overgrown skyscrapers.