The husband of one of my nieces is a professional chef. The two them flew LAX-EWR last Thanksgiving for the family meal, which he was going to prepare. (I strongly urge FTers who don't already have chefs in the family to find one who will marry in.) He brought his full set of knives, naturally in checked baggage.

No problem eastbound. Westbound at EWR, the check-in agent said "no." He asked for a supervisor. The supervisor asked the agent "What can he do with them if they're in the baggage compartment? It's not like knives can explode or anything," and told her to check them in.

End of story.

In other words, you should be OK, but don't be too surprised to encounter someone who doesn't know it.