How/Where to attach my knife

[IndigoBlue]

I had a similar knife a while back and I used a couple of zip ties through the cut outs on the holster to attach it to the sholder strap just below the D ring. I mounted it upside down, mine had a lock so the knife couldn't fall out, running the first zip tie through the fabric loop that held the D ring to the sholder strap and then through the bottom cut out on the holster. I then just ran another zip tie throught he upper cut out and around the sholder strap to hold it from flopping around.

Good luck,

Scott

That is what I recommend as well.

I have a small knife, about 3 inches long with a square tip attached with zip ties on the scabbard to the back of my SPG, which gets clipped with a small bolt snap to my left D ring. Then I attach my flashlight with sections of bicycle innertubing to the HP hose further up from the small knife, but still close to it. They are both very handy there and easy to reach. I also have a larger knife attached the way Scott describes above, to the right shoulder strap, upside down, with zip ties on the scabbard.

I wear my compass and dive computer both on a wrist strap, not on a console. That leaves room for the small knife on the back of the SPG.

A mirror, whistle, safety sausage, and 15 ft spool all clip together and fit inside my left B/C pocket, while my extra mask fits in my right B/C pocket. Nothing dangling.

That is where everything goes.

 

[RICHinNC]

Attach where ever is comfortable...safe...and you can reach it with EITHER hand.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Your Sherwood Outback appears to be very similar to my Genesis Recon before I added the backplate.

I carry my knife in the location indicated on your Outback and it works well with one qualifier - putting the knife back in the sheath is usually done by feel as it is not always easy to see it under the pocket. A blunt bladed knife is recommended. My old knife was just like yours except blunt tipped. My more recent Parkway knife/scissors thingy is a little larger but also has a sheath with a large entrance that is easy to hit.

A better option for your knife may be to attach it using the backing plate provided to attach it to the pocket flap near the top. Use the backing plate for a pattern and melt the two holes in the pocket flap with a soldering iron or a heated nail so that the edges are sealed and will not unravel.

I am not a fan of zip ties, particularly in cold water as only a slight twist will snap them, particularly when they get old. An old zip tie with lots of sunlight exposure can actually shatter.

I am also not a fan of attaching a knife to the shoulder straps as the left one is already a bit cluttered with the inflator hose and the spg and the right one is better used for clipping the backup light.

Normally I attach my backup light with a bolt snap cave lined to the light and then clipped to the right shoulder D-ring. But on my Recon I actually like the in the shoulder strap mini retractor. I ditched the plastic clip and attached a brass ring. I can now clip the bolt snap to the small ring and then hold the lower end head of the light (a UK300 or Saberlite) to the shoulder strap with a loop of surgical tubing in normal fashion. It keeps things very streamlined with no danglies and yet is very accessible.

The caution here is that the retractor cable will eventually break near the end where it bends around the exit grommet from the shoulder strap, so you need to inspect this and replace when neccesary, every 100 dives or so, or risk losing the light. For those situations where the "backup" light is more than just a handy daylight and is a saftey issue, I will revert to the more secure D-ring arrangement using the same loop of surgical tubing to secure the head.

 

[Charlie99]

One comment I have is to check how easy it is to get out, and also to put back in.

If you have to use a knife, you really don't want to lose it. The month's Alert Diver has a story about night diving in which the diver drops his knife while fumbling with cold, gloved hands.

Both my lockback/folding jacknife and my shears have a small lanyard, and are clipped off the to bungees inside my pockets. Both cutting devices are accessible with either hand. The lanyard goes on my wrist before I use the cutting device.

The lockback knife is easy and safe to restow.

Storing the knife inside a pocket removes entanglement hazards, at the cost of slower access. Your first action on entanglement should be to stop, see if you (or more likely -- your buddy) can remove the entanglement, and only then start cutting away.

YMMV,

Charlie Allen

 

[spurtill]

i tend to carry two knives, one strapped to the inside of my right calf. By having it on the inside of the leg it is accessible to both hands and is less likely to get caught in an smb string. You should be able to reach it by raising your leg if your hands were caught in something.

I also carry a small knife attached cable ties to the hode of my bcd. This again is reachable by both hands, is easily available to a buddy looking to cut you free and can even be reached from such awkward positions as reaching behind your head if you are of that mind (you can pull the bcd hose around you head and access the knife that way). It also means the knife is always with my kit and there is no chance of leaving behind.

A word of advice of the latter, make sure the knife is very small/light. I had a havy knife there originally and it was (a) too big and awkward and more importantly (b) it kept swinging my bcd hose over my shoulder making it hard to access . This is avoided by using a light knife.

S

 

[dvleemin]

I strap my knive to the outside of my right calf. Still possible to access it with both hands, although a little bit more difficult with my left. I also carry shears in a BC pocket.

Darryl

 

[Diver0001]

I strap my knive to the outside of my right calf. Still possible to access it with both hands, although a little bit more difficult with my left. I also carry shears in a BC pocket.

Darryl

Those turn out to be just about the worst places to put your knives in the case that you actually end up swimming into a net. Where I dive we have a lot of nets in the water, including some very large man/woman-eating monster funnel nets that will swallow you almost entirely before you realise you're in them. For this reason one of the dive clubs in the area did (some time ago) some kinds of tests by deliberately swiming into funnel-nets or bow-nets or whatever you call them locally (in a pool of course) in typical sport-diver configurations and it turns out that a knife on the leg, especially the outside, is quick to get entangled and quite difficult to remove once entangled and that getting into your BCD pockets (which on some models is difficult enough already) is complicated considerably in a net.

Hose-attached knives also turned out to be a very poor choice, espeically if attached to the console where the knife could end up entangled *and* behind you.

The least likely place they reported to get an entangled knife was on the waistband. I don't remember how shoulder-strap mounts turned out but I recall that I moved one of my knives from a hose-mount to a shoulder-strap mount after reading that article and that can't be a coincidence. Since then I've had some concrete experience of really needing my knife and I can report that given the choice between the waistband mount and the shoulder-mount (where my knives are) I chose for the one on the shoulder.

R..

 

[dvleemin]

Those turn out to be just about the worst places to put your knives in the case that you actually end up swimming into a net. Where I dive we have a lot of nets in the water, including some very large man/woman-eating monster funnel nets that will swallow you almost entirely before you realise you're in them. For this reason one of the dive clubs in the area did (some time ago) some kinds of tests by deliberately swiming into funnel-nets or bow-nets or whatever you call them locally (in a pool of course) in typical sport-diver configurations and it turns out that a knife on the leg, especially the outside, is quick to get entangled and quite difficult to remove once entangled and that getting into your BCD pockets (which on some models is difficult enough already) is complicated considerably in a net.

Hose-attached knives also turned out to be a very poor choice, espeically if attached to the console where the knife could end up entangled *and* behind you.

The least likely place they reported to get an entangled knife was on the waistband. I don't remember how shoulder-strap mounts turned out but I recall that I moved one of my knives from a hose-mount to a shoulder-strap mount after reading that article and that can't be a coincidence. Since then I've had some concrete experience of really needing my knife and I can report that given the choice between the waistband mount and the shoulder-mount (where my knives are) I chose for the one on the shoulder.

R..

How did they attach it to the waistband? Hanging down (vertical I guess if you were standing), or horizantal? I'm thinking of my bc (ranger) and trying to picture how I would attach it. Also seems like an uncomfortable place for it.

Darryl

 

[Boogie711]

How did they attach it to the waistband? Hanging down (vertical I guess if you were standing), or horizantal? I'm thinking of my bc (ranger) and trying to picture how I would attach it. Also seems like an uncomfortable place for it.

Darryl

It's not. Mine is attached to the waistband, just left of centre. I actually use a sawed off Betty Crocker special - cost me $2 at Wal-Mart, and I have 3 backups whenever this one gets dull.

When it's on the waistband, I don't notice it - but I have deployed it with either hand wearing thick drygloves. I love it.

 

[Boogie711]

Here are some pictures - my sawed off Betty Crocker:
Betty

and on my harness:
harness