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I know you asked about "knives", but your focus on functionality seems to be "rope/line cutting ability, be able to slice through clothing, resist rusting", and emergency response/rescue.
Consider this Benchmade 7hook as an alternative or supplement to a knife:
Gday guys, looks like i've hit the jackpot here, a forum with a sub forum devoted purely to knives
Im chasing a knife, funnily enough, yet im not a diver. Im a jetski driver for the wesfarmers emergency response team that we have in WA, basically if some one goes missing etc and its in white water, especially around margret river, gracetown surf areas etc the water police call us out to go looking for them. We go out in surf conditions around 6ft and larger, in 20+ knot winds. As its white water we punch through waves constantly
What im chasing from the knife is the holder it uses, the strength of the holder, both latching the knife in, and how it attaches to a dive belt, must have rope/line cutting ability, be able to slice through clothing, resist rusting. Can either be folding or full size, still un decided about sharp or blunt tip
There is the high possability i'll lose it on a call out so would prefer it to be sub $100
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, cheers
If you are expecting to lose these from time to time I would go with something cheap and modify it to your needs. The top knife in the picture below may work well for you. It is a lock blade folding knife built into a carabiner that has a knob on the gate to lock the gate closed that could be clipped anywhere. Next knife down is one I modified so a shackle and clip could be attached and I cut away part of the handle so it could be opened easier with gloves on but that one is not a lock blade. The last one is a cheap lock blade that I attached a shackle and clip to that can also be attached just about anywhere.
I'm in agreement with the line cutters, Dive Rite has a A knife which is about disposable and aroung $20. Benchmade and Columbia River all make nice cutters also. With gloves I like the Benchmade (better sheath) and Columbia River better.
Looks nice but you may consider a sheathed knife. This seems a little thing and may pertain more to diving but I find it's easier to quickly grab a knife out of a sheath in emergency situations(especially when gloved) then messing with a folding knife.
The Benchmade and Spyderco dive knives are always good choices because they are made of N680/X-15 and H-1 alloys respectively, which are engineered specifically to resist corrosion in salt water. Always check the material of construction, many "dive knives" are made from common stainless steel alloys which will corrode and lose their edge in salt water environments. Titanium is also a good choice - its completely inert and won't corrode in natural environments.