Couple of knives USD Sea Hawk & ??

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enduser

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Location
SLC, UT.
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Curious what you guys can tell me about these two knives. One is obviously a USD Sea Hawk (it says it on the handle) but not sure what the other is. The sheath says AMF Swimaster and Divers Knife is etched on the blade. Possibly a VOIT?

Any info on value / collectibility they were thrown in with some other gear I purchased used.

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1408686231.261557.jpg
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1408686246.509830.jpg

Thanks!
 
The "US Divers "Sea Hawk" blade is circa 1971/2 att catalogue. clip as for the second knife looks like a "Seamax Pro" att pix (value $50.00 approx) in the wrong scabbard maybe replacement for the lost original knife.SEA HAWK CIRCA 1972.jpgSEAMEX PRO.jpg
 
The second knife is a AMF Voit Swimaster. I kind of put this together from multiple sources but I believe it is pretty accurate.

History of Voit/ Swimaster is rather complex. AMF (American Machine And Foundry) was founded in New York as an industrial manufacturing company in 1900. The Voit Rubber Company was founded by William J Voit in Indiana in 1922.

Voit acquired the Spearfisherman Co of Huntington Beach,CA (which made drysuits and swimfins which were Duck Feet and the Wide View mask ) was founded by Arthur Brown in 1945. A newer company, Swimaster of Los Angles,CA marketed Aurthur Brown's mask and fins. Voit in about 1955 bought the Swimmaster company, then in 1958 AMF bought Voit.

In 1985 AMF itself was bought by Minstar Inc which began to sell off the multiple divisions Voit/Swimaster being one, to focus uniquely on Bowling and Voit became a separate corporation which also sold off it's multiple divisions to focus on inflatable balls, AMF then merged with Qubica to become QubicaAMF Worldwide and Voit moved to Mexico. Mares bought Voit/Swimaster from Minstar Inc.

The Logo which was used by Swimaster portrayed all three originating companies: The Swimaster (AMF) Shield, the Voit insignia, and a fish depicting the Spearfisherman Company.

A bit of humor, AMF bought Harley Davidson in the late 60's. Quality went down hill and AMF came to mean Another Mechanical Failure to bikers.
 
The second knife is a AMF Voit Swimaster. I kind of put this together from multiple sources but I believe it is pretty accurate.

History of Voit/ Swimaster is rather complex. AMF (American Machine And Foundry) was founded in New York as an industrial manufacturing company in 1900. The Voit Rubber Company was founded by William J Voit in Indiana in 1922.

Voit acquired the Spearfisherman Co of Huntington Beach,CA (which made drysuits and swimfins which were Duck Feet and the Wide View mask ) was founded by Arthur Brown in 1945. A newer company, Swimaster of Los Angles,CA marketed Aurthur Brown's mask and fins. Voit in about 1955 bought the Swimmaster company, then in 1958 AMF bought Voit.

In 1985 AMF itself was bought by Minstar Inc which began to sell off the multiple divisions Voit/Swimaster being one, to focus uniquely on Bowling and Voit became a separate corporation which also sold off it's multiple divisions to focus on inflatable balls, AMF then merged with Qubica to become QubicaAMF Worldwide and Voit moved to Mexico. Mares bought Voit/Swimaster from Minstar Inc.

The Logo which was used by Swimaster portrayed all three originating companies: The Swimaster (AMF) Shield, the Voit insignia, and a fish depicting the Spearfisherman Company.

A bit of humor, AMF bought Harley Davidson in the late 60's. Quality went down hill and AMF came to mean Another Mechanical Failure to bikers.
I would add that the acquisition of The Spearfisherman Company (Swimaster Duck Feet fins) by Voit was not friendly, from what I've heard. The Spearfisherman Company destroyed the molds for the Duck Feet fins, and Voit had to re-make them. Thereafter, the Duck Feet were made slightly differently, and not of pure gum rubber but of two different types of rubber (one for the foot pocket and one for the blade), which made them actually less comfortable and more prone to giving a diver cramps. I wore mine upside-down, which you cannot do with the Voit variety of Duck Feet fins. This provided better support to the foot than right-side up. I have three pairs of the original Swimaster Duck Feet fins (two of the open heel and one full-foot pair), and still enjoy diving with them, although I cannot use my thick wet suit booties with them as my foot is too large for that.
 
Thanks guys appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

These things are ridiculously huge! If you need to put a inch ruler along the side of a knife I would say that it is too big? I suppose if I ever get in an underwater street fight I will be prepared.

kg.
 
Thanks guys appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

These things are ridiculously huge! If you need to put a inch ruler along the side of a knife I would say that it is too big? I suppose if I ever get in an underwater street fight I will be prepared.

kg.
kg,

They are not ridiculously huge...these are our underwater tools, and they have specific uses. For instance, one of the uses I had for my Sportsways knife in the 1960s was cutting away a net that was entangled in the prop of a large fishing boat. One of the things that was entangled was a large line. I used the serrated edge of the knife to cut that line, as the sharp edge would not penetrate and saw through the fibers efficiently. If your sole use for the knife is to cut monofilament line, then yes, they are huge. ut if you are prying, trying to get leverage, then a small knife won't hack it (which is where that phrase came from). I have a photo of that line that we cut on my other computer, and will post it shortly. Once cut free, we were immediately carried to the bottom about twenty feet below, and it was only with a lot of effort that we recovered that net.

SeaRat
 
Good point. A tool for every job, I do end up diving most of the time in mountain lakes so a monofilament cutter is usually all I need (and usually have shears). They are very cool.
 
Thetis Island-Pierre and net1.jpgThetis Island-Pierre and Bob LeBarr with net.jpg
This is the netting that we cut from that fishing boat's prop. We were kids at the time--teenagers in high school. But it still took 20 minutes with our two knives to cut it free. Note Pierre's knife in his right hand, and Bob LaBarr examining the net. Bob was our sponsor from the Salem Aqua Club (we were the Salem Junior Aqua Club at this time, which was about 1963) from Salem, Oregon. We were at Thetis Island for the dive, just off Vancouver Island, Canada. That two-inch line, which was wrapped around the prop's shaft multiple times, was what we needed to cut through, and I found that the sharp edge would not work well, and so used the serrated edge on my Sportsways knife.

Below are my current dive knives, including the Wenoka knife that I carry on my right leg, on the outside, on each dive. Note the serrated edges that are on these knives, and the monofillament line cutter on my Wenoka knife. The Sportsways knife that has the serrations on the end, with the curved lower blade, is the one I was using as a USAF Pararescueman in the late 1960s through the 1970s. I am currently writing a book on my USAF experiences, tentatively titled Between Air and Water, the Memoir of a USAF Pararescuema. Here is a short story from that manuscript:
We finally completed the last jump, a night water jump which turned into a disaster for me. We jumped into Eglin Bay from a HC-130. It was a very dark night, and I was leery about the jump for some reason. Usually I liked jumping by now, but this was a full scuba jump, with the tanks, the reserve parachute, a medical kit, and a butt-boat (one-man survival raft). Looking out the door, I could see almost nothing as we were not dark-adapted for the jump (the lights in the plane had not been dimmed). I jumped, felt a good opening, and was relieved to be out of the heat of the plane. The water was less than a minute below me. After checking the ‘chute, my next task was to pull the pins of the risers so I could steer. But something was not right with my right riser group. Rather than going up at an angle, these two risers went straight up. I looked up, and there was a wrap of parachute line from the rear of the skirt down to the risers, which had been looped over the other riser, forming a half hitch around both risers. This kept the two risers together, and made it impossible to use this riser group for steering. We were still using the slip-riser method of steering the canopy by distortion of the rear steering oval in the ‘chute. With only one riser group to steer with, I made a poor, down-wind landing into the water. I hit hard on my fins, then dove face-first into the inky black, salty bay. Coughing and sputtering, I got to the surface just in time for the canopy to start pulling me through the water. Still face-down, I grabbed another breath, and released the left Capwell Quick-release. The risers flung away, and I was at last free on the surface, or so I thought.

While I rested, the current in the bay and the wind carried me into the unseen parachute shroud lines, and they began tangling around my diving tank and regulator. When I was pulled from the water, I had these lines all over my tank and my leg. It took a few minutes to clear up the mess. Then I was asked by one of the instructors, “What would you have done if this was a mission?” The implication was that I would have needed rescuing rather than being the rescuer.

I had a good reply, and pulled out my diving knife with its seven-inch long blade, the orange-handled Sportsways dive knife with the Soligen stainless steel I had gotten from my parents several years prior for my birthday. Unlike the military-issue knives, with Japanese “stainless” steel that rusted and which would not hold an edge (and rarely were sharpened), this knife was razor sharp. I told them that I simply would have cut those lines off me like I did the fishing line that was a perpetual problem for divers in the Pacific Northwest. But in a training situation, I couldn’t do that as it would destroy a valuable parachute. On a mission, the parachute was expendable, and they usually were allowed simply to sink.

I then told them of my problem with the riser, and the half-hitch over the group which precluded my using it for steering. I’m not sure that they believed me, but this allowed me to get through the jump. To this day I don’t know if that was purposely done in packing the chute, or accidentally happened either in the packing or the deployment.
Copyright 2014, John C. Ratliff
This points clearly to the effectiveness of a larger knife that has multiple uses. By the way, the reference to our military-issued knives was from the point of view of one receiving these knives in Okinawa, where upon exposure to the heat and humidity of that region and salt water, they immediately started rusting. This usually happened right where the knives had lettering in the blade, which stated "Stainless Steel," and "Made in Japan." I think these were the U.S. Divers Company knives shown above.


SeaRat
 

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Hello Enduser,the first knife is a U.S.Divers Sea Hawk. They are good heavy duty knives. As far as worth they can go anywhere from $25 to $75 most of the time depending on condition. The rarer ones are the red,white and blue handle,then the black Navy handle one,then yellow then blue. Then the orange and then black. Later Mike.
 
Another little known fact. The two oval holes at the top of the Sea Hawk knife sheath is for twist locks like those used on wet suit beaver tail. They were installed on the upper thigh of a wet suit to hold the top of the sheath and the lower strap went around the lower thigh.

VL-78332-100PK-1.jpg
 

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