Have you used your dive knife?

[Diver0001]

Have you ever been in a situation where you have needed to use your dive knife or any other cutting tools? If you have I'd be intrested how and why they were used. Thanks!

Oh yes.

I've *needed* it twice.

Once was while saving a diver who was hopelessly tangled up in a huge ball of fishing line that someone discarded where we were diving. He was sinking along an effectively bottomless wall and caught him.

The other time I very nearly got fished up and ended up cutting the line to sort out the problem. This one wasn't life threatening but I was sure bracing for the pain of the hooks digging in to my left side.... (yes there were more than one)

R..

 

[r37691]

A couple of years ago, while raising a boat with lift bags in low viz, a rope from the boat got tangled around my tank & held me there. Cut it off with my SOG Knife, & then finished raising the boat.
Depending on the diving environment, I carry at least 1 knife & two pairs of shears.
Bob

 

[jagfish]

The other time I very nearly got fished up and ended up cutting the line to sort out the problem. This one wasn't life threatening but I was sure bracing for the pain of the hooks digging in to my left side.... (yes there were more than one)

I guess this incident left some angler with a story about the huge one that got away...

JAG

 

[Diver0001]

I guess this incident left some angler with a story about the huge one that got away...

JAG

The stupid thing about this is that we had stood talking to him for about 10 min while we were getting our gear set up. He knew where we were going in the water and still managed to throw his line over my back where it got tangled in my tank valves. The contraption/lure he had was a system of cables and weights with about 10 little hooks with floating bait. Initially my movements must have pulled on his line and suddenly he started reeling me in and my thoughts quickly changed to the hooks that I could see coming my way. I wrapped my arm around the line on the other side about 5 times to get a good grip on it thinking "surely he can see our bubbles" and pulled hard--in my mind to warn him that I was tangled in his thing--and he just kept reeling. At that point my buddy intervened and started trying to get the line out of my valves where it was tangled and I thought "**** this" and grabbed my knife and cut it loose.

After the dive I went and talked to him again and he (claimed that he) really had no clue that it was a diver. He thought he had snagged a big fish, which struck me as a little odd condidering that I've never seen a fish there over 10kg but ok. Maybe it felt like a 10kg fish..... I asked him if he could see our bubbles and he had no recollection. I guess it's something you're not tuned into unless you dive..... He understood given the circumstances that I had to cut it loose and said he would have done the same, which was nice because I wasn't looking for a confrontation with him. I feel strongly that divers and sport fishermen need to understand each other and get along. If he looks for bubbles next time then we're all better off.

R..

 

[bottom_sucker]

Yes, had to cut dive buddy loose from fishing line during navigation run in AOW class. He was pretty well wrapped from knees to ankles. Carry knife, considering set of shears as well in future.

 

[Azotomix]

I used twice my knife for cutting off a fishing rope where a diver was caught in.
Olso to open a can of beer because the tab to open the can was broken. We where celebrating our last dive of the vacation at the safety stop depth...

 

[Mike Matthews]

You may never need to use your knife but if you need one and don't have it...

An ounce of prevention.

Have you ever been in a situation where you have needed to use your dive knife or any other cutting tools? If you have I'd be intrested how and why they were used. Thanks!

 

[Avalanche]

i've used the hook part of the knife to cut monofilament....had a hook snare my fin in a deep dark sinkhole of all places.

 

[northcoast_diver]

Was diving near a breakwater jettee, and got caught in fishing line. Used my smaller knife to cut free. A knife (or other cutting device) is something that I always have 2 of with me at all times.

Getting caught happens more often than you might think.

People fish everywhere they can. Beach entries and exits normally go through fishing zones. Line gets snagged and left behind all the time, so its there long after the fishermen are gone.

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

I carry shears in my waistband, a knife attached to my wing's corrugated hose, and a small line knife in my light handle. I frequently use the shears inside of wrecks and such. I pretty much just use the others for backup, in case I can't reach my shears.