Show me your Nice Knife! Vintage BFKs welcome

[Fish&beer]

Ok I'll play too, below is my trusty Sportways Navy knife w/ 7 "" blade. I bought it in 1970 or so for $8 or $10, and have used it every dive since. I used it on scallops, urchins and such. I strap it on the inside of my calf as every kelp diver knows, you never strap it on the outside of your calf due to kelp entanglement.

 

[Soloist]

I have to say during night dives at Blue Heron Bridge I have been very happy with the police presence because it can be a bit nerve-racking gearing up there.

There are actual “bridge trolls” that live under there.

 

[aquacat8]

Ok I'll play too, below is my trusty Sportways Navy knife w/ 7 "" blade. I bought it in 1970 or so for $8 or $10, and have used it every dive since. I used it on scallops, urchins and such. I strap it on the inside of my calf as every kelp diver knows, you never strap it on the outside of your calf due to kelp entanglement.

View attachment 479229

View attachment 479230

Love the yellow handle on the Sportways!

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I am not one of those who uses a small, DIR knife. I like larger knives with a serrated edge and a straight edge. Over my diving times, I have:

• Sawed through a three-inch line with netting hung up on a ship's prop.
• Cut lines that have tangled on me.
• Cut off two parachutes from the harnesses of two dead Korean pilots who were ejected through their T-33 canopy upon crash landing on a glass-smooth Yellow Sea. Then we recovered their bodies into our HH-43 Huskie helicopters via hoist.
• Numerous times cut heavy fishing line off me.

Because of that, I prefer the Wenoka knife on the right of the photos below of diving knives. The others are ones I have owned over the years from Sportsways, which have Solingen stainless steel and will keep a keen edge (I sharpen my knives myself).

The last knife is a Randall Attack-Survival Knife that I carried during the Vietnam War, and used occasionally (but not for "attack," rather for digging a stuck bullet shell out of a minigun). I like the larger knives as they can be used for many purposes, including digging lead out of the bottom of a river, and like I said, cutting fishing line. There is a reason for the serrations, and that is that a regular blade has a tough time cutting through large rope. I also like the button on the Wenoka knife blade that allows one-handed stowing in my leg sheath.

I carry my knife on the outside of my right leg (when I was in the USAF, it was on the inside of that leg for parascuba jumps--see the photo of Rick Harder and myself below). Also, on parascuba jumps, we usually had two knives, one on the top of our reserve, and the other on our leg.

SeaRat

 

[АлександрД]

Our commercial diving equipment manufacturer КАМПО has wide range of knives.
Ножи | АО КАМПО
Most nice is НВ (Нож Водолазный) - "Diving Knife"

They have wide range of products, and not all of it is presented on the website.
This photo I made in KAMPO plant

I had such old helmet divers knife

but I made a change with my friend to this НВУ (Нож Водолазный Универсальный) Universal diving knife

(not that particular, but same. I have not now photo of my knife)
I have it... but as souvenir

but...
for diving I use just Tusa Wenoka and scissors from china. I think, that such combination is better than other bfk-s

 

[aquacat8]

I like the wenokas... they have newer wenokas at my LDS, perhaps I will buy one... they seem well made and very scuba-y ;-)

 

[JamesBon92007]

I like the wenokas... they have newer wenokas at my LDS, perhaps I will buy one... they seem well made and very scuba-y ;-)

The old BFKs were very sturdy and good for poking around and prying etc--might be what you need for hunting shark teeth. I slightly modified my knife point so it was a triangle which I imagined would be better for fighting off sharks and crocodiles and other such sea monsters. It turned out that most of the critters are much friendlier than I was led to believe

The old, big dive knives never seemed to break but from what I've read most of them simply got lost. Some of the old plastic sheathes didn't hold up real well. The "Diver's Knife" I have I got for a couple of bucks on Craig's List along with some other stuff. I suppose a new one would be OK but they just don't seem to have the same feel plus I wouldn't want to be prying and hammering and chipping away with anything less. I actually cut some fishing line with my knife once, but mainly it was used for getting rock scallops, general prying and poking, and cleaning fish so I could roast it on my spear shaft over a fire on the beach. For beach diving around here I can get by without a depth gauge, SPG, BC, computer, and lots of other stuff but I would never leave my BFK behind.

 

[AfterDark]

I have a spring loaded folding knife, on a SS plastic coat lanyard that lives in my safety pouch. It can be deployed with one hand and opened with one finger. It is razor sharp with a serrated section. The blade is 3" long. It gets rinsed and oiled after every dive.
I also carry a US divers Master knife a BFK with a 71/2" blade. It is used as a mini-pry bar and hammer, great for digging up the shy and elusive RI Quahog!

 

[АлександрД]

we have one commercial manufacturer, small company, who produce fish hunting equipment. Pelengas their name.
And they have very good relations and feedback with fish hunters over different diving and fish hunting forums.
And after long discussions they put in mass production this knife:
Нож Пеленгас Волга

it was made specially for fish hunters.

most interesting for this knife is it clamping in the scabbard

MAGNETS!

 

[dmaziuk]

Why is my compass always pointing at my leg?