Help!!!!!

[kjpwong]

g'day fellas,
i always knew that a dive knife would come in handy in some situations, anyway, i have no idea what kinda dive knife should i get for general scuba diving and some spearfishing every now and then. how do u define a good knife? what characteristics do u look for on a durable and relatively easy for matinernence knife?
i) length
ii) material
iii) what kinda edges
iv) sheath
v) brand

any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
cheers
kenny

 

[MSilvia]

how do u define a good knife? what characteristics do u look for on a durable and relatively easy for matinernence knife?
i) length
ii) material
iii) what kinda edges
iv) sheath
v) brand

It depends on what you need it for, but I think of dive knives as having five uses, and which one you get depends on which functions are most important to you. Those functions are cutting, stabbing, prying, hammering, and looking cool.

For cutting, which most often means cutting line, you have a couple of good options that are non-knife. You could get a line cutter http://www.omsdive.com/images/cut.jpg or EMT shears http://www.scubatoys.com/store/knives/pics/scissors.jpg, which are both popular, or if you want a conventional knife, you want one that's got a good cutting edge and a line cutter. Serrated edges tend to cut faster, but straight blades are easier to sharpen, so make your own call there.

Prying and stabbing are pretty much an either/or proposition. If you want to pry, get a flat tip, and if you want to stab, get a pointy one. If you want to be able to hammer, or use the knife as a tank banger, look for one with a hard, blunt pommel.

Looking cool is of course a matter of taste, but IMHO smaller knives are usually more functional than the shortswords some folks strap to their legs like a Bond girl. DIR dive knives are usually only a few inches long, and are often made by grinding the point off of a kitchen knife.

I prefer a good stainless steel like 440a surgical, which is fairly rust resistant but holds an edge well. Others swear by titanium, which I think is complete overkill. I recommend getting a knife that you can live with losing.

What brand you use is pretty much irrelevant IMHO.

 

[Green_Manelishi]

g'day fellas,
i always knew that a dive knife would come in handy in some situations, anyway, i have no idea what kinda dive knife should i get for general scuba diving and some spearfishing every now and then. how do u define a good knife? what characteristics do u look for on a durable and relatively easy for matinernence knife?
i) length
ii) material
iii) what kinda edges
iv) sheath
v) brand

any recommendations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
cheers
kenny

Length: overall length should be easy to hold with your glves/mitts. For that reason a short blade on a "long" handle is not necessarily bad. Blade length should be appropriate for what you are cutting; I cut a lot of rope so my knife blade is a bit longer than DIR.

Material: stainless stains less. It's not rust free. A good quality stainless will take and hold an edge. Like anything else you typically get what you pay for.

Serrated cuts "better" even when not as sharp as it could/should be. But serrated as in "wavy", not like a saw blade.

The knife is a tool, not a weapon. You can easily "stab" a blunt tip into sand. Heck, with not too much force you can stab a blunt tip into almost any soft object if you have to but a point might poke a hole in you or your suit whether you intended to or not.

Sheath should be friction fit, not rube-goldberg contraption lock the knife in to the sheath or "press a button" and it pops out.

Brand: I use a Buck Intrepid but I'd be a bit miffed if I ever lost it. SpyderCo is planning to release a fixed blade version of their Atlantic (and Pacific) Salt series of rust proof, folding knives. I am hoping to evaluate one when they are available.
Benchmade makes (made?) a "river odysey" that was fixed blade, reasonable size, allegedly rust proof. Benchmade makes nice knives.

 

[seagrave]

I like to carry two knives.One large knife on my calf.One small on shoulder of my bc.Both are pointed and serrated.Both are also Tusa knives(stainless).I dont carry exspensive knives because you will eventually lose it and i dont want to spend alot of time looking for it.

 

[skippy77]

go to www.beaversports.co.uk lots of knifes to choose from and pics to

 

[Loneranger]

I you are going to hunt you will need a knife you can remove and replace from the sheath with one hand easily. Knife locking systems that use a spring loaded button work well. (ie. Wenoka Z lock). Stay away from the older rubber fob retainers thay are difficult to return a knife back to the sheath with one hand.

 

[ONESPEED]

Just purchased one of these.... http://www.xsscuba.com/knife_fogcutter_drop.html

Combo knife and cutter/ It's decent quality and has an easy one hand release sheath.

 

[Mandy3206]

I've lost a few dive knives in my 26 yrs of skindiving and 11 yrs of Scuba diving.

I decided not to loose any more knives so the last one I bought (Ocean Master Titanium) has a hole in the handle so it can be tethered with a piece of cord and a snap bolt, I just ziptied a 1" round ring to the mid part of the sheath and in case the lock is acidentally released, the tether won't let the knife fall from the sheath, it took a few trials to find the perfect spot for the round ring, but I got there.

To use the knife, I just release the bolt snap and then relase the lock, very nice and neat setup.

My buddy went simpler with his Atomic Titanium, he just threaded a piece of surgical tubing through the hole in the handle and tied the other end to the sheath, the surgical tubing is long enough (8"-12" long) that allows full range with his arm extended upward and the loop created with the surgical tubing is neatly tucked behind the sheath, in case of emergency, a flick of the wrist cuts the inexpensive surgical tubing tether.

I also carry a zknife on the shoulder that I hope never to use.

Titanium won't rust, but it's more expensive (wait for good deal on Ebay and save), length is a matter of preference, but a nice 5" blade will accomodate most divers.

My Ocean master is pointed, has a serrated edge, a non serrated edge and a line cutter, also a SS pomel that may be upgraded to Titanium if desired.

I would have liked more the new Tanto blade offered by them, but couldn't find it at a decent price.

The sheath should be as secure as posible, but nothing warrants it won't accidentally release the lock or locks (Ocean master has a new dual lock design)

To me, a dive knife is the kind of tool that I allways carry and hope never to use, but won't dive without one unless is prohibited at the dive site (some marine parks prohibit knives and gloves)