Dive knife comparisons

"jer" <gdunn@airmail.ten> wrote in message
news:3F251F87.3090907@airmail.ten...
> Lee Bell wrote:
> [....]
>
>
> > 3. I've never found a use for the line cutter feature on any knife. The
> > blade has always worked better, much better, and line cutters, like
> > serrations, are hard to sharpen with the tools most of us have around
the
> > house.
>
> More than once I've taken advantage of a professional blade sharpening
> service. I found mine in the Yellow Pages, though most knife shops
> also can provide references.

Funny, that never occurred to me. I have a set of moon stone rods that keep
all my knives sharp, at least as long as I don't let them get real dull
between sharpenings. I sharpen and lubricate them pretty much every time
they get used. Since I'm big on collecting fishing line and the like from
the bottom, that's more often than I think I'd like to pay somebody else for
a service I really should be able to do for myself. The rods work fine for
the serrations on my knives, even if they do require a bit of extra
attention. They don't work very well for the line cutter. Their diameter
is too large.

Lee

On Sun, 27 Jul 2003 22:19:31 GMT, TacoFreak <nospam@please.com> wrote:

>Dude, you have no idea. The anxiety I experience deciding whether to buy
>the left-handed toothbrush vs. the right handed kind keeps me awake for
>days
>:^)

OK, that's not bad, but Top-posting is evil.

First choice: don't buy one. Just dive for a while and let
Neptune cough one up for you.

If you buy one, get one I like and please, lose the scabbard
at the same time you lose the knife.

Sharp points are for spear-sissies. You use them
to kill the fish. If you don't spear, get a blunt tip.
The last thing you need around your dive gear or a rocking
boat is a pointy knife.

Little girlie knives are all the rage nowadays.

If you dive in current, you want a BFK. Sooner or later
you're in the middle of nowhere and want a handhold. Stab
the BFK in the sand and you've got one.

If you dive where commercial fishermen place illegal traps
all over your reef, you want a BFK. I have no idea what you
would do, but I know that a little girlie knife won't help.

If you might have need to cut large lines, you want a BFK.
Shears won't do it and little sissy knives are just plain
dangerous then.

Stainless is nice, but it's soft. It doesn't hold an edge long
and if you pry things it will bend. Stab it in the sand/rubble
and there's no edge left at all.

High Carbon (often plated) takes an edge and holds it, but it
needs more care. A drop or two of 30W every couple of months
along with freshwater rinsing seems to work pretty well.

Titanium is very sexy, a real chick magnet. It takes a keen edge
and holds it forever. Good thing, 'cause you'll pay hell when you
try to renew it. It's brittle. It'll probably snap the first time
you try to pry something. It's ungodly expensive.

For anything but Ti, it's preferable if the handle can
be removed/slid off. That way you can treat that part of
the blade with LanaKote or something else that will protect
it indefinitely from water. When I find knives, they are
often crapola from sitting in the water and all the problems
are under the handle. That really irritates me, so please
take the time to treat it there, it'll be much appreciated.

safe diving,

bullshark

"Robert "Doc" Adelman" <lawyers-guns-money@att.net> wrote in message
news:3F254244.59AE7D26@att.net...

> A dive knife, by deffinition, and per se, should be huge, shiny and be
> capable of cutting the exhaust hose on Mike Grey's two hose reg before
> you lose it during the grappling fight to the death. Supersize it, it
> cuts down on lead weights.

Mike Gray is old enough to have used a two hose reg, but I don't think he's
been diving long enough. I, on the other hand, have been. I learned on one
.. . . mostly from Sea Hunt, supplemented by a YMCA instructor my father
knew.

Lee Bell wrote:
>
> "Robert "Doc" Adelman" <lawyers-guns-money@att.net> wrote in message
> news:3F254244.59AE7D26@att.net...
>
> > A dive knife, by deffinition, and per se, should be huge, shiny and be
> > capable of cutting the exhaust hose on Mike Grey's two hose reg before
> > you lose it during the grappling fight to the death. Supersize it, it
> > cuts down on lead weights.
>
> Mike Gray is old enough to have used a two hose reg, but I don't think he's
> been diving long enough.

Irrelevant. I did not say ESG (Chairman and Founder of SSA, Society of
SCUBA Anachronism) is -still- diving with double hose regs, but I infer
that he is -currently- diving with double hose regs... if he's feeling
in a modern mood. Otherwise he's safe from marauding dive knives in that
inverted wooden barrel thingie.



> I, on the other hand, have been. I learned on one
> . . . mostly from Sea Hunt, supplemented by a YMCA instructor > my father
> knew.

I started diving before there was air- and we liked it.

--
Doc _(:)o

"I'm hiding in Honduras, I'm a desperate man,
Send Lawyers, Guns & Money...The sh*t has hit the fan"
-Warren Zevon

In article <bg6r62$58u$1@slb1.atl.mindspring.net>, leebell@ix.netcom.com
says...
> Mike Gray is old enough to have used a two hose reg, but I don't think he's
> been diving long enough. I, on the other hand, have been. I learned on one
> . . . mostly from Sea Hunt, supplemented by a YMCA instructor my father
> knew.

I recently saw a Sea Hunt episode in which Mike Nelson said, "Mr.
Whatever and his wife came to me and asked me to teach them to dive so he
could shoot sharks for fun. I am against killing for fun, and I had a bad
feeling about the man's attitude, but I needed the money".

It looks like PADI (or insert you favorite other agency) is Mike Nelson's
fault.

"Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:bg34fg$auh$1@slb1.atl.mindspring.net...
| Michael Painter wrote
|
| > I've never *had* to use a knife when a pair of EMS shears would not have
| > been better and much faster.
|
| You've obviously never had to kill something that was trying to drag you
all
| over the ocean (spearfishing reference). Actually, neither have I, but I
| know of at least one spearfisherman that didn't get a clean kill on a
rather
| large cobia and used his knife to rectify the situation before the fish
| turned the tables on him.
|
| > However there are a few differences other than material when picking a
| > knife. Size, blade length, serrations or not, line cutter, blunt point
or
| sharp
| > point, sheath, overall construction, intended use, emergency or working
| ....
| > as a start.
|
| There are differences and, until you posted this, I would have said that
| they were all matters of personal preference. I would have been wrong. I
| don't know where you'd get this information except by trial and error, but
| there are a few things it would be nice to consider in advance:
| 1. How well the knife will take and hold an edge. I use stainless knives,
| two name brands, two knock-offs. All of them take and hold an edge well.
| Not all knives I've owned over the years did.
| 2. For those of us that prefer knives to shears, as I do, at least one
with
| serrations is highly recommended. They cut heavier line much, much better
| than one without them. The downside is that they are harder to sharpen.
| 3. I've never found a use for the line cutter feature on any knife. The
| blade has always worked better, much better, and line cutters, like
| serrations, are hard to sharpen with the tools most of us have around the
| house.

I was always taught that the little notch (I believe this is what you were
referring to ) was used for cutting webbing next to the body because you had
less chance of cutting yourself this way (the notch is on the unsharpened
edge). I've never had an opportunity to use mine, so I can't say if it's
better or worse than just cutting the webbing from the inside out using the
blade, but that's what I was taught.

C Guynn

| 4. Size and blade length are, in my opinion, a personal preference. If
| you're going to kill with it, as my spearfishing friend did, it needs to
be
| large enough to be effective. The small ones, which is what I have,
aren't.
| 5. I carry two knives, both small, on opposite sides of my waist strap.
One
| is a blunt point, the other is a pointy point. To everything, there comes
a
| season. There are things each will do better than the other. I maximixed
| versatility by carrying one of each.
|
| Lee
|
|

"Chris Guynn" <chrisguynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> wrote in message
news:YHaWa.2533$Jq2.32@newssvr24.news.prodigy.com. ..
>
> "Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.netcom.com> wrote in message
> news:bg34fg$auh$1@slb1.atl.mindspring.net...
> | Michael Painter wrote
><snip> |
> | There are differences and, until you posted this, I would have said that
> | they were all matters of personal preference. I would have been wrong.
I
> | don't know where you'd get this information except by trial and error,
but
> | there are a few things it would be nice to consider in advance:
> | 1. How well the knife will take and hold an edge. I use stainless
knives,
> | two name brands, two knock-offs. All of them take and hold an edge
well.
> | Not all knives I've owned over the years did.

"Lazy diver" by Lou Fead suggested sharpening knives that don't take an edge
with a file. Basically you are building your own serrations. These cut
better than a knife with a poor edge.


> | 2. For those of us that prefer knives to shears, as I do, at least one
> with
> | serrations is highly recommended. They cut heavier line much, much
better
> | than one without them. The downside is that they are harder to sharpen.

The knife I carry on the big red truck is serrated and incredably sharp, but
I don't know how well it would take to resharpening. I used it last year to
cut the plastic wrapping off a case of water bottles. Sliced right through
the thin plastic. I hardly felt it. Then I noticed all the bottles along the
line I cut were leaking. I sort of missed the space between them. But there
was no resistance.


> | 3. I've never found a use for the line cutter feature on any knife. The
> | blade has always worked better, much better, and line cutters, like
> | serrations, are hard to sharpen with the tools most of us have around
the
> | house.
>
> I was always taught that the little notch (I believe this is what you were
> referring to ) was used for cutting webbing next to the body because you
had
> less chance of cutting yourself this way (the notch is on the unsharpened
> edge). I've never had an opportunity to use mine, so I can't say if it's
> better or worse than just cutting the webbing from the inside out using
the
> blade, but that's what I was taught.

You were taught wrong on this one. There are devices dessigned for this but
they tend to be very thin and razzor sharp. The plastic surrounding them
protects and allows the blade to stay rigid.
The notches are (poorly for the most part) designed for line cutters


>
> C Guynn
>
> | 4. Size and blade length are, in my opinion, a personal preference. If
> | you're going to kill with it, as my spearfishing friend did, it needs to
> be
> | large enough to be effective. The small ones, which is what I have,
> aren't.
> | 5. I carry two knives, both small, on opposite sides of my waist strap.
> One
> | is a blunt point, the other is a pointy point. To everything, there
comes
> a
> | season. There are things each will do better than the other. I
maximixed
> | versatility by carrying one of each.
> |
> | Lee
> |
> |
>
>

"Chris Guynn" <chrisguynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> wrote in message
news:YHaWa.2533> I was always taught that the little notch (I believe this
is what you were
> referring to ) was used for cutting webbing next to the body because you
had
> less chance of cutting yourself this way (the notch is on the unsharpened
> edge). I've never had an opportunity to use mine, so I can't say if it's
> better or worse than just cutting the webbing from the inside out using
the
> blade, but that's what I was taught.

http://www.uwkinetics.com/images/pro...30051_0800.jpg

Guess it depends on the knife......

Jon

"Jon C" <jon@jonnythan.com> wrote in message
newszkYa.62257$wk4.14338@twister.nyroc.rr.com...
> "Chris Guynn" <chrisguynn@sbcglobal.N.O.S.P.A.M.net> wrote in message
> news:YHaWa.2533> I was always taught that the little notch (I believe this
> is what you were
> > referring to ) was used for cutting webbing next to the body because you
> had
> > less chance of cutting yourself this way (the notch is on the
unsharpened
> > edge). I've never had an opportunity to use mine, so I can't say if
it's
> > better or worse than just cutting the webbing from the inside out using
> the
> > blade, but that's what I was taught.
>
> http://www.uwkinetics.com/images/pro...30051_0800.jpg
>
> Guess it depends on the knife......

Nice looking knife... Mine isn't double edged (IIRC... I haven't ever
actually needed it, but it only cost $8) but otherwise they seem to look
pretty similar.I can see however the you probably wouldn't want to try to
cut any webbing from teh inside out with one of these guys.

>
> Jon
>
>

"TacoFreak" <nospam@please.com> wrote in message news:3F23EE51.76E6E015@please.com...
> Looking to buy a dive knife, is there a site/sites that compare the
> various dive knives available?

It depends on how big a shark to want to fight off.