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FYI, A lot of knives are designed for this style of mounting which a good portion of divers are now considering "Old School". The more current rule of thumb is to mount all (2) of your cutting devices (knife, shears, z-knife) from the waist up. Here are some of the reason.
Entanglement: divers think that it is protected on the inside of their leg, FALSE. Just last year, at a local quarry, I saw a diver hanging upside down because he caught his knife (mounted inside of calf) on a rope that was leading from a platform to an attraction. This happened in a pretty controlled environment, it wasn't like it was off of the NJ Coast where you have fishing line, cables, etc.. Believe it or not, but you are more likely to get it caught on you leg then if you mount it on the BC.
Buoyancy/Trim: For divers that go onto Wreck Diving, I have yet to see a diver that can reach the knife on the leg without lowering (twisting) the shoulders, dropping the knees or breaking trim to access the knife. Big picture is, if you are in a wreck, buoyancy set, and you need a knife, why do something, before even getting in the water, that could make things worse, which in this case is the possibility of a silt out.
Mounting the cutting device from the waist up, you can access the cutting tool easier and with out effecting buoyancy and trim and you are less likely to get it caught on something especially in when diving in more advanced conditions. Ideally we try to mount in a location that we can access with either your right or left hand.
Don't take this post the wrong way. I stock knifes that offer the leg mount and I understand that divers use these. When divers come into our shop I point out alternative ways of doing things but in the end, it comes down to what the person wants. I feel that it is always better to present options, this way they can't say "how come you didn't tell me about that!"
Inside right calf where I can reach it with either hand, it's protected from snagging anything, it's well away from any other objects so I can put my hand straight on it and it's well away from anything sensitive if I do need to draw it.
FYI, A lot of knives are designed for this style of mounting which a good portion of divers are now considering "Old School". The more current rule of thumb is to mount all (2) of your cutting devices (knife, shears, z-knife) from the waist up. Here are some of the reason.
Entanglement: divers think that it is protected on the inside of their leg, FALSE. Just last year, at a local quarry, I saw a diver hanging upside down because he caught his knife (mounted inside of calf) on a rope that was leading from a platform to an attraction. This happened in a pretty controlled environment, it wasn't like it was off of the NJ Coast where you have fishing line, cables, etc.. Believe it or not, but you are more likely to get it caught on you leg then if you mount it on the BC.
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One thing that I will say is that you should not mount your knife to your leg cause you could loose (SIC) your leg.
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Or you could always mount it to your back plate if you have one.
It is easier for me to reach my knife on my left forearm. I freedive a lot so a knife on my leg could get caught in kelp. .
I was carrying my knife there too, freedive spearing. But one day a shark grabbed my fish and took my 100 foot floatline down really fast...the Riffe torpedo float disappeared into the blue. If I had been tangled with my right arm in that line, I couldn't have gotten to my knife to cut myself free. I now keep it on my belt right next to my buckle.