Could you help me pick up some safety cutting tools for my best friend?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Only girls :wink:

Haha. Thanks guys. You've been really helpful. My Eezycut and Halcyon/OxyCheq came in and I've ordered some Sea Snips dive shears (I like the secure sheath on these guys). The tip of the halcyon is scary sharp though. I'm sitting here looking at this beautiful knife and thinking I couldn't possibly destroy the tip of it by flatting it out with a bench grinder. I mean this thing is gorgous. If I blunt just the front edge to make it still _look_ sharp, I'm afraid she could slip down the blade while prying with it and slice herself.

So, two last questions: Ti Sharp Tip vs. SS Blunt Tip? - I'm considering selling this thing and buying a blunt tip SS Wenoka Squeeze Lock since it seems safer. I really like the idea of the Ti knife always staying sharp though for a day when she needs it. Any thoughts?
Or should I blunt this gorgeous knife?
 
My opinion is that pointy knives are easier to hurt yourself with and can puncture scuba gear.....

One of my tools is a blunt tip Wenoka squeeze knife......it seems to be holding up well, but it has only been in fresh water and I rinse and dry it outside the sheath after each dive day......

I just ordered a Spyderco H1 folding knife for traveling to salt water.......

Spyderco Atlantic Salt Rust Free Serrated Edge Knife, Yellow: Amazon.com: Sports & Outdoors

M
 
Ok, here's an email I'm going to send her about her gear: how to use it properly, care for it, replace it, and where to wear it. I gathered all of this information from you guys and amazon/ebay and reviews of equipment. Sorry for not directly citing everybody (some of this is plagairism!!! this is just an email to a friend of mine), but there was a lot of info and I didn't have a lot of time to keep track of the sources. Any critiques are welcome.


- – —ƒ— – -

Any metallic gear should be rinsed with fresh water after every dive to prevent rusting and corrosion-dulling or corrosion-brittling of blades.
When doing recreational diving, surfacing to fix equipment is always an option too. You probably don't need to carry any repair tools on you.


- – —ƒ— – -

Primary cutting tools: Z-knives & Hooks (Safety Cutters) - the quickest, safest, most effective way of freeing onesself or others from most entanglements
- Z-knives are razor-blade devices (the razor blades can be replaced).
- Hooks are essentially large versions of the line-cutters you find on dive knives.
- Z-knives cut through most materials more effortlessly than hooks, but can clog to the point of being unusable. [source]
- The Eezycut Trilobite is a type of compact z-knife with two sides to it. If one side clogs, corrodes, dulls, or breaks, the other side can still be used. It also has replaceable razor blades.​

Replacement parts for the trilobite
- Eezycut Trilobite replacement blades (Google shop search) (2 blades for $5)
- I saw a pack of cheap replacement blades that looked just like these at Sears. Can't remember the name of them, but you might take in an old blade and ask the clerk if they have any.​

- – —ƒ— – -

Secondary cutting tools: Dive shears - for cutting through the steel or kevlar fishing leaders that are frequently hanging around wrecks, or anything the Trilobite can't handle
- EMT shears / dive shears / trauma shears tend to rust out around the nut that fastens the two scissors blades together. This nut can be replaced with a titanium nut and bolt from Home Depot. Also, replacement shears are very cheap.
- Many professional divers highly reccommend these.​

Replacement Shears
- – —ƒ— – -

Dive knives- for digging, prying, prodding, befriending fish, sawing through very thick ropes, possibly for use as a screwdriver, and as a last resort during entanglement
- Knives are TOOLS FIRST and SAFETY EQUIPMENT SECOND. If in an emergency, a knife has a higher probability of cutting your gear or yourself than shears or other cutting tools. Use your knife for digging, prying, prodding, and sawing.​
- DO NOT get sentimental about a knife. DO NOT get attached to your knife. DO NOT try to retrieve your knife if you lose it. Knives are disposable pieces of gear.​
- Knives are the most likely piece of gear to be lost on a dive.
- There is little a diver can do about animal attacks. A sharp knife will not help very much in the event of an attack.
Knife edges / Sharpening
- A good dive knife should have a serrated edge on it somewhere. Underwater, it is hard to get leverage against an object you are cutting. Thus, most cutting during dives is actually sawing.
- Straight-edges on dive knives are supposedly better than serrated edges when cutting natural fibers and hard plastics or plastic fibers.
- Sharp tips are more likely to puncture equipment, harm other divers, harm their users, harm rescue victims. Blunt tips are better for digging and prying.
- There's a lot of thought put into traditional knife shapes. Any taper or dropping-point on a blade is meant to focus force onto a smaller area of the blade to maximize cutting force in that area.
- To sharpen steel or titanium, watch youtube videos. You may find that you need a diamond stone or whetstone and ceramic sharpening sticks (guide here). Strops are expensive and only really needed for sharpening blades you plan on shaving with (as far as I know).​
Sizes / Sheaths
- Large knives (with large handles and protruding sheathes) are more likely to cause entanglement (and injury). A small 3'' blade will be just as useful as a large knife.
- Flat nylon sheaths are less likely to get caught on seaweed.
- Click-in sheaths tend to lose their knives (Possibly with the exception of the Wenoka squeeze lock click-in sheaths -- suppposedly they don't have any problems).​
- A knife should not be worn on the outside (lateral sides) of the body. In the event of an emergency surfacing, dropping tanks could snag on equipment worn on the outside of the body.
- The standard position for a knife to be worn is on the front of the diver's waist-belt. It is important to standardize placement of equipment in the event that a dive buddy needs to find your equipment quickly.
- Low-profile knives are easier to hide from people who would tell you you can't dive with one.
- Folding knives are cumbersome to use with gloves on. The best dive knife might be a non-folder.​
Metal types
- Titanium (Ti) knives are easier to break than Stainless Steel (SS), but do not corrode in seawater. Because they do not corrode, they always stay sharp.
- Ti knives are more expensive than SS.
- Higher carbon steels (common 420 steel, for example) corrode faster/more than lower carbon steels (304/316 steel). [source]
- H-1 steel is made from some nitrogen-iron composite and is supposedly 100% rust/corrosion resistant (but expensive).

Replacement Knives
- Blunt tip 3'' blade SS w/ nylon sheath
- Blunt tip 3'' blade SS w/ click-lock sheath (mountable on BC - comes with mounting equipment)
- Sharp tip 3'' blade Ti w/ nylon sheath (this "OxyCheq" knife is a rebranded version of a $75 "Halcyon" knife used by many professional divers, but does not come in a blunt tip version) (alternate link to same knife, rebranded as "SeaSport" and with a crappy sheath)

- – —ƒ— – -

Dive straps - for attaching gear to places other than your waist belt
- From all the reviews I've read, quick-release or click-buckle straps tend to come undone(!) underwater. I can't imagine a situation where you would need to unclasp your knife sheath from your leg underwater anyway.
- Please read the above section on proper knife placement in order to avoid snags during emergency surfacings.​

Replacement Straps
- I've had the most luck on Amazon.com, searching "Dive straps"​

 
Last edited:
My frieds don't send me e-mails this long....:)

Nice job

Just got my Spyderco, lighter, bigger, thinner and easier to grip than I would have expected!

If something can be both bigger and thinner at the same time.....

M
 
Gave it up?? I never had it or plan to have it......:)

M
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom