Couple of knives USD Sea Hawk & ??

[John C. Ratliff]

Thanks guys appreciate you sharing your knowledge.

These things are ridiculously huge! If you need to put a inch ruler along the side of a knife I would say that it is too big? I suppose if I ever get in an underwater street fight I will be prepared.

kg.

A lot of people don't know what that inch scale was for on the side of the knife. In the era of underwater hunting and gathering, we used to get shellfish and crabs. Shellfish such as abalone and crabs had a size limit (had to be over a certain size--5.75 inches in Oregon for Dungeness crabs across the shell, as I remember). and we either took a crab measurer, or used our diving knife to see whether they were legal while we were underwater. Many divers without much income used spearfishing and gathering shellfish/crabs for subsistence; this could be dinner.

SeaRat

 

[Sam Miller III]

re Swimaster Voit etc..

Swimaster was located in Laguna canyon (a canyon leading into Laguna beach) until late 1950s then it moved to Huntington beach, California .

It was founded and owned by Arthur (Brownie or Bud) Brown.

He was very innovative; products were the Duck feet, Wide view mask, the Life guard CO2 inflatable float, and a one piece shorty foam exposure suit.

He was too early in the market place and struggled to remain a viable company.

Late 1950s or early 1960s he sold to Ken Norris who owned Pacific Molded Products and was better equipped to produce his products.

Ken hired Harry Vetter (LA Co UW instructor & NAUI Instructor) as marketing and product development Manager.Reference information:
(http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/socal/256511-harry-vetter.html)
(#4http://www.internationallegendsofdiving.com/FeaturedLegends/Harry_Vetter_bio.htm) ([url]http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/grumpy-old-divers/330181-fyi-~~naui-50th-anniversary-celebration.html[/URL])


Harry developed the commercial version of the Potts (Hoss) SD Bottom Scratcher spear gun and the very popular Swimaster dive knife.

(Information on a Potts-hoss gun see:
(http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/vintage-equipment-diving/477524-bottom-scratcher-spear-gun~~~.html)

The Swimaster dive knife was created by ex USMC Lyle Shelton which was based on the WW11 & Korean war bayonet which in it's original form had been the choice of SoCal divers for a number of years. Lyle was a partner in Newport divers supply whih Joe Lamonica who is remembered today for the JBL spear gun.

After struggling several years to create a distribution net work for the products Ken decided the best method would be to enter into a licensing agreement with an established company. The company who was noted as the best to do business with was the up and coming very aggressive Voit.

So the company joined in an agreement, Ken's PMP would produce the products and Voit would market them. After several years Voit purchased Swimaster and began actively promoting the Swimaster as the premiere line of Voit.

About the same time Voit hired Art Stanfield , Fred Roberts and others

<<Re Knives: In the USAF we wore jump boots which were modified with zippers rather than lace up and a survival knife sewed to the side. We modified the knife by filing a notch as a line cutter. I did the same with my diving knives. One day while visiting either Joe or Lyle at Newport diving supply I showed them how I had filed a line cutter in the knife blade near the hilt and asked their opinion.. a short time later line cutters began appearing on the knives they produced...So that is how the line cutter appeared on the diver's knife. Now you know>>>


SDM