Dive knives when out with a DM

[Scott G. Bonser]

BFK - What else would you use to cut cheese & fruit, and spread peanut butter during a SI?

AMEN Bob !!!

 

[Scott G. Bonser]

I have done most of my dives with dive ops in Florida and the Caribbean, and all of those with at least one DM or guide.
I have never carried a knife, and I have never had the need for one in over a hundred dives.
Recently I was on a boat out of Jupiter, FL and I counted at least four divers with knives, one of which was a big honker strapped to the diver's leg that made him look like he was going into combat.
I have no objection to anybody carrying anything that makes them feel more comfortable on a dive (though a teddy bear would get a little soggy). How many of you carry a knife on guided dive trips and why?

I carry a Wenoka sheath knife to get out of line and as a tool needed on dives. I was also told it is handy to have wire cutters inside your BCD pocket. Yes, I have had to use mine a few times.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I might have said this before, but I'm too lazy to search through 34 pages of comments to see if mine is there.

Dive knives aren't just for cutting. I've used mine far more often to pull myself along mud or sand in a heavy current than to actually cut something under water. The DM's dive knife won't do you any good in this situation, you really need your own.

But I may be an aberration. I don't dive places with a ton of fishing line, and what's there isn't an entanglement risk. I do dive places where currents can sometimes be an issue.

 

[Waterwulf]

I might have said this before, but I'm too lazy to search through 34 pages of comments to see if mine is there.

Dive knives aren't just for cutting. I've used mine far more often to pull myself along mud or sand in a heavy current than to actually cut something under water. The DM's dive knife won't do you any good in this situation, you really need your own.

But I may be an aberration. I don't dive places with a ton of fishing line, and what's there isn't an entanglement risk. I do dive places where currents can sometimes be an issue.

I've carried a RBFK (that's R for Really) since about the early seventies on every single dive that I've made for both snorkeling and SCUBA. I keep it very sharp and pointy. I've never stabbed anybody or anything with it. I've never even cut myself free from anything with it because I've never been entangled in anything big enough to require it's use. I have other cutters for small stuff.

The one time I really did need it, I used it as a pry bar. A line cutter or shears would not have worked. Neither would a politically correct little bitty blade. A BFK might have worked ok but my RBFK was better.

Regarding possibly being an aberration: We're all aberrations if we try to breath underwater! It doesn't matter if it's a muddy ditch or crystal blue spring water, we're not made to be there so just wanting to makes us an aberration.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I've carried a RBFK (that's R for Really) since about the early seventies on every single dive that I've made for both snorkeling and SCUBA.

What's the F stand for, Uncle Wulfie?

 

[Pressurehead]

What's the F stand for, Uncle Wulfie?

You remember 'Sea hunt' , it is a Fighting knife, what else?
Some people.

 

[Boarderguy]

You remember 'Sea hunt' , it is a Fighting knife, what else?
Some people.

Kinky if it's the other word

 

[Pressurehead]

Fidelity.

Kinky if it's the other word

As a Marine you know it is not kinky.
Fidelis.
OK, back on topic, we are going stupid.

 

[Waterwulf]

What's the F stand for, Uncle Wulfie?

Uncle? Uncle??? Oh no no no! Well..Uhhmmm..Ok, I guess that's better than Pops!

Anyway, I'm pretty sure you know what the "F" stands for. It stands for "Fearsome". Bwahahaha!

 

[John C. Ratliff]

You remember 'Sea hunt' , it is a Fighting knife, what else?
Some people.

Okay, I’m going to debunk a myth about dive knives. A lot of people have seen too much “Sea Hunt.” I can do this as I have been diving over 60 years, and am also a USAF Combat Rescue veteran, a Pararescueman, or PJ, from Vietnam. For water work and parascuba jumps, we did carry a dive knife. But for combat situations, we carried a much different knife. (You can see my dive knives on a page of this thread a few pages back.) For me it was a Randall Attack Survival Knife. I’ll attach a photo of it later (but follow the link to the Randall site for a photo of their current version). On my Randall Attack Survival knife, I have a serrated edge that can cut through aluminum skin on a helicopter, and a hollow handle with lots of stuff inside and wrapped around the outside. For fighting, you want a sharp point, and sharp edges on both sides of the point. It needs to be thick to penetrate clothing too.

Survival

Randall Made Knives fixed blades. Established 1938. Tomorrow's collector piece, today.

www.randallknives.com

Inside my Attack Survival Knife I had fishing hooks, sinkers, matches, lint & cotton for fire starting, and an un-lubricated condom for carrying water. Wrapped around the outside were a few yards of fishing line, inner core from parachute lines, actual 550 pound parachute cord, and black electrical tape (cloth, non-reflective), and a short bit of parachute cord on the sheath to hold it in during hoist or parachute operations. In short, this was a combat and survival tool, which could also be used for attack or defense in a combat situation.

Most dive knives will not be good fighting knives. They don’t come down to a point that can penetrate without moving. Many are also very dull, and made of soft steel that doesn’t keep and edge. Also, they will wedge themselves in the combatant you are fighting, and may not pull out easily. So stop saying that these larger dive knives are for fighting, as they are not (no matter what you saw on Sea Hunt—that was Hollywood).

SeaRat