Dive knives when out with a DM

[Pressurehead]

Okay, I’m going to debunk a myth about dive knives. A lot of people have seen too much “Sea Hunt.”

John, it was only meant as a joke.

We carried the required knife [dirk], marlinspike or tool for 'the job', I still have few tools.
Thanks for the read of what you guys used.

I am away for a few days, I will post or PM a photo of a few next week.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

John, it was only meant as a joke.

We carried the required knife [dirk], marlinspike or tool for 'the job', I still have few tools.
Thanks for the read of what you guys used.

I am away for a few days, I will post or PM a photo of a few next week.

I kinda figured that, but a lot of people think the larger knives are for fighting. I wanted to set the record straight.

SeaRat

 

[34109411]

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

nice pic of you ! very cool

 

[pauldw]

I trust people who have split fins and jacket BCDs, but for the other folks I always keep my trusty Gyrojet Lancejet with me.