Dive knives when out with a DM

[buzzdoo]

A pair of shears would have dealt with that line a lot more efficiently.

Back to the topic of carrying knives. I used to carry a pocket knife all the time. On my first trip to Europe, in 1990, I carried (in my right front pocket) my newly purchased 3.5" Cold Steel tanto lockback. It went with me everywhere: on the plane, into museums, youth hostels, even a nightclub in London.

On subsequent travels, I swapped it for a more practical Victorinox Waiter or Camper. But I still had a knife. No one considered a pocket knife a weapon back then. 9/11 is what changed all that. Now carrying even a Swiss army knife with a 2" blade is a hassle in the city and when travelling. I don't even bother unless I'm going hiking or somewhere outdoors.

Back to diving. When it began to be a problem to take a dive knife to some dive spots, I was happy to switch to shears. No worries about issues carrying the knife when I wasn't diving and I was never super comfortable using the knife underwater anyway since there wasn't a practical way for me to practice with it as a vacation diver.

Not sure I understand do you have shears as a daily carry ?

 

[sourdough]

If you're not carrying a Katana or at least Wakizashi then you're not doing it right.

Be prepared people. Hogarthian Samurai represent... Hogarthurai.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

You will soon hear the neccesity of carrying a chainsaw on the board.

Wait.

There are tactical dive chainsaws? I can't find them on scuba.com or diversdirect. Who is carrying them?!?!?

OMMOHY

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

I have a hard time envisioning strapping that knife onto my leg for any reasons beside "I bought this thing 20-some years ago and I'm damn well gonna use it".

Nah. Weighting and trim.

OMMOHY

 

[johndiver999]

A pair of shears would have dealt with that line

Yeah but what if I had to cut my finger off?

 

[Marie13]

Under influence of numerous posts here on the ScubaBoard I also used to have an attitude that a BFK is impractical and ludicrous and that a diver who carries one strapped on his leg just shows off and provokes jokes about chainsaws onboard. I was proudly wearing just a neat Trilobyte on my computer strap. I still do, yet diving with John Chatterton changed my views. John carries a big, big knife. A really huge one. When I saw how versatile it was in his hand, I decided to get one for myself. He wrote an article about it in his blog:

"The Politically Incorrect Blade"

A good read to learn more about knives.

My diving doesn’t require a BFK. I suppose Chatterton also uses it to pry souvenirs off wrecks. That crap is illegal here in the Great Lakes.

 

[doctormike]

Not sure I understand do you have shears as a daily carry ?

Of course. Shears and a backup trilobite.

I think that most people agree that carrying some sort of cutting device in an open water dive is a good idea. Perhaps in very sanitized reefs with no fishing allowed people might be lax about that, although line has a tendency to drift underwater, and doesn't necessarily respect marine sanctuary boundaries.

The BFK vs shears vs folding knife vs blunt knife vs trilobite debate? I think that the case for shears has been made pretty well upthread. If you want something that's cheap, will cut just about anything, and is hard to injure yourself with, not sure why you would use anything else, for general cutting usage.

Of course, a knife is necessary if you are spearfishing, but so is a speargun, and I don't think that all open water divers need to carry a speargun. So suggesting that a knife is an optimal cutting device to carry for all open water divers because you spearfish seems to be missing the point. Same goes for prying artifacts off wrecks. I carry a hammer if I want to do that.

 

[stretchthepenn]

A sizeable Wenoka knife was one of my first dive-gear purchases, and it was one of the first things I stopped carrying regularly, even before a snorkel. About the only thing I found it useful for was opening urchins to feed the fish.

 

[tursiops]

A longer knife can be seen as an extension of the hand.

?? I have no idea what this means.

 

[BoltSnap]

?? I have no idea what this means.

Don't worry, it doesn't either