Dive knives when out with a DM

[boulderjohn]

Somehow, someone decided that a broken knife with no practical handle and pretty useless blade was enough for diving. From that point anyone using a normal usable knife is a target.

The history of this comes from the DIR people. I believe Bill Main did it originally. For some people, that means that there can never be any other way of doing it.

 

[Nemrod]

Somehow, someone decided that a broken knife with no practical handle and pretty useless blade was enough for diving. From that point anyone using a normal usable knife is a target.
Someone made a comment that sounded like: this diver appeared to be going to "combat" or who knows how many more adjectives are used to put down a person using a knife.

And the someones were Florida cave divers. And then it became the only way, all the time for everybody everywhere (which may never have been intended) because one of the tenants of Hogarthianism as it has come to be is that there is no personal preference allowed. And while I do try to conform to the intent of the Hogarthian mindset I no longer am a cave diver and realize that different environments (other than a cave in Florida) may demand or allow some alteration of the Hogarthian system. Which might include an actually useful knife other than a broken butter knife. But we probably do not need a sword capable of beheading a poor little shark or other unlikely events.

An interesting article:

Interview with Bill "Hogarth" Main

Bill “Hogarth” Main is the co-founder of the Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP) deep cave diving team, a world record breaking cave explorer, and godfather of tech and cave diving minimalism. With an energy that belies his 64 years, Bill Main climbed out of his car to greet me, looking every...

xray-mag.com

James

 

[Jafo19D]

I never even thought about a knife until I briefly got caught in a ghost net in Santa Marta, Colombia. I had never before seen nets or fishing lines while diving but on this one day we came across 2 large ghost nets. On the second one I helped put pulling while those with cutting tools cut. While doing so I got tangled and even though it was brief it was long enough for me to decide to get a knife.

I wanted a small SP knife that would mount on my Hydros weight pocket but that was around $100 which I thought was ridiculous. I found a titanium one for like $30 on Amazon and people can talk shi@ if they want because at 4.5” I have to strap it to my calf and probably qualifies as a BFK.

Lot of divers say they’ve never needed one. Well in Iraq my guys thought it was dumb to take our NODS on day missions until one day a day mission turned into a long night mission.

 

[Wibble]

The history of this comes from the DIR people. I believe Bill Main did it originally. For some people, that means that there can never be any other way of doing it.

The way, the truth and the knife?

 

[Eric802]

The history of this comes from the DIR people. I believe Bill Main did it originally. For some people, that means that there can never be any other way of doing it.

DIR, the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[rx7diver]

Interview with Bill "Hogarth" Main

Bill “Hogarth” Main is the co-founder of the Woodville Karst Plain Project (WKPP) deep cave diving team, a world record breaking cave explorer, and godfather of tech and cave diving minimalism. With an energy that belies his 64 years, Bill Main climbed out of his car to greet me, looking every...

xray-mag.com

Thanks, @Nemrod, for linking this article. It's a good read. According to the article, Main's first cave dive was in 1969, 45 years before the article was written. So, the article was written c. 2014, about eight years ago.


HP [Howard Pain, the interviewer]: What advice would you have for any readers starting out in cave or technical diving?

BM [Bill "Hogarth" Main]: Keep it simple and streamlined. Just take what you need and nothing more. If you don’t, that’s where your air goes—that’s where your energy goes, right there.


Excellent advice, IMHO--even for divers who are "only" recreational, open water divers.

rx7diver

 

[cafferyj]

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 keep a small BCD knife with me for the purpose of possibly getting tangled in things like fishing line. I have done dives in areas where fishing was allowed, and you would run across this stuff. On the other hand, there are locations that don't allow you to carry one. But I hear you with some divers carrying the massive knives.

 

[Akimbo]

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

They are great for rock scallops and smashing sea urchins on the US West coast. Anyone who has been entangled in monofilament fishing line won't forget a cutting tool again.

 

[Nemrod]

Thanks, @Nemrod, for linking this article. It's a good read. According to the article, Main's first cave dive was in 1969, 45 years before the article was written. So, the article was written c. 2014, about eight year ago.


HP [Howard Pain, the interviewer]: What advice would you have for any readers starting out in cave or technical diving?

BM [Bill "Hogarth" Main]: Keep it simple and streamlined. Just take what you need and nothing more. If you don’t, that’s where your air goes—that’s where your energy goes, right there.


Excellent advice, IMHO--even for divers who are "only" recreational, open water divers.

rx7diver

It is a good read. There are some good results for Hal Watts and some others as well if you google about.

These early cave divers did come up with a lot of good ideas and methodologies and the concepts (not necessarily the exact equipment) are as applicable to open water as they are to penetration diving. Yeah, maybe some of it was over sold as the be all way to the light. The way we dive (open water) today was influenced by them and mostly for the good. Credit to them where due. They were pioneers and some of them are still leading the way. I like how the subject of the article is not frozen in time, continues to evolve and yet still hangs on to his Conshelfs! A more bullet proof regulator would hard to find, certainly one made in the quantity and with the parts support.

I and some college mates did do some cave diving, went to school in Valdosta, Ga, on the rim of cave country. Managed not to kill ourselves, mostly due to being smart enough to emulate people who had not killed themselves and limiting ourselves strictly. But I never encountered any nets or leader or monofilament or a sea turtle wrapped in steel leader and mono inside Little River cave system. I did encounter dangerous rednecks on the outside who always wanted to fight but we found bringing them beer a useful distraction. Knives and cutting tools do have a place in some diving environments, at least for me. And a cut off butter knife just is not going to cut it as a functional tool in some such places.

N

 

[Akimbo]

Retention sheathes are a big deal, too. We were doing water rescue training last night at the Fire Dept and lost two knives because there was no retention mechanism on the sheathes.

A lot of commercial divers keep one knife up their wetsuit sleeve in warmer waters. I continue this habit on all my suits.