Dive Knives

[John C. Ratliff]

I received a Facebook post from Volcania Submarine:

Here's a picture I just came across. This was taken by the famous underwater photographer David Haas: a fisheye view of a small part of Leon Lyons knife collection.​

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Here is the website:
Leon Lyons gallery of diving collectibles - St. Augustine, Florida

I'm pretty particular about knives, but have a very small collection of Sportsways dive knives. Two are complete, and one is missing its brass top. I collected these three knives because I used them when in the USAF. The one I used was an orange handle knife, with a serrated edge on the top portion. The original was made of Solingen stainless steel, and held its edge very well. I cannot confirm the ones I collected have Solingen steel, but they look exactly the same (except the one with a different blade type).

I also have my Randall Airmen knife that I used in the Vietnam War. It is not a diving knife, but rather a survival knife with a hollow handle. I wrapped the handle with fishing line, then with parachute cord, then with electrical tape. I put survival items such as a button compass, a few matches, fishing hooks, etc. into the hollow handle. I still have it with everything I used on it in Vietnam. I took it to a knife show here in Portland some 10+ years ago, and one of the knife dealers said that was the "first real knife" he had seen at the show. So it's a keeper. I'll try to get some photos later.

SeaRat

 

[Sam Miller III]

I have a little more work to do and then will post my spreadsheet.

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It has been a week and no spread sheet---

How big is that "Spread sheet?"

How much work can it be?

SDM

 

[oceandrifter]

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Since we were very helpful and your have a listing of all the SCUBA Pro knives why don't you share with this information the tribe?

List the knives by name, year (s) produced, price and special features...

SDM

Attached is my spreadsheet based on my research, a trip by a friend to SCUBAPRO headquarters in California, and the catalogs available from vintagedoublehose.com. If anyone can add any information, it would be very useful. Also if anyone has access to SCUBAPRO catalogs from 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974 or 1975, I would really appreciate a shot of the knife pages.

Thanks

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Oceandrifter, that is a very interesting collection. Thank you for sharing the information. I'll look and see whether I have one of those catalogs you are seeking.

SeaRat

PS--I didn't know we could directly attach an Excel spreadsheet. That will be helpful to me later.