Do you dive with a knife? How about a big knife?

[261311]

I have a small knife (6" total, 2.5" blade), serrated with a line cutter on it. I will be buying EMT shears at some point as well as a secondary solution. It's worth noting as well that I do like something such as a metal pommel for tank banging on there, a blunt blade for prying and no foldy gimmicks. I want it ready to go and usable with one hand without fumbling. I've been wavering on my preference for a pointed tip instead but I can't think of many major immediate uses I'd typically have for that. Anything larger in size (especially blade) and I start to feel like I'm carrying it around for other motives over utility, but that's just my preference. Others may of course what they're comfortable with, no harm there.

 

[Quero]

I carry a T-Rex with a 3.5 inch blade. I rarely use it, and when I've needed a knife, it has served its purpose well. When I see a guy with a honking big knife strapped to his leg, I inevitably think he's compensating. IJS.

A couple of days ago on the boat there was this wannabe macho-man type with his 6 inch blade + 4 inch handle on his leg. This same guy insisted on wearing gloves while for a wetsuit he had on a shorty (the water here is 85°), and to top it all off, he had one of those duck quacker things on his LPI hose. The ensemble convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was compensating. What a loser. I have yet to meet anybody who "needs" a huge knife, and while I admit that there may be the rare exception, the number of guys who carry these monster knives doesn't match my concept of "rare."

 

[KeithG]

I have a small wimpy ass knife tucked into my bcd shoulder strap. At least I think I do. It was there a few years ago. Not really sure why I bought it. I hope it is still there. I might need it someday. Well, no.

Oh, yah - that's right - I used it to cut up the pineapple on a SI once. Glad I had it.

But the real point in my mind is, depending upon what type of dives you do, your equipment needs will vary.

As a warm water vacation diver I have never come upon a situation where a knife (or shears) would be required. I think if I dove somewhere where there were nets and fishing line I may value it.

For me it is like wearing a parachute in my car. Great tool, wrong situation.

So no, I do not dive with a big knife.

 

[billgraham]

The big knife is cool but I have enough trouble keeping from getting tangled in stuff as it is. I like those big plastic hook looking cutters that OMS sells and usually have one in a pocket for wreck diving, with a pair of shears on my waist and one of those trilobyte cutters on the chest strap. With any of these things, black looks cool but you're better off buying the neon color so you can find it when you drop it.

 

[R-balljunkie]

i see lotsa big knives, usually a few times only...they get losts often getting back into the boat ive seen the "i just lost my damn big knife" on many faces too.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

That is the exact same knife I used for years. I also wear mine on my thigh, in the same location. I prefer to have it up high so it is at my finger tips. Wearing it on the thigh as opposed to on the calf is going to make a lot less drag, because you move the lower leg a lot more than the thigh when kicking. That particular knife had a large metal butt that serves as a reasonably good hammer. The blade is much thicker than is needed to cut something, but it allows the knife to be used as pretty sturdy pry bar as well. If you NEED a small hammer, pry bar and cutting tool, then the extra weight and drag of a large, thick knife are inconsequential. I stopped using it, because I spearfish and there are better tools for that application.

 

[oldschoolto]

I carry a T-Rex with a 3.5 inch blade. I rarely use it, and when I've needed a knife, it has served its purpose well. When I see a guy with a honking big knife strapped to his leg, I inevitably think he's compensating. IJS.

A couple of days ago on the boat there was this wannabe macho-man type with his 6 inch blade + 4 inch handle on his leg. This same guy insisted on wearing gloves while for a wetsuit he had on a shorty (the water here is 85°), and to top it all off, he had one of those duck quacker things on his LPI hose. The ensemble convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was compensating. What a loser. I have yet to meet anybody who "needs" a huge knife, and while I admit that there may be the rare exception, the number of guys who carry these monster knives doesn't match my concept of "rare."

you ever penetrate a wreck ? You don't go in without a big ass knife...

jim...

 

[CT-Rich]

I am diving the same BFK that I bought in 1980. I was at a dive cookout and no one had a knife to cut the watermellon, I pulled her out and took care of it... Some guy commented that he didn't like knives with pointy tips, they break. I told him the knife was older than he was, and still hasn't broken the tip. I have my small knife still from 1982 also, that has a 5" baby blade. I keep a knife with a 3" blade on my BCD for fishing line, too.My kids would kill me if I stopped diving the BFK (although the F doesn't stand for Freakin'), they love it. And it is totally the universal tool. The steel pommel will open up stuff about as well as the blade (if you hit it hard enough). Makes a great pry bar. I don't use it on every dive but it has come in handy plenty of times. Could I have used a smaller knife? Yeah, but I like to think it is a bit of nostalga. I did like the brass dive knives that Chatterton was sporting in one of the photos. Those were really neat. Am I over compensating? I have a lot bigger problems in life than the size of my sword....Let's face Mike Nelson wouldn't leave home without it.

 

[Lee Viathan]

I have 3 different means of cutting on me. I wear an XS scuba saw knife on my left calf. I have a pair of Dive Rite EMT shears on my right side of my waist belt. I have a Trilobite on my right top BCD strap. I can access a means of cutting regardless of body position or inability to reach just my knife on my calf. I like redundancy. two is one and one is none. The XS Scuba wouldn't be picked up by RAMBO but it's big enough to be useful.

 

[Quero]

you ever penetrate a wreck ? You don't go in without a big ass knife...

jim...

Well, Jim, I have to be honest and say that underwater junk yards hold very little attraction for me.
I can also say that the wannabe with the big knife I saw on the boat the other day wasn't a wreck diver--he was doing his AOW deep and nav dives that day. It could be that he'll eventually do super-dangerous wreck penetration and have a good excuse for carrying his Rambo-worthy knife, but as with most guys who carry huge knives even when they're not doing wreck-penetration dives, for now it's all for show.