It's good to have a trilobite

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I added a trilobite to my car too. Once upon a time our insurance company was giving out emergency seatbelt cutters, but they were designed so that you could cut yourself on it by grasping it unawares, or rummaging in a drawer where oneof these had been left. The tribite is a better design: better at cutting what you want cut and better at not cutting you by accident.
 
Thanks, I just ordered one of these.

I kind of like the Laura Croft look on my right leg, but this sounds like a useful tool.

I wish there were better dive knives made out of LC200N steel. I have the SpiderCo waterway knife that is utterly rust proof and sharpens really well, but it isn't in a form factor that can be used for diving. Ceramic is certainly able to deal with the elements involved with diving, but it is also difficult to maintain an edge.

The knife in my AOW thread has a mirror edge on it and will cut almost anything. It is a stainless steel, but stainless isn't really all that stainless.
 
I returned it to its little pouch without slicing myself or anyone else!

But imagine how exciting the dive would have been had u sliced yourself or your buddy say at Socorro or Guadalupe... :rofl3:
 
The knife in my AOW thread has a mirror edge on it and will cut almost anything. It is a stainless steel, but stainless isn't really all that stainless.

It's all a balance between corrosion resistance, ability to harden, and ability to take an edge. A lot of dive knives are really corrosion resistant, but they won't take a real good edge.

Compare 20 Grades of Knife Steel


Bob
 
FWIW, I've found that it is very effective if you take apart a trilobyte, lube up that blade with thick silicone grease -- goop it on in a nice layer -- then reassemble and stick in in the sheath.

I really don't even rinse mine any more. If I use it, I put some more goop on where it was scraped off during use. That's it. It's very effective. I'll change out the blade every couple of years. Before that, I rinsed religiously, but that's only marginally effective.
 
I've gone through the evolution.
Expensive strap-on BFK, to smaller-cheaper, to zip cutter.
In twenty-plus years of diving I've probably needed to use a knife less than a dozen times, and never as protection.
This is what works for me now...
  • Cheap folding knife with thumb button unlock in a velcro pouch on my waist strap. Less than $15 US at the hardware store or swap meet. A friend once told me a story about a diver who dropped an expensive knife on ascent, went back down for it, and got bent. True? I don't know, but it got me thinking about cheap replaceable knives.
  • A zip-cutter (trilobite type) on the bungie wrist mount of my computer, or on my chest strap. This is my second option if I can't reach my folding knife. A second cutting tool is essential in an entanglement.
This is what works for me.
I'm not saying it's what works for everybody.

K.
 

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