Question Line Cutter or Trauma Shears?

[Living4Experiences]

I have an Aqua Lung dive knife that goes into the integrated sheath on my Aqua Lung BCD. I loosely call it a knife because it doesn't really cut, and it takes some effort to use, so I want something better. What tool is better for making a quick cut underwater? A line cutter or trauma shears? Or something else? If trauma shears, I assume it needs to be marine grade that doesn't rust and is easy to use. What do you use? I don't want to spend much on this, $30 or less.

TIA!

 

[landphil]

I have a set of Xshears XShear Heavy Duty Trauma Shears - They cost 2-3x more than a really good pair of stamped trauma shears. But they’ll probably last 10x as long (bought my current one in 2019- it has hundreds of dives now.) I started using them after I went to cut some rope with a set that came with my sheath and the blade snapped off. It had some micro defect in the metal that had rusted- figured something like that would make for a bad day if I was entangled underwater.

I keep them in this Dive Rite sheath. It’s compact and easy to use. There are some cheaper versions of this sheath that also work well. Trauma Shears - Dive Rite | Equipment for Serious Divers

For travel I’ll usually bring my shears for my right hand cutter, and will replace my DIR knife with a ceramic cutter on my left.

 

[justinthedeeps]

Are there any fully marine-grade (316) shears, including the bolt?

 

[DiveLikeAMuppet]

Both are pretty useful. If you cover your shears with copious amounts of silicone, they will survive few seasons.

 

[happy-diver]

Unbelievably quickly as Edward Scissorhands out come my trauma scissors to cut wire rope even metal
Cutting stuff for years, with rusty rivets, that I whack with a hammer, before a coat of orange rust paint

But I've sure never cut any floating unconscious people out of one piece DIR webbing, with line cutters

Quick quick when is the next useless stuff coming out, I need to get out there and buy some more of it

 

[Michael Shamrock]

Think step by step, according to the probabilities.
Main risk is a fishing or SMB line --> small line cutter like Eezycut, reachable by both hands
Second step, a bigger rope --> big line cutter in a pocket
Third step, a strong / metal wire (in wrecks by example) --> Cutting pliers in a pocket (not rusted...)
Knife is not the most efficient / important IMHO.
Always show your buddy where these devices are (when briefing)

 

[justinthedeeps]

There is ever more high strength, cut resistant fishing line tech fouling ocean reefs these days. We should regularly test our cutting tools and shears on samples of that stuff