New Vintage Scuba YouTube Channel

[Akimbo]

But it's "Air Lee-KEED".

True, copied from Wikipedia: Air Liquide S.A. (French pronunciation: [ɛʁ likid]; /ˌɛər lɪˈkiːd/

This brings up a potential idea for a video. Check out the end of A Brief History of Diving (before 1943) under the Jacques-Yves Cousteau heading. Jacques' wife Simone was the daughter of Henri Melchior, a retired admiral in the French Navy and director of L'Air Liquide since 1924. That relationship is how JYC met Émile Gagnan, the engineer who designed the double hose regulator.

 

[happy-diver]

Additionally, diver’s like Chatterton and Kohler never used expensive knives when plunging into the abyss aboard the Doria and U-869.

The Politically Incorrect Blade

To defend the BCD video, in ScubaPro’s 2021 catalog it listed the Stab Jacket as being introduced in 1971. If the prototype existed in 1971, I still count that as being introduced in 1971.

You present air rather than facts because it suits you



Humour is good, but only works with a baseline of facts, which with your current attitude
affecting the standard of your research, rendered are your videos light pretentious fiction



You are concerned about how your presentation looks rather than what you are presenting

Unmagnificent!


Magnificent!

Take the chance

 

[John C. Ratliff]

'Sorry, but I still prefer a dive knife. My current one is a Wenoka dive knife, on my right calf. I've been using this arrangement since I started diving in 1959, and have used it in many, many different situations. I routinely cut fishing line I become entangled with in the Clackamas River, and know where that knife is located. I've lost it once, but came back and found it the next day on a subsequent dive. I've used it as a USAF Pararescueman to cut two dead Korean pilots out of their parachute lines, which were draped all over them after a crash into the Yellow Sea. I've used it to cut a 3 inch diameter rope of a boat's prop early in my diving (try that with shears), using the serrated edge. I also use the knife tip to dig lead sinkers out of crevices in the river's rocks.

One disadvantage of the shears is that they are really small, and hard to handle with thick neoprene gloves on (water temps here are sometimes in the 40s and 50s F.). Shears would be almost impossible to handle in heavy gloves or three-finger mitts. I don't think the shears would be a tool for digging out lead from the rocks too.

So I'll stay with my dive knife.

By the way, one of the reasons for the metal top on the dive knife handle is to use it as a signaling device on our steel tanks. But now, no metal top, and aluminum cylinders.

SeaRat

PS, note the line cutter on my Wenoka knife, the button keeper, and the serrated edge. I keep these knives razor sharp, and use the knife on almost very dive. I once a year or so ago picked up a nylon line, finding a throw weight on the end of it (probably used by the Sheriff for throwing practice in lifesaving training), and had the line wrap around my thumb. In the current, I was caught as the upstream part of the live was caught on a rock, and the line was tightening on my thumb in the high current area. I pulled out my knife quickly and in one swing parted this line, alleviating the pressure on my thumb in a second. I'm not sure I could have done that with a line cutter.

PS2, 'good discussion topic. It brings out some of the history of dive knives, and the reason I still prefer them.

 

[MICHAEL D COLLINS]

a

'Sorry, but I still prefer a dive knife. My current one is a Wenoka dive knife, on my right calf. I've been using this arrangement since I started diving in 1959, and have used it in many, many different situations. I routinely cut fishing line I become entangled with in the Clackamas River, and know where that knife is located. I've lost it once, but came back and found it the next day on a subsequent dive. I've used it as a USAF Pararescueman to cut two dead Korean pilots out of their parachute lines, which were draped all over them after a crash into the Yellow Sea. I've used it to cut a 3 inch diameter rope of a boat's prop early in my diving (try that with shears), using the serrated edge. I also use the knife tip to dig lead sinkers out of crevices in the river's rocks.

One disadvantage of the shears is that they are really small, and hard to handle with thick neoprene gloves on (water temps here are sometimes in the 40s and 50s F.). Shears would be almost impossible to handle in heavy gloves or three-finger mitts. I don't think the shears would be a tool for digging out lead from the rocks too.

So I'll stay with my dive knife.

By the way, one of the reasons for the metal top on the dive knife handle is to use it as a signaling device on our steel tanks. But now, no metal top, and aluminum cylinders.

SeaRat

PS, note the line cutter on my Wenoka knife, the button keeper, and the serrated edge. I keep these knives razor sharp, and use the knife on almost very dive. I once a year or so ago picked up a nylon line, finding a throw weight on the end of it (probably used by the Sheriff for throwing practice in lifesaving training), and had the line wrap around my thumb. In the current, I was caught as the upstream part of the live was caught on a rock, and the line was tightening on my thumb in the high current area. I pulled out my knife quickly and in one swing parted this line, alleviating the pressure on my thumb in a second. I'm not sure I could have done that with a line cutter.

PS2, 'good discussion topic. It brings out some of the history of dive knives, and the reason I still prefer them.

A dive knife (worn inside of the leg) is a piece of safety gear that with situational awareness should seldom be needed.

 

[lowwall]

a

A dive knife (worn inside of the leg) is a piece of safety gear that with situational awareness should seldom be needed.

Depends on the specifics of your dive environment and abilities. I would certainly defer to the first hand experience of @John C. Ratliff that a knife is a useful tool for the dives he does. He also clearly has the training and, again, the experience to make a knife both a safe and effective tool.

OTOH, for my tropical dive trips, shears are great. I'm not wearing gloves, the major entanglement hazard is fishing line, and local laws usually preclude me from carrying a sizeable knife even if I wanted to. And, since I basically never use a knife beyond the kitchen and dining table, I'm as likely to injure myself with it as to do anything useful.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

a

A dive knife (worn inside of the leg) is a piece of safety gear that with situational awareness should seldom be needed.

I wear my dive knife on the outside of my right leg. The only times I wore it on the inside was when we were in the U.S. Air Force Pararescue, and making parascuba jumps. I didn't want the dive knife to possible entangle with the parachute risers during the jump.

Why the outside of my right leg? I sometimes work in high current, and am hanging onto rocks with my left hand when I reach to access my knife. If it were on the inside of my leg, I would have to move my leg in a awkward, and less streamlined, position to get to the knife. With the knife sheath on the outside, I can maintain streamlining in the current, and still easily access the knife or put it back away. Also, when putting the knife away, if it's on the inside of the leg there is more potential for missing (I sometimes put it way blind--not looking) and stabbing my leg with the tip of the knife.

Also, I have a Winona dive knife, with a button release. This button is very easily accessible with my right index finger when worn on the outside of my leg. If the sheath was on the inside of my leg, my hand would need to twist somewhat to get my index finger in position to release the knife by depressing that button.

So overall, for decades I’ve had my knife on the outside of my right leg. It’s second nature now to access it there.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Since this is the “New Vintage Scuba YouTube Channel” thread, I thought you’d enjoy seeing my video titled “Lampreys Spawning—Two Dives.” This is a rather long video, as I made it to decimeter the actual spawning behavior of lamprey eels, which to my knowledge had not been documented before. I saw videos of lampreys moving rocks, but not the actual spawning behavior.

At 23 minutes and 20 seconds in this video, you can see me using my Winona dive knife to cut entangled fishing line too. This will also give you a great idea of the water conditions I sometimes dive in.


Enjoy,

John

PS, I consider myself a second generation diver, as I started in 1959 and was, at last (after importing LA County instructor Roy France) certified LA County in 1963. Our dive club, the Salem Junior Aqua Club, had a parent, the Salem Aqua Club, whom we dove with.