The Art of Not Losing Your Shears/Knife

[Vegan Shark]

What's the best solution for keeping shears from falling into the abyss? Currently I have the shears' holder clipped to my hip D ring, with a small rope tied around the handle of the shears and to the D ring (the excess rope is then tied around the shears so that nothing is out and dangling, but I can still fully extend the shears if needed). Works great, but it looks awful.

In videos of cave and wreck divers, I haven't seen how they have all their cutting devices attached in a way that they won't fall out mid-dive. Is there some secret to it, or do I just need to stick with keeping things tied to my gear, and switch out the rope for something thin like fishing line?

 

[Dr. Lecter]

I've been keeping a pair of shears in the shears sheath on my Irikonji shorts, which has a velcro-ed webbing retainer that goes through one of the shear handle loops. I've also managed to fit a pair of small shears into the old Halcyon sawed-off steakknife pouch I have on my single tank rig...friction is all that's holding them in, but it seems to be quite secure. I'm not a fan of having line attached to cutting tools becuase it tends to offer something else to get tangled/caught.

As someone who spends a good bit of time inside messy wrecks, I like to have at least three flavors of cutters and keep them located in various places. The shears are in the short's sheath down on the right thigh, the tribobite cutter is in a pouch on the primary Petrel on my right forearm, and a Folts Minimalist tanto (minus the silly rattail) is on the bungee for the compass on my left forearm. Sometimes I will move the shears on my single tank rig over to my doubles as a backup, and that's on my waist harness webbing. Nothing goes anywhere, nothing really sticks out.

 

[Nwcid]

I don't have any pics or I would post one, and not home to do it.

Basically I just made simple sheer pouches out of the 2" belt webbing. Just fold it in half and sew up the sides to hold the sheers and then fold the back over a sew across to make a belt loop. It is very similar to like a AA Maglite pouch.

Then on the sheers I took about a 4" piece of shock cord, ran it through one of the loops and tied the ends together. You then put the sheers in the sheath and you pull the shock cord loop out stretching it over the bottom of the sheath. With this method the sheers can not just fall out, even though I doubt the could, without actually pulling on them hard enough to stretch the shock cord. The sheers come out very easy when pulled by hand.

 

[fisheater]

I made a "sheath" of sorts, by cutting a piece of clear vinyl tubing and shoving the business of the shears into it. I melted a small hole in the end of the tubing and zip-tied it to my loop of bungee holding gear in my right pocket.

 

[DevonDiver]

I've always found that a philosophy of "don't drop stuff" works. I apply the same philosophy whether I'm holding my smart phone on the street, or deploying a cutting device under water. I haven't used 'string', curly cord, retractors or anything else in decades.... and didn't lose anything.

When not actively held/used, all my stuff is securely attached via bolt-snaps. It goes into pockets, it doesn't dangle around. It is very secure, yet remains accessible.

 

[drbill]

I have probably owned half a dozen pairs of shears or more and every one of them removed itself from the provided sheath and disappeared. I didn't lose a single one by dropping it. I think the companies that manufacture them need to design a better sheath.

 

[Vegan Shark]

The sheathe is exactly my problem (Blue Reef's one). If I don't tie the shears to my gear they slip right out.

I'm a far cry from a handyman, so building my own sheathe likes others seem to do isn't likely. Are there any on the market that are designed better? I mean, dive knifes don't spontaneously fall out of their holsters, neither should shears.

 

[Bob DBF]

I have probably owned half a dozen pairs of shears or more and every one of them removed itself from the provided sheath and disappeared. I didn't lose a single one by dropping it. I think the companies that manufacture them need to design a better sheath.

Why design a better sheath when you can grantee return customers?



Bob
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Always use the right tool for the job. A hammer is the right tool for any job. Anything can be used as a hammer.

 

[Vegan Shark]

No way would I buy again a product that fails on its very first use. Diving shears are way overpriced to begin with, can get bulk EMT shears for just $2 a piece.

 

[kelemvor]

The sheathe is exactly my problem (Blue Reef's one). If I don't tie the shears to my gear they slip right out.

I'm a far cry from a handyman, so building my own sheathe likes others seem to do isn't likely. Are there any on the market that are designed better? I mean, dive knifes don't spontaneously fall out of their holsters, neither should shears.

I had a knife that was repeatedly falling out of the holster. I managed to retrieve it every time this happened. Had it on the right side of my rig and it turns out I was knocking it out (usually on the boat) when messing with my gear. Moved it to a different location and solved the problem. Maybe moving your shears could help?

Also, you could try diving with a pouch, either strap on or glue on, and put the shears (and holster) inside that.

I'm using an older version of This one. Mine doesn't have the external shears pouch that the new version does. The strap on is a little bit of a hassle, I'm planning to glue some pouches onto my exposure suits.