The life-cycle of a diving knife

[Bob DBF]

There are people that collect dive knives, otherwise the price would not be so high for the twin to my BFK. I'd like to pick up a backup as mine has been too rusted internally to dismantle and clean for years and someday... I still have and use my first knife, a Healthways BFK from back when Scubapro was a regulator, not a company. I've picked up a number of knives off the bottom, but have not found a replacement, so far. I keep it reasonably sharp, but the majority of it's use has been as a prybar, some in collecting scallops and some on inanimate objects.

To be honest I have evolved in choice of cutting devices as I now also carry a trilobite line cutter, shears, and occasionally a small sharp knife. I don't consider diving without the BFK, it has come in quite handy over the years, and my navigation would suffer as the lack of weight on that leg would cause me to swim in circles.


Bob

 

[JamesBon92007]

I still have and use my first knife, a Healthways BFK from back when Scubapro was a regulator, not a company. I've picked up a number of knives off the bottom, but have not found a replacement, so far. I keep it reasonably sharp, but the majority of it's use has been as a prybar, some in collecting scallops and some on inanimate objects.

T I don't consider diving without the BFK, it has come in quite handy over the years, and my navigation would suffer as the lack of weight on that leg would cause me to swim in circles.Bob

I finally got used to diving without my knife on my leg but this trip my GF is doing a checked bag so I can bring it along. I expect to be swimming in circles.

I somehow missed something: what is a BFK? Is it an abbreviation for a Big Friggin' Knife? Or was that actually what it was called? Do you have a picture of it? Are you talking about an actual knife or one of those prybars that had a sharp edge on one side and a serrated edge on the other?

 

[Chip Elliott]

I dived this knife for years when I was a hardhat diver, what you do is take out the sex bolt that holds the pocket clip on and put a shackle and clip on it.

Is taking out the sex bolt anything like neutering a dog?

 

[WarrenZ]

Is taking out the sex bolt anything like neutering a dog?

Not quite you can always put the sex bolt back. The dog will never forgive you if you say oops and then tried to fix the fix

 

[Bob DBF]

I somehow missed something: what is a BFK

You got it, big f'n knife. A foot or so long with a 6 1/2 or 7 inch blade. It's been with me a long time and helped me out of a few jams. I carry it Ab diving (abalone harvesting which is freediving only) as well as SCUBA diving in the kelp forests of NorCal without any entanglement issues.


Bob

 

[bl6394]

As a 'knife enthusiast' I've noticed that typically the dive knife is a relatively inexpensive item (compared to other knives).
...What is the life-cycle of your dive knife? Do you care for it? Do you sharpen it?

To quote Chatterton, "A dull dive knife is in fact ... a spoon. Why would you dive with a spoon?"

I carry a variety of sharp cutting tools when I dive. My knife is a typical cave knife (ground down steak knife). I have a trilobite line cutter attached to my light head. And I have paramedic's shears in my drysuit pocket.

I rinse / sharpen my tools. If anything is dulled or corroded - it is either serviced or replaced.

 

[TacticalReviews]

To quote Chatterton, "A dull dive knife is in fact ... a spoon. Why would you dive with a spoon?"

I carry a variety of sharp cutting tools when I dive. My knife is a typical cave knife (ground down steak knife). I have a trilobite line cutter attached to my light head. And I have paramedic's shears in my drysuit pocket.

I rinse / sharpen my tools. If anything is dulled or corroded - it is either serviced or replaced.

As it should be, it was just that in my research into diving cutting tools it seemed almost entirely overlooked, and some sources saying to get the dive shop to sharpen your knives.

This thread was actually part of my preparation for the Dive Knives 2016 Mega Test which I have recently published:
Dive Knives 2016 – Mega Test Review

 

[lucca brassi]

As it should be, it was just that in my research into diving cutting tools it seemed almost entirely overlooked, and some sources saying to get the dive shop to sharpen your knives.

This thread was actually part of my preparation for the Dive Knives 2016 Mega Test which I have recently published:
Dive Knives 2016 – Mega Test Review

Interesting test with a lot of work but also I miss on that test several ''interesting knives'' which are important and world wide used special among technical divers !

- Halcyon Expolorer steel (former Scubapro )

- Halcyon titanium and also Halcyon steel version

-BtS cave and Explorer

all on picture except steel version halcyon

- DIR 'steak knife''

 

[JamesBon92007]

You got it, big f'n knife. A foot or so long with a 6 1/2 or 7 inch blade. It's been with me a long time and helped me out of a few jams. I carry it Ab diving (abalone harvesting which is freediving only) as well as SCUBA diving in the kelp forests of NorCal without any entanglement issues.


Bob

I've so far managed to avoid encounters with the "Killer Kelp" that Mike Nelson used to run into occasionally. With a couple of thousand dives in kelp forests I can only remember one time when a strand of seaweed was caught on my BFK leg knife.

 

[tarponchik]

Interesting test with a lot of work but also I miss on that test several ''interesting knives'' which are important and world wide used special among technical divers !

- Halcyon Expolorer steel (former Scubapro )

- Halcyon titanium and also Halcyon steel version

-BtS cave and Explorer

all on picture except steel version halcyon

- DIR 'steak knife''

You are not from Texas, of course.