Should I carry a knife?

[Cold_Under_Here]

Hi,
I live in a area where people fish during the summer months and there is a little monofilament floating around the area. Would it be wise to carry a small knife on me or would it cause more problems? I have one very similar to this: Nova Tech: Northern Virginia's Technical Diving Community
and I have figure out a way to attach it on my inner thigh using some shock cord and a quick release strap.

Is it common practice for freedivers to carry a cutting implement on them, like it is in scuba?

thanks

[Bill McIntyre]

Are you spearfishing? If so, I think its extremely important to carry a knife. In fact, if I forgot to bring my knife on the boat, I just might not go in the water.

Besides fishing line, I am more worried about being tangled in my own reel line or shooting line after shooting a big fish. And in SoCal, this is complicated even more by the fact that our lines get wrapped all around the kelp, and we are down there, often in the murk, trying to cut the line and fish out of the kelp.

I want instant access to my knife, so I keep it on my left forearm where I can see it and grab it quickly.

And I think its essential to have a wrist lanyard, preferably bungee cord, so that if I drop the knife, I don't lose it. Dropping a knife can be fatal for a freediver if he really needs the knife. I run my hand through the loop of bungee before I pull the knife from the sheath.

The wrist lanyard also permits me to just drop the knife and let it dangle rather than wasting precious breath putting it back in the sheath when I'm through with it.

This is a bit specific to SoCal, but often I dive with the knife in hand to cut a fish out of the kelp. At some point I want to quit cutting and use both hands to grab the fish. I can just drop it and let it dangle from my wrist rather than taking time to put it back in the sheath.

The knife I use is an imitation of the Riffe, made in the same factory in Italy but without the Riffe name on it, and bringing the price down to only $30. There are other similar knives made under different brand names in the same factory.

And even though you didn't ask, I think the serrated portion of the blade is very important. When Riffe first came out with his knife, he did a demonstation for me in his shop (I happen to live just a few miles away). He put one end of a 3/32" stainless steel cable in a vise and held the other end tight with vice grips and had me slash at it with the serrated portion of the knife. It cut it in one try, but I always had my doubts that this was relevant to actual diving conditions.

But some months later, I had occasion to cut a 3/32" slip tip cable, in the water under actual diving conditions. It took two or three slashes, but I was able to cut it when I really needed to.

[spaghetti]

All Bill said, and even more:
I always carry 2 knives.
Scenario: I got tangled in loose filament or fishing net while freediving, so I grab my knife and try to cut. Unfortunately the knife falls off my hand and sinks. Dead man? No, I still have a spare knife and some hope to come out alive.

[vali]

allways carry a knife

[ricki]

A hook knife can be a nice backup to a knife, is low profile and harder to drop than a regular knife. Something like:


North Shore Inc. windsurf, kayak & paddle sports, kiteboard, wakeboard products - North Shore Inc

I picked a compact double bladed serrated one up smaller than this at Austin's Dive Center in Miami but am having difficulty in finding a photo online.

[Jon]

I wear one like this on the strap of my D-3 when diving warm water, where I don't want to wear a big knife, or when scootering on shipwrecks as a back-up to my main knife.

Otherwise I always wear a spearfishing knife, even if I'm not spearing, just to be safe.

Jon

[octopus]

If you do not spearfish, you might be better off with a pair of small scissors.

[samdive]

I do - in the sea - strap it inside your calf so you can get it with either hand

[foxfish]

I think it would be fair to say "we all like to wear a knife" then!!

[Cold_Under_Here]

Hey thanks everyone.

I spent a few hours last evening and made myself a better leg sheath using dental floss, sewing needle, pliers, old weight belt and bloody fingers!

I can attach it to my leg with velco utility straps, feels good right now. I'll have to try it water though.. Excuse the funny looking stitching, it is hard to sew through three layers of nylon without a sewing awl!





This is my other knife and sheath just for interest.



So I guess I will be carrying a knife now, lol.
cheers

[vali]

a little true story:
yesterday i've come back in my country from turkye
and at the aeroport there was an baggage controller as in every aeroport
well
my "litlle" bag with scubadiving equipement [about 27 kgs] was stopped by the border officers because they saw my diving knife
after i told them that i am a certfied adv scubadiver and show them the licence...it was ok....
so no need to be worried
but not in the hand bagage....allways in the big bagage

[ricki]

Just found some info on the hook knife I was talking about before.

I picked up a couple of these at Austins Dive Center recently for $15. USD a pop.



It is the Innovative Scuba Concepts, Razor Line Cutter. The converging blades are important to aid in rapid cutting and the serrated section may help at times too. This thing is designed to even handle smaller diameter rope I think. As a rule these two bladed hook knives are a lot larger. This is the smallest one that I have seen.

It has a nice hard case and easy to grab handle. The mounting makes one-handed retrieval a bit easier. You might want to use a weak pull tie (one that can break if necessary) to backup the securing system to your belt.

It is easier to cut yourself by accident with this version when compared to the hook knife in my original post, but I prefer it anyway sans lost fingers. The smaller size and serrated blade are trade offs.

It is worth considering when shopping for knives.