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Knife In Kelp Forest

Thread Status: Hello , There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
Lonestar, I just use a normal knife w/ a 4.5" blade or so. The smaller the better. The trick for me is to keep it mounted on the the inside/top of the left leg (if you leg is a clock with the foot pointing straight up at the 12 o'clock position, my knife would be at 2 o'clock).

Most importantly I keep the handle pointing down towards my foot. This has always worked for me in kelp, while my buddy who keeps his knife handle up keeps getting snagged. The only tricky thing is removing it one handed if it's of the spring relaese variaty. Therefore I use one that snaps into an ABS molded sheath w/ no moving parts (this also helps keep the knife on your leg and out of davy jones' locker when sand fouls the release spring and the knife won't lock back in).

These simply pull out w/ one solid downward pull from either hand. If this is too scary for you b/c there's no positive lock you can always buy a knife (or drill existing) w/ a lanyard hole and rig a bungy from the top of the handle to around the tip of the sheath, a la Riffe.

Hope this helps
 
always ready to help a fellow CA native

When diving in kelp, the thing is, as in all other facets of life, to be smooth and not make a ruckus. That said, my knife is in one of two places depending on what I'm doing: When I'm wearing a weight harness, it's upside down on my left side chest strap so I can ghrab it with my right hand and put the hurt to the fish. It's in a sleeve sewn to the webbing, made of 2" nylon weight belt strap that is slipped into a neoprene sheath on the harness. Tres smooth.

When I'm wearing a regular weight belt the knife is right side up in a sleeve on the inside of my left calf. The kelp, she slides right on by. :cool:

But again, the key is to do the kelp thing smooth.
 
Patch it don't lose it.

Naaaah, you guys have got it all wrong. :duh

The ONLY way to go is get a knife pouch sewn onto your wetsuit leg, on the thigh. It is an oval piece of neoprene with a hole 3/4 the way up. The hole allows you to reach the handle of the knife, but the patch still covers the top of the knife, keeping it in place. Insert a cheap plastic knife sheath into the pocket to protect it from the blade. Easy peasy, never ever gets caught, easy to get knife out, safe as houses, and you won't ever go back:naughty

Of course, although this is a tried and proven perfect solution that most NZ spearo's use, dive shops will not encourage this though - it means they will sell far less knives.

I will try to attach an image of may mate with his...
 

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