knives

stones damage the blades edges every time you use it.

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I've been sharpening my knives at home since I was a kid in scouts and they are all still fine and undamaged. how are you shapening them? if you put to acute of an angle on the blade it will be easily damaged as it is very delicate. if you know how to sharpen a knife properly you will not damage it at all, well except the eventual slow loss of blade material.

yes may be i just wrong angle or rubbing technique...

contact the maker and get the proper angle from them. go slow and use lots of oil. they will last forever. well almost

I have used all kinds of lubricants/protectants for dive and fishing gear. I like WD-40 the best. The fancy synthetic sealing stuff is for things that stay in or near the water. For dive gear, all you want to do is get the salt and other minerals off with. WD-40 is a water displacer that has a slight coating. I wash my knives off with fresh water, dry them and spray WD-40 on them and have never had any rust. One knife is 410 stainless and the other is 304. They are cheap, but strong and sharp.
Bob

Another consideration is the Wenoka EZ-Lock titanium knife with the stilleto blade. The EZ-Lock is much easier to use than a rubber loop. I keep this knife on my left forearm; my back up is a set of heavy-duty dive shears that I wear on my belt. This knife also has held its edge very well. Titanium has a reputation of being brittle, but mine has held up really well, though I definitely would NOT use it to pry anything. I bought mine at a LDS for about $50, which is a little cheaper than the Riffe model. Here's link with a picture:
http://s1059kxm.leisurepro.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=78143&prmenbr=946

Thanks for the advise amphibious, i use thin gun oil while sharpening and don't use any lubricants after dive and have no rust on the blade. The trick is to wash the blade and sheath speratelly then you have to dry blade by the towel and keep it out from the sheath for 1-2 days... You will have zero rust guaranteed



Hey hooch that knife is great, never saw the titanium knife for 30 dollars, ez-lock system looks good to. Can you tell me how sharp is it? and have enough mass to kill the fish?

Originally posted by Murat
Hey hooch that knife is great, never saw the titanium knife for 30 dollars, ez-lock system looks good to. Can you tell me how sharp is it? and have enough mass to kill the fish?

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Murat, the blade is very sharp, and it holds its edge well. Also remember that titanium doesn't rust. I rinse mine off with fresh water and that's it; it doesn't need any oil. Regarding mass, it's very light since it's titanium, but I've had no problems sticking through a fish's skull (at least the fishes here in Southern Calif). The blade is not very long, though it's longer than the Riffe stubby.

I played with a ceramic blade from Boker, and although it should hold and edge forever, and is very wear resistant it is also very brittle. If you drop it on the floor, it could shatter. Twist or pry with it, and you could have pieces. Think of a dinner plate, its hard but don’t drop it.

Titanium is also immune to salt corrosion, but it isn’t as hard as steel. It should not (I don’t want to step on any toes here) be brittle at all, as it is usually hardened in the 40's on the Rockwell scale. Beta-Ti alloys might do a little better. Mission makes some high-end (and expensive) titanium knives that seal types supposedly use. One of the quirks of titanium is that it is different to sharpen. The metal at the edge is hard to cut on a sharpening stone, so it tends to bend the 'wire' edge over from one side to the other.

If you want a dive knife that holds an edge better than what you get most of the time, look for blade from a company that makes knives, not snorkels, in 440-A or something similar. Aus-6 might also do ok. You can also adapt an outdoor knife with a steel like this, the trouble is that an outdoor knife like that probably wont have a sheath suitable for diving.

If you want to take a look at some different options, take a look at the Emerson White Water La Griffe, Benchmade River/Dive (not pointy enough for a spearo imo) the Mission MPK (titanium) or the Sog Seal Pup

I’m not sure what you are cutting, but the only thing that really matters to me on my dive knife is that it can cut line (serrations are good for this) and is pointy enough to subdue fish easily. I’m not worried if it can slice through tomatoes.

I have been using a cheap little accordion-style squeeze tub of silicone fishing reel grease for blade protection. You use very little, it protects very well, and it's harmless to the meat. I like the Riffe knife on my arm, but I don't use the rubber ring on the sheath over the handle . I just put the elastic wrist strap down over the end of the sheath so you can get the knife more easily with one hand.
I have emailed Deep See, who makes the Wenoka knives, about making their "Big Squeeze" knife in a titanium stilletto. My dive buddy has one of their titanium tanto tip knives that he had reshaped into a sharp tip. He really likes it. I am left handed, so some locking sheaths don't work well when moved to the right side. The Big Squeeze has a really cool locking system. I hope they might make the knife I described, it would be VERY handy.
Their prices seem to be pretty reasonable too. Check out:

http://www.deepseeinc.com/index.htm

Hephaestus - Any tips on sharpening titanium?

Originally posted by DaKahuna
Hephaestus - Any tips on sharpening titanium?

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The trouble I have had with sharpening titanium is getting rid of the 'wire' edge that builds up opposite the side worked by the stone. When you have profiled an edge so that you are actually moving metal right down to the cutting part, metal gets displaced by the stone and gets pushed up onto the opposite side. This is called the wire, but think of it as like a thin bit of foil. You can feel this by pulling your finger down the edge, away from the blade, it grabs. It will also grab your fingernail. To get a knife sharp you want to get a wire edge that will form on both sides of the edge (not at the same time). The trouble with titanium is that it tends to be softer and the wire can be difficult to remove. An aggressive stone, or even diamond grit may help. You can also try a sharpening gizmo, like a V system that you pull the blade through which sharpens both sides simultaneously. If you have a wire and need to remove it, the best way I have found is to strop it repeatedly on the cardboard backing of a yellow legal pad. Pull the blade across this several times per side, and feel for the wire. When it does not catch any longer, you are set.

Maybe that will help

Here's how I ride myself of a wire edge that's seems to always be there when sharpening a knife with a any type of gadget that only does a side at a time: take your knife and do a couple strokes on the stone or with it on the wire-edge side, this will take off abit of it, but it will also push it on to the other side, so repeat this process on the other side and each time you'll have to use a less number of knife strokes on the stone. After several times it will be gone. With a softer steel or titanium, this edge will form much faster as more of the softer metal will be removed with each pass of the sharpening devise. As stated by hephaestus, a sharpener with a V-design will take care (should still be watched as simply running ones finger from the backbone (I dont know the correct term ) of the knifes blade in a perpendicular motion in relation to the blade down across the cutting edge (or along it, personal preference) one can feel if a wire edge was formed or not.

Concerning the blade composition: in order to make a blade hard it must have or does have a higher cardon content than a softer blade. Also this can be reached by heating the blade to a red color and then quenching in the proper solution (water, oil, some steels air-harden, alloyed powders can be dumped onto the steel while hot to give a case hardening effect, etc) and this doesn't allow the molecules of the material to line up with each other as they'd like and also trapping any of the carbon molecules thus making the metal harder. On the contrary, if the metal was allowed to cool slowly would escape making the steel softer.

Now to talk about stainless steels a bit or the stainless properties of steels or at least the little I know: the more properties (stainless) a steel has the less carbon it is going to contain. It is a game of picking a material that suits ones need (am I needing a tool that must cut a lot but also is around H2O or do I need a tool that really doesn't need to cut much but is around H2O or salt H2O a lot. If I were to give advise on buying a knife for a specific purpose go talk to you local welding/fadrication shop; they'll most likely know more than youll care to hear, they even make nifty pocket-manuals comparing steels and sometimes one can find them that compare only steels used for tools and such.

After figuring some of this out it is knida neat to see how good of a steel or bad some of these companies use.

I have probably written way too much and in reality most people will lose a knife before it wears out (at least me ) or buy the knife in how it feeling in ones hand which is more important, for the most part, than all I've listed above as with a little bit of care (such as the auto-grease, washing it off in fresh H2O, and sllowing it to dry outside the sheath) a junk knife will last longer than most likely needed.

Hope this helps if not it will give you something to think about, and if anyhtingI've said was backwards correct me as I get confused every now and then......:duh

Until next time,
Justin

I bought the Riffe Standard knife and so far think it's a nice product. I didn't come extremely sharp which I didn't understand but since its main job is to drill into fishheads I think it'll work like a champ.

Granted, its the dull knife that will most likely get'ch ya; something to concider I guess.......

Enjoy,
Justin

DAKHUNA
Heres a quick suggestion to make the knife even faster to draw.
Get a small 3/8 stainless screw and drill a small pilot hole in the bottom of the plastic sheath off to the side so it doesnt contact the blade,then thread the screw into the sheath,back it out then coat it with epoxy and thread it in again leaving about 3/16 hanging out. You should know be able to hook the laynard on the screw rather than on the point of the sheath.
p.s use a panhead screw(bigger head)
Btrone

Btrone -
Now there's an idea I really like! I never inspected the sheath that closely and wouldn't have thought there would be enough room to do that. But I will have to try that.
Thanks very much to eveybody for the great ideas and suggestions!

drkebs
Just to clear something up
The quenching of the carbon steel you talk about is a molecular changing of the steels composition. The alloy of the steel determines the carbon content and never goes away. The heating and cooling of the steel is considered tempering. When you heat steel to a certain color the molecules in that steel can be re-arranged to form tighter bonds. If this is quickly quenched the steel may become harder but because of the tightness in the molecules the steel becomes more brittle and can break if not quenched properly. Carbon content in a blade cannot be changed with simple heating and cooling. Sorry.
You are correct the higher the carbon content in a knife the sharper and longer the edge will last, but these knives don't last as long as regular carbon steel.
But, adding a little bit of chromium and nickel to the composition of the steel the blade will not stain. Thus we have stainless steel. Stainless steel is not derived from less carbon, but from more chromium. Then we have the High Carbon stainless steel, real good for kitchen knives.

As far as picking a knife, find one that fits in your hand well and is easily accessible. Keep it sharp and close. good luck

bunkerspoon,

One cannot change the carbon content by only heating it and then quenching it but it will make the steel harder (tempering) as you said and if I infered that one could raise the carbon content, I was wrong. Also concerning stainless as being a lower quality cardon steel, its not; that is now where to being close to the truth. Its a world of either/or, either it is hard and has low or medium noncorrosive properties or it has a medium/low hardness with high/medium noncorrosive properties. Never both. I tried to explain too much at once and got off on tangent which I did a poor job of properly explaining. I appreciate your corrections as I can see how someone could misinterpret what I wrote.

Concerning what can make a great blade is a chapter I am not prepared to touch; as the number of possible alloys and amounts they may be added at is rather large. Also my major is not metalurgy, it medical microbiology.

Again thanks for clearing what I write up and if you have any other comments/ suggestions that may add to this I'd love to hear them.

Until next time,
Justin

depending if you are using a knife for braining fish or to cut mono ect a stainless steel icepick works better than any knifefor fish braining i own a riffe stiletto and the pick penetrates faster and deeper than a bladea circular motion after insersion will enen put a 100 lb aj to rest.try and you will be amazed...........happy hunting !