any spearfisherman or scuba divers, what knife

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  • SVTFreak

    Huh?
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    34   0   0
    Jan 20, 2009
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    Galvez
    That doesn’t look bad.

    You’re looking for anything full tang with a line cutter. And get two. One accessible by each hand in case one hand gets hung up. I actually carry 3. One on one leg (an older kershaw) and two on my BC that are smaller. I’ve actually considered adding a 4th folding knife, probably a spyderco H1.

    Thing about dive knives. Any steel (or in your case titanium) that stands up to the corrosion, and isn’t so hard to be brittle when used as a pry bar or scraper or other uses underwater, won’t ever get razor sharp. That’s what makes a line cutter the most important tool there. Just in case you gotta cut yourself out of a tangled spot.

    As someone who got tangled up underwater once, I’m pretty picky about it now! I was never in any danger that time but it made me a bit more thoughtful about what if.
     

    103M 95G

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    Apr 6, 2009
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    Westbank
    Don't know where you are located but Tomentos in Westwego has a huge selection of dive equiptment, spear fishing stuff and Knives. worth the trip
    not affiliated but I am a customer, just had a tank, filled, inspected, hydro'ed there.
     

    EightySix

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    Jul 21, 2013
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    Don't know where you are located but Tomentos in Westwego has a huge selection of dive equiptment, spear fishing stuff and Knives. worth the trip
    not affiliated but I am a customer, just had a tank, filled, inspected, hydro'ed there.

    Temento's is where I originally bought all my gear and had all my gear inspected and overhauled a couple of weeks ago. It's been about 12 years since I've been diving. SVTFreak has some good advice about back up knives.
    Never been hung up but I know about all the crap hanging around those rigs. The knife is one of the last items before I jump back in.
     

    tallwalker

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    Jul 24, 2012
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    SVTFreak gives great advice. I used to do a lot of research diving and deep submersibles work. I used a huge, heavy, strap on your leg US Divers knives that was at least a foot long and weighed a pound or two. It was designed to be not just a knife but a dive tool. Folks used to call it my "dive sword" at the time. Thing about it though is that I could pry, cut, saw, or hammer (with the heavy butt) my way out of just about any situation with it. Mostly it got used to stab into the bottom and pull myself along in a current when I had to or make a hell of a noise banging on my tank to get someone's attention. Still have it along with most of my early gear and to this day I don't even snorkel without it in spite of the laughs and looks I get. Also carried small bolt cutters and a regular knife on my dive belt with weights. When I started there weren't BC's with pockets and you had to roll to clear your regulator hose(s). ;) As gear and BC's came along I started carrying more stuff and different stuff, but the knives and bolt cutters have always been a constant. If you dive long enough you learn all about the difference between equipment you can rely on and the stuff that looks good on land in the store.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     

    troy_mclure

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    Mar 13, 2010
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    former commercial diver, and scuba diver with thousands of dives.

    scuba dive #1 was always a tough fixed blade knife with removable plastic grips. it doesn't matter if its rust proof or not. you will(should) rice all your gear after.
    knife #2 was always a spyderco Atlantic salt(or the smaller salt 1 round nose)(i carried 2 while commercial diving) with a shackle and hook or carabiner. round nose lets you get the blade right up to without worry about stabbing yourself. also a small blade can reach places the big fixed blade cant.

    during scuba dives ive been tangled in kelp, hooked by braided fishing line, and "netted" by a shrimper(cut the net to shreds even as the dive boat captain was calling the coastguard, it cost him 2 nets and a $50k fine from the coasties.).
     

    EightySix

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    Jul 21, 2013
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    All good advice, thanks. I'll be carrying at least 2 knives. I'm liking the spyderco snap-it for a small B/C knife
    Keep em coming

    I couldn't imagine being scooped up by a trawler
     
    Last edited:

    troy_mclure

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    All good advice, thanks. I'll be carrying at least 2 knives. I'm liking the spyderco snap-it for a small B/C knife
    Keep em coming

    I couldn't imagine being scooped up by a trawler
    i was just lucky i didnt get hit by any of the hooks that are often on those nets. and the spyderco will saw thru the 1/16" stainless cable in the nets.
     

    tallwalker

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    Yikes Troy. Brings up a good point. Inshore Gulf waters around here are all manner of treacherous. Turbidity, boat traffic, abandoned cable and metal trash everywhere... gives me the creeps. Most common trouble I hear about is spearing something bigger than you can handle and going for a ride and getting into trouble. I was so spoiled to dive in the Carib where you can see a couple hundred feet!


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     

    gbundersea

    Just my 2¢
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    Jun 4, 2007
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    Walker, LA
    I am meticulously OCD about washing and maintaining gear, but in spite of that, every stainless dive knife I ever owned eventually rusted to some degree. One even rusted inside a molded handle, which eventually split! Technically that's not supposed to happen, but it did. Years ago I switched over to Titanium knives, and have never looked back.
    I carry a fixed blade on the inside of one leg, similar to the one in the link you provided. My second knife is a titanium folder, which is inside my emergency pocket. That pocket contains:
    - Knife
    - Scuba tuba aka safety sausage - a big one that extends about 6' or more, and provides a lot of flotation
    - Signalling mirror
    - Strobe light
    This is part of my gear that goes with me on every dive. I also have a whistle on my harness (I dive a backplate/wing setup) and a 13cf pony bottle as a redundant air source.

    When spearfishing, I would add a small but heavy duty cable cutter. About the size of a pair of pliers, it fits easily into my emergency pocket. I had it on a length of nylon line coiled up and tethered to a d-ring inside the pocket. That way if I drop it, I don't lose it. I made sure the line was long enough to reach any part of my body. I also made darn sure that the cutter could easily chop through the stainless steel cable on my spear gun and riding rig.

    Be sure you have your gun properly set up, with a riding rig. That way if you get a poor shot, or a shot on something bigger than you can handle, you simply open your hand and all you lose is a spear. You do not lose your gun or more importantly your life.

    Do not use any suicide clips! Any snap which can self activate, meaning it can snag something without any action on your part, is a suicide clip. They should not be anywhere on you or your gear. People have died from them.

    Also, if it has been 12 years since you last dove, I highly recommend that you do not make your next dive a spearfishing dive. In 12 years, your body has almost certainly changed, thus your buoyancy, and your skills will not be sharp. Your gear is probably different as well. Do some easy refresher dives, without the spear fishing gear at first. Practice with your new gear until it is instinctive once again. Tweak your weight and get your buoyancy down pat. Then add the spear fishing gear, and get accustomed to the extra burden and configuration changes which it makes. You will be glad that you did, and a whole lot safer. Diving is already very task intensive, and spearfishing adds a whole new layer of task loading, as does rig diving, especially if the conditions are less than ideal. You definitely want to be prepared for that.
     

    troy_mclure

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    Yikes Troy. Brings up a good point. Inshore Gulf waters around here are all manner of treacherous. Turbidity, boat traffic, abandoned cable and metal trash everywhere... gives me the creeps. Most common trouble I hear about is spearing something bigger than you can handle and going for a ride and getting into trouble. I was so spoiled to dive in the Carib where you can see a couple hundred feet!


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

    working commercial id be 150-200 feet at the bottom of a rig, zero visibility, digging up a pipe, only to have a grouper push me out of the hole.
     

    EightySix

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    6   0   0
    Jul 21, 2013
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    Ponchatoula
    I am meticulously OCD about washing and maintaining gear, but in spite of that, every stainless dive knife I ever owned eventually rusted to some degree. One even rusted inside a molded handle, which eventually split! Technically that's not supposed to happen, but it did. Years ago I switched over to Titanium knives, and have never looked back.
    I carry a fixed blade on the inside of one leg, similar to the one in the link you provided. My second knife is a titanium folder, which is inside my emergency pocket. That pocket contains:
    - Knife
    - Scuba tuba aka safety sausage - a big one that extends about 6' or more, and provides a lot of flotation
    - Signalling mirror
    - Strobe light
    This is part of my gear that goes with me on every dive. I also have a whistle on my harness (I dive a backplate/wing setup) and a 13cf pony bottle as a redundant air source.

    When spearfishing, I would add a small but heavy duty cable cutter. About the size of a pair of pliers, it fits easily into my emergency pocket. I had it on a length of nylon line coiled up and tethered to a d-ring inside the pocket. That way if I drop it, I don't lose it. I made sure the line was long enough to reach any part of my body. I also made darn sure that the cutter could easily chop through the stainless steel cable on my spear gun and riding rig.

    Be sure you have your gun properly set up, with a riding rig. That way if you get a poor shot, or a shot on something bigger than you can handle, you simply open your hand and all you lose is a spear. You do not lose your gun or more importantly your life.

    Do not use any suicide clips! Any snap which can self activate, meaning it can snag something without any action on your part, is a suicide clip. They should not be anywhere on you or your gear. People have died from them.

    Also, if it has been 12 years since you last dove, I highly recommend that you do not make your next dive a spearfishing dive. In 12 years, your body has almost certainly changed, thus your buoyancy, and your skills will not be sharp. Your gear is probably different as well. Do some easy refresher dives, without the spear fishing gear at first. Practice with your new gear until it is instinctive once again. Tweak your weight and get your buoyancy down pat. Then add the spear fishing gear, and get accustomed to the extra burden and configuration changes which it makes. You will be glad that you did, and a whole lot safer. Diving is already very task intensive, and spearfishing adds a whole new layer of task loading, as does rig diving, especially if the conditions are less than ideal. You definitely want to be prepared for that.

    Great advise, all of it. I really appreciate it. I am considering going through refresher classes again. I still need a few things before I go back, Just discovered my dive computer is pixelated and going to need a new one. One of the reasons I haven't dove in so many years was a career change that kept me from my old dive buddies and now I have someone to buddy with again.

    My guns have always been set up riding rig so I'm familiar with that setup.

    Yeah, safety is most important and I don't want to jump into this like it was yesterday.
     
    Last edited:

    3fifty7

    CoonAss
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    13   0   0
    Jul 9, 2011
    3,361
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    Bunkie
    Last time I was diving and spearfishing I had 2 Akona knives. One on my left calf and another on my chest. Minimal rust issues, basically none with a quick rinse.
    Yall are making me want to get my gear out !
     
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