Rope + Water = Knife

Fixed vs Folding
Looks like most people are packing a fixed blade. Is that because it’s easier to use in a pinch because you’re not fumbling to get it open?

Operator Error
I have pulled knives out of a PFD, or day hatch, that have been there for months, repeatedly submerged in slat water, without ever rinsing.



Any stainless knife will stain if its abused like that.



I don’t ever remember actualy needing a knife on the water, so I tend to pack it and forget it.

Don’t Like The Rambo Look
The big knife on the PFD might be cute some places, but some fo the places I used to go, a big knife on the vest would just be looking for trouble.



And most folders open easily with one hand

Anyone tried one of these in salt water?
http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=172

Fixed Blade for Me
The worst case is I’ve got a snagged rope around some part of my body and the current is dragging me under.

In a panic situation I don’t want to have to think beyond grab the knife and cut the rope.

With a fixed blade in a sheath mounted handle down on the left breast of my pfd, all I have to do is grab the knife and cut the rope.

The Spyderco and similar folders are designed to be easy to open one handed. But they have to be secured within reach ie on my pfd, in a pocket, on a tether or something. So now I’ve gone from grab and cut to grab, release from pfd, open, cut.

That’s my thought. Hopefully I’ll never have to test it.



Tommy

I agree Tommy. I have an easy
opening folder, but I have also suddenly found my self in cold water and current.What are you going to open a folder with if a rope and current has you - your teeth? I ain’t Tarzan.

That’s why I switched to the fixed blade, which I also tie to the PFD with a cord in case I drop it.

Tarzan didn’t use a folder either.

Boye
Best knife (folder) for salt water.

Thanks John Dowd.

I have
a Gerber Rescue Knife and a West Marine Rigging Knife. I also have a Leatherman Wave but it rarely sees the water. Good knives, I wouldn’t leave home without my Gerber. I have had it for years and it is very nice.

EMERSON
LA GRIFFE. HAD IT FOR YEARS, STILL LIKE NEW. LOVE IT.

CRKT sheath
Does it allow you to hang inverted from your PFD?

A three inch Shorty looks like Rambo?
Anyway, who cares? It’s a piece of safety equipment. I don’t care if people think it makes me look like Rambo or Deputy Fife. Anyone who has a problem with it really needs to seek professional help. What’s next, fear of forks? Rocks? Ill tempered hamsters?



I carry some kind of knife with me just about every day of my life; most of the time it’s my Gerber Multi-tool. I have never, ever had anyone question the dorky cloth sheath that’s perpetually on my belt.



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I have been looking at that
My everyday carry blade is a Emerson mini CQC-7. I have a couple other Emersons and find them to be awesome. Do you have the regular version of the rescue version?

Yeah…
…I’ve had the salt 1 for a couple of years. It sits in my pfd pocket now and never gets rinsed. Un-rustable as far as I can see (and sharp).

Ever Surf a Kayak At Ocean Beach, CA?
A knife on a vest there would be interpreted as a weapon, not a tool. It would probably be confiscated by law enforcement, at the least.



Surfers there commonly carry folding knives on a cord around their neck, under wetsuit. Surfer on surfer violence is common there, and there have been many stabbings.



We don’t all live in Ohio.

Wenoka Deep See
I carry a fixed blade Wenoka Deep See mounted on the front of my PFD - blunt tip, one side serrated. Great little knife. I also have a small Gerber folder in my PFD pocket . . .



Paula

la griffe
i have the regular version. It is billed as a self-defense type neck knife. Self-defence/self preservation…i guess that a topic for a different forum. At any rate, i’ve had it for years and love it.

http://www.donrearic.com/emersonlagriffe.html

Good photos on this site.

Are there laws against…?
Is there a law prohibiting one from carrying a 3 inch or less sheathed blade in your area? If you aren’t breaking any law, then the police are illegally seizing your knife. If there is a law against carrying small blades, well, then I’m sorry for you. That’s pathetic. I have no respect for groups or organizations of people (government) who drag us all down to the lowest common denominator (i.e., criminals).



There are plenty of thugs around my town too; their poor behavior has no bearing on me, a law abiding citizen. If other people have a problem with me carrying a knife, well, that’s their problem.



I posit that people who see a Gerber River Shorty as a full on “Rambo knife” have serious problems with reality distortion.



“Long haired freaky people need not apply”



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