I need suggestions on new stuff. .

A

ACMarina

Joined
Jun 27, 2004
Messages
468
Hi guys, please don't smack the newbie around on his first post. .

I just started my new job as a lifeguard yesterday, after working as a climbing instructor for a number of years I figured it'd be fun to do something different every once in a while. I've worked on the water for quite a while, and in most cases I always felt just fine as to what gear I was carrying.

As I sat in the guard chair, though, I felt kinda funny. All of my stuff was locked in my locker, for the first time in a great while I was knifeless. The only things I had were a Fox40 (good) on a clip lanyard (ewwww. .)

So I've got a few questions, and I need some suggestions -

1. I need a knife. It needs to be pretty small, easily carried in trunks. Obviously it needs to be fairly waterproof, as I can't be cleaning it every time it gets wet. Low maintainance is key here.

2. I also need a flashlight. I've got a ton of waterproof lights, but nothing small enough to fit in a pocket.

3. I need some ideas on a new lanyard. I've got a ton of paracord, but I'm not sure on what to go with. I'd like to make it almost a piece of jewelry without the jewel part, something I can wear daily. I'm envisioning something with a fairly easy breaking point in back, like a piece of ball chain, some sort of wrap/braid/weave with a loop in the front, where I can tie whatever I need to on there, which will normally be a whistle. That's probably the only thing I don't carry on a daily basis that I should, although my SAR gear always has one in easy reach. .

TIA, folks, help a newbie out!
 
1) Have a look at the Spyderco Salt. It's made from H1 which does not rust at all.

C88_M.jpg


Specs here: http://www.spyderco.com/online_prod...1010&mscssid=Q94WUR8XQK899KJJ1NGXS0VXKJWKCJ7C

2) Try an Arc-AAA for a real small light. Or maybe an Arc4+ if you need more output, or a SureFire E1e if you need more throw.

3) Don't know - sorry -

Ted
 
The Salt knife looks good, but it might be a smidgen big. I'll do some more research on that, though, because it's definately what I'm going for.

As far as a flashlight, I'm just looking for something for an emergency situation, just enough to give some visability in and around the water. Once that's taken care of, I'd be going to my locker to get my EDC light of the day. How do the Arc flashlights handle being wet? Obviously if I'm diving I'd go with a submersible, but this light would need to be able to handle a little bit of pressure; no more than 25 feet. I wonder how well the Infinity lights from CMG/Gerber would do. .
 
How about one of the microscopic neck knives from Cold Steel? And (I don't know the model) but the single battery LED surefires. You could hang those on your lanyard with your whistle. Depending on where you guard having a knife out like that might not be an option, in that case I would look at clipping hanging a very small pouch with the whistle.

Several pools I have used (serious lap swimmer here) the guards have carried fanny packs with their first aid junk. that would be ideal, you could have all kinds of stuff in there or clipped to the belt.

For my neck knife I use paracord with a cord lock or two, one behind my nck and one next to the sheath. I figure those would slip before it strangled me, if it snagged on something.
 
ACMarina said:
1. I need a knife. It needs to be pretty small, easily carried in trunks. Obviously it needs to be fairly waterproof, as I can't be cleaning it every time it gets wet. Low maintainance is key here.

2. I also need a flashlight. I've got a ton of waterproof lights, but nothing small enough to fit in a pocket.

3. I need some ideas on a new lanyard. I've got a ton of paracord, but I'm not sure on what to go with. I'd like to make it almost a piece of jewelry without the jewel part, something I can wear daily. I'm envisioning something with a fairly easy breaking point in back, like a piece of ball chain, some sort of wrap/braid/weave with a loop in the front, where I can tie whatever I need to on there, which will normally be a whistle. That's probably the only thing I don't carry on a daily basis that I should, although my SAR gear always has one in easy reach. .

TIA, folks, help a newbie out!
Click to expand...

1). i'll reccomend the usual suspect... the Spyderco Salt...

2). how small do you need it to be? there are lights that range in size from the Arc AAA (and any Arc flashlight will be fine in 25 feet of water, just rinse it off afterwards) that runs on a single AAA battery to the Underwater Kinetics 4AA eLED... i consider both to be small lights... but most disagree that a 4AA light is small... what do you think? and do you think a single 5mm LED will be enough light for you on the beach?

3). see this thread on the Candle Power Forums for some "jewelry-like" lanyards... probly one of the nicest lanyards around and made by a member of CPF... you might be tempted to register and order one... definitely worth checking with him to see if he still has any...
and here's another thread about lanyards on CPF with some pictures... you could make your own fairly easily with a ball-chain necklace and paracord of your choice... then you can add all the bells and whistles of your choice...
personally, i believe the plain ball-chain necklace alone is perfectly fine for something lightweight, under 6 ounces... it doesn't dig into the skin and breaks away fairly easy...
 
Hmmm, many votes for the Salt. I'm definately going to have to check that out. I'm gonna have to play with my knives and see what'll work as far as size goes, and then go from there. 4'' seems large, but then I don't think of my BM910 as large and it's a smidgen and a half bigger than 4''. It's definately on my list to play with.

anomad, I couldn't find the Surefire you were talking about. I don't have a SF yet, so that's a possibililty. Of course, I don't have an arc either ;) The UK eLED is too big for my needs. Sizewise, I'm thinking something about the size of the $6 Dorcy AAA that everybody is carrying around. I don't need luxeon power or anything crazy, I've got flashlights like that when the need arises. CPF has really boosted my favor of the arc, so right now that's the way I'm leaning, but I can be swayed easily.

The lanyard thing I've almost got figured out. I just gotta find a braid or weave that'll let me have a slight loop to tie/clip into. I seem to remember from my lurking in the past a few different websites that had things like this detailed, so I'll dig around and see what I can find.
 
ACMarina said:
1. I need a knife...small, easily carried in trunks...waterproof
2. I also need a flashlight...small enough to fit in a pocket.
3. I need some ideas on a new lanyard.
Click to expand...
ACMarina, Welcome to BFC!! Thanks for stopping by to visit.

In answer to your questions:

1. see if anything is small enough for your needs among the offerings on this page: http://www.divebooty.com/online_catalog/knives.asp Otherwise, you can also check around on the web for the 3-inch blade Gerber diving/river knives if that size meets your needs.

Alternatively, you could have a small-bladed kozuka or bird-&-trout knife custom-made for you from a stainless steel. To keep it handy, one carry option is a kydex sheath tucked in the waistband or pocket of your trunks. The sheath could be on a short static cord attached to your trunks.

2.Both of the lights recommended below are bright enough to find a trail in the dark out to about 15 feet IME. I recommend getting them with a white LED for maintaining color integrity of illuminated objects.

Like the CMG Infinity light, the Inova X1 has a crush-proof aluminum body. The X1 lists a runtime of 10 hours from a single AA battery. Cost is just shy of $20 at 1StopKnifeStop (support your BFC sponsors :) ).
http://www.1sks.com/store/inova-x1-metal-tactical-led-flashlight.html

Not sure if they'll withstand diving pressure to 25 ft, but the Inova Mini-LED light (the size of a Photon II, just a bit larger than a US quarter-dollar coin) will stand up to shower pressures. The mfr lists them as "water resistant", but my first introduction to them was seeing some that were glowing away in a jar of water and apparently had been doing so for the last couple of days. So in my estimation, their "water resistant" listing is being pretty conservative. The Inova Mini-LED has a 72-hour runtime from a pair of CR16 batteries, has both temporary & permanent-on switches, offers tool-less battery changing, and costs under $10 each from 1StopKnifeStop.
http://www.1sks.com/store/inova-microlights.html

When size & weight aren't a consideration, IMHO the Inova X5-MT 5-LED light is the next step up. It offers 20 hours of runtime from 2 CR123 lithium batteries and a lot more light than the two single-LED lights above.

(Did you notice that I seem pretty satisfied with Inova LED lights yet?? ;) :D )

3. IMHO, never put anything around your neck that, should it become tangled or grabbed, will not break away. Hence, the material recommended is stainless ballchain. It probably isn't the prettiest material available from an aesthetic perspective, unless you consider a material efficiently doing its job beautiful, which I happen to. :) One source for stainless ballchain is Ball Chain Mfg Co Inc.
 
the Salt is popular, as it's rather hard to find a nice and compact folding knife for water use (without paying hundreds of dollars)... you'll find the majority are fixed blades... the Salt is also only 3 inches, not 4... so it's got that in its favor too...
but, you could always get a highly stainless steel blade and wash it and oil it frequently...

if you're thinking Dorcy AAA then i'd tell you to seek out an Arc AAA or Arc AA or a CMG Infinity Ultra... i'll warn you ahead of time that the small cell Arc lights are scarce right now, and you're probly better off with the Infinity... the Arc is unquestionably superior to CMG, but i've seen Arc's being sold between $40-50 the past few months while Peter Gransee is working out all the bugs for the new run...

sounds like making your own is a good way to go with the lanyard... you'll get to customize it to your specifications that way... good luck!
 
y'know, after reading this thread on CPF, i'm inclined to agree with Ted on the Arc4...

completely adjustable output, waterproof, and can get you free wine...

gotta be willing to put your wallet on a cash-free diet tho!
 
Hmm, some of the knives in RokJok's first link are nice. The Salt is still a possibility, but there's a few new contenders. .

So far, it looks like I'm going to be getting a couple of Arc AAA's, one for the keychain and one for the trunks. The Arc4 is nice, but I've spent a ton of money on some of my recent Luxeon conversions and right now it's out of my reach. Soon, though, I'll get myself one of those. Princeton Tec is great too, though. I use a Matrix headlamp for WSAR and I dive one of their big C-cell lights, so that's still an option I might look into, especially since I can pick one up locally at a decent price.

The more I think about it, the more the ball chain link is a good idea. Then I could save the paracord for better uses.

Thanks for the help, I'll do some shopping around and see what I can find.
 
Ahh, the twin-task. Nice flashlight, but not as waterproof as I need. They're intending on those getting rain on them, maybe dropped in a puddle or shallow stream; nothing deeper than 6'. Kinda similar to most of the barrel gasket flashlights out there. Right now, my flashlight plan is to use my Infinity from my SAR gear until I can get to the store and get a PT. Then I'll use it until I can get a couple Arc AAAs. That is the ideal size for what I need, and it'll do just fine as far as brightness.

The knife is still up in the air, I'm looking but I've not come nearly as close to making up my mind on this one.

The lanyard is still messing with me. I'm thinking about like 16'' of paracord, which I'll braid together with a loop at 8'' to tie the whistle onto. Then I'll have a ball-chain link in the back, which'll make it easier to take on and off plus it'll have the safety breakaway. I guess I need to go to the store, now. .
 
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