Kayaking (salt water) knife?

C

CanDo

Joined
Mar 10, 2006
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Hey Everyone,

I need a knife for the ocean. Salt water seems to eat away basically everything. What do you use in the seas?

Anyone have experience with the Spyderco Salt line? Supposedly 100% corrosion resistance, but I don't know anything else about the steel (H1).

I'm thinking of maybe doing a plain edge Salt Pacific for most tasks:
http://sap024.channeladvisor.com/p-6686-spyderco-pacific-salt-knife-yellow-c91pyl.aspx

Then finding a small serrated blade with a plastic sheath I can keep clipped on my life jacket for emergencies.

Thanks in advance for your ideas.

CanDo
 
I have been kayaking here in LI Sound for 16 years and my favorite salt water knife if my SS Mora 556, with a cut down guard. I have used this for rope, line, bait, cleaning fish and the list goes on. Best $ 10.00 piece of gear in my kayak equipment.
 
I'm a big whitewater kayaker. I know Newt Livesay has some pretty awesome titanium knives, take a look at columbia river's new dive knife. The blade design is pretty ideal. I personally am using a Mora 196 this year on my life jacket, lost my Zero Tolerance line cutter to the river gods last year.
 
I am a HUGE fan of the Salt knives. The yellow PE Pac Salt is my favorite! As all blade steels have their pluses and minuses, H1 steel doesn't hold an edge extremely well. But, its maintenance free so who cares, LOL!
 
it doesn't hold its edge extremely well but you still pay a premium for it? At Spyderco's prices I'd just as soon take a high carbon knife and bring a 3 dollar silicone rag... I used a 1095 high carbon kabar as my dive knife for a year when I lived in florida, didn't touch it once for maintenance purposes and to this day it doesn't have a speck of rust on it. Use whatever you want to really, whatever suits your needs for ocean kayaking. If it's high carbon, patina it and give it a coat of mineral oil, call it good.
 
Spydercos Salt line is phenomenal. H-1 is truly some great stuff. It's easy to sharpen, maintenance free(except oil in pivot), they are completely rust proof, and the steel is "work hardening", so the more you use it the harder the steel will become, i.e. holds edge a lot longer.

I've read about a couple of people using the Caspian Salt II with the blunt edge attached to their vest while kayaking/rafting/etc...

Best of luck.

Canis
 
Spyderco RESCUE ASSIST, in safety orange. Silicone grease the blade prior to hitting the salt. one handed opening, sheepsfoot blade, whistle and the serrations RIP thru 4" doublebraid dock lines in milliseconds.
 
Another vote for a SS mora.
I had my SwAK on my surf belt for a 4 day weekend surf fishing in Montauk last fall.
The knife was dunked under water (sheathed), and left outside for all my waking hours.
We stayed right on the beach, so damp sea air was the order of the day (and night)
Here is the knife, after receiving no attention at all, 2 days after we arrived home.
It sat, wet, in the cooler with my waders and plug bag till I could find time to clean & dry it all up.
saltySwak.jpg

The minimal amount of rust is right where the drain hole in the sheath meets the blade.
This cleaned right up with some Mother's Mag Wheel Polish. I could have used 0000 steel wool or Flitz.

While the marine enviornment can be hard on gear, I think that it is only so when
neglected.
I purposely didn't clean or dry the knife while on the trip to see what would happen.
If that were a carbon blade it would have been worse.

Having said that...
I fished salt water with a carbon Schrade Sharpfinger for years.
Didn't wade with it, but used it to cut bait, trim lines and clean fish.
Use it, wipe it and sheath it. Wash with soap and water when I got home.
An awesome patina developed, looked like an old hammer.
It only rusted once. That was the one time I didn't wash, oil and care for it in general after I got home... too much sun and beer.
Even then it was a powder of orange rust that came off with a spritz of WD40 and a rag. No pitting, no disaster.

WallyInSurf.jpg


Decent stainless steel and good care habits make picking a knife easy.
 
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You don't NEED stainless, pick up a Mora 510. Just wipe it down, or rinse it off with fresh water when you get home. Salt water isn't going to make carbon turn to a pile of dust, heck what do you think the Sailors and Pirates used back in the day Matey?!
 
A lot of great, thoughts, thank you!

No I don't need a rustproof alloy, I just WANT it. Haha, so it goes. A mora seems likely. I can get a spyderco through my credit card's rewards program, but if I buy a mora or something else instead, I can just use those points for more kayaking gear :)
 
Another HUGE fan of Spyderco's salt line. I have a Mora that performed well around salt water, not so much in salt water. H-1 holds an edge as well as stainless other than the "super steels." I can go a weekend without touching one up, and it does everything from cutting bait and line to food, and is with me while diving or snorkeling. It will not rust, no way. Seems to me on stainless knives one looses an edge quicker to corrosion than use in the salt water. Spyderco has folders from the tiny Ladybug to one the size of an Endura. They also have several fixed blade, one I think would make a great 'yak knife. A little porn for ya:

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C'mon fishshooter, I was getting excited about the other things I could use my reward points for!
 
I was thinking "too bad you'd never find serrations on a mora!" when I came across the 761.

761.jpg

http://www.ragweedforge.com/SwedishKnifeCatalog.html

I could pick one of those up, and grind a Wharnecliff or Sheepsfoot into it as an emergency blade for my pfd. Maybe file in an additional serration or two as well.

I hate serrations. Even for cutting rope, I prefer a plain edge since it won't snag individual fibers and pull them out of place. In an emergency though, I can't think of anything I'd rather have. Zip zip, done.
 
CanDo said:
And wow, where'd you get all the scallops!?
Click to expand...

That's not a lot, this is a lot:

IMG_0176.jpg


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That's a few loads of scallops!
We snorkel for them during the summer months in a local crystal clear bay. I also take my poke pole and a hand net and gig fish and scoop blue crabs while snorkeling. It's a blast to go swim around and watch the turtles, sharks, and fish and come back to the boat with a week worths of seafood. We also just wade the shore and get all kinds of goodies. A good bait net and you can load up on shrimp in the same area. One can survive, or they can thrive. I think I'd prefer that Caspian 2 Salt with the blunt edge to the one with the point. That way you could pop open scallops, clams, and
oysters. Small enough to tether to your trunks or neck knife it.
I tie a Ladybug salt to the strings on my swim trunks so I always have a sharp edge no matter what I'm doing when down in the saltwater. Bout all you can keep on you when you are in shorts and sport sandals and nothing else.
 
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