Based on this prior thread (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1462585-Dive-knife-recommendation), I acquired a McNett Blakely dive/rescue knife for scuba/snorkeling. I didn't find very much out there on the internets regarding this knife, so I'd thought I'd write an amateurish review so that it might help the next guy.
The knife is serrated on one side only. It's about 6-7/8" oal, blade is 3", cutting serration length is 2-1/4". The height of the blade is roughly 1" and it is hollow ground 3/4 of the way up. The tip is unsharpened, blunted and rounded off. The last 1/8" of blade close to the tip is unsharpened also. There is a significant sized choil. It is made of 420J2 steel and comes with a kydex sheath and clip. The handle can be disassembled for cleaning.
This knife went on 6 saltwater trips with me over the course of 2 weeks. It got a coat of silicone before my trip, but only got washed off with fresh water at the end of the day, sometimes 4-5 hours after the excursion. The handle only got disassembled now that I'm back home. I also took along a victorinox compact, victorinox OHT, and a lansky triangle dog leg rod during this trip.
The blade did rust. First place I saw it was in the lanyard hole, and next on the blade surface next to the 420 J2 etching. I next saw it next to where the blade meets the handle. As you can see by the pics. After taking off the handle, there's a bit more rust on the handle shank. I've already sanded off the rust with 220 grit sandpaper with a little help from brake cleaner. There are already numerous other scratches on the knife surface from use.
The handle of the knife did well, expected scratches from scraping up against rocks etc are seen. The crevices of the handle did like to trap quite a bit of sand. The little plugs tha hold the handle onto the blade for assembly also got beat up rather easily when prying them out of the spots for disassembly.
The kydex sheath fasteners also showed rust, more immediately noticeable to me. The rivets holding together the sheath rusted after the first day. Interestingly the lanyard hole in the sheath as well as the screw/screw hole for the belt clip did not rust.
As for usage, thankfully it was never needed as a rescue knife while in the water. In the around water environment, it did a fine job cutting paracord, webbing, and belts. No complaints at all with the serrations or the cutting ability of the sharpened edge. The unsharpened blunt tip and the unsharpened few mm of blade, is nice to have when you're in the water, as I wasn't worried about accidentally puncturing anything. However, just outside the water, it was a pain. Opening packaging and boxes was a chore, the unsharpened tip punctures through tape, cardboard, paper, and plastic like a house key. You really need to get to the serrations before you can really cut. Food was also an issue as you really can't slice with a blunt end and lack of a belly. So trying to cut an apple could only really occur with a push cut - and with that, the chisel ground end serrations would make the blade deviate away from a straight cut.
The retention of the sheath was excellent, maybe on the side of too hard to unsheath than too easy to loose. I got smacked around by some surface waves a few times and still have the knife. Unfortunately, I lost about $100 of other gear into the pacific, but the trip was quite fun.
Some things I wished for: I wish I could have found this knife with a bright colored handle and sheath so I could see it better while in the water. I wish that the small lanyard hole that is exposed in the butt shank of the blade was bigger - it can't fit in any paracord lanyard to make into a wrist strap. Only thinner, flimsier cord will fit in there.
So overall, I think the knife is well suited for the activities such as cord, rope, belt, webbing cutting in and around the water. It also held up to the random pushing/prying functions, and it'll come with me on future trips. However, I wouldn't consider using this as a primary knife out of the water - after the first day, one of the SAKs I had with me was tucked into my dry bag for my 'land use' purposes.
The knife is serrated on one side only. It's about 6-7/8" oal, blade is 3", cutting serration length is 2-1/4". The height of the blade is roughly 1" and it is hollow ground 3/4 of the way up. The tip is unsharpened, blunted and rounded off. The last 1/8" of blade close to the tip is unsharpened also. There is a significant sized choil. It is made of 420J2 steel and comes with a kydex sheath and clip. The handle can be disassembled for cleaning.
This knife went on 6 saltwater trips with me over the course of 2 weeks. It got a coat of silicone before my trip, but only got washed off with fresh water at the end of the day, sometimes 4-5 hours after the excursion. The handle only got disassembled now that I'm back home. I also took along a victorinox compact, victorinox OHT, and a lansky triangle dog leg rod during this trip.
The blade did rust. First place I saw it was in the lanyard hole, and next on the blade surface next to the 420 J2 etching. I next saw it next to where the blade meets the handle. As you can see by the pics. After taking off the handle, there's a bit more rust on the handle shank. I've already sanded off the rust with 220 grit sandpaper with a little help from brake cleaner. There are already numerous other scratches on the knife surface from use.
The handle of the knife did well, expected scratches from scraping up against rocks etc are seen. The crevices of the handle did like to trap quite a bit of sand. The little plugs tha hold the handle onto the blade for assembly also got beat up rather easily when prying them out of the spots for disassembly.
The kydex sheath fasteners also showed rust, more immediately noticeable to me. The rivets holding together the sheath rusted after the first day. Interestingly the lanyard hole in the sheath as well as the screw/screw hole for the belt clip did not rust.
As for usage, thankfully it was never needed as a rescue knife while in the water. In the around water environment, it did a fine job cutting paracord, webbing, and belts. No complaints at all with the serrations or the cutting ability of the sharpened edge. The unsharpened blunt tip and the unsharpened few mm of blade, is nice to have when you're in the water, as I wasn't worried about accidentally puncturing anything. However, just outside the water, it was a pain. Opening packaging and boxes was a chore, the unsharpened tip punctures through tape, cardboard, paper, and plastic like a house key. You really need to get to the serrations before you can really cut. Food was also an issue as you really can't slice with a blunt end and lack of a belly. So trying to cut an apple could only really occur with a push cut - and with that, the chisel ground end serrations would make the blade deviate away from a straight cut.
The retention of the sheath was excellent, maybe on the side of too hard to unsheath than too easy to loose. I got smacked around by some surface waves a few times and still have the knife. Unfortunately, I lost about $100 of other gear into the pacific, but the trip was quite fun.
Some things I wished for: I wish I could have found this knife with a bright colored handle and sheath so I could see it better while in the water. I wish that the small lanyard hole that is exposed in the butt shank of the blade was bigger - it can't fit in any paracord lanyard to make into a wrist strap. Only thinner, flimsier cord will fit in there.
So overall, I think the knife is well suited for the activities such as cord, rope, belt, webbing cutting in and around the water. It also held up to the random pushing/prying functions, and it'll come with me on future trips. However, I wouldn't consider using this as a primary knife out of the water - after the first day, one of the SAKs I had with me was tucked into my dry bag for my 'land use' purposes.
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