Need a good folder for diving and boating.

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kgriggs8

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I like to Kayak and so other stuff in the water so I need a good folder for these activities. I am thinking about the Yellow Spyderco Pacific Salt.

Here are my requirements:
Must be a folder!

Must be easy to open and close with one wet hand.

Must be of good quality but not so expensive that I would kill myself for losing it. Around $50 give or take.

Should be easy to see, that is why I like the Yellow Salt.

Prefer combo edge or plain edge but not really a fan of the full serrated edges.

Should be grippy in the hand for wet conditions.

Lightweight is a plus.

Needs to be rust resistant for salt water diving.

Really pointy tips are a little dangerous so a blunted tip is called for.

Size, prefer something larger than I would normally carry EDC. I like a 3 1/2"-4" blade for EDC so it can be as much as 5-6" closed.

Any other choice that would be better than the Yellow Pacific Salt?
 
In my boating/water experience, I would recomend a fixed blade as it is easier to deploy in an emergency, greater strength, and their inherit advantage for this type of work. Of course, if you really want a folder the Spydercos are great.
 
Several come to mind but the top of the line models are apparently out of the question. The best two I can think of would be first and formost the David Boye folder http://www.boyeknives.com/ But it is twice the cost of what you want to spend.

If a fixed blade is in your want list get the Bench Made Nimravus. The BM Stryker is also a good dive or marine use knife. Again too pricey though.

My favorite everday carry folder is a Salt 1 by Spyderco with the new H1 steel. If you need a non magnetic knife though there is nothing better than the dendritic cobalt knife by David Boye listed above. The Boye knife does not have a magnetic signiture like the H1 steel on the Spydrco Salts series knives or either of the BM knives will. If you are planning any sailing on the ocean away from a visual of land or by paying someone to take you out to dive sites for sure get the David Boye knife it is worth the extra for the non magnetic signiture. From your requirements the Boye knife meets or exceeds them all.

For all around use though, where you don't care about the magnetic thing my Salt 1 is perfect, and the price is certainly right. The size and handle are the same as Spydercos number one all time best seller; the Delica. So that should tell you a lot right there. The blade gives the knife a very nice heft and is available in serratted or plain edge and in a very easily seen yellow color. I have a serratted Salt 1 now and a PE on the way. To me this is the perfect sized user knife. Very light and unnoticed until you need it.

Love it.

Steve
 
Spyderco Salt 1, Similiar shape to the exellent Delica but comes with H1 steel which is almost completely corrosion proof in most conditions. Also take a look at the Pacific Salt.
 
Well, I would too unless I needed it to be non magnetic. In which case I'd pick a Boye with half serrations and the blunt tip. The magnetic signiture is a big deal depending on the type of diving being done, such as deep sea type of diving.
 
Have you used the serration pattern? I ran it against some plain edge blades on various ropes and fabrics and it was out cut easily even with the plain edged blades were not very coarse. The serration pattern is not very aggressive at all.

-Cliff
 
My suggestion would be a Buck Crosslock Rafter. I use to have one, its agreat knife for water use. However, they have been discontinued. You can probable pick one up on ebay for less than $50. If not, another vote for the Spyderco Salt.

Rob
 
I agree that it is more like a bread knife pattern of serrattions on the Boye folder. But they cut Cliff. And they keep cutting which is all they are supposed to do. They are also easier to sharpen than normal everyday serrations because of this. One thing I do like better about those serrations on the Boye dendritic is that they cut instead of grab or hang up on what you are cutting. My Salt 1 and other Spyerco and even some Cold Steel serrated knives are guilty of pulling the whole rope, rag or whatever back and forth like the Spydercos do. Sometimes it is difficult to hold the item you want to cut still.

I do wish the Dendritic folder by Boye was more aggressively serratted but I also wish Spydercos were a little bit less agressive and/or pointed where they catch and snag, and hang up on things you try to cut.

Just for an example, I gave my wife my Salt 1 SE just last night as she was trying to rip an old rag down the middle in the laundry room. She took my knife, tried to cut the rag and it just snagged and caused her to drop the rag because the knife's serrated edge pulled it out of her hand instead of cut it.

She gave me back the knife and said nevermind and just used the whole rag as is because she couldn't rip it and yet wasn't going to try to cut it again using my Salt 1's serrated edge because all it did was hang up and barely make a 1/2" headway by any cutting of a simple old wash cloth in the laundry room rag basket.
 
STR said:
They are also easier to sharpen than normal everyday serrations ...
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All you need is a rod or corner of a stone to sharpen the SpyderEdge pattern. You hone it on the Sharpmaker just like it is a plain edge except you just run the non-serrated side flat to the stone. It sharpens just as fast as a plain edge.

As for them being more fluid, yeah, but when compared to a slightly medium finish on a plain edge they are not more fluid nor are they more aggressive, nor easier to sharpen. I even got better aggression on ropes and stiff fabrics with the NIB finish on the plain edged Rat Trap than on the Boye serrated edge.

...an old rag
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Yeah, they are near useless for loose fabric, the pointy ones anyway, you have to roll the material up and walk on it to cut it well. Spyderco does have several patterns of various aggression. The catcherman has a very aggressive pattern which is far less smooth than the one on the Cara Cara for example. Anyway for the knife in question I would assume stiffer materials would be more a more optimal choice to run the design of the knife towards.

If you want to make the Spyderco pattern more fluid and less aggressive you can do this very easily. Take the knife and place it on a concrete block, edge into the block and attempt to saw the block in half. Just give it a few passes and retest it. As the tops of the points are ground off you will loose aggression and gain fluidity. The points need to be rounded off for maximum smoothness which will happen naturally as it is sharpened from time to time on the Sharpmaker.

-Cliff
 
I will have to try that. I just ordered a plain edge Salt 1 due to the fact that I have been a bit frustrated at times trying to cut certain mediums with the serrated version. If the cement block fixes it it is a pretty simple fix anyone can do. I had thought of taking my wheel to it and changing it that way also.

Also, I have no trouble sharpening anything but the Boye Dendritic is such a wide serration that isn't that deep that it makes it, in my opinion relatively easy to put an edge back on it. The one I have is half serrated (well, ok, 1/4 serrated is closer to the truth) and it cuts with the best of the best from what I can tell. I just don't carry it much at this point. If I still lived in Saint Pete/Tampa I'd probably have it on me all the time though. Gotta have a knife with no or very little martensite for the ocean IMO, at least I found that to be the case if you wanted to be able to carry your knife on a boat. Just a good habit to get into if you like going out on the ocean in a boat to have a non magnetic one you know?

Living that close to the sea you never know when you'll get the chance to go out on a cruise or do some fishing off shore.
 
I tend to hate grabby serrations because they do snag more than cut. I don't mind an inch of serration on the blade if the rest of the edge is long enough to get a good cut if I don't want serrations but in general, I can do without them. They get in the way more than they help me.

I remember trying to cut things like twine and rags with my serrated knives and now that I think about it, it would have been easier to just tear it. Some nice shallow serrations may work better but I think I still prefer the PE to all other edges.

It looks like it may be a yellow Pacific Salt for me or maybe an orange Rescue even if it doesn't have the rust resistant steel. I really like the orange handles.
 
Either the Pacific Salt or Atlantic Salt will be your best choice, depending on how blunt you want your tip. The Pacific's tip, while blunter than a Delica for example, still has some stabbiness.
 
Don't forget about the magnetic nature of what you carry. The reason I say this is because I don't know if you own your own boat or if you plan to hire someone to take you out to dive or fish or whatever. When I lived near the ocean many times my wife and I were invited out on friends boats. On more than one occassion the owner, no, I'm sorry, the "Captain" of the boat or one of the crew would ask us before we even got to the boat if we had any metal items that would attract a magnet on us and if so they made us leave them behind. This included knives, belt buckles, and anything else with a magnetic signiture. So, if the knife you have has a magnetic signiture you may not get to take it with you unless you have your own boat and you are the "Captain", and even then you won't want to be carrying it when you get near the compass.

Mainly in "traditional" boating out at sea where you lose sight of land, especially out at sea at night where the only things to guide you besides the stars are your wits and your steering compass you want a knife that won't give that compass false readings if it gets too close to it. If you carry a knife or anything for that matter that has a magnetic signiture you have to remember to take it off and do without it when sailing and/or when getting near the steering compass on a boat which is generally a pain to remember and pain to have to do without your knife if you are like me and used to carrying one at all times.

One off reading because of a magnetic influence on your steering compass could be very costly if supplies were running low, a storm was approaching or you didn't catch the err until you had already gone quite a ways off course. Just imagine heading due east for 20 miles and then heading back at what you thought was due west to go home for 20 miles and then still not seeing any sign of land because one of your passengers was too close to the compass and had metal on him while standing with you by the wheel. You just found out the hard way by going 20 miles north or south and not west as you thought. (extreme I know but you get the point.)

In some instances say after a bad storm when your modern day electronic satellite tracking goes off line you still have to use the old fashioned methods to get you home safely. But actually a surprising number of people still don't have modern day electronic tracking stuff like that on board their vessels. For one thing, electronics in a salt water environment have to be specially protected just like everything else you have in a salt water environment also so most people are pretty stubborn about investing in something else to have to buy every couple of years. Buying a new electric generator on average every two years due to salt water corrossion is bad enough.

I've seen many stainless knives basically turned useless in a matter of weeks from the ocean. Just somemore food for thought if it applies.
 
Wouldnt a Boye Cobalt Alloy Folder be magnetic, Cobalt is magnetic just like the Iron in steel, Nickel is too but not much of that in either.
 
If the boat was relying on a magnetic compass in these days of GPS I'd be a little worried personally.
 
kgriggs8 said:
I remember trying to cut things like twine and rags with my serrated knives and now that I think about it, it would have been easier to just tear it.
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Twine is easy, just hook in a large scallop and pull, with loose rags, just roll them up. I did some test cuts last night on some terri cloth which is one of the worst materials for fraying. With a two inch roll, I could cut a section in 7-8 pulls with the Catcherman's serrations and it really tore the material apart. The much more fluid serrations on the Cara Cara made the cuts in 3-4 passes and was very fluid making a clean cut with minimal tearing. A well sharpened plain edge section makes the same cut in 2-3 passes. A decent scallop pattern isn't optimal on a knife but isn't terrible either. Mission Knives also makes a nice fluid pattern, Carson's reverse pattern has recieved high praise as well, I have not used that one personally.

-Cliff
 
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