Need help finding scuba diving knife

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wade

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Sep 22, 2005
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I will be moving to the coast and I love diving. I am going to be buying all my gear and when it comes to the knife I want the best. I went to the dive shops and all of the knives seem kind of cheap and not as good as I want something that I will be possibly staking my life on. I am looking at the gerber trident. http://www.knivesplus.com/GB-6977-Gerber.HTML

Does anyone have any suggestions of a good diving knife. I want high quality materials, edge retention, strong enough to pry with if I had to for some reason, a blade long enough to use in defense against those fish with teeth and of course will not rust from saltwater. Thanks
Wade
 
wade said:
I will be moving to the coast and I love diving. I am going to be buying all my gear and when it comes to the knife I want the best. I went to the dive shops and all of the knives seem kind of cheap and not as good as I want something that I will be possibly staking my life on. I am looking at the gerber trident. http://www.knivesplus.com/GB-6977-Gerber.HTML
<SNIP>
Wade
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Wade,

It looks like you're on the right track. I like that Gerber a lot, but I'm not sure just how corrosion-resistant 154CM is. I don't think I'd personally mind too much as it wouldn't seem like much maintenance to keep it in good condition.

I learned my lesson with cheap dive knives years ago. I live in upstate NY and dive in local freshwater lakes. I never had a dive knife... I figured they were for fighting off hungry sharks, etc., and I wouldn't have that problem in the local lakes.:p

One day, a friend of mine got tangled in some anchor line and had to ditch his gear and ascend. I decided a knife might not be a bad idea.

This was before I was interested in knives. I bought a cheap dive knife by mail order. On one of our "downrigger" dives (diving on a steep shoal in a popular downrigger fishing area to harvest trolling gear), I pulled out the knife to cut some downrigger cable so I could retrieve a downrigger ball and line release. The knife blade had a small hook at the base of the blade for that kind of use.

I hooked the cable and yanked. Imagine my surprise when I watched the knife blade flutter down into the silt while I was still holding the handle in my hand! Hmmm.... what if I was trying to cut that cable because I was hopelessly tangled in it!?!

I made sure the next knife I bought was of one-piece construction (Gerber River knife; not recommended: too small). I have pretty much got out of diving these days, but I always recommend a big, strong knife for anyone getting into the sport.

Stay sharp,
desmobob
 
There are a few dive knives that are made of H-1 or titanium, but both are short 3 or 4 inch blades.
 
The best dive knife I ever had was one of the old Tekna knives-just solid steel, no plastic handles. I always think the simplest things work best when diving.
 
In general I agree with the old Teknas except..... When I dive I am almost always wearing 5-7mm gloves. Wearing gloves I like a little more "meat" in the handle. Also, I like the handle to be an obnoxiously bright color. That way when I drop it, I have a chance of finding it again. Speaking of dropping things, never carry just one of anything on a dive. 2 regulators, 2 lights, 2 surface signals, 2 blades, etc. Lastly, I have gotten into the habit of carrying EMT shears with me while diving in addition to a fixed blade. I find that often snipping beats slashing.
 
Eyegor said:
In general I agree with the old Teknas except..... When I dive I am almost always wearing 5-7mm gloves. Wearing gloves I like a little more "meat" in the handle. Also, I like the handle to be an obnoxiously bright color. That way when I drop it, I have a chance of finding it again. Speaking of dropping things, never carry just one of anything on a dive. 2 regulators, 2 lights, 2 surface signals, 2 blades, etc. Lastly, I have gotten into the habit of carrying EMT shears with me while diving in addition to a fixed blade. I find that often snipping beats slashing.
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That is the difference between cold water diving and warm. When I dive I usually wear nylon gloves, if at all. Here in Florida, the water is warm all the time.
 
Thanks for the help so far. What do you think of blunt tip dive knives. Also does anyone know if the Kershaw dive knives are any good? And not very many comments on the Gerber Silver Trident, how well would this work for a dive knife? I know it is not bright colored but other than that......?????
 
How about a Benchmade 100SH2O? It's not a LARGE knife (3.25" blade), but it's VERY corrosion-resistant, and can be had with a bright yellow kydex handle.
 
I would second the Benchmade 100SH20 as glockman99 suggested.

There is also a dive knife made by Underwater Kinetics called the Blue Tang Titanium Dive knife (approx. $60-80) that has about a 5" blade of titanium and comes with either a blunt tip or a clip-point tip. The handles are either all black or black and yellow.

If you are looking for something sturdier and more expensive, you might check out a Boker Beluga (approx. $150 - skeleton handle and not colorful) or a Boker Orca (approx. $200-250 - not colorful).

And for the really expensive, check out Mission Knives with titanium blades ($300 and up). Though these again are not colorful.

I have not used any of the above personally as I am not a diver myself, but they all should be sturdy enough for diving. Obviously, the sharp pointed knives would be better for fending off sharks but would not be good for prying. So you have a bit of a trade-off there.

As for the Gerber Trident, it is more of a combat knife than a dive knife. I have two of these myself and are excellent knives but I couldn't say how they would hold up in saltwater. If you did decide to use it in saltwater, the blade coating would protect it somewhat but you would also want to rinse it off with fresh water immediately after using it. The blade tip on the Trident may be a bit too pointy also. You may be able to file the tip down to a more rounded spear point that would strengthen the tip for prying while also maintaining some point that would serve your self defense purposes.

Well, that's my .02 worth. Good luck in your search!
 
70chevelless said:
I have not used any of the above personally as I am not a diver myself, but they all should be sturdy enough for diving. Obviously, the sharp pointed knives would be better for fending off sharks but would not be good for prying. So you have a bit of a trade-off there.
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Sharks are never a problem, and a knife isn't going to do much good if they were. Most people consider themselves lucky to see a shark, and if you do, it's usually a highlight of the dive.

Blunt tips are fine. Most of my dive knife use has been for cutting fishing line off the reef, digging around for an o-ring, or sticking it in the sand so I can hold myself in one place against the current. It also sees a lot of use rapping on my tank to get someones attention.

Dive knives are not defensive items by any stretch of the imagination. I think smaller is better. My wife likes one strapped to her leg, but I like smaller ones strapped to my bc.
 
I can't find the model number or a picture of it ( I think it was called Intrepid?), but I wear a Buck dive knife strapped to my leg when I go diving. It's a larger knife with a blunt end and good solid handles that provide a real sturdy grip. I dive in a lot of freshwater due to my location and wear gloves pretty often, so the thicker handle works out well. I've never put it through any real heavy duty cutting or prying underwater, but I have complete faith that I could severly abuse it if needed to get untangled or unstuck without it breaking.
 
I would have one made using dentric cobalt for the blade material,a bit on the pricey side but worth every penny
 
Mission titanium .....will not corrored anything but your pocketbook
Or this Buckhttp://store.irawoodinc.com/buti18.html
Or a Buck Intrepid (e bay as it is discontinued)
 
Gmountain said:
The best dive knife I ever had was one of the old Tekna knives-just solid steel, no plastic handles. I always think the simplest things work best when diving.
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I lost two of those. Once, the knife (called the Tekna Boot Knife, black coated) was left behind in a knapsack by a friend of mine. He bought me the replacement, a stainless finish version.

I was wearing the second one while surf kayaking with my brother here in Florida (a few years ago) and I got decked by a wave. When I washed up on shore with the kayak, I got decked again, knocked down, and somehow the entire leg-strapped sheath/knife got stripped off my lower leg! :eek: I can't imagine how, because at the end of my leg, a surf leash was attached with a velcro ankle band. That means some kind of strap-unbuckling (two straps) or structural failure of some type occurred! I was very sorry to lose that knife. :grumpy:

After that, I bought a Kershaw Amphibian. DON'T BUY this knife! It SUCKED. It easily rusted, and the rust appeared in crevices under the inset rubber handle and could not be adequately removed. The sheath sucked, too.

I now have a Benchmade 100SH2O, made with H-1, and have the sheath attached to my flotation vest. That's a knife I can recommend. Get the bright yellow handles for visibility. (They practically GLOW!) Combo edge is versatile. Price is affordable.

Here's a link to the Underwater Kinetics knives http://www.uwkinetics.com/CategoryDisplay_cgmenbr=91&cgrfnbr=840.htm

There is also Ocean Master. They make titanium dive knives too. http://www.oceanmaster.com

-Jeffrey
 
I want a sharp pointed knife because I do a lot of spearfishing and use it to finish off the fish. I would also like one with a lanyard hole so it can be attached to me. The benchmades look great but I dont like the sheaps foot point.
 
Go for the Ocean Master or Underwater Kinetics knives, then. Most of them are titanium, which won't go rusting on you.

-Jeffrey
 
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