Paddling knives:pointy or blunt

Intended use is the issue...as several folks have said. Whitewater or flat water? Recreation or X-games type of stuff?

I haven't kayaked in 10 years, but I always had a blunt nose blade permanently attached with tie wraps to my PFD....this was my, on the water or under the water, etc, rescue knife.

At the same time, I either carried a small fixed blade or folder in a pouch sheath on my belt. That got used for all mundane cutting chores. I honestly can tell you that I probably only used my PFD mounted knife on several occasions (mostly to spread jam and peanut butter - perfect blade shape) , and the belt knife saw all the use.

D
 
While at anchor in my motor sailer in Baha My anchor tor free. The evening was calm so I fired the motor but wasn't making any power. So I put on a mask and went over the side. The air temp was in the 90's but the water was 65 so it felt like ice. Normally I can stay under for 2 minutes or more but the cold was sapping my air so I'm down to a minuet. There must have been a mile of mono line and wire leader spun on my prop. Now I could have made dive after dive and sawed through that mess, or I could have went back aboard and put on a wet suite and got some cutters and hacked through the wad of mono, and IF my boat didn't drift into the rocks every thing would have been just fine. BUT! what I did do was work the point of my CS vaquero grand that I have honed the serrations off of under that mess and gave one big pull and I'm back on board with the motor fired before my margarita can melt.
I still cant see having a knife with out a point.
 
You guys do know, don't you, that the majority of knife accidents (excluding naturally knife fights and assaults with bladed weapons, where the very intention is to harm someone, stabbing or cutting or whatever) are cuts from the blade edge, not punctures caused by the small point of the blade? If you're worried about injuring yourself or someone else with your knife, you need to worry about the edge at least as much as the point of the blade. I'd never use a blunt-tipped knife. What's the point? (bad pun intended)
 
For kayaking, canoeing or rafting on rough water, each person's pfd should have a blunt tipped serrated blade and a whistle attached to it. This should be considered standard safety gear.

For general purpose knife chores, however, you will definitely need a knife with a sharp tip. The best thing to do is clearly to carry both.
 
Elen, the point is that cuts from the blade's edge are far more likely to be superficial, whereas stabs from a sharp tip can easily damage vital organs such as the heart, lungs etc.

Is this not bleedingly obvious? (again, pun intended)
 
The best thing to do is clearly to carry both.
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I heartily support this conclusion.

From what I've gathered in this thread, almost everyone is in favor of a blunt-tipped, serrated knife beind carried on one's PFD. In addition to this knife, it seems most prudent to carry a second, pointy knife (might as well make it a plain edge, to boot) on one's person. The optimal location of carry has yet to be discussed.
 
jh205 said:
Elen, the point is that cuts from the blade's edge are far more likely to be superficial, whereas stabs from a sharp tip can easily damage vital organs such as the heart, lungs etc.

Is this not bleedingly obvious? (again, pun intended)
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Ok, I'll play the part of the Devil's advocate here: What is it about paddling sports that makes a knife user more prone to stabbing injuries, thus the need to carry a blunt tip on a PFD rather than a pointed tip?
 
jh205 said:
Elen, the point is that cuts from the blade's edge are far more likely to be superficial, whereas stabs from a sharp tip can easily damage vital organs such as the heart, lungs etc.

Is this not bleedingly obvious? (again, pun intended)
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Yes, it is obvious. :)

But how many times have you guys stabbed yourself accidentally? Or someone else? Not many? I certainly haven't ever accidentally stabbed anything, least of all myself. But have you ever cut yourself accidentally? Now that, I bet, most of us here have done more than once...

I can't see myself doing anything so carelessly with a knife that I'd be likely to stab myself with it. And I go canoeing every summer. ;)
 
The thing is, that in heavy seas or whitewater, you're likely using your knife for a reason other than spreading peanut butter or what-not.Maybe it's a strainer ,or you've become tangled in old weir netting ,or you have to abort a committed tow due to becoming capsized yourself. Regardless of reason, if it's an emergency, you're minimizing the chance of another problem in addition to the one you're currently dealing with. I have tried to capsize with another boat under tow and the strain placed on you is enough to keep you in your boat if you can't release the tension. You're now upside-down, and underwater. Trust me, a sharp point isn't something you're happy to have at this kind of moment. I think too many of you are thinking like guys on land and not in challenging seas or whitewater conditions. The knife for a paddler doesn't have to be in the same class as the knife onshore. Why do you think so many emergency workers use sheepsfoot blades? To mininmize accidental "additional" injuries. Not to come off as all-knowing, but I've been a professional firefighter for 14 years and a seakayak guide during the warmer months for the past seven years with an average of over 100+ days/year in the seaboat alone(not counting whitewater). I know what emergencies are and how things take place based on real life experience. It's not that sharp tips are automatically bad, but they really aren't that important in paddlesports, when you consider why it's suggested you carry one.
 
hikeeba said:
Ok, I'll play the part of the Devil's advocate here: What is it about paddling sports that makes a knife user more prone to stabbing injuries, thus the need to carry a blunt tip on a PFD rather than a pointed tip?
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Again, it all comes down to how you expect to be using the knife.

I carried a knife on my PFD for rescue only reasons. Consider this: you are being dragged along in fast moving current (or slower current for that matter) while wrestling with a white water canoe or kayak that has somehow tangled you or your paddling buddy in it's lines. OR, you are kayaking and have had your kayak pinned (bow down) as you went over a ledge. You have a ton of water forcing you into a bent over position at the waist. You CANNOT and will not be able to straighten your body....you need somebody to rescue you, or if you are lucky enough, you might be able to cut away your kayak and escape. I would rather use my blunt nosed knife, blindly, than repeatedly stab myself in the thigh while trying to saw through the kayak.

Okay, I know it's far fetched, but I consider this the worst case thing that can happen. It's what I carried the rescue knife for....it needs to only do the job. For me, I felt that blunt nosed was the best option for doing the job under the worst case circumstances.

Elen asks how often I've stabbed myself. Well, never, but I've also never been in the circumstance I just described. However, I can clearly see the downside to having a pointy rescue knife.

Feel free to use your pointy one for all the things that need a point, but keep the blunt nosed one on your PFD.

Edit (looks like Flipe8 and I are on the same page, but my upload is slower)
 
Thank you flipe8. That's more or less what I was hoping someone would post. And Diligence, I appreciate your take, too. The scenario you stated may not be all too far-fetched. However, the idea of sawing through a plastic boat in an attempt to free oneself did make me smile. :)

flipe8 said:
Why do you think so many emergency workers use sheepsfoot blades? To mininmize accidental "additional" injuries.
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Yes, sheepsfoot blades... I carried an old Spyderco Rescue Clipit when I was on the FD and have removed jackets, shirts, and pants without leaving a scratch on the pt. My experience with the Spyderco sheepsfoot blade probably unconsciously directed me to the Benchmade River Rescue knife for my dedicated PFD blade.

Good stuff guys. Thanks!
 
Diligence said:
Again, it all comes down to how you expect to be using the knife.

I carried a knife on my PFD for rescue only reasons. Consider this: you are being dragged along in fast moving current (or slower current for that matter)



Elen asks how often I've stabbed myself. Well, never, but I've also never been in the circumstance I just described. However, I can clearly see the downside to having a pointy rescue knife.
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I have been in this position. I build my own canoes and kayaks. I was in a new boat with a spray skirt that I had just finished the day before. When I put the spray skirt on I didn't have any shock cord so I literally tied it on with 1/4" nylon line. made a surf entry and got rolled so hard the paddle was yanked from my hands, so I couldn't Eskimo roll out. Now this is still not a OHMYGOD situation. I spend a lot of time on the water and have good lungs, but I do need to get out. The idea of hacking my new spray skirt does not sit well with me so I take out my reworked Ka-bar and work the point under the knot in the 1/4" line and pop it off. Out I come, pull my kayak to shore refit the spray skirt and try a new entry point.
The knife I use for a snorkeling knife is a worked over USMC Ka-bar. The handle was replaced with cork and the clip has been ground farther back to make a longer point. To many times I have had to work a point under something.
I still cant see having a knife with out a point!
 
What if you carried a double sided knife that had on one end a blunt point and sharp point on the other? Yeah I bet no body thought of that. d;)
 
Are you talking like a version of the Sog revoler or something? I could see that being a neat knife!
 
Munky said:
What if you carried a double sided knife that had on one end a blunt point and sharp point on the other? Yeah I bet no body thought of that. d;)
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Robbie Roberson has :D Though not with the blunt tip.
 
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