Require knife for navy/shipping: help

T

Triiop

Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
7
I looked around the internet for a good site with people that seemed to know alot about knives, this one came up simply because of how many active members there are.

So my question is what is a knife I should get. I am going to the US Merchant Marine Academy and need portable, functional knife that is decent/above average quality. I assume I will be using for cutting ropes, doing handy tasks while aboard various ships. It also needs to last me many years.

I'll be checking back here as long as the replys keep coming in, looking forward to seeing some sugestions. Note, Im pretty clueless about different knife qualities and brands, so go easy on me.
 
plus one on the Spyderco Salt series!
 
looks good, I like the stainless h-1 steel.

edit: What are some other reputable brands?
 
For your expected environment and tasks, I'd say look at the fully serrated Pacific Salt or Atlantic Salt.


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(images from Spyderco.com)
 
Triiop, welcome to Bladeforums!

The Spyderco line of Salt knives are made of H-1 steel blades. These are extremely rust-resistant, as well as being solidly built, light weight, and ergonomically shaped knives.

If you go to this website ww.knifeworks.com and search for Salt, you will see the three blade shape variations -- hawksbill, sheepsfoot, and regular.

The hawksbill is the sickle shape, good for cutting rope, especially with the serrated edge. The sheepsfoot is the broad blade with the rounded tip. This is safer on an unsteady deck, and is a typical shape for nautical knives. The regular pointed tip is the most general purpose shape.

If you think you will need this primarily for rope, go with serrations. A plain edge is best for general use. Oh, and get the yellow handle. It's much easier to find when you lay it down and forget where you put it. :)
 
Check out www.myerchin.com also. Most of their knives were designed for marine applications, and the 440C steel they use is fairly stainless. As rigging knives, they come with a built-in marlinspike.
 
I know I'll be using my knife for rope some, but I wouldn't want a serrated edge to restrict me to rope cutting. Also, the hawkbill looks wicked, but I think out of the salt series a serrated regular blade would probably serve me best.
 
Triiop said:
So my question is what is a knife I should get. I am going to the US Merchant Marine Academy and need portable, functional knife that is decent/above average quality. I assume I will be using for cutting ropes, doing handy tasks while aboard various ships.
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I'd make sure to get one with a marlinspike. The Camillus Rigging Knife would be a good choice:

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The Case MarlinSpike is very similar.

Emre
 
A.G.RUSSELL Makes a good Marine knife with a Marlin spike but it is a little pricey....But you get what you pay for.
 
Any of the Salt series. They are excellent quality, decently priced and easy to replace. With care it will last a long time.
 
The F1 is a great knife and it will last you forever. It is a production knife with custom knife quality for production knife price. Get the zytel or kydex sheath for it. A good thing too is that if it is lost in any way, it is not too expensive to replace.

Good luck with your training an remember to post pictures :)
 
Ok, 2 questions now (so far the replys have been great, thanks)

#1: The boye knives use Boye Dendritic Cobalt to achieve salt proof blades.
The spyderco knives used H-1 steel in for their salt proof blades.
So which type of salt proof blade do you guys think is better?

#2: The AG Russel sea-master looks awsome, but its description leaving me with some doubts. First, its "rust resistant" (ATS-34 stainless steel).. so is this blade as rust proof as the previous boye and spyderco blades? 2nd, by paying an extra $100 dollars for the sea-master, what about it is better than the boye/spyderco blades?
 
well the H-1 has no carbon so it cannot rust, don't know about the Boye Dendritic cobalt but H-1 is more rust resistant than ATS-34
 
SlamFire said:
I am not in the Merchant Marine, but I did get a tour of one of the FAST ships in US sea lift command. It is my considered opinion that a multitool would be very useful on a ship. There is one heck of a lot of machinery on a ship. As for cutting rigging, the only rope I saw was steel cable. Attached to 50 ton cranes. Might be a clothes line around somewhere, a 963 foot ship is huge beyond description, but I will bet that a pocketable Swiss Army Knife and a multitool are all the knives you are going to need.

Assuming they let you keep a knife on board.
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I grew up on and around boats and ships.
Yes, the guys always carried a multitool on their belt - - and a (separate) knife as well.
 
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