Gill Sailing Knife Spanner Size? Why?

It looks like a bottle opener that just happens to be cut out of the stock with a hexagon shape, rather than drilled. The features description is crap, for example it has a safety blade, which isn't mentioned, when you need to cut a small diameter rope without risking puncturing a bladder such as a life jacket or inflatable dinghy painter, or maybe a safety line.
 
RunAgroundHard said:
It looks like a bottle opener that just happens to be cut out of the stock with a hexagon shape, rather than drilled.
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Yeah, you've nailed it in one. If you're going to have a bottle opener in might as well have a hex inside it and that will determine the size not the usefulness of the hex. I should have thought of that. (Shame they didn't make it drive on the flats.)
 
Interesting it does not have a ‘smooth’ blade as well as a serrated one (well it only has a very tiny ‘smooth’ blade that I can see.
 
wonkywinch said:
I bought one of these. Cheap crap, the marlin spike tip bent the first time I used it in anger.
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By chance I borrowed one in the summer. The locking blade was actually an inconvenience and makes it illegal to carry in the UK without reason (probably doesn't matter but even so...).

I got a "Whitby" sailing knife which is cheap and certainly not squaddy-proof. However, it has been regularly exposed to salt water and the shackle key, knife & marlin spike have all been used a handful of times and the flat screwdriver once. Based on that, when it rusts, breaks or gets lost I'll get another.
 
Mark-1 said:
Yeah, you've nailed it in one. If you're going to have a bottle opener in might as well have a hex inside it and that will determine the size not the usefulness of the hex. I should have thought of that. (Shame they didn't make it drive on the flats.)
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i get your point that one size doesn’t fit all, but there are some sizes: 6, 8, 10 mm which are more common than the rest. For any serious job you’d want a proper tool anyway but I’d have thought any of them were better than leaving a round hole.
 
A few years ago I was snorkeling in Corsica when I spotted a tiny thing. It was an old Swiss army knife. Fetched it out. Spray of WD40. Good to go. I don't know how long it had been there but it impressed me with its robustness
 
ylop said:
i get your point that one size doesn’t fit all, but there are some sizes: 6, 8, 10 mm which are more common than the rest. For any serious job you’d want a proper tool anyway but I’d have thought any of them were better than leaving a round hole.
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Even a 10mm hex would not fit a bottle - much depends on your priorities.

Jonathan
 
PBO magazine taught me decades ago that a knife is not a saw. (Not withstanding prop entanglements).

A blade to cut rope for example should have the blade placed upon rope and hit with a mallet (upon backbone of knife). I never did it that way, I must admit.

Things may have changed.

I have owned many knives over many years.

This one is 35 years old and like new - replaced lanyard (I left in in a glass of salty water when first acquired to see if it would rust; it did not):

Captain Currey Clasp Knife 95mm Bosun
 
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wonkywinch said:
I bought one of these. Cheap crap, the marlin spike tip bent the first time I used it in anger.
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I have had dealings with the CEO and Head Of Design of Douglass Gill (some years ago) - a 2 hour meeting. Never Mr Gill himself (who produced a great British company).

They were most intractable and dismissive.

All meetings were recorded for legal protection. Nothing was achieved; hence the wording “intractable”.

Worst foul weather gear I have ever owned to boot (that is an opinion).

Have not experienced the knife; photo with the strange marlin spike design looked odd.
 
Cerebus said:
PBO magazine taught me decades ago that a knife is not a saw. (Not withstanding prop entanglements).

A blade to cut rope for example should have the blade placed upon rope and hit with a mallet (upon backbone of knife). I never did it that way, I must admit.
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So you need to carry a mallet with you as well as the knife.

I will stick to "sawing" through the rope I need to cut in an emergency.
 
ProDave said:
So you need to carry a mallet with you as well as the knife.

I will stick to "sawing" through the rope I need to cut in an emergency.
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PBO were talking about rope work not emergencies; looked 3 3 ply hemp rope.

I learned the crown knot and back splice ; not forgotten.

I never used a knife as PBO taught me even if doing rope work; hitting a knife feels wrong - it could perhaps bend the blade?
 
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