What knife do you carry

chabrenas

chabrenas

Active Member
Joined
2 Oct 2008
Messages
52
Location
a bit to the left of the middle of France - 200Km
www.newfreebooters.com
There is another, old thread discussing whether one should always carry a knife when afloat, but I think my question is different enough to justify starting a new one.

Given that you do carry a knife or rigger's kit, what do you carry - especially if you are in the UK. I've checked a few online chandleries, and what they have on offer seems barely adequate. What do YOU carry, and where did you have to go to buy it?
 
I don't actually carry a knife on board - usually, I do if in heavy weather or something which particularly warrants it is going on - but I do have an old breadknife in a holder in the cockpit - for freeing nasties around the prop' of the outboard in it's cockpit well, rudder etc, and I have another old breadknife secured in the anchor locker forward, a lesson learned after the chap I was crewing for neglected to tell me, what looked like a single continuous line to a pile mooring and back, was actually 2 lines with a knot ! :eek:

That was interesting, and I still reckon I pulled more 'G' in that Folkboat then as we swang down-tide than I ever did in G-Hawk ! A knife would have been very handy...

Both the breadnives mentioned have a short lanyard from the handle to put around the wrist, and the sharp pointed ends ground off.
 
We carrry four very sharp serrated knives but I can't remember the make. One on the rail by the liferaft, one accessible to the crew on the binnacle and one in each wet weather jacket.
 
What knife?

Although there are other knives on board I always keep this in my pocket Gerber EZ Out
gerber_ezout_rescue_knife.jpg


TS
 
swiss army knife in my pocket always other than for flying. Victorinox multi tool on my belt any time I'm on a boat or working.
 
I currently have a Kershaw that lives in the helm locker. Mine has the same handle, but the blade has a rounded tip, not pointed.

kershaw_blur_rescue_knife_K1670DRST.jpg


I have had a few different ones as they come out in winter, get used at home / work and replaced brought back.

Got this for work from the Snap On man and it ended up on the boat. No doubt something different next year if it gets a chipped blade / lost.

Never had to use one in anger yet, apart from during on board repairs.

Invariably get mine from various tool dealers that visit as they are industrial quality gear, not hobby stuff.
 
Last edited:
Dockhead said:
A Japanese Myerchin like this one:

http://www.worldknives.com/products/myerchin-offshore-rigging-knife-wood-handles-mybw300-1199.html

It was a present. It's a lovely object.
Click to expand...

When I divorced, my Myerchin knife was "lost". It is the ONE thing that I genuinely feel pangs about, as it too was a present (from the woman I SHOULD have married too). Lovely, lovely thing that knife.

Now I carry a Gerber multi-tool and/or a Gerber lockblade with half-serrated blade. The lockblade is highly useful, but because it will open VERY easily with a wrist flick, is over the 4" limit, and looks very nasty to boot, I never want to get caught by the plod carrying it...
 
Last edited:
Good to see the bread knives. Are they they only things with decent sized, serrated blades available these days? However, I see that a lot of you seem to carry knives loose - they don't even have anywhere to attach a lanyard. Any thoughts?

In my foredeck crew days back in the 70s, I carried a bog standard stainless "sailor's knife" in a sheath that also held a marlin spike. The knife was nearly useless - impossible to sharoen to a decent edge. Good thing I never needed it at night during sail changes. In the end, I replaced it with a non-stainless American sheath knife (Green River ?) which could actually cut things.

I also found the lanyard kept getting in the way, and tended to undo it from my belt when I used the knife, except when I was up the mast (out of ci-onsideration for the guys below).
 
I carry a baby multitool most of the time - the blade is short enough that I should not in theory be presumed guilty until I can prove otherwise, although admittedly it does lock open which is apparently naughty.

On the boat I have a Currey's rigging set, the one with knife, spike and pliers. The bigger one with added screwdriver and shifter would have come in handy occasionally, but by that time it's starting to feel more like a chippy's toolbelt. I didn't buy this for the boat but for square-rig sailing - can't really nip down to the tool locker when you find a recalcitrant shackle 100 feet above the deck - but I keep it on the boat when not doing that since it's more likely to be of use than at home. It's not mounted anywhere special, just in the general stowage tray on the starboard side of the cabin.

I quite like the idea of mounting a breadknife somewhere accessible; I'd been toying with making a mount that would hold the sheath of the rigging set, but I reckon a round-ended breadknife would be easier and more useful.

Pete
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top