What knife do you carry

[capnsensible]

Hands up who has actually needed a knife at instant notice?? i never have, more likely to loose it or make meself bleed! Only ever needed to get something out of the cutlerly drawer and do it.

My opinion only!!!!

 

[Mariner69]

I wear a rigging set with marlin spike, pliers and a green river knife. Very useful, I have needed it a couple of times but find it occasionally catches on the guard rails, always at the worst time.

I was always taught that a seaman without a knife is like a whore without a c**t. I think it is true!!

 

[capnsensible]

I wear a rigging set with marlin spike, pliers and a green river knife. Very useful, I have needed it a couple of times but find it occasionally catches on the guard rails, always at the worst time.

I was always taught that a seaman without a knife is like a whore without a c**t. I think it is true!!

Since the days of the ole skware riggers, how about the prat with a knife ends up being a bit of a c***? But I've only sailed a little bit

 

[Ariadne]

All our crew (including the kids) carry a very sharp knife on a multi-tool, attached to their safety belt, I carry a divers knife as well on mine.

We also carry a very sharp machete and a sharp axe (sharp enough to sharpen a pencil!) just in case we need to cut a large rope very quickly.

We also have good selection of sharp kitchen knives to choose from as well, at a push.

As for cutting things away from the prop; then a divers knife wife a sharp blade and a serrated back with a netting cutter built in) is what I use. As I did this morning to remove 1,000,000 miles of fishing line & plastic bag(s) from it!

 

[SailBobSquarePants]

Hands up who has actually needed a knife at instant notice?? i never have, more likely to loose it or make meself bleed! Only ever needed to get something out of the cutlerly drawer and do it.

My opinion only!!!!

My hands are WAY WAY UP!!!

Damned near almost wrecked a Soling and possibly died in Boston harbour - squall came in over the city, no warning, 35 knots plus, short handed crew. On a run heading straight at some abandoned pilings and rocks when it hit.

Two words: winch override.

Neither I nor Dave had a knife - and I did sometimes carry one. But not that day. And the stress on the lines was so great that we could NOT clear the winch, and without it we could not tack to safety.

I set up a rolling hitch, took the strain to another winch, and got it off. We cleared the pilings by feet, not yards.

But a knife would have been a LOT less scary, and a lot larger margin for safety. I've never gone without since.

Your point of view is coloured by "going to a cutlery drawer". Some of us came up sailing performance dinghies and J/24s...where the concept of a cutlery drawer is rather foreign.

Now I carry a multi-tool all the time, not only because it has a knife, but on a 44 year old sailboat something is ALWAYS breaking or jamming...but that might be foreign to you as well, depending upon your boat...

Just my $0.02.

 

[Fire99]

A large Nieto Lock-Knife.

Got me out of trouble a number of times. Very handy piece of kit.

 

[capnsensible]

Now there is an honest answer. My boat is 33 now and breaks. I could have, on a number of occassions, attacked her with threatening gestures (have) swearing (have) and stampy loudly shouting (have) but none ever solved with a knife, Honestly, having been round the buoys a bit, have I ever got meself out of bad tings with a knife.

JB weld, masking tape, hammer, spanners, fuel filters, attitude and determination, yes. Mr. Knife, only once but not worn, out of the drawer.

Was a sea scout in early days, first thing was, you got your 'rigging set' and then learnt how to secure each tool with a line spliced at each end to secure the knife and marlin spike to your belt. Can still do that

Just never needed instant knife. On any floaty boat.

Only my opinion!!

 

[capnsensible]

PS have raced J24s.

 

[prv]

Hands up who has actually needed a knife at instant notice??

Not at instant cut-that-rope-right-now-or-we're-all-going-to-die notice, but certainly at short "it would be bloody awkward to climb off this yard and down the mast and down to my cabin to fetch it" notice. But that's the square rig sailing again, when I do generally wear my knife and spike during the working day.

i never have, more likely to loose it or make meself bleed!

That's just sheer clumsiness, surely? It's one thing to nick yourself while working, especially in adverse conditions, but I can't imagine how to do it with a knife in your pocket or in a sheath.

Pete

 

[SailBobSquarePants]

My boat is 33 now and breaks.

Tsk...a veritable YOUNGSTER...

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Hands up who has actually needed a knife at instant notice?? i never have, more likely to loose it or make meself bleed! Only ever needed to get something out of the cutlerly drawer and do it.

My opinion only!!!!

Coming through the Gota canal a few years ago, a good freind and crew member managed to get the bow rope snagged on the lock gate as he climbed up to the lock. The boat moved forward and without us knowing the loops in his hand tightened and pinned him to the gate.

He screamed. I was at the helm and shouted " let go ". He shouted " I can't let go"' or similar words. He got pinned to the gate and as the bow line tightened the bow crashed against the lock wall and his fingers were broken as the boat surged forward, tightening the rope.

A knife would have been very useful if he had been prepared tp use it. O
We were at the start of a passage back to England. So it was down to me and my one armed crew. Fortunately the rather attractive Swedish lock keeper took pity on him. She took him to the hospital that evening and got him bandaged up. We took her out to dinner to thank her and on the second bottle of wine we asked her to join us for the sail back to England.

To our surprise sh said yes and she joined us for the rest of the trip. Great memories.

So, perhaps carrying a knife is a bad idea as it inhibits making friends.

 

[Seagreen]

Green river ss blade with pliers and spike. Nice, sharp, can be used with a hammer to cut thick stuff. Also a bit useless currey lockspike. All the SS currey knives seem to have soft blades which cut nothing much and can't be sharpened, IMHO., and have been relegated to the fishing tackle box.

Those Myerchin ones look lovely. I may add one to my wish list.

 

[LadyInBed]

One similar to this:

Also have one of these:

 

[Seajet]

I think the message coming through loud and clear is that serrated knives are best, by a long way.

For the person asking if anyone ever needs a knife in a hurry, here are a couple of examples, one pretty ordinary though stressful, the other a bit unusual and ended in a fatality.

My 'ordinary' experience was when crewing a friends' Folkboat on a club rally to Bucklers' Hard.

My chum was a great guy, a Murmansk Convoys veteran, but he did get stressed when on his then new pride and joy ( a GRP Varne model which he'd built ).

As we went to leave the pile moorings, I went to the foredeck to handle the doubled there-and-back bow line.

As ahead gear was engaged and we made way ( rather too fast ) against the strong ebb tide, I released one end of the line, pulling on the other.

As we were halfway alongside the neighbouring boat the bow line jammed at the pile; what I didn't know was I was dealing with 2 lengths of identical line with a knot, not one continuous one !

I yelled to get into neutral, but either wasn't heard or the skipper was a bit fazed - quickly we were upstream of the pile, with the line taut.

We went around in a sling-shot effect, now with the full tide and engine propelling us in an arc, straight at the boat in the row which had been behind us.

A chap on board saw us coming straight at his side and sat down sticking his feet out; then he saw the speed we were doing, and quickly scuttled out of the way !

When we hit, I thought we'd probably go through and out the other side, but very luckily the Folkboat's bow rode up onto his sidedeck causing virtually no damage apart from throwing everyone on both boats onto the decks.

If I'd had a knife quickly to hand...

The other example didn't happen to me, and wasn't at all funny...

A chap was doing something, don't know what, with the rope anchor warp of his boat while anchored at East Head, Chichester Harbour.

He somehow managed to get a turn of the rope around an arm underwater, I suppose he was checking the set of the anchor or something.

The boat fell back putting tension on the warp, trapping him; his wife was only able to watch as he drowned. The really sad thing being of course if she'd known what was happening and what to do she could simply have let some slack out.

It might reasonably be said that when diving one might feel more inclined to carry a knife, and chain is more common nowadays anyway, but this chap was on rope and didn't have a knife...

 

[timbartlett]

interesting to hear how many of you carry knives on you "all the time" or words to that effect.

If they are still in your pocket when you go ashore, you are almost certainly breaking the law, because they are likely to be over length (3 inches) or almost certainly have a locking blade.

A locking blade is classed as an offensive weapon even if it is less than 3 inches.

In these cash-strapped times, Dibble will be on the look out for every penny they can contribute to the state coffers -- and their Elf'n'safety officers will probably have spotted that middle-aged men in boat shoes and coloured waterproofs are a much safer collar than drunken yobs.

 

[SailBobSquarePants]

If they are still in your pocket when you go ashore, you are almost certainly breaking the law, because they are likely to be over length (3 inches) or almost certainly have a locking blade.

A locking blade is classed as an offensive weapon even if it is less than 3 inches.
.

You are miss-representing the law I believe. There is a provision that you may carry a knife APPROPRIATE for an outdoor activity that is either larger or locking, IF you can prove that you are going to or returning from said activity. Otherwise hunters could not carry sufficiently large knives for skinning and hunting, etc. If you get stopped- YOU JUST ARE RETURNING from your boat...or heading to it for an immediate departure. Remember that, and insist on it if stopped, repeatedly.

There have been guys done for carrying multi-tools with locking blades, but as EVERY multi-tool has a locking blade it is hard to avoid. If very paranoid, put it in your trunk, or at least under your seat.

But the key thing to insist is that YOU JUST CAME BACK from the boat, where you were engaged in your sport, and you need to convey the knife home. They will find that difficult to challenge in court, if you have even a wiff of proof...

 

[prv]

All the SS currey knives seem to have soft blades which cut nothing much and can't be sharpened, IMHO.

Interesting. My Currey knife (not a folding one) does seem to go blunt relatively quickly, but it also sharpens up nicely on the kitchen sharpener. This also puts tiny serrations on the blade which help a lot in cutting rope.

Pete

 

[timbartlett]

You are miss-representing the law I believe. There is a provision that you may carry a knife APPROPRIATE for an outdoor activity that is either larger or locking, IF you can prove that you are going to or returning from said activity.

Yes, there is. And it might work at t the beginning and end of the season. But I doubt whether it would allow you to sit in the in the Sailors Arms with your Swiss army knife in your jacket pocket.

Even the dummest dibble or the clumsiest CPS person can get round that one.
"If you only use the weapon in question when you are on your boat, Sir (or "you scumbag", if you're not actually in court yet) then why don't you leave it on board? Why did you take it to the pub with you when you knew you would be going back to your boat?"

Don't you think they would have shut that loophole by now if it was any use?

 

[pugwash60]

I don't really like serrated blades, I just keep my normal ones sharp - the last time I cut myself was because my penknife was blunt so I was having to 'saw' a bit to slice the tomato and it slipped. So I try to keep it sharp. For cutting ropes off a shaft a hacksaw is much better than a knife, for some reason knives don't seem to work well under water.
I used to prefer the fishermans knife from germany, loewan messr, but it wasn't so good at opening wine or tins etc. as the swiss army knife so I've gone back to that. Nice carbon steel 'though so great for getting an easy edge I don't know why but I've never managed to get on with the opinel, it doesn't seem to get sharp for me, not sure why I don't normally have a problem with sharpening.

 

[chinita]

interesting to hear how many of you carry knives on you "all the time" or words to that effect.

If they are still in your pocket when you go ashore, you are almost certainly breaking the law, because they are likely to be over length (3 inches) or almost certainly have a locking blade.

A locking blade is classed as an offensive weapon even if it is less than 3 inches.

In these cash-strapped times, Dibble will be on the look out for every penny they can contribute to the state coffers -- and their Elf'n'safety officers will probably have spotted that middle-aged men in boat shoes and coloured waterproofs are a much safer collar than drunken yobs.

Good point. I shall keep my knife under lock and key from herein.

Do you have any advice on Jaywalking in Finland?