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There are many different things you can do while scuba diving but regardless of whether you like to ica dive pr simply want to take nice tropical fish pictures you will find a dive knife a very good and helpful accessory. Ghost nets and other objects can be dangerous if you get entangled in them and having a knife with you that can help you free yourself is therefore highly recommended. If you are taking tropical fish pictures you may focus on the task at hand and miss a ghost net or other danger while pursuing a big grouper to get that price winning shot. In such a situation a good dive knife will help you free yourself from the net before things get critical.

The two most important things to think about when buying a scuba knife are:

- Make sure that you get a scuba knife that is right for you and your diving style.

- Make sure that you know how to use the kind of dive knife you choose to get. If you don’t know how to use your dive knife correctly it can cause more bad than good.

In this blog post we will take a closer look at the first point choosing a dive knife.

Size matters

Generally speaking, dive knives can be divided into three size groups: standard size knives, mini knives, and big knives. A standard size dive knife, also known as medium size dive knife, has a 4-5 inch or 10-15 cm blade and is small enough to comfortably keep mounted on your leg, arm or BC. Make sure the handle is large enough for you to grip without much ado. A mini knife will have a 2-3 inch or 5-7.5 cm blade and can for instance be worn clamped onto a hose due to its petite size. Unfortunately, many of them come with handles that are difficult to grab underwater, especially when wearing diving gloves. It is therefore extra important to try the handle on a mini knife before buying it. Big dive knives have blades that are 5 in / 15 cm or longer and can be a tad cumbersome to handle underwater, especially for precision work. You should only get a big knife if you do something underwater that really requires a big knife, otherwise a small knife is to be preferred.

What material should the knife be made from

Most dive knifes are made from titanium or stainless steel. Titanium knives tend to be the most expensive choice, but are on the other hand extremely resilient to rust and other types of corrosion and a good titanium knife will stay sharp for numerous dives. A stainless steel knife will on the other hand be more susceptible to rust and corrosion, but you can counteract this by rinsing it off in freshwater after each dive and leave it to dry completely before putting it back in its sheath. Coating it with a layer or oil or silicone is also recommended.

Serrated edge or not?

Depends on what you want to cut, a straight edge is better for cutting artificial material like nylon while a serrated edge is better for cutting natural fibers. If you decide to go for a serrated knife, ideally pick one where the serrations run almost the entire length of the blade to make it possible to get a nice sawing motion going when you need to cut something. Today, you can also find multi-purpose dive knives where both types of edging is present on the same knife.

Should I choose a knife with a sharp tip?

A blunt tip is better for the avarage joe diver while a sharp tip can better for divers planning to is it while spear fishing. The reason that ablunt top is usually better is that a sharp tip easily breakes when using the knife to dig and pry. Having a knife with a sharp tip will also increase the risk of accidently puncturing a BC your own or your dive buddy’s.

Do I need a line cutting notch?

Dive knifes should always have a cutting notch because that makes it much easier to cut small lines.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 2:42 am and is filed under Uncategorized, Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.