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Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

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OzBungy
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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby OzBungy » Sun Sep 25, 2011 2:11 am

I have a Spyderco rescue knife and that thing will go through anything. :o

I am not sure I like the idea of having a mega-sharp, unshielded blade washing around in the waves with me. A minor tangle could very easily end up in a gushing wound.

I am happy having a nicely shielded, fit for purpose hook knife neatly stored in a purpose built pocket in my harness.

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edt
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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby edt » Sun Sep 25, 2011 2:53 pm

OzBungy wrote:I am not sure I like the idea of having a mega-sharp, unshielded blade washing around in the waves with me. A minor tangle could very easily end up in a gushing wound.
The plan is not to leave the knife bobbing in the water so I can just sort of reach down in the water when I need it. The plan is to keep it in the sheath like a normal knife. I just think if you want to have a little extra security so you won't lose your knife a floaty knife is better than a tethered knife. If you drop a tethered knife in a storm, suddenly you have a large stabby thing flying around you at high speeds attached to you. Maybe it's best to have two knifes, neither of them tethered, so you have a backup knife in case you drop one or if one is rusted.

tomatkins
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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby tomatkins » Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:57 pm

What do you plan on using to periodically SHARPEN a SERRATED blade on the Bear Claw?

How much does the sharpening tool cost, and where can you buy it?

Thanks in advance.

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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby JMF » Sun Sep 25, 2011 8:33 pm

tomatkins wrote:What do you plan on using to periodically SHARPEN a SERRATED blade on the Bear Claw?

How much does the sharpening tool cost, and where can you buy it?

Thanks in advance.
Pretty easy actually. There are a number of cheap sharpening tools out there and then there are specialized ones. Like I mentioned before I had a 8 year old defensive Bear Claw I used for about two years. Never re-sharpened it from stock, did not look after it well is still razor sharp.


OzBungy
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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby OzBungy » Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:29 am

edt wrote:
OzBungy wrote:I am not sure I like the idea of having a mega-sharp, unshielded blade washing around in the waves with me. A minor tangle could very easily end up in a gushing wound.
The plan is not to leave the knife bobbing in the water so I can just sort of reach down in the water when I need it. The plan is to keep it in the sheath like a normal knife. ...
I was referring to having the knife in your hand, out of the sheath. You're getting tumbled by waves and panicking and you have this razor sharp knife in your hand. There is a good chance of giving yourself a serious wound.

In terms of risks:
- getting tangled in your lines in the surf - moderate risk
- getting tangled and being unable to stay afloat - low risk
- being unable to cut the lines with a hook knife - low risk
- cutting yourself with a very sharp knife while sloshing about tied up in the surf - moderate/high risk

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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby edt » Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:09 am

OzBungy wrote: - cutting yourself with a very sharp knife while sloshing about tied up in the surf - moderate/high risk
Maybe. I've definitely not been in that position enough times to judge the risk. What do you think of a knife tethered to you? Is that low risk?

OzBungy
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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby OzBungy » Mon Sep 26, 2011 2:13 am

Nup. Sharp knife + Soft skin + Flopping about in waves = high risk

If a blade like the Spyderco or similar makes contact with your flesh it will cut you.

That's why hook knives were invented. Sharp knife with built in safety guard and almost no way of getting your flesh into the blade.

When I think about it there's only two times you would want a knife in kiteboarding:
1. You've got rolled in the surf and tied up by your lines (or similar including tied up and now kite is powered up :o )
2. Your kite is in a death spin and all your quick releases are not working.

For 1 you're better off not panicking and just staying alive and not dicking around with knives in general. If you need a knife a hook knife would be appropriate because you care cutting close to your body and limbs. A hook knife is going to be fairly reliable in that case.

For 2 where you might be trying to cut through your depower line and the whole thing is out the front of you, away from your body, then a Bear Claw knife might be appropriate.

It's starting to get a bit silly when you have to load yourself up with a serrated rescue knife and a hook knife and all sorts of stuff because you are paranoid about an event that is fairly rare.
Last edited by OzBungy on Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:19 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby flyrob » Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:07 am

After much consideration, I also agree that having an open blade while one is thrashing around is a dangerous idea.

Although the tough guy cool factor is much higher with such a knife... the line cutter seems like a much better idea.

Image

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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby Kamikuza » Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:27 am

OzBungy wrote:Nup. Sharp knife + Soft skin + Flopping about in waves = high risk

If a blade like the Spyderco or similar makes contact with your flesh it will cut you.

That's why hook knives were invented. Sharp knife with built in safety guard and almost no way of getting your flesh into the blade.

When I think about it there's only two times you would want a knife in kiteboarding:
1. You've got rolled in the surf and tied up by your lines (or similar including tied up and now kite is powered up :o )
2. Your kite is in a death spin and all your quick releases are not working.

For 1 you're better off not panicking and just staying alive and not dicking around with knives in general. If you need a knife a hook knife would be appropriate because you care cutting close to your body and limbs. A hook knife is going to be fairly reliable in that case.

For 2 where you might be trying to cut through your depower line and the whole thing is out the front of you, away from your body, then a Bear Claw knife might be appropriate.

It's starting to get a bit silly when you have to load yourself up with a serrated rescue knife and a hook knife and all sorts of stuff because you are paranoid about an event that is fairly rare.
So ... we need a bigger or better hook knife.
Has anyone tried to cut depower or leader line with a "traditional" hook knife?

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Re: Cut away knives. Bear Claw revisited.

Postby Mr_Weetabix » Mon Sep 26, 2011 5:46 am

JMF wrote:Image
This would worry me - I know that your finger isn't on the sharp edge, but I reckon that it could slip onto it pretty easily when wet - particularly when being dragged through the water. I guess you could practice pulling and handling the knife to reduce the risk (but do it in private, otherwise policemen will come to take you away).

This seems more appropriate. Similar principal to the "standard" hook knife, no screws or other fiddly bits, robust, shiny enough to satisfy kiter gadget lust.


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