A PFD knife revisited...
 

I'm kind of nuts about safety since I like to paddle alone. After a discussion about PFD safety knives here at BWE I rethought the idea, and essentially bought one for my vest. It's a Spyderco hawkbill or more technically a Byrd Crossbill folder, which I got from Sierra Trading Post during one of their daily sales, for $13.

Just got it today, and I'm already very pleased.


Did a little demo vid which you can see here:
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The deal with a safety knife for me is I wanted something that could cut me loose in a hurry if I tangled in a rope or line in the water, but that I could carry kind of hassle free. So the knife is just what I wanted. It fits great on the vest, no sheath, easy to use one handed, light weight, low profile, big enough blade to do the job....etc. So I can clip it to my vest when yakking, it's easy to get to, and I have the safety of a good knife without the bulk of a sheath knife.

Works for me..


Jim

the new "Billy Mays":D

Good life saving info. Got a little scared looking at this video. Never seen a
kayak ninja man. :afraid:

Hey, Jim. Do you have the part number for that knife? Thank you.

Thanks for the post Jim.:)

Loved the cameo walk on from Rin Tin Tin :D

Do you have 9 or 10 feet of grade 70 transportation chain in that vest ?
lmao.

Love the video. Kind of a spinoff of De Niro :)

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47a0...D720/ry%3D480/

Just an observation.

The knife looks like a clip-on, I think a non-folding squeeze lock knife that sits in a sheath would probably work best in a life or death situation. If I'm being held under water by kelp, rope, or being tossed about I would prefer to just grab, squeeze, pull and cut.....these four things can be performed in a single, swift move.

I believe that the chance of loosing a clipped on item will greatly increase as your tossed or bumped around. Furthermore, having a knife that requires you to open it brings in the fumbling factor. If your in need of your knife: grab(and hope its there), pull, attempt to open (as you gasp for air and are being tossed around) and cut.

Again, this is just an observation.

I bought my knife using the "O-shit" scenario not the will it cut bait, fillet a fish or cut spectra scenario. I normally carry two knifes on my yak: one for the day to day stuff and the other for the O-SHIT!!!! days.

Ha!
 

And I thought I had too much spare time on my hands :biggrinjester:

In Jim's defense, though, at least he goes fishing on a regular basis and, for the most part, knows what he's doing. Unlike the majority of the safety squad and tinker'rs around here.
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I've never carried a knife on the kayak (unless I know I'm going to be chumming for hours on end). Then again, I'm pretty good at not getting wrapped up in loose lines and don't have a great fear of the unknown.

While I appreciate all the go, go, go-safety guys (ya' know, guys who bring multiple GPS units, multiple radios, flares, two bilge pumps, extra batteries just in case?)---we're not exactly roping Great White Sharks!

Kayak fishing is as dangerous as you make it, I guess :D.

X2... most guys are trying to squeeze the Queen Mary into their kayaks instead of fishing:rolleyes:.WTF. A folding knife will almost all the time take two hands to unfold, I'll take any straight knife anytime.

quick search found this knife http://www.outdoorplay.com/Stohlquis...shoppingdotcom

from this site http://www.thefind.com/sports/info-squeeze-lock-knife

there's more than 1 way to............

http://ajadorseyjackson.com/wp-conte...Skin-A-cat.jpg

If there's anything that I like...I mean really really like, its humor.:D

Thats not a knife, THIS is a knife!
http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/p...&pictureid=432

one thing I will point out from your video, and this isn't knocking you at all just what I saw, is that you acted in a panic wrapping your hand up, but as soon as went for your knife you acted calm when opening it up and cutting your rope. train how you fight, fight how you train. I am not saying go out and put yourself in a dangerous situation, but everyone should keep in mind that once panic and fear truly sets in, your brain reacts to the situation differently than it normally would. Keep in mind that you may not have the motor skills to open that knife one handed once you really begin to panic.

other than that, I say nice knife! You can tell it is definitely sharp by how it went thru that rope. I am a knife guy. People were commenting on prices of knives, but there are reasons some knives are expensive. I have never gotten a sale knife at Big 5 that has lasted more than 3 months. But I have a Spyderco that has lasted 10 years.

I have a handful of great knives, and a bunch of crap ones, but I when I fish (from a boat or a yak) I have a folding knife and a filet knife. On my yak the filet knife is by my left hand, and the folding knife is in my pant or wader pockets. I would think a decent filet knife would cut through kelp or rope if it is kept sharp. You can get an easy to use sharpener for a couple of bucks, and when you are out fishing you should always keep your edge sharp.

I am also a flashlight guy...and if I told you how much I have paid for some of my flash lights you would look at me like I have three heads. But in my line of work, we have a saying, "one light is no light, two lights is one light, and three lights is a minimum."

Jim, thanks for the comments. I was recently hooping with pretty rought seas. Bringing all the nets on board the kayak, my leg got tangled up in all the loose line. I was alittle freaked by the risk of going over with the nets dragging me down. I made into the harbor but realized I needed a knife; especially when hooping.

I enjoy all your posts. Thanks for the great info

Hey thats my knife!

So they tell me... :D

I hear that. :cheers1:

Actually there is kind of a tongue and cheek aspect to my post and video, but you know how it is: no-one ever get's my sense of humor. :cool:

I've been fishing small craft near and offshore for a few decades now in So. Cal. Often way offshore. I've been caught in storms even gales with forty to sixty knot winds. You know how many times I have needed a knife in a emergency situation? Not once!

The closest to an emergency I've used a knife is when I had to cut a hoopnet rope off some other knuckleheads prop after he ran over my hoonet :D

Irritating as hell but not all that dangerous.

Saltwater Kayak fishing is not white water rafting. Its not like your going to get tangled in a web of gear ropes then get beat to death as the raft runs the rapids out of control.

Like I said in the other post..... I use a knife on the kayak for only a few basic things. Cutting bait, gutting fish, or sometimes stabbing it deep into halibut, or T sharks to severe their spinal column to incapacitate them.

My take is there is nothing wrong with clipping a knife to your vest, and yes maybe in a emergency situation a knife might come in handy, but if I'm going to carry a knife I want it to be a real knife that's balanced has a point and feels good in my hand.

A knife is just a tool, and I like good tools. My new knife will probably do more damage to halibut then any ropes that cross my path. Hey and look on the bright side... If I end up in the water far offshore, drifting in my PFD waiting for the inevitable scavengers to come, at least I'll have something to stick in their eye before they chew my leg off.


http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j2...6/ahabpeck.jpg

"From hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Ye damned whale. "

You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the xxxx do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah? OK.

:sifone:

Spyderco makes great knives. My Byrd mine was made in China but the attention to detail, and quality is still Spyderco. This knife shaved right out of the box, I could not of made it any sharper, and I love to sharpen knives. It's really immaculately well done, a beautiful knife if you are into knives, now I'm wishing I bought two of them :D

Jim

Hahaha funny, Andy.

I carried a Spyderco knife for many years. Best knife to cut away a seat belt, or commence with some great bodily injury. Don't think I would carry something like that on a yak for fear I might injure myself, or have the blade open up while I am being tossed in the surf. Yes, after time the blade will loosen, if not tightened regularly. If and when I carry a knife, its usually just the cheap plastic handle bait knife from Long Fin or local tackle store.

I will have to pick one up...cause I am a sucker for knives like that! LOL. I had never heard of Byrd before, but I just checked out the web page. Good prices, and if they are as good as you say, then the price is worth it and your price was awesome!

A lot of the new knives have the locks on the handle where they wont open unless you move the lock. But in an emergency that is just one more thing to figure out. I have a Kershaw that has one, and even with normal use I forget about the lock. They say that you need to do something 1000 times for it to become muscle memory. But with so many knives who has time for that!?!?! LOL

I don't need no stinkin' knife...
 

Knife? On a kayak? What the hell for?

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwegall...and_Tshark.jpg

I worked in a hatchery in Alaska years ago. We had a small siener that worked with us and every one on the crew had a spiderco knife clipped to thier slickers in case they fell in to the net or lines. The blades were dull at the tip and had a wicked seration on the blade. These knives are designed to cut rope, rigging, and webbing. I've seen police and EMS personel carrying these to cut through seat belts. Good tools. Mike

No Yani, is for anglers that fish with two line in the water and get wrapped up with braided line on a YT duplex. :D

Sounds like the crew was carrying Spyderco UK Rescue blades.
http://i.stpost.com/erez4/erez?src=P...ize&redirect=0

Nice Knife but I want a sharp tip so I can cut fish. One thing I like about that knife for a kayak though is since it does not have lock so you can close it one handed.

Jim

LOL... Ninja man = Priceless


I didn't know what to expect when i first say his video.

The knife looks pretty good, you can use it in case a white shark tries to take a bite out of your kayak.

This coming from a Guide.LOL! I guess you're a good swimmer:D

I know where you coming from, but I never knock the over prepared kayak fisherman because I know it will come back and bite me in the ass.

Nice Video Jim. I think that same knife saved Rob Sanford's life when his Defiance Boat capsized on a wave coming into the MB Channel. His automatic floatation PFD had him trap in the pilot house and if he didn't have a knife on him, he would have died. Thanks for sharing.


Moyer

Kind of what I was thinking Matt, is it really a good idea to give people a hard time about wanting to be safe. Particularly when you are in a position of people trying to follow your example.

For the record I normally have a knife on board but not on my PFD. On my PFD I usually keep a hook knife. They are great for quickly cutting line and you never have to worry about getting stuck or cutting your PFD.
This is the one I have from Benchmade. I see they now have some new ones that I may have to take a look at that may be better for the kayak.
http://www.benchmade.com/products/8

wasn't that the blade hannibal lector used to disembowel one of his victims? very interesting, another must add to my list.

being oversafe(on a kayak) can also become an issue. I always carry a straight edge near me on the kayak. Boats are very different, the more knifes the better in case of emergency. Never on the boat without a knife on me. Rescue hooks by benchmade are a must also. You can never be too safe on a boat.

I carry a couple myself...knives are our friends, except the banished ones according to our pussified state...

One in the tackle box, one in the vest, and one in the seat bag.

How much do you want for that dog? I always wear a dive knife on my leg. I put a loop on it for my wrist just in case. They will sink if you drop them and I experimented with closed cell foam but I could not get it boyant enough to not sink. I am going to try the camera floats next. That is a great looking vest though. You look like a navy seal

http://th10.photobucket.com/albums/a.../th_edward.gif

This is what I carry.....

This is what I carry.....:cool:


http://th10.photobucket.com/albums/a.../th_edward.gif

Wouldn't sell her. Funny how she always seems to make an appearance in any video I make. I just wish she did not get seasick so I could still take her offshore.
http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/...unadog4240.JPG

Big but just a sweet as can be. Scares the hell out of the neighbors but loves cats and toys. She collects the latter and keeps them in her dog bowl.

http://www.allcoast.com/photos/data/...ag4306-med.jpg

I really love that dog, best Dog I've ever owned.

Jim

I was trying to find those earlier but was thinking spyderco and not benchmade. We use these at work, and they cut thru anything.

I like the 9 CB carabiner. Has a blade cover, carabiner clip, AND a bottle opener.

Those are great tools and have used them to rip seat belts, web gear and clothing off with ease. Great yak application.

Call me old fashioned but for some things I still do like the hands on approach :biggrinjester:

The spyderco logo/mascot looks more like a tick or a chigger...

Bump...


Best video ever...



Beware of the kayak ninja :cheers1:


I love this video :sifone:

going to have to get one of these nice knifes, since my are dull already...