What do you use your knife for?

[Cynara]

Originally Posted by CyKlop

S'Truth! Let's see when you would use the cockpit knife:

Someone is tangled in rigging and you go to help them, grabbing the cockpit knife... Except that if you have one in your PFD, no need to fumble for the cockpit one.

You're trapped, tangled in lines and need to cut loose... cockpit knife doesn't help.

I carry two knives, actually. One of them strapped to the outside of my PFD (rigging knife with shackle wrench and marlin spike) and then a Leatherman Wave in a pocket on my PFD (for all around utility work).

I've used the marlin spike a few times as well as the shackle wrench. Never used the blade and hope I never have to. I've used the leatherman extensively for various tasks on the boat. Leatherman for utility use, rigging knife blade for emergency use.

Never been even close to being tangled in lines. I guess if you were racing, working the foredeck, etc

[Cwens]

In the immortal, salty words of a Practical Sailor review of knives from about 20 years ago: "When your nuts are being dragged into the mainsheet block, that's not the time to be fiddling with a folding knife."

[garyfdl]

I'm in the multi-tool camp. I've found that the (very) few times I've needed a marlin spike, the needle nosed pliers sufficed (albeit a bit harder on the line than a marlin spike would be). The only thing lacking would be a shackle key, but the pliers usually suffices there as well.

Which tool(s) get used the most? The screw drivers followed by the bottle opener (good beer doesn't comet with twist-caps IMO) That followed by the knife and pliers.

As to the weight? I been wearing one for probably 40 years and don't notice it. it's as much a part of my 'kit' as my wallet and now, my phone. I wear it all the time (if wearing a belt) including with a sport jacket/suit.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by thinwater

^^ This.

I do keep them around, one just inside the companionway or at the helm, and one up front, either at the mast or in the anchor locker (you don't want to be scurrying back to the cockpit to get it). They have long lanyards to make them easy to find and hard to lose. Lots of uses. But I can't remember an honest emergency. I avoid emergencies.

The "real" knife is in my sewing kit, kept razor sharp for cutting Dyneema etc. But it's not an expensive knife; it is a retired kitchen knife of good quality that I cut down to a sheep's foot. I have a few like that, at home too.

Kitchen knives, and a grubby one in the fishing kit for cutting line and bait.


I dislike multi-purpose knives, with spikes and wrenches. I'd rather have a sturdy knife, and a proper fid and wrench in the tool box. I've found few good uses for a marlin spike (pliers are better for working out knots) and a shackle key is mostly for dinghies.


But no, in 40 years, I have never felt the need to keep one in my pocket or on my belt.


---


And before pulling out a really sharp knife on board, always think twice. Boats are moving constantly.

Thanks Thin! As I was reading, I was feeling more and more un-salty.....

[Ike]

When on my boat I always have a Buck 110 on my belt. It is there only for emergencies. They do happen.

When I enlisted in the Coast Guard, after boot camp and after a school, they sent me to a ship. During mooring or getting underway I was a linehandler (I hadn't made rate yet) The Chief BOSUN said do you have a knife? Go get yourself one (he recommend a BUCK 110), which cost a lot of bucks even back in the 60's, and don't ever handle lines without a knife on your belt. I thought he was over doing it a bit but he had a big fixed blade on his hip so I thought he must know what he's doing. Well I didn't see anyone use a knife when handling lines for a long time, but about a year later one seaman got his hand caught in a mooring line. He would have lost that hand if the Chief had not been there. That knife went through that 2 inch line like butter. That seaman still has his hand (a few broken fingers though). That was enough to convince me.

The Buck is not used for any thing else. For that I have other knives. A Buck Yachtsman with a straight blade and marlinspike for line work, a knife for cleaning fish, a small knife for use with fishing gear, a multitool in my boat box, and a few others. I collect knives as a hobby. Each one has a purpose. I have a rescue Knife (for breaking car windows) in my car along with a multitool. I used to do a lot of electrical work and I must have half a dozen electricians knives. And so on etc.

But that knife on your hip, when you are on your boat, is there for emergencies. That is why you should not use it for anything else. Hopefully you will never need to use it. But when you do it is absolutely essential.

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by bensolomon

I use the marlin spike to undo all of my bowlines.

At the end of a long season (last year was 2800 miles) on our 43' boat, I untie my bowlines with my fingers -- takes a solid 10-20 seconds. Same with mooring lines at my home dock when I need to readjust how I lay in the slip. It's one of the positive characteristics of a bowline.


What do you do with your lines that a bowline takes a marlin spike to undo? How big/small are the lines, or what sorts of loads to you put on them? Seriously, in 50 years of sailing, the only bowline I can recall being hard to untie was one that didn't get properly dressed in a midnight emergency landing (anchor drug and we "crash landed" alongside a fishing boat in Hurricane Agnes -- it was a controlled crash and ended well, but hardly a carefully planned evolution!).


Now, I do have an overhand knot that mysteriously appeared in my anchor snubber that I'd love to figure out how to remove......

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by Cynara

Never been even close to being tangled in lines. I guess if you were racing, working the foredeck, etc

First, in 50 years of sailing and racing, I've never been tangled either.


But more importantly, I can't see the scenario. Let's say it's benign, no rush -- then go get the knife. But let's say it is urgent. Most of the lines on my boat (and most boats of any size) cannot be severed in mere seconds with a knife. It's a saw action to get through a piece of 1/2 or 3/4 line! And don't even think about it if it's Dyneema or Kevlar! So, again, if you have enough time to cut through it -- it's already clear that it's not an emergency!

[garyfdl]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

if you have enough time to cut through it -- it's already clear that it's not an emergency!

Oh?

I'm 16, crewing (i.e. 'movable ballast') aboard a 49' schooner. Under full sail and in the middle of the night, we get hit with no warning by what today they'd probably call a derecho. Knocked us flat to starboard. The genoa was full of water, the boat couldn't right herself and was starting to fill through the open companionway. The owner/skipper cut the jib-sheet with his old pocket knife and we righted. He saved the boat and probably a number of the crew.

Not sure about you, but I'd call that an emergency...

[nwdiver]

Originally Posted by John_Trusty

I keep a fixed-blade Myerchin (https://myerchin.com/) strapped to the dodger top next to the cabin-top winches, and a folding Titanium Gen 2 of the same brand on any pants I happen to be wearing on-board. I treat them like my PFD, or flares, or other safety stuff - buy the best quality and hope I never have a need to use it. As far as tools or spreading peanut butter or other stuff, I'll go below and pickup the right tool.

I wear the same fixed blade in the middle of my back on my belt so I can reach it with either hand, I use it for cutting everything and the shackle key for opening…….well mostly shackles.

[GrowleyMonster]

On land or at sea I always have a Buck 110 in my pocket. Usually a Leatherman in the other side, too. On the boat I have a cheapie "sailor's knife" with a fold out spike. I have kept similar knives on me on the boat and on ships for decades. However, I can count on the fingers of one foot how many times I have used that spike. I have proper marlinspikes and fids for when I need one of those. The pliers of my leatherman are of more use for jammed knots and my fingers are hellacious strong anyway. And I can always use my rope wrench, when it comes to that. That's my Buck knife, for those not familiar with the term. A folding spike is about halfway to being utterly useless, IMHO. So why do I carry a $5.99 knife with a spike on it? Well, on a sailboat, the shackle key can be handy. And if I drop it over the side, I can be pretty philosophical about the loss.

So what do I use my Buck for? For cutting and splicing, of course. For opening stuff. For carving or making stuff. For cutting or stripping wire when I don't have my electrical tools at hand. For starting a diesel with a bad starting circuit. For fileting fish, or gutting and skinning small critters up to deer size. For trimming my fingernails. For eating. For opening beer bottles. Light carpentry. Just about anything. A sailor without a knife is like a _____ without a _____. Neither one can do their job. Not printable on this forum, you fill in the blanks yourself. As my Grampa always said when asked if he had his knife on him, "I got my pants on, don't I?" Every gentleman and certainly every sailor, whether ship or yacht sailor, should have a knife. Your knife is your life. Do you want to be the loser in the office who has to hang his head in shame and whimper some lame excuse when some hottie asks if you could help little ol' her open this big ol package like the big rugged manly man she just knows that you are? No knife? Just drop your man card in the nearest mailbox. Print "voluntarily surrendered, not qualified" on it. Even the women folk on a boat ought to have a knife in their pockets.

[paul2884]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

My knife is a Leatherman multitool. The other tools see far more use than the knives, although I certainly find need for both the straight and serrated blade at times.

The blades on my version, the Leatherman Charge, can be opened and closed single-handed, which makes it a good safety knife. But I certainly use the other tools far more often than the blades.

Same here, I recon I use the pliers more than anything else, but it has a good knife blade when needed

[hornby sailor]

single handed rescue knifeserrated blade on lanyard on my sailing pants, always. blade in sheath on helmstand, rigging knife inside companionway on hook, junk knife in toolbox, filet knife in coockpit, diveknife in seatlocker ziptied to hose.

[lo2jones]

I may be wrong, but the original question was, “what do you use a rigging knife for?” I did the Pacific Cup with a group of relative newbies. I was the only one on deck with a rigging knife ( serrated blade with a multi use shackle tool that doubles as a marlin spike; Wichard) If memory serves me correctly, I was asked, “can I barrow your rigging knife?” At least once a day. It is understandable that the conversation drifts toward the dramatic, but in the few years I’ve been sailing, I’ve only used the blade once in an emergency.