I need a Kayak knife

I prefer folders carried in a secure fast release sheath attached to either the PFD lash tab or the chest adjustment straps on the side. Best for on the water is any of the Spyderco Salt series.
 
I think most of the Spyderco's have too sharp of a point. I like the CRKT ABC Aqua. I have the ABC Operator and like it. Having both a straight edge and serrated edge is very handy. AUS-8A is decent steel for outdoor use. Not too hard, not too soft. Sheath is very functional and can be lashed to anything. Attach a lanyard and lash it to your PFD, upside-down. Take it off and clip it to your belt for around camp.

http://www.crkt.com/abcaqua.html

Regards
 
bladeprince said:
I think most of the Spyderco's are too sharp. I like the CRKT ABC Aqua. I have the ABC Operator and like it. Having a straight edge and serrated edge is very handy. AUS-8A is decent steel for outdoor use. Not too hard, not too soft. Sheath is very functional and can be lashed to anything. Attach a lanyard and lash it to your PFD, upside-down. Take it off and clip it to your belt for around camp.

http://www.crkt.com/abcaqua.html

Regards
Click to expand...

:eek:
A knife too sharp... ?
Blasphemy I say, blasphemy. :)
 
Mike Sastre said:
I prefer folders carried in a secure fast release sheath attached to either the PFD lash tab or the chest adjustment straps on the side. Best for on the water is any of the Spyderco Salt series.
Click to expand...

agreed. i just got back yesterday from a 2 and 1/2 month camping/ raft guiding trip. i use the Salt I and think it is a great knife for the value. i also prefer folders on the river because is makes you take that one extra step so you can decide, "do i really need a live blade out?":thumbup:

if you like a fixed blade the gerber river runner is a very popular model amoung river guides.
 
At least two of the Spyderco Salt series have rather blunt tips and the vast majority of kayaks out there are hard bodied anyways.


OP: For use in or around water it'll be hard to find a better general utility knife than any of the Salt series.
 
Spyderco Salt.

Or any number of neck knives with a breakaway clasp.

I'm looking forward to trying the Busse AAS that's coming out soon.

AssaultShakers.jpg
 
if it is primarily going to be a water knife id definately stick to either H-1 steel or x15 t.n. both are highly rust resistant or even rust "proof"

If you want a fixed blade id go with the benchmade 100sh2o river/dive knife

if you want a folder id go with something from the spyderco salt series such as the regular salt or atlantic..... id personally would not go with the pacific or tasman because they are more pointy and i dont really want to use a pointy knife on the water
 
I've been guiding regularly for the past 6 or 7 years and tried a number of different knives with varying results. The biggest complaint has been the rusting. The Spyderco Salt I've been carrying for the past two seasons has been the exception and performed perfectly. I'd give them serious consideration.
 
I've had good results with a Spyderco folder (Harpy or Spyderhawk) on my PFD's in a Mike Sastre smelted sheath. Maybe not the best blade for getting the last bit of peanut butter at the lunch stop but they have served me well.
Stay Safe,
Clyde
 
Here's a picture of my PFD with SpyderHawk (discontinued) and sheath attached to chest adjustment straps. Access with either hand, but stays out of the way of any movements you make while kayaking. Highly recommend the Tasman Salt in one of my sheaths.
 
I carry a Benchmade River Rescue knife with the sheath affixed to the left shoulder area of my PFD (the knife is connected to the PFD with a lanyard), and I carry a Frosts 755 sportfishing knife in the pouch on the back of my PFD.
PFDGear001.jpg
 
I've got a spyderco pacific salt, but its pointier than the other salts. I've also got a Gerber River Shorty that was really cheap, I've never bothered to try to sharpen it.
 
gerbercliplockrivermaster.jpg


I can't say I'm a Gerber fan (at least the Gerber of the post-eighties) but I've stuck with the river master since around 1989 - it is still lashed to my pfd. One modification... I ground the tip down... For me it was never about being afraid of cutting a raft (I wasn't a rafter) or harming my polyethylene whitewater kayak but the danger involved. Fast moving, swirling water is a different kind of venue than dry land. You can be caught in a strainer, tangled in lines, etc., and all you want is a breath of air.

Blunted like this, I was confident I could cut lines or that bottom of that d**n raft that pinned me. It could cut neoprene or, in a pinch, I could have sawed into a poly hull. Why did I blunt it? Non-knife people. They are less able to hurt me inadvertently.

Mid-nineties a guy got in a minor pin on a Sunday afternoon on the dam release lower section of the Ocoee. I was on the river that day, like most days in East Tennessee when there was no free running water, but upstream of the incident. Another boater wanted to help. He thought the best idea was to RAPIDLY extract said boater from kayak by slicing straight across the spray skirt... across the boater's lap. (FYI- If you actually have to slice someone's sprayskirt, you do it along the cockpit loaming... not straight across his lap.) He got the pinned boater out but successfully severed one (or both?) of his femoral arteries in the process. The artery is elastic enough that, if severed close to the groin, it can actually retract that last inch or two up the thigh - a tourniquet is useless... you can't stop the bleeding.

Others got him to the edge of the river and the, then, waiting ambulance. The ambulance didn't move for several (8-15) minutes, apparently attempting to stabilize the victim. The ambulance then drove off slowly... Victim deceased.

Short story... I don't want a good samaritan to make my situation worse rather than better. If my hands are occupied with a broach/pin (or shoulder dislocation - ouch! been there!) then I don't want them pulling my rescue knife from the lash tab and slashing away without a little insurance.

Sure... not a perfect solution. The edges are still sharp - but it helps.

Not a indictment that this blade is the best suggestion. I've not used a Sastre/Spyderco solution but it does look promising. He and I have spoken about it in person.

This is only a suggestion that a blunt tip can help save your life in whitewater. Whether you're struggling for breathe, underwater, semi-trapped or whether it's from a well meaning rescuer who pulls your knife while you're occupied.




Another anecdote specific to paddling.

A friend of mine, she had been teaching whitewater kayakers for 20 years. (Something I did for a dozen years - it is how I met my wife!) Like many kayakers "in the day" she had a pair of noseplugs attached to the front corner of the helmet by a 6-8" lanyard. She was teaching someone how to roll while at a lake training session. With her left hand, she stretched the lanyard forward by the plugs - with her right she cut downward to sever the lanyard so she might loan the plugs to her student. That downward slash severed blood vessels, tendons and nerves in her left forearm. Aid and a tourniquet were immediate. Unfortunately, she had at least two neurosurgeries in order to restore 80% function to her left hand.

Be careful!
 
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