Little folding knife

[Roger W]

How about this instead, Sam?

Priced at a cool $70,000, this stellar Swiss army knife features platinum shells and flawless diamonds. It includes a large blade, small blade, nail file, nail cleaner, sciossors, orange-peeler, screwdriver and tweezers. Each tool is encrusted with diamonds, except for the tweezers.

Cool - but will it actually cut what you would want a caving knife to cut in an emergency?  I have a little Swiss Army knife on my keyring.  It's nice and sharp, but I'm not sure it's big and sharp enough to slice through rope in a hurry.

 

[SamT]

Have you ever cut a tensioned rope with a knife - it doesn't take much!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWElarKsbpw

hardly using much elbow grease

 

[Fulk]

Joe90:

Look at it like buying a Rude Nora or a Energizer headtorch.

Well, I'm not convinced that that's a valid comparison; if I had a Rude Nora headlamp I'd use it for caving . . . . if I had a 16-inch-blade Bowie knife I don't know what the f*** I'd do with it.

 

[Joe90]

I completely agree, ?60 is a lot of money for a small knife. I guess you could look at it as going out on the beer for a night. It is quality kit though.

Sent from my HUAWEI TIT-AL00 using Tapatalk

 

[underground]

I'm with SamT in this, the 8 quid Whitby knife with the 'spyderedge' is perfect for keeping in a pocket for the odd time it's needed. Mines cut plastic, conveyor belting and all sorts and stays sharp.

If you want a longer cutting edge the Spyderco/Byrd CaraCara Rescue 2 can be had for about 25 quid on Amazon. I've got one as a canoe rescue knife and it's a good bit of kit for the money.

 

[Joe90]

Joe90:

Look at it like buying a Rude Nora or a Energizer headtorch.

Well, I'm not convinced that that's a valid comparison; if I had a Rude Nora headlamp I'd use it for caving . . . . if I had a 16-inch-blade Bowie knife I don't know what the f*** I'd do with it.

I don't know,

Fell a tree?

Sent from my HUAWEI TIT-AL00 using Tapatalk

 

[enki_ck]

Had a Spyderco Ladybug Salt, sold a Spyderco Ladybug Salt (or gifted it  :-\ ? ) Too small for my liking. The smallest I'd find useful from the Spydie offerings for any camping or underground activities would be the Dragonfly.

(left to right - Ladybug, Dragonfly, UKPK, and two Byrd Cara Caras)

I usually have a Swiss army knife (SAK) around my neck, mostly a 91mm Compact (knife, combo bottle/can opener, scissors) or a 84mm Bantam (knife, combo bottle/can opener) and find they ride very slim, are much more useful than just the knife, and do all that is needed of them underground, from cutting up bacon to cutting rope if needed.

I hardly ever need an one hand opening blade, but can OHO just about anything so that isn't a problem.

I like the recommendation on a Leatherman Skeletool, was thinking of carrying that one myself but decided that as I never need screwdrivers underground, and those two bits could be easily lost, I'd rather carry a Leatherman Freestyle for he pliers and the extra blade. (Extra blade for the clean blade/ utility blade - would rather have a clean blade for food  ) And also, smaller package

Neither of those pliers are what one would call heavy duty, but will do more than great for loosening a stuck screw gate on a carabiner and similar tasks.


And yes, I'm aware I might have a sharp objects problem. 

 

[Fulk]

Hi, enki_ck:

In the (admittedly unlikely) event of your actually needing to cut a rope on a caving trip, have you actually tried out your choice of knife? In my experience, an ordinary knife isn't good enough; you need something like the knifes sold by Petzl etc.for the purpose.

 

[enki_ck]

Hi, enki_ck:

In the (admittedly unlikely) event of your actually needing to cut a rope on a caving trip, have you actually tried out your choice of knife? In my experience, an ordinary knife isn't good enough; you need something like the knifes sold by Petzl etc.for the purpose.

Yes. I have, I've used my swiss army knives to cut static 200m length ropes into 2x100m on expeditions, used it to cut dinamic for cowstails, ...
You underestimate how sharp a knife can be. No need for a serrated edge, a plain edged SAK will do. If you regularly sharpen it that is, and sharpen it well.
I used to have a bit of a knife and tool obsession, moderated a forum on that subject, and learned a bit about sharpening in the process. My knives are, without exageration, shaving sharp.

 

[enki_ck]

Here's a video I did a few years back for a friend if you don't believe me.

! No longer available

 

[Fulk]

Thanks, enki_ck; I admit to having a problem keeping knives sharp ? do you have any tips?

 

[enki_ck]

Thanks, enki_ck; I admit to having a problem keeping knives sharp ? do you have any tips?

Most important part is never letting it getting dull. You spend much more energy and remove much more metal while sharpening a dull knife than just doing regular small touch ups to the edge every few weeks, or weekly, depending on what you've used your knife on and how the edge is.

And you don't need any pricey sharpening jigs and such, I use a strop, different grids of plain old sand paper and muscle memory. Practice on an old knife you don't mind messing up till you get the feel for it.

Also a good practice is to color the edge of the knife with a permanent marker before you start sharpening it. That way you can see where you're removing material from. You might think you're sharpening the edge, but are just removing material from the sides of the blade and not touching the edge at all.

 

[enki_ck]

BTW, can you see the video? I see it says no longer available, but when I click the link, it opens up just fine. And I've set it to public now, it was unlisted.

 

[Fulk]

I didn't bother with the video on account of the note about it being no longer available, but when prompted (by you) I clicked on it and it played OK. Very impressive ? I can't do that with any of our knives!

 

[droid]

I too have a sharp objects problem....

I've found Lansky crocksticks to be a cost-effective and simple way of keeping knives razor sharp.

 

[AR]

I use a diamond grit block (from Aldi so it was pretty inexpensive) for basic sharpening then either an oil or water stone for the fine grind and finish off by polishing with a strop, maintain the fine edge by re-stropping depending on how much use said edge has had.

 

[Andrew Wilson]

I have the trango knife. Very small, it can not possibly open when clipped with a krab, but I have mine on my whistle/compass cord. It is quite stiff and has a fairly positive closure.
The blade is serrated which helps hack through ancient tat nests.
Got mine from needlesports in Keswick.


Andy

 

[ZombieCake]

Victorinox have recently released a new one: The Wine Master https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea-8ReOs_0Q although perhaps more suited to apres caving activity.  Although if they included the cheese blade of the cheese knife as well it could well be perfect! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08SkDobYi3g

 

[ZombieCake]

Well, Wine Master arrived today.  The Swiss shop I ordered from charged c. ?90 inc. postage, in the UK it was ?135 - go figure!  Very nice olive wood handles.  Not sure I quite thought it through though: Baby Bel cheese comes ready wrapped and needs no slicing and only had screw top wine at home  :-\
In my UK caving / travel bag I usually have a Victorinox Explorer (scissors, phillips screwdriver & magnifying glass as well as the usual stuff) together with a Maglite Solitaire and NiteIze Doohickey which fits nicely in a Victorinox pouch.

 

[Tim Pickering]

Bit late to the party I know, but I have a Petzl Spatha. Nice and light, opens one-handed, serrated blade and clips on to a krab nicely. Comes in at under ?20.