It still remains common practice for divers to strap their dive knife to the outside of their calf. I am going to explain why I believe this to be a really bad idea.
The outside of your calf presents several problems for me. Firstly this tends to be the location most new divers put their knife. New divers more than any other should heed this warning. If you must strap your knife to your leg then put it on the inside of your calf. Here is the reasoning for this:
If the knife if located on the outside of your calf and you drop your weight belt at the surface (possibly the most common place weight belts are dropped from, intentionally or otherwise) on it’s way downwards it passes your thighs then wham! It snags between your leg and the knife handle, which is reasonably likely especially if your legs are moving, then you have a diver who has tried to jettison their weights in an emergency to now find they are snagged near their ankle. If that diver is reasonably inexperienced then we have not only a panicked diver who dropped their weights but now a really panicked diver as they are seemingly being dragged back down after dropping their weights which they were taught would solve their problem.
If the scenario is re-run but now with the knife on the inside then the weights would have dropped straight pass as intended as the snagging handle is safely located away from the path of the weights.
That’s not where my issue with dive knives on the outside of the leg rests. In that position it is more susceptible to snagging monofilament line left on wrecks. At the bottom of your leg it is pretty much the furthest from your hands you can get. Rant over.
So where should the knife go? Personally either on the BCD, on the outside (or inside) of the main pocket flap on the opposite side to your main hand (ie if you are right handed, locate the knife on the left pocket) so you can reach across your body to take it. Experiment with the angle as I found slightly downwards allows for the easiest release ( put a lanyard on it, you don’t want to release it to see it descend into the depths – trust me, you won’t be amused). Some modern BCDs have mounting holes already in the pocket to allow for this such as the AquaLung Pro QD
A lot of divers mount it on their shoulder lapel or on the webbing slightly to the front. Again a great place with little chance of snagging. However this location can interfere with the quick release shoulder buckles on some BCDs.
With my students I have always urged they carry a knife but also on a lanyard or cord a line cutter that lives in their BCD pocket too. I have two reasons for this, firstly people forget to put their knife on unless it is permanently mounted so you always have a back up. Secondly anyone who has tried to cut monofilament line will tell you a knife is not an ideal implement for the job.
Do you have any suggestions where are the best positions for a dive knife? Leave a comment below
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