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Re: That hook knife in your harness is useless

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 8:39 am
by WindMuch
We'll have some real kite line for everyone to test knives on at the CPR/First Aid class Kirk Talon is doing at Live2Kite on April 27th. Thanks to metabon/Carsten for donating his old lines!

You need to register to attend.

See my other post: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=11763

Kirk out

Re: That hook knife in your harness is useless

Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:45 am
by metabon
Thank you Kirk(s) for making the CPR/First Aid class happen! I'll bring some old lines - I untangled the ones I cut and have eight pieces of varying length.
nick_80044 wrote:the Mystic double-blade knife [..] will cut through the seat-belt-like strap on a harness
It would be great to find some old seat belts and harness straps to see which knives really pass the "cuts through seat belts like butter" test.

Re: That hook knife in your harness is useless

Posted: Wed Mar 27, 2013 11:37 am
by le noun
Got me concerned about this whole harness knife stuff.
Took mine out for a try, cut lines without any problem! pfeww!
It is a double blades knife though, so it does seem to make a difference.
I should have done this test long ago, thank you for posting this!

Re: That hook knife in your harness is useless

Posted: Sun Mar 31, 2013 10:16 am
by victor
the hook knife only works well on taught lines. surgical scissors are the way to go.

i've had the ankle wrap. it's amazing how fast it happens. it gets really serious when the line snags something underwater and the wind and/or current is pulling the kite.

Re: That hook knife in your harness is useless

Posted: Mon Apr 01, 2013 8:44 am
by Greg
if you ever get stuck in your lines in flat water: GET TO YOUR KITE FIRST, then cut the lines if nessarry... If you get snagged IN the surf or IN strong currents with possibility of snagging a line on a peir, rock, etc...(this situation may pull you under and drown you VERY QUIKLY) CUT EVERY LINE and move AWAY from the kite-

Re: That hook knife in your harness is useless

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:05 am
by WindMuch
metabon wrote:Thank you Kirk(s) for making the CPR/First Aid class happen! I'll bring some old lines - I untangled the ones I cut and have eight pieces of varying length.
nick_80044 wrote:the Mystic double-blade knife [..] will cut through the seat-belt-like strap on a harness
It would be great to find some old seat belts and harness straps to see which knives really pass the "cuts through seat belts like butter" test.
Following up: At last Saturday's CPR & First Aid class, Carsten brought a bunch of (North) kite line and I brought some flat and tubular webbing. We had a hands-on 'Knife Test' session during one of the breaks. Here's what I/we learned:

1. Everyone who had a double-bladed hook knife, cut through a single strand of kite line easily; both under tension and when loose.
2. There were no single-bladed hook knives to try. Previous posts implied that the single bladed knives don't cut very well, so we still recommend giving your knife a test. Let me know if you need some extra line to try your knife on.
3. When cutting through several (6, 8, 10+) strands of kite line, a double-bladed hook knife required some pretty serious force/sawing.
4. The double-bladed hook knives didn't cut through webbing very well. If your hands/arms aren't very strong, you'd want a real knife or scissors to cut through webbing.
5. Carsten's floating knife with the rounded point cut through everything the best, with the least amount of force. Here's his link: http://www.amazon.com/Innovative-Floati ... B003JPLSZO

Did I miss anything? Anyone else with different observations from Saturday's experience?

Kirk out

Re: That hook knife in your harness is useless

Posted: Mon Apr 29, 2013 11:36 am
by mcfly777
Kirk and others: thank you so much for this information. I'm new to the sport, and the key thing to learn for me is safety at this point, as a bad accident can happen anytime.

One question: as this knife (and other diving knifes) can be bulky, how to you recommend this is carried ? My harness only has a small pocket for a simple hook knife (like le noun's), I don't want to carry another object that may tangle into lines even more...

Leo