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Rescue Knife

tracker12

tracker12

Active Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2020
Messages
158
Location
Southern Maryland
As we know if for some reason you become suspended in your saddle, harness or RCH you need to free yourself. For discussion lets not discuss other rescue gear. Just the KNIFE you carry. I have a rescue knife they issue Airforce pilots that I have used for many years. Its great but on the heavy side. In light of recent threads on tree hunting deaths lets find some good option for hunters.
 
On the expensive side there is this.
www.benchmade.com

High-Quality 916SBK-ORG Triage Knife | Benchmade

From great features to added safety-utility benefits, shop the 916SBK-ORG Triage® knife today! Designed and manufactured in the USA with Austrian blade steel.
www.benchmade.com www.benchmade.com

On the minimalist side that weighs nothing and you can pull in a second there is this.
www.benchmade.com

Durable and Sharp 8 Hook Safety Cutter | Benchmade

Cut quickly and reliably in an emergency situation. Shop our safety cutter with 8 hooks and a longer handle providing greater reach and leverage. MOLLE® compatible.
www.benchmade.com www.benchmade.com
 
if i had a dedicated rescue knife, i'd probably go with this due to my love of spydies


what i actually carry in my left cargo pocket is a spyderco delica and spydero stretch....both pointy and able to gut a deer

i guess if i ever had to cut myself down.....i'd take a deep breath and go over the fact over and over that i was going to cut and then toss the knife far away as i was falling...hate to even think about that!

a hook seems best though....i have a resqme on my keychain that can cut seatbelts....but it isn't big enough to fit rope inside the slicer area

resqme.com

resqme® Car Escape Tool, Seatbelt Cutter / Window Breaker - resqme, Inc.

resqme® Quick Car Escape Tool
resqme.com resqme.com
 
Would this knife need to be different than what we all have in our field dressing kits?
 
Beacher said:
Would this knife need to be different than what we all have in our field dressing kits?
Click to expand...
Not necessarily but if you’re hanging upside down suspended from your saddle likely you won’t have access to your pack. It’s for this reason some of us have knives/rescue gear on our saddles as well, the thought being you’d be able to reach that device and self rescue
 
Excellent thread - let’s talk criteria for the application:

My preferences:
1. Must be on your person at all times while climbing, descending, and setup in your hunting position.
2. Must be readily accessible for retrieval by either hand, in the event one hand or arm is injured in a fall and no longer working.
3. Must be a fixed blade so that your one good hand doesn’t have to open & lock the blade in place when deploying it.
4. Must have excellent sheath retention so that there’s no risk of it coming out by accident in a fall or if inverted.
5. Must be compact & unobtrusive where you locate it on your person so it doesn’t get in your way or snag ropes or webbing when maneuvering around the tree.
6. Must be scary sharp to be able to slice through tough ropes and webbing when necessary.

My choice: ESEE Izula in S35VN steel with retention kit, honed to razor sharpness, and kept on saddle belt in abdominal region.
 

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LoadedLimbs said:
Excellent thread - let’s talk criteria for the application:

My preferences:
1. Must be on your person at all times while climbing, descending, and setup in your hunting position.
2. Must be readily accessible for retrieval by either hand, in the event one hand or arm is injured in a fall and no longer working.
3. Must be a fixed blade so that your one good hand doesn’t have to open & lock the blade in place when deploying it.
4. Must have excellent sheath retention so that there’s no risk of it coming out by accident in a fall or if inverted.
5. Must be compact & unobtrusive where you locate it on your person so it doesn’t get in your way or snag ropes or webbing when maneuvering around the tree.
6. Must be scary sharp to be able to slice through tough ropes and webbing when necessary.

My choice: ESEE Izula in S35VN steel with retention kit, honed to razor sharpness, and kept on saddle belt in abdominal region.
Click to expand...
I’ve been looking for an excuse to get one of these. I may change my setup to this now
 
In terms of sharp pointy things at height, the only thing I have out is my broadhead. I do carry my gut knife which is a Buck 102 but that's in my waist pack and would never be taken out.

The reason is simply this, despite the infinite variety of situations I could put myself in, cutting anything is of last resort with the understanding that cutting or not cutting will probably be fatal. Instead, this is why I wear saddlebags as I always have spare biners, cordage, etc. which weight nothing yet can be McGyver'd into countless other things in the event of an emergency or my own stupidity.
 
Would it be safe to rule out your legs as a potential carrying spot for this knife?

You might have to cut your leg out of some rope or webbing. Or perhaps your lineman gets caught on your squirrelstep when you take a slip and you are somehow entangled and must self rescue without cutting your main line.

Agreed on @LoadedLimbs preferences. 1 through 5 could be all addressed if the sheath were affixed to the top of a helmet. :sunglasses:

Considering blood may be pooling in your hands, a wider grip and/or finger grooves might be essential. While the ESEE Izula is a fine knife, I'm leaning toward a Mora Eldris or a SOG Instinct Mini.
 
LoadedLimbs said:
Excellent thread - let’s talk criteria for the application:

My preferences:
1. Must be on your person at all times while climbing, descending, and setup in your hunting position.
2. Must be readily accessible for retrieval by either hand, in the event one hand or arm is injured in a fall and no longer working.
3. Must be a fixed blade so that your one good hand doesn’t have to open & lock the blade in place when deploying it.
4. Must have excellent sheath retention so that there’s no risk of it coming out by accident in a fall or if inverted.
5. Must be compact & unobtrusive where you locate it on your person so it doesn’t get in your way or snag ropes or webbing when maneuvering around the tree.
6. Must be scary sharp to be able to slice through tough ropes and webbing when necessary.

My choice: ESEE Izula in S35VN steel with retention kit, honed to razor sharpness, and kept on saddle belt in abdominal region.
Click to expand...
Those are great points. I like number 3. makes big sense. OI just want a serrated blade
 
If a skydiver only has a few seconds to cut away a malfunction on their main canopy and deploy their reserve and they all run hook knives that easily attach to their harness webbing, it seems to be that it would be the best lightweight option for a saddle hunter also versus a fixed blade or folding blade.

 
Zero One Actual said:
If a skydiver only has a few seconds to cut away a malfunction on their main canopy and deploy their reserve and they all run hook knives that easily attach to their harness webbing, it seems to be that it would be the best lightweight option for a saddle hunter also versus a fixed blade or folding blade.

Click to expand...
Don't take this wrong and I hate to be "that guy", but this is a terrible analogy.

With a skydiver, they're manually cutting away their primary chute in order to deploy a reserve chute. With saddle hunting, what is your reserve that you're cutting your primary towards?

If people are truly hung up on bring something for the "what if", bring trauma shears, not a knife. Trauma shears will cut through webbing, clothing, gloves, hair, etc. that may get sucked up into a belay device but won't cut through your main line. If your only option is to cut your main line without a proper backup under load, reevaluate your position and try again.
 
Beacher said:
Would this knife need to be different than what we all have in our field dressing kits?
Click to expand...

you'd want it on you....already mentioned by @Exhumis .....also, you might not want it super pointy....falling on it from 10 feet is still going to stab you with a sheepsfoot blade....but that rounded end seems safer.....but in reality it would probably just go in slower and hurt more!
 
I picked up a Gerber fixed blade with sheath, like a havalon, with very sharp disposable blades, as an upgrade to my old buck knife for field dressing. Keep it in my right cargo pocket. I think it would do the job If called into action. Don’t see myself adding a hook knife. We want to stay safe, but too many pieces of gear to keep track of can be distracting.
 
So how sharp does the knife need to be to cut through resc tech, canyon elite, htp? What about webbing? What about tubular webbing? Someone’s going to have to test knife sharpness, edge thickness, single vs double bevel, etc and do a YouTube video, and maybe a book before I go out and buy a specialty knife…
 
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