Posted by kelphead on April 18, 2001 at 21:41:43:
In Reply to: Line Cutter posted by seahunt on April 18, 2001 at 11:19:12:
the only time i was involved in a diver tangling
incident w/monofilament was one of my very first
dives. my buddy, unfortunately, had gotten tangled
in some fishing line while we dove the point off
shaw's cove. unfortunately again he had just decided
prior to our dive to leave his knife back on land.
i helped him get untangled, but i guess it wasn't
that bad. that has been the only time i've ever
seen a diver get tangled in line--of course kelp
seems to be a more prevalent issue.
i myself used a knife early on in my diving
to cut up urchin for the fish. i now have a pair
of 'sea snips' shears and i don't see much use
for my knife anymore. (i've decided that if i
want to feed the fish, i'll buy some frozen seafood
at the store instead.)
i have yet to use the shears to cut myself or
another diver from line, but i did use them
when i dove the 'el rey' wreck last summer.
i saw a BUNCH of tangled up line that stretched
a short distance on one side of the wreck and
i felt bad that it may harm some of the marine
life. so, i cut it away and it was very easy
to do so w/the shears, as others have pointed
out.
i think the shears are a really good way to go--especially
now that my 'wenoka' knife doesn't even fit
my built-in knife sheath on the side of my
drysuit pocket (blade is too long!!). the shears are
short enough to slide in that knife sheath.
as for price, i bought mine for 15$ w/its own
sheath (which i have subsequently lost, no doubt).
but you cand find the non-descript 'emt' shears
for like 5$ (i forget how much including a sheath,
but overall, they are much less expensive than
the diving variety--of course!!).
bottom line: if you don't have a knife, then
some sort of line cutter would be valuable to
carry along (or even the small knife that
frank referred to).
best wishes.
kelphead.