Dive knife purchase advice needed

[Torpedo]

I was wondering how to choose my knife, steel or titanium, what kind of edges, do I go for the biggest, the smallest, the prettiest, the oddest-looking... the options available seem endless! Any advice will be appreciated.

[Helena1982]

Steel Dive Knife or Titanium Dive Knife, this is more a question of costs - a titanium dive knife typically costs twice the price of the same dive knife in steel. The reason is that titanium does not rust - steel definitely does! Titanium is also lighter and stronger than steel, although this isn't too important for a dive knife.

Unless you only need your dive knife for a short time - a holiday - you should go for the titanium dive knife option, it is a worthwhile investment and you won't regret it, especially when the rest of the scuba divers on your dive boat have rusty dive knives!

A Good Sheath, without a good sheath your dive knife could fall out in your first dive - it really is the most important factor; you can buy the most expensive dive knife in the world but if it slips out of its sheath you've lost it!

Good things to look for are whether it clips in flush (good) or you have to jiggle it about a bit to get it in (bad). You should also make sure you can put it back in either way round because you may not be able to see too well when diving.

A good dive knife will have:

1) A standard smooth blade
2) A serrated blade - allowing you to cut through things without applying much downward pressure
3) A net cutter

If these aren't enough for you, for example if you regularly have to cut stronger materials with your dive knife, then some trauma shears may be appropriate.

[Red sea shark]

Some knives come only with straps, others with everything you can imagine. If you only intend to strap it onto your leg, then don't get a dive knife with hose attachments! If you are unsure, then go for a dive knife with many options; the T-Rex knife (from Lumb Brothers) is a particularly good option.
When deciding where to put your dive knife make sure you can reach the dive knife - strapping your knife onto your leg is notorious for being difficult to reach. Another common place is on your arm - note that if one arm gets snagged you'd better hope it’s not the one you need!
The best place to put a dive knife in my experience is on your BCD.
Go for a titanium dive knife unless you only want it for a month or two, and get one that suits your needs - in many cases a no frills titanium BCD dive knife is perfect!

I hope this will help.