Where's the best place for a hook knife?

[darrenspooner 0]

Just got my lovely new rig (Javelin Odessey, Sabre 2 150, PD reserve). Did my first jump. Superb, but interesting to pack.

Banal question but my rigger forgot to put a hook knife on the rig when he changed my Cypres over. Where is the best place to put it and are there any really neat knives out there that are better than the little plastic crappy ones?

***Die with your boots on

[AggieDave 6]

Step1: Throw away that little orange plastic hook knife! It will break and slice your hand if you ever need to use it.

You can get nice metal hook knifes with pouches that fit on your chest strap and other places (mudflaps, etc) on your rig. If you have any questions about that, ask your rigger to show you.

I prefer to have my hook knives off my rig but on my jumpsuit, so I have Jack the Ripper knives on the right thigh of my jumpsuits.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[mr2mk1g 10]

Most common places are:
Chest strap (pull down to remove)
Either leg strap (above hardware friction adapter)
Either mudflap (generally requires a rigger to fit a male press-stud/popper)
Leg of jump suit (integrated pouch)
Upper arm of jump suit (integrated pouch)

Consider where your arms might be if you’re wrapped up in someone else’s lines. Consider how you might need to reach a knife with either hand as the other may be trapped. Practice finding your knife without looking.

[fundgh 0]

I second this. I had (lost it last weekend) a Jack that I sewed on to my jumpsuit leg. Easy to find easy to extract. I also have a Benchmade emergency knife that snaps into the legstap of my rig on the opposite side as the Jack.

...FUN FOR ALL!

[mr2mk1g 10]

I went to some riggers at a US DZ and asked about attaching a Benchmade rescue knife to my rig. I spent about half an hour going over different ideas with 3 riggers. We decided as a group that it probably there wasn't a great risk/benefit equation to mounting this knife on a rig. Not for me at least.

We concluded that the ridges on the back edge of the knife had sharp edges that were tantamount to a saw at certain angles. Thus this knife if simply attached with the head in a pocket (as are most) could either wear on my rig through friction or could, for example during a collision, cut another's rig quite badly in only one motion.

I'm not saying an ad-hoc "symposium" of 2 jumpers and 3 riggers is better than that of an entire rig manufacturing company (I know these are being given away as standard with a certain new rig), I'm just conveying the concerns we had about the knife.

[diablopilot 2]

Quote

Step1: Throw away that little orange plastic hook knife! It will break and slice your hand if you ever need to use it.

Sunpath no longer provideds the cheap ass little orange hook knife. Instead they use a new polycarbonate knife tested to some pretty wild destruction limits.....
Looks alot like this one.....

----------------------------------------------
You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously.

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

unpath no longer provideds the cheap ass little orange hook knife

Good for them, but my own little mission in life is to help educate people that it would almost be better not having a hook knife then carrying that old little orange POS hook knife.

So much so, that I've actually bought hook knives for folks and offered them a trade. They always seem to do so, once they hand me their old knife and I gave them their new metal hook knife, I snap the orange one while standing in front of them.

That usually educates quite well.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[mr2mk1g 10]

You should then ask them to do the same to another skydiver that they know so it has a ripple effect throughout the sport. Kind of like some safty chain letter... only not quite so gay.

[towerrat 0]

hey I'm a cheap bastard, I'll trade ya!
J/K
I have found that the Jack the Ripper I own is just too damn long. I like my knife on my chest strap, so therefore have found that the shorter ones are best for me. I do however still jump a cheap orange one, as I can never remember to buy one while at the DZ.I figure it will give me something to focus on while I'm spiraling to my death.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!

[nacmacfeegle 0]

"I have found that the Jack the Ripper I own is just too damn long. I like my knife on my chest strap, so therefore have found that the shorter ones are best for me."
I've seen a lot of Jacks mounted along the chest strap, as opposed to up and down.
Maybe worth thinking about.

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson