Opinions wanted - Hook Knives

[Les George]

I wanted to go out side of my normal knife forums and see what you guys thought about hook knives.

I have been asked to make some, and while I don't want to reinvent the wheel, the same old same is not working for these guys, so this is why I'm working it.

So, that being said, what sucks about these knives as they are now? What's good about them?

Do you care about them at all?

Don't hold back, let me have it! :)

Thanks in advance!
Les

[swatsurgeon]

hook knife as in I am going to strip you of your clothes safely rather than use trauma shears?

ss

[Les George]

That would be one use, but more geared to the cutting of wires and line.

Thanks
Les

[MackallResident]

last deployment I used a benchmade hook knife, they work very well. I have cutten the boots off of folks numerous times, and the knife becomes a virtual zipper for any material I tried to cut.

As far as wire, I have had hangups with different armor and plate carriers where I cut through the wire, and a few good tugs pulled it straight through.

[Papa Zero Three]

I have been asked to make some, and while I don't want to reinvent the wheel, the same old same is not working for these guys, so this is why I'm working it.

So, that being said, what sucks about these knives as they are now? What's good about them?

Do you care about them at all?

Don't hold back, let me have it! :)

Thanks in advance!
Les


Les, may I suggest you look at the hook knives commonly made for skydiving at the following website. http://www.paragear.com/templates/parachutes.asp?group=510&level=1


I don't know which hook knife your client is using but I'd imagine it is one of the cheap plastic ones with the razor blade inserts. The better ones have a full size handle and use a thicker plastic and or are metal. The Jack the Ripper models are decent and affordable. The Benchmade hook knives have no competition and are scary sharp even after a hard use. They are also not cheap which is why most people don't buy them unless they are issued.

Most people never use a hook knife for its intended purpose so it's probably not going to be a big seller if you are looking at fabricating these yourself. Aside from the cheap build quality of most hook knives, the size is also a factor people don't take into consideration until they have to use it. The small ones that only allow a finger or two into the handle, even the metal ones, are really useless as they are hard to get your fingers into when your not sitting in your team room drinking beer. Meaning when you really need it, it's not only hard to hold, it's a pain to use as it has to be at the right angle to be useful. The full handle models allow you to maneuver the knife better and also give you a longer reach, which is useful when what you have to cut is above you and possibly behind your head or down around mid thigh to lower leg , at night time, with what feels like a ton of weight hanging off the item you want to cut.

Most people also don't think about having to use one with winter gloves on and the need for a sizable handle to get a good grasp on. That's one of the shortcomings of the Benchmade hook knives, very narrow/skinny handles.

Most hook knives are made with safety in mind and have the limited path to the blades cutting edge. While it's OK for seat belts and thin materials, items like static lines which are wider/thicker and or a mess of suspension lines will be difficult to cut without sawing like crazy and manipulating the material, something not always possible. The Benchmade hook knives are better about this with their openings but still, when one of their reps was asking what we wanted in a hook knife we asked for the distance on the hook to be able to accommodate a folded up static line or what equates to an opening approx 2" from the beak to the neck of the hook knife. The benchmade openings are just a tad smaller than that, otherwise they have a solid product with their full handle models.


One thing you need to look at that even Benchamade over looked initially was the retention method. If you look at the skydive versions, most have a piece of 1-2 inch binding tape with a female snap/ push the dot fastener on it. It's almost universal to find the sheaths with a male snap on them and it's also whats sewn on most jump suits. So having a female fastener on the handle of the hook knife is a good idea.


The ideal hook knife would look like and be the size of the jack the ripper and be built like the benchmade with a slightly wider opening to the cutting edges. Depending on the client, they may also want additional features on it like an opening to accommodate turning on an O2 bottle or a straight edge screwdriver on the handle end, etc. More often than not, these extra features are used more for opening beer bottles than their intended purpose.


Since this is a specialty item, I'm guessing if you build the ideal one it's going to be expensive and you will have a very small group of people who would buy them.

[Kit Carson]

Ah, Grasshopper..the things I could tell you..;)

Some great replies so far.

[Les George]

Thanks all!

Papa Zero Three - thanks for taking the time to put all that down for me!


Ah, Grasshopper..the things I could tell you..;)

Some great replies so far.

Don't tease, I'll bring booze and a sharpie to ATL!

[Ken Brock]

Les George makes it over to PS?

my brother, good to see you here

edited to add: I always have the sharpie handy after my first experience with Kit drinking all my rum!

[Les George]

A little follow question(s)... Anyone ever try to sharpen one of the all steel ones, like the Benchmade? How'd that work out for you?

overall what's workin out better, replaceable blades or non replaceable?

Thanks again, all!








Hey Ken, did you get the memo? This year is a whiskey year, rum is so 1995... I am just sayin...

[Ken Brock]

whiskey?

I'm not a big whiskey guy



I think that the knives I've seen would be pretty tough to sharpen without a small circular hone

[Papa Zero Three]

A little follow question(s)... Anyone ever try to sharpen one of the all steel ones, like the Benchmade? How'd that work out for you?

overall what's workin out better, replaceable blades or non replaceable?

Thanks again, all!.



The Benchmade hook knives I have are all still sharp after being used pretty hard,they hold an edge quite well. However, I did take a diamond stick sharpener to one that seemed less than factory sharp and a few strokes later it was once again scary sharp.

The replacement blade option is not a bad idea if there is an easy way to get replacements and the user takes the time to disassemble and install a new blade. Personally, I think the ability to field sharpen with a diamond stick is the best bet.

Years ago there used to be an issue folding "rescue knife" that had a blaze orange handle and was a classic switch blade with the button on the side. It also had a hook knife on the opposite end that you had to pull out manually, that had a head and opening very similar to what you see on the benchmade line of hook knives. The riggers loved that knife due to the ease that the hook end could cut through materials quickly when taking apart a heavy drop or other air delivery item on the DZ and the fact they also had a knife in one package.

I don't know what your client is asking for but perhaps another option instead of having a dedicated hook knife, is to incorporate the hook knife into one of your existing folders. You could run it on the opposite end of the knife blade and use a thumb stud to open the hook knife, much like a knife blade , so one hand use is possible. Just thinking out loud and sharing my ideas. Hope that helps.

[Claemore]

I've made a couple and I ALWAYS end up cutting myself making them.:boohoo

[Bill Harsey]

Les,
You have some very nice tough looking knives here: http://www.georgeknives.com/

Be sure to check out Les's website!