Lifejacket Knife Recommendations

[BastrdSonOfElvis]

Word to the wise, the CRKT bear claw was designed for self defense, especially for women. That doesn't mean you can't use it on the river, but the blade might corrode with a couple years constant immersion and the mechanism by which you would stick the case to your jacket is not very secure. Maybe they've changed that, I dunno. It's a good little knife, I've had one since they came out years ago, but I use a stainless gerber on the river. Actually, I've never really used it and hope I never will. I dive into the PB with my fingers, holmes. But I've always found it best to use things for the purposes for which they were designed. (ie, fingers were clearly designed for smearing PB on bread)

[zbaird]

p, ari has the bearclaw. she attached it to her pfd w/ zip ties and its solid. i like the finger hole idea for cold hands. it stays in the sheath well and is small and stays out of the way. i dont know about longevity of the sheath lock system. the knife locks into the sheath via a little ball thingy and seems like it could wear out over many extractions. as mentioned it is a pretty limited use knife so taking it out of the sheath often and wearing out the catch is moot, as it really is a rescue knife. as you know i have been a long time advocate of the benchmade that we have. the thing is a spreading machine, holds an edge well and the sheepsfoot blade cant be beat. however, the damn sheath is a concern. i have been up benchmades ass to get me a new one and or fix the design and they keep failing. a few people on the omo had the benchmade and all of them that i played with were fairly loose. i think for Un the bearclaw is the way to go. if the shit does hit the fan she wont lose her grip on the thing and she will be able to slide it between skin and rope. it has a little round nub at the point that would keep it from cutting into skin and the shape of the blade helps that cause as well. also this keeps her from using it as a spreader/ lunch cutter which really is a good habit, especially for people who are lacking in knife sharpening ability. we are rafters dude, we can carry a lunch knife in our ammo can or better yet the cooler. it is serrated and sharp as shit so she would have confidence in cutting your sorry ass out of a tangle. now get off the net and go shoot that damn elk so you can get your asses down here. plz

[zbaird]

p, ari has the bearclaw. she attached it to her pfd w/ zip ties and its solid. i like the finger hole idea for cold hands. it stays in the sheath well and is small and stays out of the way. i dont know about longevity of the sheath lock system. the knife locks into the sheath via a little ball thingy and seems like it could wear out over many extractions. as mentioned it is a pretty limited use knife so taking it out of the sheath often and wearing out the catch is moot, as it really is a rescue knife. as you know i have been a long time advocate of the benchmade that we have. the thing is a spreading machine, holds an edge well and the sheepsfoot blade cant be beat. however, the damn sheath is a concern. i have been up benchmades ass to get me a new one and or fix the design and they keep failing. a few people on the omo had the benchmade and all of them that i played with were fairly loose. i think for Un the bearclaw is the way to go. if the shit does hit the fan she wont lose her grip on the thing and she will be able to slide it between skin and rope. it has a little round nub at the point that would keep it from cutting into skin and the shape of the blade helps that cause as well. also this keeps her from using it as a spreader/ lunch cutter which really is a good habit, especially for people who are lacking in knife sharpening ability. we are rafters dude, we can carry a lunch knife in our ammo can or better yet the cooler. it is serrated and sharp as shit so she would have confidence in cutting your sorry ass out of a tangle. now get off the net and go shoot that damn elk so you can get your asses down here. plz

[tim]

I have this knife in my Astral vest. I wasn't sure about the clip so I used the rope that came with the knife and tied it to the sewn in loop in the front pocket. Super easy access and no fear of it falling out.

The knife is great everything I want in a river rescue knife: secure hold on it with both the finger hole and the thumb edges; curved blabe makes it easy to cut through things even when I am not looking; serrated edge gives me the ability to control the cut; blunt tip means I'm not going to stab myself....YAY! even mom likes it
-tim

[Andy H.]

Perry,

I don't know that much about the Bearclaw except that from what I heard about it the only thing that's kept me from getting one for the wife (yep!) is that Confluence was out of stock. I'll second what Zach and BSOE said about using it for what it was intended - I think its a bonus to have a knife that discourages one from using for slicing salami and spreading PB&J.

Good luck with those last minute stocking stuffers!

--Andy

[Don]

We have the black Bear Claw knives in stock. For 2007 they will start making the Bearclaw available in Blaze Orange. Available middle of next month.

Russ Kommer designed the knife he lives in Anchorage, AK and originally designed the knife to be "easy to hold and hard to lose". One demographic group was women in self defense, but bush pilots and commercial fishermen became his biggest clients. The women choose to stick with mace and cell phones speed dial set to "911".

We brought in the Bear Claw about around 4 years ago, and told NRS to start carring the knife (I even took their buyer over to CRK&T's booth at OR). The main reason for bringing the knife was because of it's shape, size, and construction. I've been wearing mine for 4 years with NO corrosion. The biggest reason is because the Gerber River Shorty failed to stay in it's sheath. WE just had too many customers losing their knives on the river.

The Bearclaw is a great knife and has already saved at least one person in CO. Plus, it's cheap at $40.