Hey everyone, If you know me a little you will realize that I'm hopelessly obsessed with high tech line (despite the fact I will likely never race). I've been searching for a year or so now for the really good rigging knife to cut the stuff. Surprisingly they are relatively hard to find.I think I have found a couple of really good tools for the price so I thought I would share.
I started with a Davis knife that had a marlinspike and shackle key on it. I found the blade wouldn't hold an edge, the marlinspike was like a steel dowel that was sharpened with a pencil sharpener (nearly useless) and the shackle key was made for gigantic shackles, not small boat shackes.
I went through a couple of leathermen tools and they worked well but the blade quality wasn't great, they had a tough time cutting dyneema and vectran and they lacked a marlinspike.
I finally found what I thought was the holy grail. The Myerchin P300 sailor tool. http://www.myerchin.com/ This thing is AWESOME. It looks like something mideival. The build quality and locking mechanisms are top notch. The blade is great, holds a razor edge. The marlinspike is tapered and works a treat for making and undoing knots. And the integrated pliers work for shackles and all kinds of small jobs on the boat. All an all a superior tool for the price, and sits in my kit bag all season! The only problem with it is that the blade is serrated. It does an amazing job of slicing through all types of rope (and other things) quickly on the fly, but doesn't make the clean cuts I would like when making running rigging.
This winter I resorted to stealing my wife's, kyocera ceramic kitchen knife. This thing slices through the toughest line like butter without fraying the ends, so you can make really neat whipped ends easily (using shrink whipping or plastic dip) and it almost never needs sharpening. But the wife got ticked at me stealing her good knife for rope, and a kitchen knife isn't convenient around the boat even with a sheath.
So I started looking for a folding ceramic knife. I found out that there are only a couple makers and they are very expensive. Until I found this site http://www.ceramicknife.org/ this guy resides in Waterloo Ontario and designs and manufactures knives for Canadian police and military for Explosive Ordinance Disposal. Anyway for $50 he makes an amazing rigging knife! Super sharp, one hand open and cuts through all ropes super clean! Anyway I just spent the weekend setting up all my running rigging on my boat and am so stoked about this knife I wanted to tell someone about it.
I am now going to keep the Myerchin in my tramp bag and the ceramic in my PFD!!
D.
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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Best Rigging Knife EVER!
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Posted: May 16, 2010 - 10:16 PM
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Posted: May 16, 2010 - 10:36 PM
both very cool. I'm going to order the ceramic knife 'cause it's light and a deal. The last ceramic knife I owned was $300 and I broke the blade putting a Chinook to sleep.
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Philip
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Posted: May 16, 2010 - 11:03 PM
Yeah, the one problem with ceramic blades is that you can't pry with them. I actually have 2 in my kitchen, and they have never been sharpened. What the heck were you doing on a Chinook that required a knife!
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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Posted: May 16, 2010 - 11:28 PM
Chinook = 65 lb. King Salmon
Put to sleep = terminate
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Philip
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Posted: May 16, 2010 - 11:42 PM
Ah, in my mind.
Chinook = 23000 lb helicopter
Put to Sleep = Shutting 'er down.
Didn't even think of the fish. Caught a 26" Northern Pike yesterday.
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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Posted: May 17, 2010 - 03:25 AM
I've got a P300 as well, and I was really impressed at the build quality when I received it. It's much nicer than any pictures indicated.
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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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Posted: May 17, 2010 - 09:49 AM
i got the myerchin last year, watch out for the marlin spike when bearing down on the pliers, if the grip slips, the spike can catch your palm and nip off a hunk! wound up using bottom of pliers as shackel key(works great). still bring leatherman supertool along with myerchin in dry bag. leatherman flat blade is excellent on mine and a second pair of pliers is oh so handy. naturally, you don't need any of these tools until you need these tools(like when we de-masted last october).
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bill harris
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prindle 16- "BLUE RIBBON"
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Posted: May 17, 2010 - 11:36 AM
I'll be using 3 mm Spectra for the whisker lines for my spi pole on the H21SE. I will probably need a sharp knife soon, but right now I'm trying to figure out the Brummel Splice. Wolfman seems to have done a lot of rigging. Any recommendations on the best splice. So far the Mobius Brummel Splice Bury looks like the best to use on the ss thimbles. My first attempt was not good.
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Flightlead Bimare F18 HT SpaceCoast
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Posted: May 17, 2010 - 01:29 PM
Yurdle, has WAY more experience with splicing than me. I've only done one, and it was a brummel on a piece of rope with a core. After that experience I just buy line that is much stronger than I need and do a bow line know in it. :)
My understanding is the mobius is really good for single braid line. There is also another one where you just sew the end back and forth through the main line 3 times. Not as pretty and you need to put in a lock stitch with some whipping twine but it looks MUCH easier, especially with such small line.
Here's a link for the lock stitch one:
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/document.do?docId=911&title=Splicing+Guide+-+Single+Braid+Eye+Splice+(Lock+Stitch)
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Dave Bonin
1981 Nacra 5.2 "Lucile"
1986 Nacra 5.7 "Belle"
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
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Posted: May 17, 2010 - 03:42 PM
I don't have too much experience, and my first few were pretty nasty.
I have done quite a few brummels on single braids, though. It's very easy once you get the hang of it.
I use a set of crochet needles (I think...not very familiar with the isle or store that I bought them from) for the most part. They come in half mm increments and taper down at the back so they slide right into the single braids while pulling a line in tow.
I've done at least one brummel over a thimble, and iirc I had to pull it even farther inside out than normal, if that's possible. It didn't fit over the thimble after making it into a loop so I had to loosen and loosen the knots until it would. I know that doesn't help much, but honestly splicing just takes practice. I wouldn't get discouraged after one attempt.
Or make an eye splice in a double braid first...then anything you do w/ the single braid will seem like a cinch.
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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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Posted: May 17, 2010 - 05:20 PM
i have had many different kinds of splices on my martingales but in the end, just went to line without splices so i could bend my bowsprit more or less as needed (like any changes in mast rake)
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Posted: May 17, 2010 - 07:45 PM
The 3 mm is hard to work with. Where I run into problems was tapering the tail before buying it...the line pretty much unraveled when I tapered it, then I couldn't force it inside to bury it. Every one that I talked to said that you must taper the tail to avoid stress risers. I did find a website where they made the tail twice as long as needed and pulled it through; then cut off the extra and taper it. Then it slid backwards with ease into the outer line. I'll try this a few times before I go Andrew's route or the stitch and whip route. It might help if I had the proper tools...the shish-kabob skewer didn't cut it. I'll check out the knitting needles tonight.
Thanks for the advice guys
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Flightlead Bimare F18 HT SpaceCoast
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Posted: May 17, 2010 - 08:38 PM
I used the 2.75mm dyneema quite a bit without issue. On the bury, I reserve an extra long tail, pull it quite a ways up before coming out to taper and bury. I cut each strand an inch or so apart and then slide the 'cover' back over. There's always several inches to spare, as you can really shorten the 'cover' by sliding it back down the 'core.'
I think Philip and Eric could both be of quite a bit more help with this than me, but I can tell you no matter what you do, just buy a bunch extra and practice. An extra 20 feet or so of the 3mm would provide plenty of room to make a splice, cut it off, repeat, enough times to get it down to a quick and easy process.
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Rob
OKC
Pile of Nacra parts..
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Posted: May 18, 2010 - 11:27 AM
Excellent info!!! Thanks.
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Flightlead Bimare F18 HT SpaceCoast
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