How dangerous is your safety gear? 

Viewer just said this knife locks in the open and closed position amzn.to/3FAOWUf

As a first responder, in swift water rescue we lash the handle of our fix blade knife to the sheath with one or two wraps of dental floss for basically the same reason. It keeps it in the hard plastic sheath so it’s there when you need it. If you need it you are going to break the dental floss. Cheap, easy, fix with a product we all have/ waterproof and minty fresh too, ;)

As a sailor, who has a similar requirement for a knife as a safety device, I'd recommend non-pointy knives to prevent stabing yourself, or others, in the kind of stressful situation where you might really need the knife in a hurry.

I use the trango shark nut tool instead of their knife; it doesn't have the same flaw since the carabiner goes thru the blade. I lanyard it to my harness thru one of the slots so it can't be dropped when taking off the carabiner. More bulky than the other knives, but the nut tool part comes in handy and makes a better handle.

With folding knives, if you can knock the blade open or partially open, it means that the back spring is not strong enough, or it's not well designed. The curvature of the back of the blade where it engages the back spring it the key part. Starting with a shallow angle can increase the spring force.

i climb with a Myerchin knife, locking blade and marlin spike, g10 handle and steel wire loop for the carabiner. it's a sailing knife, but it's great for any sport involving loaded rope, and wet uncomfortable situations. i have the half serrated and half straight blade.

Knifes with a lock seem like a must, just as you would want carabiners, you're gonna want to have a lockable blade.

I was lead belaying my wife when her harness worked her EDC knife out of her pocket. She had simply forgotten take it out of her pocket, and doesn’t normally take it climbing. I swear to you, when it bounced off the rock on the way toward me, it opened up and started cartwheeling. Fell RIGHT past me and impaled itself in the ground. We had an honest conversation about if she was trying to cash in on my life insurance that night.

As a tallship rigger and sailor we have to carry and climb with our knives all the time in some dicey conditions. Our main knife is always blunt tipped and fixed has been for centuries. Sometimes we'll carry a pointed folding knife but its always got a lock on it. We carry it all in regular usually home made leather sheath. The knife is only a hazard if unsheathed. When aloft we tie lanyards to them. If they were to fall out of the sheath they would fall away from us and be caught on a 4 foot lanyard instead of being strapped to our body. This configuration has been evolved over centuries.

As a millwright who’s moving around a lot I was worried of a flip knife opening on me so I used a knife that requires a button to be press so that the knife can open. Also a knife will wear in and become easier to open so I think that could be a factor in this case.

BLUNT TIPS. Whitewater companies figured this out a while ago (like the NRS Co-pilot). The canyoneering knife also looks like it got it mostly right. The goal is for cutting textiles (namely rope) should the need arrise. A point on a knife helps little with this goal

I carry a benchmade rescue hook. It can cut things in a pinch but cannot stab. far less bulk, no carabiner needed

i follow your channel bc my rope safety interest is primarily shibari/rope suspension and for that reason i’ve thought a lot about cutting ropes with one hand in one go. I used to carry trauma shears with a lightsaber belt clip dovetail hook (seems to cut up to 6mm rope with ease). Due to getting thicker ropes than that I switched to the Benchmade rescue j-hook with the full handle and it is truly the best tool i’ve found for 10mm rope. Also has the skeleton handle that can have paracord wrapped in it. On the other hand, replaceable blade rescue hooks can snap the blade under lateral force. I also have an Opinel and like that it is light and can lock both ways but it is not a single handed tool. Similar to that, there is an old Paul Presto knife also made by Lone Wolf Knives that is single handed and locks both closed and open via a button in the swivel hub, but the handle is the portion that swivels and havent seen any with an eyelet, just a pocket clip. Some of the paratrooper safety knives may suffice for cutting thick ropes but I’d test them out to be sure they work with things bigger than paracord and keep them sharpened. A lot of them go in a scabbard for the harness or ankle but they were harder for me to find than Benchmade turned out to be. thanks for posting! i love your content, especially the test bench! it has had me wondering how a Somerville bowline matches up to the strength of rope tied in a figure-8 or square knot since i first tuned in to HowNOT2 🖖

Testing with brand new knives = the result shown. Okay. When I carried a Spatha, once it got into "used" condition from canyoning (ie, 2 trips), I found it partly open hanging on my harness a couple times and stopped using it.

A small diving knife with a fixed blade is the best utility knife you can carry. Square tip with a locking sheath. BTW, you seem to be recovering well. I'd never be able to tell.

A couple months ago I started putting a small piece of tape around the blade and handle securing my knife shut, so that it does not open accidentally. Saw a guide in the Tetons do this and thought it was a good idea. I personally do not use my knife that often, so a little piece of tape that I need to take off if I were to need it is not a big deal, and worth the extra "hassle."

I put a wrap of adhesive tape around my very small folding knife. I very very rarely use it so the extra step to open isn't really something I worry about.

The Edelrid canyon knife comes of all the time when the sheath starts wearing out a bit, luckily its not pointy so it doesn't really stab you easily. Stopped using it in favor of a crkt bearclaw rescue which cuts rope better but of which the sheath also gets arguably more loose over time, however you can then throw in a spacer ring on the stud holding it in to get it tight again. Then stopped using that in favor of a Leatherman Raptor folded open in its sheath as it easily cuts a weighted rope and more easily cuts an unweighted rope than a knife and is more accurate and less "swinging around knifes" in stressfull situations.

As a traditional sailor climbing the rig on tall ships I always have to have a big knife with me in a sheath on the center back of the harness. and as per tradition it does not have a sharp tip (sheeps foot point) this makes sure you at least can't stab yourself i Think this is the safest option. in the test you did it was a new knife, if he had a slightly older knife this might have caused it to become a bit looser in the hinge and more likely to open. i always like to keep my knives in some sort of a sheath just to prevent exactly this.

Knifesmith here. Personally I wouldnt even keep a slip-joint knife loose in my pocket when Im NOT climbing, unless its something like a Swiss Army knife. There are a myriad of quick release but LOCKING retention systems for fixed blade and folding knives. Choose one of those. Any knife or retention system that works solely on friction will inevitably fail under the right conditions. Any knife with a thumbstud will inevitably open in your pocket due to keys etc. You want your knife held securely in a holster, or sheath, which only opens when a trigger or latch is activated. A perfect example of this kind of sheath is the modern KABAR plastic sheath, or the Finnish M95 Fiskers rubber wheel system. Neither sheath will release the knife under traumatic force, but both allow immediate one-handed release with a bit of practise. Not suggesting you take a knife this large, just using them as an example of exemplary sheath design.

I carry a small disposable 2" folding (dull end) razor knife in my chalk bag zipper pouch. The blade is kept in place with a strip of climber's tape going around it. I don't know of any "Vertical Limit" split-second decision scenario where I'm gonna need to cut a rope while on the wall so my sister and I don't die.

Interesting. I'd personally just use a button release/axis lock knife that is locked in BOTH the closed and open position unless you press/activate the lock button/switch - easily opened and closed with 1 hand. And I would use one of those retracting tool tether/lanyards that way you never have to attach it to a carabiner and have no chance of dropping it. Also I like the one you showed that has a sheath, not necessarily for the sheath but for the blade design - a round blunted safety tip is perfect for climbing when it is only meant for cutting rope and has less chance of impaling you (though it certainly still would if you were unlucky, a blade is a blade). I wouldn't use a sheathed knife for climbing though, as the sheath and knife could fall off of its attachment point or the knife could come out of the sheath with enough force - especially in a dynamic climbing situation where pushes/pulls happen often on gear and clothing. But that is why I like this channel, TEST your gear before it teaches you why it was a bad choice. (I am not a climber, but I like knives and love your gear testing videos).

Crazy ! I always wondered if I could get stabbed by my cleaning brush during a bad fall...

Finally a subject I know a lot about lol. As a knife guy my suggestion for ppl worried about folding knives like these opening accidentally would be to use a small thick rubber band. I'd put it around the blade and handle towards the tip of the knife which would keep it close but still allow to you quickly be able to remove the rubber band and open the knife.

I like Opinel locking system. It locks the blade both open or close.

A couple of guides I know carry the Petzl knife on a krab but with a thick rubber band wrapped round the handle at the point end. Might be a piece of bike inner tube now I think about it.

My issue with all these friction locks is that as they age the living mechanism should get looser and loose through the years. Edc knifes have a lock on top of the friction for which would be a no brainer. I'd be interested to see if the knife that opened on the climber was a few years old because the force he took from that whip should have been way less then slamming it on the table.

It would be great if Petzl made a Spatha variation with a blunt tip like the NRS Co-Pilot. I use both for climbing/canyoneering and whitewater respectively, and I really have never needed the pointed tip in canyons or crags, just my 2 cents. Could just modify one of mine to blunt…

After many years of rock and alpine climbing, I have taken to simply carrying a swiss army knife inside a pocket while climbing. The knife gets used for food prep more than anything else, and I will make sure it is handy when I am rappelling, and I do make sure it is a pocket I can access while hanging in my harness. I have seen several close calls with people dropping knives while climbing and finding their harness knife hanging from their harness open at various times climbing. I think you can lock Spatha down with a hair tie around it. If I really thought I was going to need to cut something in a hurry while climbing I would take trauma sheers instead of a knife, possibly with a rubber band around them. The trauma sheer handles take a carabiner pretty well. This would not be appropriate for operating in the water with a risk of entrapment though.

Edelrid knife has another problem, the safety mechanism that prevents it from closing can be damaged and the knife closes with slight pressure which, due to the characteristics of the edge and the shape that the knife takes, can produce a very deep cut on the index finger, or even on the thumb, this was my case, I ended up with the thumb divided in half almost 1 centimeter, and luckily it did not affect the bone so I only required stitches to join it

I carry a petzl spatha knife when multi-pitching. Definitely concerned with how easily it opened the first few times I climbed with it. I've since put a half wrap of climbing tape around the tip to be safe. It'll still open quickly if I need it in a pinch but otherwise it feels pretty securely held closed.

For a climbing situation, I want the knife to have a positive lock on closed/safe position for both folders and fixed blades. Interacting with a carabiner works but there are also choices with built in locks that can be disengaged quickly by one hand. For small blades, I'm far more concerned for a loose blade around the ropes than being cut or stabbed with it.

The problem is a weak detent. The small pressed bearing suffers wear as it is used regularly. Some knives can come with a really strong detent making the knife difficult to open. Sometimes with standard deviation and worker fatigue a knife leaves the factory with a weak detent. There are some knife designs that make it very unlikely a knife would fully open. Such as knives that operate with a back spring and lock. (Back lock) The manufacturer Cold Steel has one of the strongest locks in the industry with it’s Triad lock. Knives with the triad lock have incredibly strong back springs making them very unlikely to swing open. In addition to the main lock. There are knives that have a secondary slide lock that prevents opening and closing until you move the slide switch. I would also consider hawkbill knives. They have a curved blade and tip, and are excellent rope cutters. As far as fixed blades you should really look towards Kydex sheaths. They are thermo form fitted to the blade and normally have a positive click in retention. Not allowing the knife to move. That is until deliberate removal. The thermoplastic sheaths that come with a lot of knives are easily deformed and sensitive to excessive heat or cold losing their ability to retain the knife as securely. You should also consider using a dual action OTF knife where legal. OTF means out the front, where the blade exits from the handle directly when pushing the switch forward. Then retracts back into the handle when moving the switch backwards. These knives allow one handed safe operation and keep your hand and fingers out of the path of the blade. They require force that makes an accidental deployment unlikely. It also has a built in feature that protects anything in front of the blade when deployed. By causing the blade to fail and "jump the track." Holding a piece of notebook paper in front of them is enough to stop its full deployment. The biggest OTF manufacturer is Microtech, but there are others. Some even produce OTF rescue knives, as well as hawkbilled Karambits with a finger ring on the back. There are many knives out there that could satisfy safety requirements off the shelf. There are also manufacturers who will produce a knife to meet the needs of your community in smaller runs than a big manufacturer. You could then sell your design in your store. Hope this helps.

Knife lives in the bag along with the inreach, tape, and cordelette. Save space on your harness if you don’t plan on using that stuff all the time.

I was going to suggest using snap fasteners like in skydiving rigs. Then I remember that I've lost like three knives skydiving..

How often do you guys use a knive while climbing? I get it with V-Threads and Ice climbing, but other than that? FWIW i just keep a Keychain-Victorinox in my first aid kit, which is on my harness when i do multipitches. And even that is more often used to cut salami, take out splinters with the tweezers than for cutting something while climbing.

A knife around ropes and webbing under load is a dangerous proposition!!! I’ve always taught my students that a 3mm cord attached to you belay device(to prevent loss) works as one of the best/safest ways to cut a rope or webbing in a pinch! My little Swiss Army knife gets used more for opening cans of chili and slicing cheese that Ever being needed in a climbing situation!

I am a tree care professional and I will not carry an open blade or folding knife anywhere when I'm climbing. I have 100% gone to EMT shears, X-shears specifically. There is no need for a knife anywhere on a rope.

Why not a sheathed folding knife? Like use the same knives if they already work good, just use some sort of hard plastic sheath that completely covers the knife, so there's just an extra level of safety without really any more difficulty to getthing the knife out. Could even make a clip of sorts where however you'd naturally grab it to un-sheath it is where the clip is. 2 extra safety features with minimal inconvenience

You made several shorts on defeating locking carabiners. Do you carry those? I think it goes back to the idea of breaking gear fear, knowing the risks, how to mitigate the risk, and the personal risk tolerance of the person. We all accept risks, whether we know about them or not. This is now known and you educated your audience. Carrying a knife while climbing is going to change the calculus no matter how it is designed. I do wonder if you open the gate, slide the knife down the gate to the bottom of the carabiner and not go over the nose? It may fit several more carabiners that way.

Wtf why were you testing it on a flimsy plastic table, then cardboard (or at best some wood). Those materials deform a lot. Repeat the test on a hard rock and I bet it'll be way easier. Try it on a large piece of hard metal and it'll be even easier again. The few hundred um it moves might not seem like much, but it's dividing the force over that distance and given you're trying to open it by impulse you're dealing with rapid change in change, so that small distance can make a real huge difference.

I've dropped one of the Petzl on a steep slab... Ended up opening while tumbling down 😮 lucky no one was in its path...

Why do you need a knife on your harness when rock climbing? A camp knife can just go in a gear bag.

We use carabineers with multiple actions for opening. Could it be possible to make a knife that needs two or three actions to open but still could be done with one hand?

In fire service we use non-pointy knifes whenever we are working with ropes (or with humans in rescue situations). That would alreay help a bunch, but beyond that, a sheathed knife like the one you showed, but with a button on it's sheath to release it, that would probably be pretty safe

I have and love the trango blade that is similar to the crik one. Love that the caribiner keeps it closed and the seraded blade works great for cutting cord

We had the very same thing happen in the Canadian Rockies many many years ago. Some one was rapping off an Ice climb and the Petzl Knife opened and stabed him in the Bottom when he lost his footing and swag around. I carry the BUCK REDPOINT Knife since it locks CLOSED AND Open. I'm shocked that its still an issue to this day... (head smash)

Sorry to hear that happened. :/ Best thing is likely a knife that also locks when closed. I know some knives like the Opinels do (but they are a pain in the ass to use imo and when the wood handles get wet, the wood swells and it's almost impossible to open it then. They can become very stiff very easily too), but I will leave that to the knife people. ^^ I would be curious what you think of the Opinel outdoor knives though, since they seem to have a plastic handle with the same lock. Like the Opinel 8, 9 or 12 Outdoor(?)

I mean, it depends what you would need it for right. If you just need it to cut the rope in a pinch one of those seat belt cutters would be best. And maybe have a more versatile knife with some velcro around it somewhere more safe (like in a backpack)

If you need to get rid of those knives, I'd give one a good home... I promise not to climb with it!

6:00 Kinda like carabiners that lock vs non locking?.... Safety vs inconvenience

Also, I’m an engineer who really likes knives. I’m starting a small company with my brother. If this community could come up with a cool NEW design, I could probably make it happen…

Most scuba divers carry a knife or line/rope cutter of some sort for similar safety reasons, and they vary greatly in terms of design and safety. Many of the designs I prefer have a "blunt" squared-off prying tip and are only sharp on the sides; these still provide a sharp edge and more utility/flexibility than the line cutters (which can't cut anything thicker than a certain diameter) but substantially reduce the chance of a puncture if they somehow get loose or slip.

I work in rope access and carry a Spatha on an am’d carabine and I keep masking tape wrapped twice around the blade/handle because I saw it work itself slightly open once. No idea how, but I keep it taped ever since.

I'm glad Kyle is going to be ok! Silly idea, but would it be possible to pull the knives out with some kind of dynamometer to determine how much force it actually takes to open each?

I have a Leatherman Skeletool on my harness. Now I want to test if it can open on a hit.

If you HAVE to have a knife, the trango one or CRKT NIAD are both designed similarly and will NOT open while racked. It's probably also a good idea to know how to cut rope/webbing without a knife and eliminate the need for sharp pointy things while attached to a rope(shoelace/bash with rock over an edge)

Its strange to me they these knives don't have springs that close the blade if it only gets partially opened. Most regular folding style knives I've used do, so I guess I took them for granted. Its probably best to use the equipment we already have, rather than find fancy new products that might not behave as advertised

I'm super glad you put this out in the world Ryan. Like other people in the comments are saying, I like knives that are locked until you unlock them. I think that combined with a similar thing to the blunt-tipped fixed blades that prople are mentioning would be a good solution. I have a box knife from millwaukee that is locked with a button, I just use it for tuning skis mostly, but I like the safety that the design offers.

I literally just bought a climbing knife yesterday and I was contemplating this myself, and thought that I'd leave the knife with my second who never leads. I guess that's not always a solution for swinging leads or guides or other people who don't have a single regular belaytionship.

I'm a caver and tend to use a Petzl Spatha while underground. I carry it around my neck on a breakaway cord along with a few other things but have a small piece of tape around the back of the blade to keep it closed. Although haven't had a problem with it opening, better safe than sorry.

I have a Petzl canton knife, I think as you mentioned, it is important to differentiate various use cases: canyoning, one is underwater or waterfall can't see and tangled with the rope versus a climber that may just want to cut a sling to make a rappel. fwiw the first thing I do with the knife is to very round the tip, no need to puncture any stuff, just cut a rope.

Next time you do a breaker test on ropes or carabiner, you should add a knife to the setup on an extra carabiner and see if the recoil action flips them open. Just be careful. I do tape my knife shut with a loop of eletrical tape.

😅 eye think the amount of use and abise the knife had received over its time of its used life might be a factor to the reason they open Easley? Whete this one is new it still has all its friction and stiffness

I dunno, this feels like a one-in-a-million. Has anyone else ever had this happen? Feel bad for the dude that got stabbed but maybe freak accident territory?

I have a foldable razorblades (derma safe knife) that I keep wrapped in a piece of climbing tape. I keep it in a pack, chalk bag pocket. In the past I had a razor blade taped inside my helmet liner. It doesn't take much to cut rope/webbing and I've only needed it a handful of times.

Nothing and I mean ABSOLUTELY nothing is FOOLPROOF. If it can happen, it will happen!

connected sheath on folding blades would keep it from opening and still make it accessible

I love how you pull out your CRKT Niad (same one I carry) to show a good knife, which is unfortunately long discontinued and NOT AVAILABLE. If there's an equivalent I'd love to know about it because I only own the one.

That's why foldable knives r more dangerous and I prefer fixed blades knives.

Buy knives with blade locks. Easy one handed opening after sliding the lock open with thumb.

Personally, I use the Trango Piranah. I hope I never need it because it's TINY. Regarding the Edelrid and Petzl (or any other folder honnestly) just tape it closed if you own one, easy fix...

I've my knife in my pocket while climbing... never opend accidanttly

This was eyeopening. Being a industrial cliber, I usually have my petzl k ife, in my chestpocket, tied to a loop. On my helmet i have a rescue hook.

Climbing gear companies are not knifemakers. Don't buy knives from non-knifemakers.

I just keep my knife in my backpack. Guess it’s more incovenient to grab it, but it’s faster than reaching for my power bars, and it’s used way less often. Maybe I’m just a noob, which I really am.

If you can get a “Buck Knives 0770 FlashPoint Folding Knife with Carabiner Clip” you have all your problems solved. It has a carabiner built in to hook into your harness loops, it is one handed and is very easy to unlock and open using your thumb and forefinger. The lock will not come undone accidentally. Great knife and good steel.

I was working as a Cook, with knifes of all size. First accident: A Guy next to me stabbed himself right through the palm of his hand cutting 2 tendons off. Lots of blood, everybody ran away. I called a Helicopter Service and executed some first aid to restrict the blood flow. 2 months hospital, the hand halt crippled later on. I was aware like hell of not cutting myself seriously. The same year I got a job as a landscape gardener. You always need a knife there. To safe money I used the smallest knife from the kitchen which I put open into a working trouser, blade uoward because It would have cutted through my trouser otherwise. Bad idea! Some day I opened a trench close to a wall, not much space left to move. I moved my arms close tonthe body, and forcely stabed y forearm through the trouser. Lots of blood, I bandaged the wound and kept on working. People make stupid mistakes- and knifes are very dangerous tools!

I put a rubber band around my folding knife, not to tight so its easy to still get off but its like an extra safety, works well

Sounds like the UK fire door problem where the police want main house doors to firmly lock to stop criminals exiting the property with stolen goods, yet the fire service want immediate exit by regular occupants in case of fire. Same problem for 'safety knives'. They need to be difficultly easy to open in case of the other sort of emergency. A square ended blade tip (like some diving knives) is a good start. It does appear to be a bit more of an American fetish to always carry a mean looking knife (as opposed to boring functional;-). A big question is 'how quickly do you really need to be to access the knife?" It'll be slower, and easier, than drowning..

Why not use a folding knife that has a locking mechanism? A lot of EDC knives have a locking feature? If you’re going to use a string to attach it to a carabiner, why not use a normal EDC style knife with a blade lock. Almost anything the Benchmade would have that feature

Spyderco Autonomy is used by helicopter rescue swimmers, blunt tip, automatic with a manual safety.

It may be worth looking into bringing something like trauma / EMS Shears to replace an EDC knife. I used to EDC a knife all the time, so I understand most individuals balk at replacing a knife with scissors, especially if they are EDC nerds, and I understand the attachment to your tooltype. However I invested in a pair of $40 X-Shears and it took me all of a month to realize that not only did the trauma shears meet all the needs I had that a knife did, 9/10 times it did better than the knife with less effort. Rubber, leather, webbing, rope, wire, etc, I have yet to meet something I couldn't get through with them and I have cut through a penny with them before as a demonstrative test of their ability. But the big advantage to these over a knife is you have a much more blunt tip that will take significantly more effort to puncture you, and the fingerloops allow you to easily clip a carabiner into them. The two brands I trust most readily would be the X-Shears for a more budget option, or if you want to be extra sure you won't be poked, the Raptor Rescue's from Leatherman fold so the fingerloops cover the cutting area. I have seen them both cut through a penny and still be sharp enough to cut through tough fabrics.

I do whitewater kayaking and I have the Edelrid. It could be attached outside the PFD but I don't trust the locking mechanism so I put it inside the pocket. Luckily in 20+ years of kayaking never had to use the knife for serious emergencies

Why arent you using a closed locking pocket knife? Even a 10 bucks Opinel locks closed. you can find a bunch that have a lanyard hole. I would never have thought climbers would use non locking knives. Knives designed to cut rope! hundreds of knives locks both closed and open.

Why do you need a pointy stabby knife for climbing? Surely you are just cutting rope/webbing? For kayaking I have a non-pointed knife, but also look at hook knives and the ones they sell for cars for cutting seatbelts...those types are so much safer to avoid self impaleing but no loss of function for this use requirement

Thanks for this video, I own the knife but was only using it as a light hiking knife so far. The slit in the handle seems perfectly designed to fit an elastic strap to prevent this issue, maybe they did consider it, but dropped the feature later on? I'll sew a strap on mine and evaluate the remaining risk, otherwise I'll put it in a pouch from now on.

I’ve always hated that petzl design. For a start it’s incredibly difficult to open one handed (which is an essential feature of a safety knife). It’s also needlessly big. For emergency rope cutting you only need a small, sharp, blade, or a serrated, blunt nosed, rescue knife.

I feel like you should employ the Nick Shabazz (look him up on RU-vid) on some knaf advice. I’d also second some other commenters in saying that knives have a break in period and are easier to open after they have seen some use. A “rescue” type knife that hasn’t got a pointy tip might be a smarter idea. If you don’t need your knife for stabbing, maybe remove that feature straight away? I’ve used neck knives while doing tree work and have lost two of them that way…so fixed blade is only an option if the sheath has more than just a friction based detent.

firstly no sharp tip, secondly serrated blade, thirdly magnetic fastening. I'm sorry for what happened, I really wanted to buy that knife

I use a Byrd Hawksbill on a bit of string for lighter climbing, but a Wolf tools fixed blade knife in a secure sheath for long days in the harness! (Working at height/ rope access/ arborist not climbing!)

I use the buck 750 redpoint knife w/ me when climbing for this reason specifically. it has a lock to lock the blade closed (and open), so it doesn't open up accidentally.

Legit non-apprehensive questions for the leading pitches with a knife on your harness crew. Why? Is it for snacks? Have you ever used it for anything other than snacks? How often are you eating snacks mid pitch? If it is in fact a snack cutting knife, could you not just eat snacks that don't require cutting? But seriously, in fifteen years of climbing the only time I think a harness knife would have come in handy was when my friends ex girlfriend got her hair stuck in a grigri on like pitch 4 of this route. Even then, they just kinda figured it out. Does anybody have a secret hidden use for a harness knife that I'm just not thinking of?

I used to be too much of knife geek. In the topic of knives, when people are talking about lock types, it almost always refers to the lock which engages to keep the blade open. It is very rare for it to refer to a lock keeping it closed... In most industries, the light spring tension or friction keeping it closed is totally sufficient... however, in climbing, we very much would benefit from a lock keeping it closed. The Trango Piranha is one of a few which have a lock mechanism to keep it closed, so its what I use. I distinctly chose it over the Petzl Spatha due to the difficulty opening it... That said, the Piranha has a very short blade, and I'd much prefer a longer more useful one. I'd really like the equivalent of a Benchmade Griptillian, but with some minimally intrusive lock to keep it closed... I really love the axis lock... but I don't know of a version of that designed to also lock to keep it closed. Its an interesting problem to solve. Ideally the knife remain easy to open one handed. Otherwise, keeping a knife snugly secure, like in a chalk bag pocket, is a good idea, and I prefer that more than keeping it on a carabiner on the harness anyways.

My solution is simple, I will NEVER carry a knife on my harness or on any of my kit that doesn't have a physical detent that has to be pushed to be able to open the blade or isn't in a proper sheath/holster....... preferably both!! I haven't been around those 2 knives, but I've seen similar versions that have opened while hanging from a harness and decided long ago (like over 20 years) that I wasn't comfortable having a knife on me that has the ability to open on it's own in some freak accident... and let's face it, the freak accident is the time it opens and either cuts your rope or stabs you. The only way that I could pretty much bomb proof my thinking was to buy a knife that has a physical detent. I followed that purchase by throwing away the stupid velcro and webbing holster it came with and made a leather replacement with a decent snap to close the knife away safely. To this day, it has never opened accidently, so I think my consent is sound 😂

I have an honest question: what would I need a knife for on a standard sports climbing route or multi pitch? I ask this question because In have never encountered a situation during climbing (other than during lunch break) where I wished for a knife. I'm curious!

OTF knives don't have this problem 😁

I climbed with my Leatherman with its folding knife buried deep in a zipper pants pocket.

Rescue knives are all trying to solve different problems. But the big trade off is "fast and easy" vs, "secure and safe". So it's all about how you risk matrix, and your responsibility level. A guide who may have to move into position, assess and then initiate a rescue has a much different set of requirements than a person who is with a group of near similar training and everyone is looking out for themselves as much as they are each other. If you are in that second camp, then go safe, you have seconds to spare, because you will need time to think. If you are guiding, then without overloading your harness, you can set up semi-custom stuff that fits your environment, skill/training set, and "single purpose" tools make a lot more sense, things like rescue hook cutters, and dedicated rope knives. Or modified multitools. For a guide, cost is a different equation to the amateur, either because they can be business expenses and thus higher budget, or needing to be issued to a lot of people, so maybe need to be cheaper. My biggest problem with most "rope" knives is that they are trying to be too general. I think a rope knife should be able to do delicate work (I've had to cut away stuff around the main line) but it shouldn't pose larger risks than needed, and most don't need a pointed tip. Butterknife tip is fine, unless you have a predictable reason why it's not, and you can work to mitigate that added hazard. Also, if your "rescue" knife is too generalized in use, it will be dull the day you need it...

Need to ask, how old was the knife? Over time it's gunna open easier. Not casting blame here. If it weakens over time it should have an expiry date like a rope does. Obviously needs something that can lock closed like an opinel. But I don't trust mine entirely as it has the feel of slowly unlocking, maybe. Is it better to just not have the knife on you? I'm a caver and I keep mine in my bag. I'm still working with ropes but I don't have to think about whippers