Struck me the other day that others might find a use for these little blades in survival kits. Got this for climbing a while back - it lives on my 'bail-out biner'.
A 'bail-out biner' is designed for chicken-s*** climbers like me who can have alpine epics on V Diff when the mood takes me. Or Alpine D+. Or Scottish winter III/IV. Whatever the grade, I can still have a mare. Basically, when everything goes pear-shaped, the bail-out biner becomes the climber's technical survival kit. On mine is usually a bit of abseil tat, a prussic loop, a Wild Country Ropeman Mk II or a Ti-Bloc, and now a Trango Piranha.
http://www.trango.com/paraphernalia/Piranha_Climbing_Knife
There are a few knives available specifically for climbing, like the Petzl Spatha, but the Trango one is diddy! Which is a real bonus when you don't want to be carrying more than you need to.
The idea with the stainless steel, serrated edge, Trango is that you clip a carabiner through the metal loop and this prevents the knife from opening when it's on your harness. This could be pretty serious if it did happen. Unfortunately, you have to be careful as some of the newer lightweight carabiners have a machined profile that allows you to force the blade open, even when the carabiner is in the metal loop. So, you have to check first and use the correct carabiner. There is a small stud to push the blade open with and it locks open (calm down, all you legal eagles at the back), held there by spring pressure from the knife handle body. To close, you push the knife handle body slightly and fold the blade back in.
The serrated blade is v sharp and perfect for those 'Touching The Void' moments. Or for cutting tat. Or whatever. It's only small and is not that comfortable to hold but that isn't the point - it's for occasional/emergency use, hence it's on my bail-out biner.
Yup, it locks open but, frankly, as it lives on my climbing harness, it's pretty obvious what it's for. Indeed, any copper who has kittens over the Piranha will pass out when he sees the ice-axes, ice screws and warthogs (http://www.needlesports.com/acatalog/Mail_Order_Ice_Screws_35.html and scroll down to big red spike). If you want to put one in your survival kit, you need to assess the risk and whether or not you feel you can explain it away to the police if you have to.
Nevertheless, I reckon this would be a great little blade for a survival kit - but certainly not as single-use outdoor knife. You can get them from Needlesports (see link above) amongst other places.
Oh, and it has a handy 'bottle-opener' bit too. Can I ask if anyone ever actually uses the bottle opener bits that come on Swiss Army Knives, Leathermans, etc? I am guessing that they are always added as a 'valuable extra feature' as they're easy to make - just cut a metal lip.
Now, where's that Joe Simpson fellah got to ...
A 'bail-out biner' is designed for chicken-s*** climbers like me who can have alpine epics on V Diff when the mood takes me. Or Alpine D+. Or Scottish winter III/IV. Whatever the grade, I can still have a mare. Basically, when everything goes pear-shaped, the bail-out biner becomes the climber's technical survival kit. On mine is usually a bit of abseil tat, a prussic loop, a Wild Country Ropeman Mk II or a Ti-Bloc, and now a Trango Piranha.
http://www.trango.com/paraphernalia/Piranha_Climbing_Knife
There are a few knives available specifically for climbing, like the Petzl Spatha, but the Trango one is diddy! Which is a real bonus when you don't want to be carrying more than you need to.
The idea with the stainless steel, serrated edge, Trango is that you clip a carabiner through the metal loop and this prevents the knife from opening when it's on your harness. This could be pretty serious if it did happen. Unfortunately, you have to be careful as some of the newer lightweight carabiners have a machined profile that allows you to force the blade open, even when the carabiner is in the metal loop. So, you have to check first and use the correct carabiner. There is a small stud to push the blade open with and it locks open (calm down, all you legal eagles at the back), held there by spring pressure from the knife handle body. To close, you push the knife handle body slightly and fold the blade back in.
The serrated blade is v sharp and perfect for those 'Touching The Void' moments. Or for cutting tat. Or whatever. It's only small and is not that comfortable to hold but that isn't the point - it's for occasional/emergency use, hence it's on my bail-out biner.
Yup, it locks open but, frankly, as it lives on my climbing harness, it's pretty obvious what it's for. Indeed, any copper who has kittens over the Piranha will pass out when he sees the ice-axes, ice screws and warthogs (http://www.needlesports.com/acatalog/Mail_Order_Ice_Screws_35.html and scroll down to big red spike). If you want to put one in your survival kit, you need to assess the risk and whether or not you feel you can explain it away to the police if you have to.
Nevertheless, I reckon this would be a great little blade for a survival kit - but certainly not as single-use outdoor knife. You can get them from Needlesports (see link above) amongst other places.
Oh, and it has a handy 'bottle-opener' bit too. Can I ask if anyone ever actually uses the bottle opener bits that come on Swiss Army Knives, Leathermans, etc? I am guessing that they are always added as a 'valuable extra feature' as they're easy to make - just cut a metal lip.
Now, where's that Joe Simpson fellah got to ...
And yes, because it's primary purpose is cutting cord, it's serrated.
