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At 10:53 23/09/1999 -0500, "Chuck Hinchey" <chinchey@rj*.co*> wrote: >I am looking into cutting devices for wreck diving and have been told that >the "EMT" type stainless steel scissors are what I need. I've also heard >them called "penny cutters", because they are strong enough to cut a penny. >Since I can't imagine ever being entangled by a horde of vicious pennies, I >tried them on various sizes of steel cable. They wouldn't cut any size >cable that I was able to purchase at the hardware store (very small 1/32? up >to 3/16). They gnawed them up pretty good, but didn't make it through. Though I've got a few nice knives lying around (most of which I've found) I prefer to carry sheers. Entanglement isn't a big issue with the sort of diving I do and I mostly use the sheers for cutting fishing line or rope off other critters. The sheers are good because you don't need leverage to cut (just reach over carefully and "snip"). Unless you've got a good cutting edge on a knife (which most dive knifes lack (I've found a couple that keep a good edge)) the sheers are generally quicker too I find. It could be argued that sheers are prone to failure (unlike a knife with no moving parts). Also if you had really really thick rope you wouldn't be able to cut it (should be able to untangle yourself from really thick rope easily anyway). As far as carrying sheers/knives. I modified the soft pouch I got the original sheers in. Rather than just relying on the fold over velcro top I added a velcro closure to go through the handles of the snips for added security. The modified pouch works well with snips or small knives. At present the pouch goes between the waist strap and chest strap of my stab jacket. When I can get a DIR style harness/wings I'll put it on the waist strap (should be easier to remove and replace than my current setup, often have to fiddle a bit to get the snips back in because I can't see the opening and I'm usually doing two or three things at once). Cheers, Simon Simon L Hartley RSM Unit Web Administrator\First Year Course Coordinator Associate Lecturer School of Resource Science and Management Southern Cross University P.O. Box 157 Lismore NSW, Australia 2480 Ph: (02) 66203251 or (61 66) 203 251 Fax:(02) 66212669 E-mail: shartley@sc*.ed*.au* http://www.scu.edu.au/staff_pages/shartley/index.html -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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