When I was a little boy, I would sneak into my dad's sporting goods closet. Dad, was recently discharged from two tours in the Vietnam War and he loved collecting manly things. Dad was like James Bond and the closet was like Agent Q's secret lab. Seriously, it had enough weapons, explosives (long gone), rations, and cool stuff to guard against numerous zombie apocalypses, even an Indiana Jones style bullwhip, which Dad would pull out and crack on occasion! Like all early 1970's Man Cave closets, it had a set of scuba gear for underwater zombies. I remember staring at that old double hose regulator and tank all set up and ready to go in the event of an underwater zombie attack. Most of all, I remember the gigantic knife pictured above, one of the few surviving objects from this bygone era. It even outlasted Dad, who thought Marlboros were good for the lungs, but I digress...
Now the knife is a collector's item of sorts and a reminder to my students that these BFK giant leg knives are no longer used and certainly never strapped to your leg!
Nothing says newbie diver more than a BFK attached to your leg! Don't do it!
But why is the once revered BFK leg knife now frowned upon in scuba diving circles (except vintage dive gear fans)?
Well first of all we now realize that we don't need a giant knife to fight zombies or zombie sharks or to cut the hoses of imaginary Bond villains. Alas, scuba diving is pretty tame stuff. What we really need is a razor sharp knife that can cut through fishing line like butter.
The problems with the BFK leg knife are many. It adds well over a pound to your kit! Imagine adding a pound and a half to only one of your legs! No wonder those guys swim so funny in Sea Hunt.
The typical BFK is 1/4 inch thick and therefore hard to put a sharp edge on, so it is more of a tank banger really. A darn good one in fact!
The leg sheath, its buckles and the big honking knife handle are all monofilament fishing line magnets and a serious entanglement hazard. Never put a gigantic, heavy, entanglement hazard on your leg.
In an emergency when trying to drop a weight belt in a vertical position there is a good chance the belt will become trapped between the knife handle and divers leg and lead to further panic and possible death.
Aside from safety issues, there are practical issues, like it takes forever to attach a big knife to your leg.
But, most of all you just don't want to look like Mike Nelson from Sea Hunt.
What do you do instead?
Get a reasonably sized (small) knife with a well designed one hand only quick release sheath and attach it to your BCD such that it can be easily reached with either hand. In addition get a line cutter such as Eezycut Trilobyte and also attach it to your BCD so it can be easily reached and accessed with one hand.
If using high grade stainless cutting tools, always put a thin coat of silicone grease on them to prevent rust and remove them from the sheath to air dry after diving.
Move into the modern era and ditch the BFK on your leg! You will be glad you did.
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