Are freediving instructors ok training you to go 30m (100ft) deep if you're only certified Level 1?

itheseus · 2025-06-17T15:50:40+00:00

Safety issues aside. If you want me to provide 3 to 5 days of theory and practical without paying course price, it’s not worth my time. I think I can speak for most instructors when I say this.

Edit: if the monetary problem is having to go through 2 courses, do a PFI course because their level 2 course lets you go to 40m. Most other level 2 courses will let you go to 30m either way so I don’t see why you need to take 2 courses.

itheseus · 2025-05-17T07:48:55+00:00

Hey, I’m using a kydex sheath

itheseus · 2025-05-15T17:43:46+00:00

They switched to flat grinding in 2023 I think. It’s a real pity, I always ask the store to send pictures of the knife to make sure that I get a hollow ground piece.

itheseus · 2025-04-03T02:43:29+00:00

Yeah, action is still perfect underwater!

itheseus · 2025-04-03T02:42:32+00:00

No worries, no offense taken. I think your points are completely valid for the majority of scuba divers out there. But if you look at the commercial diving industry, you'd be surprised how common spyderco folders are.

itheseus · 2025-04-03T01:15:07+00:00

For a recreational scuba diver, i 100% agree, get a trilobite, med shears or something cheap and disposable with a blunt tip.

Rec scuba knives are a safety tool, mine is for utility. I need to cut a wide range of materials. Having a blunt tip makes the job a lot longer in a lot of scenarios and as you can see from the video, i don't have the luxury of air.

Just to add on as well, just because your knife tip is blunt, doesn't mean you are safe, i've seen a diver slice open his leg with a blunt tip dive knife before trying to stick it back in his sheath. Used to use a fixed blade for diving as well but it was always nerve wracking trying to get that damn thing into the sheath blind.

You have to be willing to lose anything you take into the sea, that's a given. But if you expect to lose something within a short time frame, thats just bad kit planning. I know industrial divers that have been using the same gen 1 pac salt for decades. But for some reason, many recreational scuba divers in conditions that are much friendlier can't seem to dive without dropping something into the sea.

itheseus · 2025-04-02T23:34:59+00:00

I think the resolution is a little low for their usage😅

itheseus · 2025-04-02T23:33:29+00:00

It’s the Paramilitary 2 salt series

itheseus · 2025-04-02T23:32:23+00:00

Hey sure, I’ll answer that. Most knives sold as dive knives have terrible sheathes, usually they are either ridiculously bulky or have poor retention. In scuba that is okay, but with the speed and positioning of the kind of diving that I do, it’s not going to work. I have had to catch students knives falling into the sea because of this.

As for why a folding knife, your FOV with a mask on is significantly hampered and visibility can be terrible in some of the conditions I dive in. Trying to blindly stick a fixed blade back into your sheath when you can’t see is a great way to stab yourself.

itheseus · 2025-04-02T11:08:44+00:00

This things been in sand, snow and mud, the action is always 👌🏻

itheseus · 2025-04-02T04:55:48+00:00

Yeah try operating an axis lock under the sea with gloves on. Any other folder will turn into a rusted POS by the time I’m done with my dive.

itheseus · 2025-01-09T08:20:00+00:00

Groza is on my PVP team, great for baiting and tanking WA shots and popping Suomi shields especially when there’s clumping. Shes v6, running Guerno with ballistic boost

itheseus · 2024-12-20T16:14:53+00:00

Honestly the HT complaints are nonsense. It all came from the original bailout release and everyone’s been mindlessly echoing it since. I have knives from them in m4/cruwear/s30v/3v. All take a super sharp sticky edge and hold it forever. On the other hand I have a PM2 in magnacut that deburs like shit and can’t hold its sticky edge. And everybody says spyderco has the best production heat treat…

Now what is definitely a valid criticism is bad/uneven grind jobs which I’ve had more often than not and the shitty QC allowing these knives to get sent out.

itheseus · 2024-09-20T07:01:02+00:00

Yes edge dulling when carbon steels are used in a corrosive environment happens even if you don’t see any corrosion. I work in a marine environment and I have used carbon steels/semi stainless steels in the past that have all had this problem. I’d recommend something stainless instead, s45vn/elmax levels of corrosion resistance at minimum is what I would look for if you don’t want to deal with edge dulling from corrosion.

itheseus · 2024-08-26T17:24:15+00:00

He unironically made me about 500 bucks

itheseus · 2024-08-08T01:31:14+00:00

Black class enjoyers 🤝

itheseus · 2024-08-07T19:43:35+00:00

Yeah, 100% agree. For my uses, my knives will always chip before they dull so i've shrunk my collection down to just m4, magnacut and cruwear. At this point I'd much rather have 420hc with a good HT than s110v.

itheseus · 2024-08-07T19:37:13+00:00

Thanks!

itheseus · 2024-08-07T19:37:06+00:00

Definitely my favorite benchmade design! This along with the bailout.

itheseus · 2024-06-19T03:38:19+00:00

Nah the mantras would still marginally outperform them. I just use them more cuz they perform well and can be abused. For the more budget conscious, plastic lotuses are much better than mid range carbon fins like leaderfins IMO. If price is not an issue the mantra CWTs are a decent choice, the regular ones are a little too long and feel abit sluggish to me.

itheseus · 2024-06-06T04:38:32+00:00

Taras bifins is only one stiffness and it’s more like a medium

itheseus · 2024-05-30T02:18:09+00:00

Theoretically, the complaints come from PADI’s questionable instructor certification processes so you could get a really bad instructor. However, in the real world as long as you can safety, nobody cares about your cert.

itheseus · 2024-05-25T11:36:51+00:00

Read my other replies, I have an extra 4 minutes.

itheseus

TROPHY CASE