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Thread: Rescue Knives?

  1. #1
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    Erie County, NY

    Rescue Knives?

    I'm always up to buy something new. So I saw this one Victorinox Swiss Army Rescue Tool Pocket Knife with Pouch. For a picture and purchase - look at Amazon.

    https://www.amazon.com/s?k=swiss+arm...f=nb_sb_noss_1 $59 in yellow.

    I already have https://www.spyderco.com/catalog/category/rescue in yellow. Got it for a step discount.

    I keep it in the little compartment over the front windows in my Forester. One thing is that the glass breaker is a tiny nub that you have to squeeze out.

    The SAK one - a downside is that the clothes cutting blade isn't the one with the hole.

    Any opinions from those in the know about these sort of things.

  2. #2
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    In what type of scenario are you seeing this being used? If this is an in extremis self rescue tool, I think something like a fixed blade tool would be better. Benchmade rescue hook for example. For rescuing others or exposing hemorrhaging wounds in others, a folder should be fine. Just my .02.

  3. #3
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    Breaking a window, cutting a belt, cutting clothes. Basically a car accident too. Been in some serious ones and seems like a good thing to have if you come on the scene. Or in being part of the crash and still functioning.

  4. #4
    Gray Hobbyist Wondering Beard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer View Post
    Breaking a window, cutting a belt, cutting clothes. Basically a car accident too. Been in some serious ones and seems like a good thing to have if you come on the scene. Or in being part of the crash and still functioning.
    ResQme.

    Very small and practical, though maybe not as good at cutting clothes.
    " La rose est sans pourquoi, elle fleurit parce qu’elle fleurit ; Elle n’a souci d’elle-même, ne demande pas si on la voit. » Angelus Silesius
    "There are problems in this universe for which there are no answers." Paul Muad'dib

  5. #5
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    Thanks - got one of those also in the car. One on key chain.

  6. #6
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    Southwest Pennsylvania
    Regarding a glass breaker, be sure that it is a hardened carbide tool. Not everything sold as a "glass breaker" will actually break glass. Automobile glass is surprisingly difficult to break, and videos can be found on YouTube showing people failing with aluminum baseball bats and even a claw hammer. To be effective, the tool must be harder than the glass. When the tool hits the glass, whichever deforms the most will absorb most of the energy of the blow, and you want that to be the glass, not the tool.

    Regarding the blade shape, a good quality knife with a good, sharp edge will go right through seat belts, whether the knife is serrated or not. I once had to cut my son out of a car seat harness when the buckle for that harness jammed (that harness was later the subject of a recall by the manufacturer). A sheepsfoot blade is normally advocated for such use, but I found it very easy to keep the point of my Spyderco Waved Endura safely away from my son.

    I have been fortunate not to have been in any car accidents after which i could not simply unbuckle the set belt and walk away, but my most recent emergency use of a knife has definitely influenced my thoughts about point size and shape. My son, then 8 years old and with special needs, had managed to somehow tie/twist/who knows what else a ribbon around the neck of a teddy bear around one of his fingers. His older sister had first tried to remove it and then to cut it with blunt tip scissors before coming to get my wife and I, allowing perhaps a minute or two of swelling before I got to make my first attempt. I could not quickly figure out how to untie or unwrap the ribbon, so as my wife called 911, I slowly and carefully worked away at it with the point of a Spyderco Waved Delica. After about five minutes of very slow, careful cutting, I was able to get the ribbon completely off his finger, with only very, very minor nicks to the finger itself. The EMT's showed up a few minutes later, and verified that all was well.

    In that situation, a sheepsfoot blade would have been completely and totally useless. I needed a narrow, sharp point which swept downward from the back edge of the knife, such as a drop point or spear point. If seatbelts or clothing are the only concern, then I see nothing wrong with either of the blades in the links in the original post. If one simply does not know what one might need to cut in an emergency, then I suggest something a little different than what most people think of as a "rescue" knife.
    Last edited by BillSWPA; 02-08-2020 at 02:14 PM.

  7. #7
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    Columbus Ohio Area
    My experience cutting through rope, webbing, seatbelts, etc., in EMS and Search and Rescue is that I prefer a partially serrated tanto with a wide, flat back to the blade (which a lot of rescue knives do not have). I have had really good experiences so far with Microtech Ultratechs and a lot of various benchmade knives. The benchmade knives can pry a tiny bit or dig, and the Microtech’s can’t. The Microtechs are much sharper and stronger when slicing, though, if your thumb is applied to the back of the blade. There’s no sawing with the Microtech, just one slice through.

    -Never place a tool somewhere other than secured to your person. You could end up in a wreck and the part of the car with the tool could be 20 yards away.

    -You also probably aren’t walking away from a wreck that you are stuck in. A rescue tool might be a good idea if you have kids in car seats and you are physically prepared to get yourself out and emotionally prepared to do CPR on your dead kid during a trauma arrest. Or, a rescue tool is a great idea if you are constantly near water or constantly in remote areas. Otherwise, stay put, leave your family where they are. Keep the kids in the car seats until help arrives. If you live in a metropolitan area, don’t add something else to your vehicle that could impale you during a wreck.

    -If an exception (live over lots of water like the Florida keys, etc., or live remote) applies to you then also take some time and practice cutting through rope and webbing. Something I can do in a single cut now used to take me 30-60 seconds to saw through because I applied poor mechanics.


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  8. #8
    Site Supporter Rex G's Avatar
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    I can testify that the Spyderco Assist’s carbide glass breaker is effective. Field-tested, by me. A drunk driver made it into her garage, and closed the door with the remote. Her engine was still running, and her doors were still locked. Several of us were inside the garage, and needed to breathe. What can I say; I am addicted to oxygen. The Assist assisted.

    For the Assist to break glass, one keeps the blade closed. The carbide tip is retracted, inside the grip, by default. The tip is exposed my squeezing the closed blade into the handle.
    Retar’d LE. Kinesthetic dufus.

    Don’t tread on volcanos!

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