Found out my dive knife was never meant for cutting rope

I was reading through the US Navy Diving Manual old revision from 2008 and saw a line about blunted tip knives being rigging tools, not cutting tools. Did a quick test on some 3/4 inch polypropylene line at the dock in Galveston and my serrated edge just shredded it instead of slicing. That manual claim really caught me off guard because every rigging class I took pushed knife work hard. Have any of you actually used a blunt tip for cutting in a jam, or is everyone on team serrated? lmao

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david_rivera418d agoTop Commenter

Ask if that manual actually meant the tip geometry matters more than the edge type when you're cutting wet rope under load. Ive cut plenty of line in the Gulf with a blunt tip and it works fine if you saw at it instead of trying to slice clean. Serrated edges grab and tear polypro like crazy, which is great for frayed ends but useless for a quick jam release. The real test is doing it blind with gloves on in cold water, not on a sunny dock. So did you try it with the blade angled different, or just straight across?

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