Safety knife for life vest

I've said it before, but it's cheap and easy for rescue knives. A light coat of Johnson's Paste Wax every 3 or 4 trips on the salt goes a long way to stave off rust.

I carry two knives on the water as well. The safety knife is a Wenoka titanium version.

Is that the blunt or the tanto?

The idea of two knives aboard, one utility, one rescue, is a good idea. 

Tanto

Tanto

With a cutting edge on both straight portions of the tanto?

The actual tanto section is not blunt on both the top and forward edge. Both sides of the blade are sharpened, one serated and the other staight edge plus a line cutter.
I am very happy with it and they can be found for around $50.

So are any of these safty knives made in the USA?

I carry two knives on the water as well. The safety knife is a Wenoka titanium version.

I have had it for three years and I just hose my PFD off after each trip and not a single spot of rust. It is a light knife and stays clipped in. In my boat I have some version of a 6 dollar bait knife. They rust and I scrub them off till they totally die then I buy a new one. I always get a serated bait knife so it stays sharp. The nice part about the clip is it has a screw to lock it in place on my PFD and has been beaten to crap over the years and is still going strong.

I more recently picked up one of these from Andy & Bax in portland.  Haven't hooked it to the life jacket yet.   I have been using a boot knife that I picked up at B-Mart.  No rust and it is pointed.  I, like Allen, don't use it for bait so that is likely why my cheep boot knife hasn't rusted either.   
Not sure if my Wenoka is the titanium version but I think I picked it up for about 35$ 

I have the Gerber Rivermate and honestly do not make much of an effort to clean it.  I pull it out of the sheath after most salt runs, but not always.  It does get a hefty squirt of water while rinsing down my PFD each time though.  And like Craig said above, only a small amount of surface rust where it meets the sheath.  Otherwise, the blade is just like new and going on 4 years now.

I received my Wenoka "Big Squeeze" titanium tanto blade knife yesterday.  AWESOME.  Totally.  Note that the "Big Squeeze" is overall 9-1/2" with a 4-1/2" blade.  There is a more compact version, 6-1/2" overall with 3" blade.

Note what Fungunnin said in #34, all 3 edges of this knife are sharp. 

My Kershaw Sea Hunter (pointy version) becomes a bait/fish/boat knife. I secured the Kershaw sheath to the bottom of the left side mesh pocket on the Revo using a couple of the existing mesh frame screws.  Leashed the knife to the sheath and can stash the leash in the mesh pocket.

I just scored this NRS Captain's Rescue Knife:





http://www.nrsweb.com/shop/product.asp?pfid=2759&pdeptid=960


I was playing with it during a demo and it went though good rope like butter. What really sold me was the clip. I've had a good dive knife for a while and the latch on the sheath just broke. Although clips may not be as secure as a sheath latch, clips generally don't break. You do have to open it, but it meets OHUWIDU3IN* standards.

I'm also a big advocate of NOT using your knife to maintain it's edge. But I advocate not doing a lot of things that I do.
I broke some 30# PowerPro about 30' into a reel because of a wind knot.  I usually wrap the wasted length around my hand and cut across the wad with children's fiskar's (factory rep hipped me to the scissors). That makes it a bunch of 6" to 8" strands instead of an everlasting trap. The Fiskar's were not in reach and the Captain's Rescue Knife was. Again, the hook sliced through the wad like butter, very little force.  I like it!

Note: This is a rescue knife and does not have a straight cutting edge. The spine and faux tranchant** are dull and the tip is blunt. But that hook and the serrated edge work reeeeeally well. Lousy bait knife, but it ought to do okay opening oysters.









*OHUWIDU3IN:It can be opened One Handed, Under Water, In the Dark, Under 3' of Ice, Necked.

** faux tranchant I learned a new word!

Is that a bottle opener on the bottom?  My pocket knife is a little bunged up on the bottom after using it routinely to open bottles - knife as lever on the fist technique.

Is that a bottle opener on the bottom? 

Yep! It keeps you from bunging up the spine (another new word I learned) opening bottles.