kitezilla wrote:Greg7 wrote:They are so cheap I would just get a few per season.
Where do you buy them?
What brand?
It seems that the double bladed hook knives cost about $15 to $54 (plus shipping) each.
I wish I had enough money to consider those prices... "cheap".
How often do you change out your knives?
What do you use as your indicator for "time to replace"?
As already stated, you can get replacement blades pretty cheap.
Many kiters spend more than a grand a year on "the latest" equipment, and a decent percentage spend quite a bit more than that. Relative to how much else you spend on gear, for something that can save your life the cost is ludricously neglible.
As far as knowing when to change. If you ride on the saltwater and leave the knife in it's pouch after a ride so it can rust out, yeah, you might get in trouble fairly quickly.
But if you take a few seconds to take the knife out, rinse, shake, and toss on the counter to completely dry, a stainless steel blade will easily last 2-3 three months and look brand new. So three per windy season is enough.
For anyone afraid they might forget their knife after rinsing it, just leave a brand new spare in your bag in a ziploc, it will remain brand new until you need it.
You bring up a very good point, I didn't think they would crap out that fast, but there are ways to prevent it, and considering it might save your life, and considering a complete one kite outfit can cost over 2 grand, and most of us have multiple kites, do yourself a favor and drop a few bucks on multiple hook knives.