I was wondering if a cork would work, but I wasn't sure how many corks it would take. I was trying to figure out how to manage this recently when I got to try kayaking for the first time. Me and my brother kept running into fishing tackle polluting the lake and I wanted to cut some of it free and clean it up, but then I realized if I dropped my knife I wouldn't be seeing it again... Clean up will have to wait till the next time when I have a proper solution in place.
I considered tying it to my shorts, I just couldn't figure out if that could become a hazard for any reason. I always wear a shirt when I'm in the water, so maybe I could hook up a way to clip and tie it to my sleeve. Not sure if that makes more sense than tying to my shorts, for some reason it feels better in theory, but I'll have to think about it and experiment a little.
You could make a lanyard out of silicone tubing to get your knife to float and even add a cork to it. Use a brightly colored silicone color and use a reliable method to trap the air inside the tube. The silicone tubing can be used for all kinds of McGyver tasks while backpacking in a pinch like making a slingshot or use for a drinking straw. If combined with a cork you could use it as a rudimentary snorkel for underwater spear fishing. The cork could float the tubing to keep it above the waterline. Can come in handy too when hiding from a pissed off bear add a ceramic bead to the silicone tubing lanyard to use as an elastic actuated glass breaker.
Mule Team Army 001 (patched)
MNOSD 008 Stable Mules; Z-Max, Z-Wear, Magna Cut, Magna Max, SRS13, Rex 76, Rex T15.
One wine bottle cork is not nearly enough to float a 3 Oz knife. Maybe about half a dozen corks would do it but then you have half a dozen wine bottle corks dangling off your knife.
Four might be enough and if you don’t mind having a four cork sized lanyard tied on, that could be your solution.
I can only imagine how much silicone tubing would be needed to float a three ounce knife. (Too much) I would guess it takes a few feet of it to float a three ounce knife. Three foot knife lanyard anyone?
Real cork must be at least 50% air by my guess. ****! Now I need to find some corks to defend my honor. How many corks needed to float every knife model list is needed.
Mule Team Army 001 (patched)
MNOSD 008 Stable Mules; Z-Max, Z-Wear, Magna Cut, Magna Max, SRS13, Rex 76, Rex T15.
I used to cat sailing and carried a knife with a marlinspike. I attached a paracord lanyard to it and tied it the drawstring on my bathing suit so that if I dropped the knife or if it came out of my pocket, it was still attached to something.
Was it the most fashionable thing in the world - who cares. I never lost my knife while sailing and having fun.
Ok, 5 corks kept my endura from sinking as did 4 champagne corks for you fancy types. Also fun fact, so did one regular size pharmacy empty medicine bottle. So, roughly one cork per ounce of knife. So a Para 3 lightweight needs 3 corks, dragonfly, 2 corks, and the ladybug needs only 1 cork. So, it’s possible to float a knife with corks, just use a real whole cork per ounce as a rule of thumb but do testing and for extra buoyancy, remove the pocket clip. So in review, if you want a boating knife, make sure it’s light and I prefer the larger champagne corks. So in my defense, I was only 1/2 crazy. Now, I want a dedicated Wharnie manbug sporting a champagne cork for boating activities
Mule Team Army 001 (patched)
MNOSD 008 Stable Mules; Z-Max, Z-Wear, Magna Cut, Magna Max, SRS13, Rex 76, Rex T15.
The corks weren’t doubted. We just had to figure out how many would be needed. Thanks for doing the testing.
Depending on how they’re bundled, four corks could probably be made reasonably low profile enough for use.
Fireman, did you test the buoyancy difference of real corks vs synthetic corks? Real cork can become water-logged with enough exposure to water, so I wonder how much sealing them with a cork sealer would change their buoyancy.
Real corks won’t take on that much water and the glued together corks have less air. I only tested real corks and champagne corks. Champagne corks I tested were half whole cork and half glued bits of cork. I would just run a paracord sheath through a champagne cork or two as needed.
Mule Team Army 001 (patched)
MNOSD 008 Stable Mules; Z-Max, Z-Wear, Magna Cut, Magna Max, SRS13, Rex 76, Rex T15.
This hits home to me since I lost a Spyderco Civilian while kayaking. I may need to make a cork handle and sheath for a Spyderco Mule. A nice comfy fat cork handle on a Mule may be the bees knees. The ceramic mule is only 2.5 OZ so it should float just with a nice cork handle.
Mule Team Army 001 (patched)
MNOSD 008 Stable Mules; Z-Max, Z-Wear, Magna Cut, Magna Max, SRS13, Rex 76, Rex T15.
I’ve donated thousands of dollars of gear to the sea gods, haha. I started using these years ago and they have worked perfectly and saved both my knife and my phone (in a waterproof case) multiple times.
Lanyards are fine for “boating” IMO but when landing a big fish an open knife attached to a lanyard can be a real hazard. I have nightmares of having a 40lb Mahi Mahi doing backflips in my lap while tail wrapped in my knife/lanyard. A sharp knife on a retractable lanyard conjures up other bad images. I get those floats for a few bucks from Amazon and they work great and at the end of the day I can quick release the float while leaving the little connector hooked to the lanyard hole of the knife. Works well for me.
Stable Mules; Z-Max, Z-Wear, Magna Cut, Magna Max, SRS13, Rex 76, Rex T15.
Thanks for doing the testing. 
