Cabela's Gerber Freeman folder in S30V

G

Gossman Knives

Edged Toolmaker
Joined
Apr 9, 2004
Messages
9,398
I picked one of these up several weeks ago at the store in Pa. It's a 4 1/2" closed liner lock. The blade is about 4". It appears to have a gunblue coating which is quite durable. It's a medium hollow grind not being super thin at the edge. It had a V-grind edge which I right away convexed on a 600 grit silicon carbide belt then polished on a fine scotchbrite belt ending on a charged strop. It popped hair easily.I whittled and shaved some pine 1X2's. The edge bit in deep with moderate hand pressure. The handle was comfortable not "biting" into the palm of your hand. I took it to work and cut cardboard and plastic shrink wrap pretty much all nite while working. The edge dulled to the point of resharpening. I came home and stropped it back to a "reasonable" edge. To bring it back to popping hair I would have to go back to the 600 grit belt then strop. Cardboard and plastic are rough on any steel or edge so I don't hold that against the edge holding ability of the knife. A box cutter is the best choice for cardboard cutting. I should know, I've been cutting cardboard for 29 years.:D The lock comes about a 1/3 of the way on the tang. Very secure. Fit and finish are excellent. The sheath is the standard belt pouch. What I like is the vertical/horizonal feature of the belt loop. Heavy leather and very well made. This is the first "modern" type folder I've bought in awhile and I'm really happy with it. I think it is a nice blend of classic and modern styling in a compact package.
Scott
 
Excellent looking knife. You have good taste. Cocobolo is one of my favorite woods for a knife handle. Thought Gerber had run up on a rock. Thanks for sharing this find. Note to self, visit Cabellas asap.

Best,

oregon
 
I like the look of that and the blade shape. What is the handle material? It looks like wood. Does it have a clip or did it come with the sheath. Sorry for all the questions :D
 
Thanks for the review. I like that model myself, looks like it would make a good hunter.
 
tknife said:
I like the look of that and the blade shape. What is the handle material? It looks like wood. Does it have a clip or did it come with the sheath. Sorry for all the questions :D
Click to expand...
tknife, the handle is wood. No pocket clip, it came with the sheath. I'm not much of a Gerber fan, but this knife is very impressive. A stout, solidly built folder.
Scott
 
Cabelas has some knives that you can't find anywhere else. Besides the Gerber, check out their Buck Alaskan Guide series - awesome!

Cabelas must have some influential buyers that deal with the knife companies directly to get these very special knives.
 
They must, I just purchased that knife in S30V (made by Buck) with the gut hook and it came with a very nice sheath, way better than what Buck gives with their knives. I am impressed with the knife, sheath, and value.
 
I've just bought two knives:
a "Gerber Freeman folder", s30v tungsten carbide-coated.
and a Murray Carter Muteki kitchen knife. Hitachi white steel.

The Gerber one has been disappointing for me. When trying to cut several materials It tourned out to be worse than the Muteki and even worse than an old Opinel my father owns.
And I think the black coating is useless because it doesn´t cover the whole blade up to the very end of the edge.

The Muteki one, it's got a really nice edge, it cuts everything very well, even when cutting strings or other things that it wasn't designed for.
And it's cheaper. The only drawback I've noticed is that it needs good care to prevent it from going rusty.
 
Some time ago I read that somebody resharpened the "gerber freeman" to get a sharper edge because the original one is too dull.
I've tried to find that review again but I couldn't
Does anybody know where is it?

thanks
 
Juan, the problem I found with it was that it had a too thick and steep V-grind secondary bevel. I convexed mine and it cuts better. Over time, those v-grind bevels thicken as you resharpen them.
Scott
 
I have to say this thick V grind / secondary bevel problem is a consistent drawback to Gerber knives as they come from the factory IMO - every Gerbar blade I've owned or examined was like that. If one is savy enough to regrind their knife I guess its not an issue but 1) for those that would need to take it to someone else this might be a deal breaker & 2) there are plenty of other knives out there you won't need to regrind as they come from the factory.

If I were going to make a suggestion to the fine folks at Gerber Legendary blades (who not only have a cool name but also one of the coolest tang stamps ever ;) ) it would be to thin out the edge on their knives. The Freeman line probably sells pretty well already - bet it would do even better with the hunting crowd if it didn't need to be reground to take the kind of edge you need for using it on game.

I have always admired this design (the Freeman) - both the fixed blade version and the folder :thumbup: Sometimes getting a particular design one favors is well worth a few minutes of grinding or the little bit of extra $$ it costs to have your local sharpening service do it for you. But if it is a toss up between the knife in question and that of a competitor, as it stands now, many people would go for te blade that will shave hairs NIB.

...Just my take on it. Like I said, I really like the design.
 
thanks
So, I'll resharpen mine. A friend was in the USA (I'm in Spain) and brought it to me 3 days ago. I think nobody else would try that with a new knife.
I hope to do a good job with my 6000grit waterstone.
I choose this knife because of the S30V steel and the coating. Knives with better steels are really expensive. And there isn't as many good folder-knives as fixed ones.
 
Do you advice me to ground just one side up to the beginning of the black coating?
 
Juan said:
I hope to do a good job with my 6000grit waterstone.
Click to expand...

If you are changing the blade angle to improve the cutting ability it will take a long time with a 6000 grit waterstone, as in hours. You need to start off with some far more coarse. A 200 grit silicon carbide waterstone could cut the edge angle in half in a couple of minutes.

-Cliff
 
Oh, yes, I mean that I'll finish my job with the 6000 grit in order to get a sharp edge.
Yesterday I ground it for one hour with a coarse stone, but not good one, and today I'll finish the job with the thin one.
thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top