Gerber Fans

B

blueridgemountain

Joined
Apr 7, 2014
Messages
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I have just recently joined Blade Forum but have been reading post for awhile. It is clear that there are a lot of people that don't care much for Gerber Knives and that's okay if you don't care for them. But, I have lots of different knives: CRKT, Buck, Case, Ka-Bar, Kershaw, Victorinox, Wenger etc... But of all those Gerber is still my favorite. I have never had one fail to do it's job. Yes they can be hard to sharpen sometimes but my experience has been that when you do they keep a edge pretty good. I like the design and feel of most of their knives. Another thing is the quality to price. Like I said I have never had one fail me before but for the price I never feel like I am going to break the bank if I do go out use a Gerber and do break it. In other words they doesn't cost so much that I am afraid to go out and use them. With that said I was wondering if there are any other Gerber fans out there.
 
I don't think you will find a lot of poeple that do . I think the bear gryills range as a lot to do with that . I have got 5 gerbers in my collection that i have had for about 10 years or so . And find them to be good working knives . I think from when fiskers bourght them out the fit and finnish and the materials have gone down hill . Ps welcome to the mad house :-)
 
Well, sometimes we get to be knife snobs around here.

Gerber and Schrade both have done things to deserve some heat. That doesn't mean that they don't make a knife or two that good quality.
 
R.c.s said:
I don't think you will find a lot of poeple that do . I think the bear gryills range as a lot to do with that . I have got 5 gerbers in my collection that i have had for about 10 years or so . And find them to be good working knives . I think from when fiskers bourght them out the fit and finnish and the materials have gone down hill .
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Yeah , I think the Bear Gryills is Gerber's best product right now and Schrade make a couple of decent fixed blade knives.
 
Fiskars ruined a good company. Bear grills is there best lineup. But they are still not very good.
 
*an* edge

They are excellent quality knives for the price, my only issue with them is they are Made in China, which, is not a bad thing, but I prefer to buy locally. Nice to see they are starting to make more of them here. I have a few of them, and the multiplier, good quality stuff for the price.
 
I have a few Gerber knives, which are all great. But the thing is, they're all from the eighties and nineties, back when Gerbers were made here, and were of good quality. Now, they're just cheap, poorly made garbage, in my opinion. Not only that, but I don't understand what's going on with their ergos these days. All of the recent model Gerbers I've held feel like they were drawn to look good on paper, and then just built without any prototyping being held in the hand of an actual human being. Just not a fan.
 
Are opinions of knives like the Prodigy and LMF II so low that the BG knives are considered the best Gerber has to offer? What about the USA Gators? I have five USA Gerbers of which four are current production (Yari II, LMF II, Prodigy, and Gator fixed blade and folder) and Armor and Kiowa folders. The Armor was the only dud of the bunch, but I "rehabilitated" it into a very adequate EDC. The Yari II and fixed blade Gator have S30V blades, which was a surprise for what I paid for them. I have a couple of the USA multi-tools as well, after seeing the similar one my wife was issued by the Army.

Just saying . . . I think Gerber makes some pretty decent stuff, but as with numerous other brands ranging from cars to appliances to musical instruments, shoddy import QC brings down the reputation of even the higher end products.
 
Inazone said:
Are opinions of knives like the Prodigy and LMF II so low that the BG knives are considered the best Gerber has to offer? What about the USA Gators? I have five USA Gerbers of which four are current production (Yari II, LMF II, Prodigy, and Gator fixed blade and folder) and Armor and Kiowa folders. The Armor was the only dud of the bunch, but I "rehabilitated" it into a very adequate EDC. The Yari II and fixed blade Gator have S30V blades, which was a surprise for what I paid for them. I have a couple of the USA multi-tools as well, after seeing the similar one my wife was issued by the Army.

Just saying . . . I think Gerber makes some pretty decent stuff, but as with numerous other brands ranging from cars to appliances to musical instruments, shoddy import QC brings down the reputation of even the higher end products.
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The general public might consider the BG line the "best" of Gerber because of the celebrity association. I believe that the ones that you have are marketed primarily to military users, so they don't get nearly as much exposure as the BG products.
 
Hiro-kun said:
The general public might consider the BG line the "best" of Gerber because of the celebrity association. I believe that the ones that you have are marketed primarily to military users, so they don't get nearly as much exposure as the BG products.
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I would agree with this. I have traveled quite extensively for work, to many different Army posts, and in the PX, the "gear" section is always dominated by Gerber products.
 
Hiro-kun said:
The general public might consider the BG line the "best" of Gerber because of the celebrity association. I believe that the ones that you have are marketed primarily to military users, so they don't get nearly as much exposure as the BG products.
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Yeah, I guess that's true. I suppose it doesn't help that a lot of the big box stores charge close to MSRP, which would make some that I mentioned seem pretty expensive compared to a BG knife that looks similar. In my experience, my Prodigy and LMF II each came in costing less than the most similar BG model, and that's coming from a rain forest retailer that I have to believe accounts for a LOT of Gerber's knife sales.
 
I like Gerber. I only have a few of their offerings, a Sport Multitool and the Profile. The multitool has been used and abused, alot, mostly fishing and hunting. There is not a lick of rust on it. I like that you can throw out the pliers/wire cutters.
 
I only have 1 Gerber in my collection, and it's the Rick Hinderer designed Firestorm. I know Gerber's rep has taken some major hits, and their poor QC is a matter of fact, but this knife is solid as a rock. I bought it in a pawn shop for about 10 bucks and a very generous member here fixed her up for me. Ground off the serrations, took off the finish and then bead blasted it, scraped off all the rust inside, polished the washers and lubed it up for me.

It is indeed one hell of a knife and the Hinderer influence shines through in this design. I love this knife and won't let it go.





 
I don't have much experience with newer Gerber knives the last Gerber I bought was a CF SL3.25 from the late 90s IIRC but that knife and every Gerber before that (DWO, BoltAction, Silver Knight, the early plastic knives) were great knives but that was before management changed hands and after they lost the likes of Blackie Collins and a few others.

If you had to pick the best that Gerber makes today regardless of price, which model would you pick?
 
rajincagin said:
why? I would think that BG would want to keep quality good, after all, it IS his name on the product
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That's not saying much. If I was getting paid to have my initials on a knife, I'd take the money and run. I do love my LMF that's made in Portland, Oregon. It's one tough SOB and you can feel the quality in your hand.
 
To answer the last question:

I like the:

LST
EVO Mid Tanto
BG SCOUT ( it's as surprisingly tough knife)
Counterpart
I have another Tanto but don't know the name. I will try to post a pic later.

Also, I really want to try the new BG Scout II. Looks like good knife.
 
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