Gerber Mark ii

L

loraksus

Joined
May 31, 2007
Messages
76
I'd like to get one - they look great and I've heard nothing but good things about them (by all means, feel free to post some negative things if you can)
I'd preferably get an older model (they used L6 and 440c until they switched to 440a in '97) but prices (for any versions) are stupidly expensive and only seem to be going up and up.

I've been watching on ebay and other places for the last few months and you can't really find one for less than $150 (I recall I missed an auction for $70 for a new in box one and am still kicking myself for it).
Anyone know of any particular reason for the price? Apparently they are popular with some of the military folks, but I don't think repeated deployments are really why the price is so high.
I'd appreciate if you let me know your thoughts on whether they are worth the expense / if they live up to the hype.
Thanks
 
If you also know of any less costly alternatives, I'd also be interested in hearing about them...
 
If it is because they look cool, and have a very interesting history...go for it.

If you want it for use...what do you want it to do?

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
hEY gUYS..

Loraksus..

I'm with Kohai999 on this one..
If it's for a collection cool..

However it's Very limited in it's usage...

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
i have a '71 mark 11 myself and bought it new in '71 so it holds a special place in my heart, probably better stuff available these days though.
 
I've owned three - an early tool steel with brown leather, and a first and second Gen stainless. I used the latter in IOBC in the field.

Few people have any actual experience with these in combat and will tell the story, so I'll pass on the ability of the knife in that regard. It is supposed to work OK as a stabber, being a wasp waisted double edge, and does index in the hand. In utility cutting it is less than good in today's market. The thick grind wedges in the cut, the serrations are just short of useless in length, although a good design, and the tip strength is questionable. The grip is comfortable in use, for cold cast aluminum. It will ring when dropped, unlike all the other field knives I now prefer.

The sheath never worked for me - all the snaps and straps to hold the blade in failed, and the old school pistol belt hanger dropped the knife so much it constantly hit the ground sitting and poked me in the ribs. This was with the old school LCE belt and suspenders. In vehicles it was just as bad. Wearing it inverted on the suspenders was too John Wayne then, and there was no way to trust it staying in the sheath. I am aware of one Reserve SF who lost one jumping into a LZ in Arkansas who lost his - nobody claims the leather sheath is jump rated. He found it 2 years later right where he packed his chute previously.

It was stainless but badly mottled and pitted, understandable under the circumstances.

I've sold mine, they made me money, but as a field knife a cheap Kabar will do much more. Something along the lines of a RAT, Ranger, Swamp Rat, or other, in carbon steel, would be much better at the job, in my 2 c's. As a historical Nam collector piece, OK, as a using knife, not.
 
loraksus said:
If you also know of any less costly alternatives, I'd also be interested in hearing about them...
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the market is like today since the last time I searched for one was in 2003. I found a couple online stores selling them but they turned out to be pages that were not updated since Gerber stopped producing them. IIRC most I found were over $150.00.

I found a nice alternative, and actually a better knife IMO with the Gerber Guardian II. This knife is similar to the MKII but IMO has a more comfortable handle and the blade is not serrated. It was not made for very long, maybe only in the mid-1980s, and is not as common as the MKII, but at least in 2003 they sold for less, maybe because not many people knew what they were.

Another alternative if you can find it is the Parker Knives Big Smokey. This is an early 1980s knock off of the MKII that sold for around $20.00 in the 1980s and I saw them in 2003 for around $40.00, but not many of them.

The Boker Applegate-Fairbairn is a little smaller but is great knife. It comes in several colors. IMO the A-F and the Guardian II have the most comfortable handles among the daggers I've held.

If you don't mind kraton handles there is the Cold Steel Peacemaker. This was made in Carbon V, "420 sub zero quench" whatever that is, and IIRC AUS8.
 
I own a 1978 Gerber mark II, and it took a lot of research, and a lot of time to find a mint condition knife, with the year I like. I paid $260 for my Mark II and it came with the original box. ( highly valued by collectors) I would never use this knife for any other reason than collecting purposes. The most expensive mark II out their is the dive knife(I saw a yellow handle go for 3,000 dollars, and the orange handles are even more rare) , and for the regular mark II some of the late '60's go for 1,000 or so. (In good condition)

GB
 
Boker sells a cheap dagger under their Magnum brand.

B-MAG13.jpg
 
Thanks all... Not sure why I didn't get an email saying I got a reply, sorry for not responding sooner.

As for why -
Basically I want to get a decent fixed blade knife for carry in the bush.
Something not too expensive (If I'm going to spend $500 on a carry weapon, I'm buying a glock), but at the same time, I don't want to buy a POS made out of pakistani "steel"
I actually don't have a fixed blade if you don't count a set of kukris, so I guess it's sort of mandatory I get at least one fixed blade, right? ;)
I'm thinking about joining the reserves, so I might looking for a combat knife as well - a guy I know in the Marines says a lot of the Marine Recon guys carry one, so I figured there might be something to them (then again, he's in EOD, so he's insane)
I realize that the mk ii isn't really utility, so it may end up as my first "collectors piece" - who knows ;)

I appreciate the comments about the sheath - very helpful. Kind of surprised that the sheath isn't the best, but I've never really seen a "super awesome" sheath.
I've also been looking at the Guardian II's, fewer of them on ebay, but they are there and they are cheaper. Also some Fairbairn Sykes daggers, but those are pretty much all reproductions and I'm guessing are made of pot iron or something.
I can barely find any info on most of the other models referenced here. I'm going to start another thread about "the best utility knife", which will no doubt start a flamewar and end up with me buying 8 different knives ;)
 
for field use a mark 11 isnt very good anyway (though thats what i used mine for lol) try a busse or a becker, they work 10X better for field use, the mark 11 is really just a fighter.

greco also makes some good FB for that kinda duty imho.
 
my '71 model even used is worth some $$ now, any vietnam war era ones are sky high.
 
I have been lucky enough to aquire several Mark II's over the years, mostly the older grey handle versions. They are my all time favorite knife. I'm not saying I would use one for daily carry, but I love the design. I like the way the knife feels in the hand, and it has a cool "look" to it. The Mark II has some great history behind it. Recently, prices have gone way up and I have not found one in my price range for a couple of years. The coolest one in my collection has to be one that belonged to Mr. Al Mar himself. Bought it when his wife sold a few items from his collection a few years ago. It was a 1974 model. Again, not the best field knife in the world, but I wish Gerber would bring back the the old style grey handle, leather sheath version. Then I could afford to keep one in my Bug Out Kit.

Hank Martin
 
Maybe you should post this in the Bernard Levine forum for a "PROFESSIONAL" answer to a question ab out a collectable knife..................

I have a 1968 Mk. II that, frankly, has only one, legitimate, use and that requires a military career and a posting in a nasty place, like, Frank Herbert's Dune. I should just sell mine but the value continues to rise year in year out so I just consider it an investment at this point..................

Syn
 
I gave away a grey handle model to a buddy going to Central America, back in the early '80s. He gave it to a local down there, came back and bought me a new black handle, still in the trademark "Insta-Pit" tool steel that I used to love. I still have it. Those old gerbers sharpened up to an insane level, pretty easily.

So, with 30 years plus of handling the Mark II in the field, let me say....it is really a mediocre field knife. I guess if poking stuff comes up a lot for you, get one. MUCH better stuff out there for what one will cost you nowadays.
 
i have 1 of the later blades[mid "90's] as well as an abused command 2.while it's not a good field knife i dont mind getting a few more
 
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loraksus said:
I'd like to get one - they look great and I've heard nothing but good things about them (by all means, feel free to post some negative things if you can)
I'd preferably get an older model (they used L6 and 440c until they switched to 440a in '97) but prices (for any versions) are stupidly expensive and only seem to be going up and up.

I've been watching on ebay and other places for the last few months and you can't really find one for less than $150 (I recall I missed an auction for $70 for a new in box one and am still kicking myself for it).
Anyone know of any particular reason for the price? Apparently they are popular with some of the military folks, but I don't think repeated deployments are really why the price is so high.
I'd appreciate if you let me know your thoughts on whether they are worth the expense / if they live up to the hype.
Thanks
Click to expand...



The price keeps going up because they haven't been made since 99 or 00 When they were discontinued along with the mkI.

Gerber will run the knife as a special limited edition commerative once in a great while. But it will have etching on the blade and sometimes a wood and brass handle, along with a price of $250-$300.


Gutman/Explorer made a knock off in the 80's that was as good fit and finish wise, I don't know what kind of steel they used. I saw an auction on ebay about 5 years ago that had 4 different Gutman/Explorer MkII's that went for under $100. The Gutman/Explorer knives probably had diecast zinc or Zamak handles instead of the cast aluminum like Gerber used. Cold steel ran an ad of a Gutman/Explorer copy of their Tanto that had a cast zinc handle. So it's not unreasonable to assume they used zinc on their MKII copy.

Someone mentioned the Guardian series knives as an alternative but they were only made for a couple of years and are harder to find than the MKII

The Idea was originally to replace the MKI and II with the Guardian series knives which were cheper to manufacture, The blades were straight most of their length which makes for more uniform grind lines and less hand work. I think the medium and large guardian knives used the same handle too. Demand for the MKI and II was always greater and there are few knife companies that have room in their product line for 4 double edged daggers. I think the Guardians were killed just after Fiskars took over Gerber. (I could be mistaken about that)
 
I should have mentioned if you were looking for a wasp waisted blade look for an a Blackjack, Effingham made EK. They can be had for around $100 with the cord wrapped handles. Full tang knife better all around construction.
Neither of these knives will make a great sclicer dicer. Go with the tha knife that will take more abuse cheaper.
Al Mar also made a dagger with a similar handle to the MKII in 2 different sizes. Hard to find though.
 
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