Gerber Steadfast vs B&KT 9

A

ak74auto

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I have been offered both of these knives (by different owners) for my OSS. I want / need a decent field knife for my combat gear and to play around with and use while at home.

The Gerber is made of 440A steel, has a 6" blade and looks to be almost new.
The Becker is 1095, has none of the original finish and a 9 inch blade.

I want a knife for light prying, chopping, and general cutting. Of the two, which would you guys recommend and why?


Thanks
Signed,
Joseph
 
Well, it seems unanimous at this point, but the question still remains , why ?
 
BK - 9, definitely. You want chopping, than a 6" blade will not really help you. Besides that, I would never own anything with Gerbers name on it.
 
BK9 is a woderful knife that is user friendly and is very well made. I have used a BK9 so many times out in the woods for so many things. I have found it to be a steadfast and dependable knife that had ne equal in its price range and other price ranges too. I would venture a guess and say that knife is just one of the best out there.
 
BK9 - A solid, well made balanced chopper and slicer, with great grips that just fit the hand perfectly. great steel, easy to sharpen in the field, takes down small trees quickly. Splits, shaves, notches, chops, wipe it clean and butcher your dinner with it.

nuff said
my BK9 chopping a birch tree down, tree is 6" diameter and fairly hard wood. (and i was chopping poorly, due to a shoulder dislocation several days prior)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlntTqmQErU

BK9 and a Scrapyard SOD (BK9 is the first knife in the vid)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AECf7WsatoA&feature=related

oh btw, knives aint meant fer prying...use the proper tool for the job ;)
 
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I honestly hope that post was a joke. Stainless steel, and gerber for that matter, have no place in combat/survival knives unless you are being infilled via zodiac or finning underwater, navigating via tritium commenga compass.
 
I think Skimo meant that the opposite way you took it.

"no place in combat/survival knives" ??? What? Why? Even though they are not made from INFI or some other super ninja steel doesn't mean they're useless. Combat conditions can be wet harsh, sometimes stain resistance and easy to sharpen are pretty important. Not every fight takes place in the desert. Gerber certainly isn't my favorite, and neither is 440A, but they are still good.
I realize most of us own better quality knives here, but first starting out I used many Gerber's, and they worked just fine. 440A takes a good edge and is easily maintained.
Is it the best choice? Maybe not. But for some folks it's perfectly suitable.

Are we becoming such elitists here that one of the cutlery greats "have no place" because they are lower end? Sad.
 
As I said, unless you are going to be constantly working in a wet environment it isn't needed. It goes back to the age old debate whether 1095 can be used in wet conditions with reasonable maintenance and the answer is simply yes. I've never owned INFI, or anything higher performance than 1095 to be honest. It's a hard working steel. 440A and the other Chinese equivalents that Gerber likes to use are completely inferior to other 80 dollar combat and survival blades out there. 80 DOLLARS for a 440a blade. Is there some sort of gold filler they inject it with that I don't know about? If you like rolled edges and chipping, then 440A is your friend. I know when I shopped my duty knives there was no way I would ever trust my life to it, and that's the way I looked at it. Will I be able to trust this thing enough to put not only my life, but the lives of my brothers in the hands of this knife? With a Becker the answer is undoubtedly yes. I have alot of 440a blades I've used for years, still use, and they cut just fine-but they're used for around the house utility tasks and kitchen work, not combat. Considering I've only spent more than 100 dollars on one knife, I don't consider myself an elitist at all. I'm unemployed, have been for 8 months and previous to that I was on the government's payroll which was barely enough to afford me a set of the schnazzy new uniforms they made us wear, let alone some fancy proprietary steel. "they are still good", but not good enough. And btw, stuff rusts like CRAZY in the desert. one drop of water gets on anything, it's red within hours.
 
Well I would choose the Becker as well. That wasn't my point. Performance of 1095 is often better than that of 440A, no arguments here. I have never had a problem with chipping or rolling with any of the Gerbers I own or have owned. People have been "trusting their lives" to Gerber knives for decades. There is nothing wrong with them. There are definitely other options out there, but to say they "have no place" is just not true.
As for price, $80? Big deal. People sell knives (and everything else) for more than the sum of their parts are worth all the time. The price of knives is rarely dictated by the steel choice (Uh, Randall?) It is dictated by supply and demand, design features, sometimes a name, how much the manufacturer thinks people will pay, whatever. As pointed out recently by a number of makers, materials only play a small part in the overall price of a knife.
A Gerber can be a perfectly serviceable tool for the job. Maybe not your favorite, or mine for that matter, but still serviceable.
I used the old Gerber LMF, very close to the current Steadfast, for 10 years. Never had a problem with any aspect of the knife. It was very comfortable in hand, tough, sharp, and not too heavy. Didn't even look that bad.

Be careful not to choose a knife based only on the steel used.
 
Hey Jim, Gerbers used to be good quality a while back, but the general consensus is that their QC has fallen way below expectations in recent years. Same said for a number of manufacturers like Schrade who make crap now but used to make excellent cutlery. I think BlackJack is following that way quickly also now days.

To the OP - my advice is to go for the Becker. It is a great blade. Perhaps not the best for prying. The steel at 3/16" isn't the thickest out there and the long length at 9" means you can put a lot of leverage on the blade during prying which is not a good thing. If you want to pry than go for a BK-2 which at 5" plus 1/4" thick will take any kind of lateral force you can personally throw at it. The BK-9 is a very respectable chopper and just all around great blade. Check out my review of the BK-7 which is the same knife, just 2 inches shorter.
 
Jim Craig said:
Well I would choose the Becker as well. That wasn't my point. Performance of 1095 is often better than that of 440A, no arguments here. I have never had a problem with chipping or rolling with any of the Gerbers I own or have owned. People have been "trusting their lives" to Gerber knives for decades. There is nothing wrong with them. There are definitely other options out there, but to say they "have no place" is just not true.
As for price, $80? Big deal. People sell knives (and everything else) for more than the sum of their parts are worth all the time. The price of knives is rarely dictated by the steel choice (Uh, Randall?) It is dictated by supply and demand, design features, sometimes a name, how much the manufacturer thinks people will pay, whatever. As pointed out recently by a number of makers, materials only play a small part in the overall price of a knife.
A Gerber can be a perfectly serviceable tool for the job. Maybe not your favorite, or mine for that matter, but still serviceable.
I used the old Gerber LMF, very close to the current Steadfast, for 10 years. Never had a problem with any aspect of the knife. It was very comfortable in hand, tough, sharp, and not too heavy. Didn't even look that bad.

Be careful not to choose a knife based only on the steel used.
Click to expand...

See, like you I used an LMF, it was one of my first bushcrafting knives. Ergonomics are damned near perfect and the overall design of the knife is just great. Balance, length, the sheath, even the finish for once was done right. The steel, however... dents chips even cracks with normal camping use like making tinder, very light splitting and battoning, etc. I may have got a dud, but the dozen or so other gerber blades I've had were all like that. Actually the best Gerber I ever had was a 20 dollar fixed Profile from Walmart. I still use that knife for general utility around the place today. I wouldn't take it in a firefight with me expecting it to do all the necessary combat utility tasks though, that's for sure...
 
Becker all the way. Slap a set of micarta handles on that beast and you're good as gold.
 
Fine then, stop yelling at me!! :)

Either you've had poor luck with Gerber, I've had great luck, or we've both had products that represented the current QC. I was not aware of the QC drop of late. Mine have all been great quality for the price. Except my BMF. It was great quality, but I paid way too much, even at the time....

When I first bought my LMF, I did pull-ups on it, cut sheet metal, and all the other things I used to think were good tests for a knife, and it did fine.

I find it unfortunate you have had chipping and rolling problems with 440A. I have never had any problem at all. I don't put a thin edge on it like I would with my Dozier, or SBT, but they are different animals.

Anyway, regardless of our Gerber disagreement, we can all seem to agree that the BK9 is superior. Sure wish I went with the 9 instead of the BK7....
 
Any chance you could find another option? The BK9 is a great knife, handles well and is amazing light for its size and all, It's a great chopper and lopper, and the 1095 CV is awesome, but I'd personally not want such a long knife with such a limited-use-tip for a knife for my combat field gear. I'd at least have to mod that tip some. I'd personally much prefer the size of the Steadfast, I really liked the original LMF plain spine but I've heard a lot of bad things about Gerber lately though I have no personal experience with the new ones.
 
Save yourself some disappointment and go with the Becker. If you're looking for something that you can also pry with, you may want to consider the BK-2 instead. Smaller, a little less expensive, but built like a tank.
 
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