Gerber Strongarm: the fine-edged Prodigy that you have been waiting for

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Aug 1, 2009
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Despite BF's general antipathy towards Gerber's products, one model, the Prodigy, seems to be one of the few knives Gerber makes that some members here find favourable. The most common knock against it, however, is that it only comes partially serrated, which many users do not prefer on an outdoorsman's knife and wished that Gerber would produce it with a fine edge.

Soldier Systems reported today that Gerber is preparing to release the Strongarm. Although not exactly the same as the Prodigy, the Strongarm keeps all of the same features, comes in fine edge or partially serrated, and comes with a sheath that appears to allow horizontal carry as well as MOLLE and standard vertical belt carry. Made out of 420HC steel. Made in the USA for those who care about such things. MSRP is under $75, $10 more than the MSRP for the Prodigy.

I have no plans to get this knife myself, but Gerber gets very little attention around here, often for experiences that happened to users several years ago and have soured them from giving Gerber any more chances. Gerber appears to be paying more attention to the demands of communities like BF now and have responded by naming the steel more often and producing more higher-quality, domestically-manufactured products.
 
That's it, finally a straight edge version though a redesign. It looks very interesting but my only concern is where they start the edge grind. The picture shows a poorly done beginning on the grind leading to a sort of a reverse curve. Not having a 90 degree cut out at the choil means the grinders have to be more careful when beginning the initial grind on the edge. Good and bad examples can be seen on the Gerber Guardian. You don't notice it when the serrations are ground in but without the serrations it becomes more obvious.

Overall, yup, I'm in. :)

 
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I'm a fan of the Prodigy, even with its serrations, so I'll probably end up owning one of these too. Of course, I'll probably sound like a cheapskate by saying so, but the beauty of the Prodigy (aside from the design) was that you could find one for $35-45 quite easily. If that "under $75" price point is expected street price rather than MSRP, I'll wait for a sale, if for no other reason than a knife needs to be pretty remarkable in my eyes before I even crack the $50 mark these days. What amounts to a fine-edged Prodigy is nice, but remarkable it is not.
 
I'm a fan of the Prodigy, even with its serrations, so I'll probably end up owning one of these too. Of course, I'll probably sound like a cheapskate by saying so, but the beauty of the Prodigy (aside from the design) was that you could find one for $35-45 quite easily. If that "under $75" price point is expected street price rather than MSRP, I'll wait for a sale, if for no other reason than a knife needs to be pretty remarkable in my eyes before I even crack the $50 mark these days. What amounts to a fine-edged Prodigy is nice, but remarkable it is not.

I've never seen manufacturers publicly quote any price other than the MSRP. They don't, by definition.
 
I purchased one but I didnt stay impressed. Indeed, I was thinking that should be a more robust knife. Its well constructed and have a nice sheath but I think that Its little sized for my hand measures. For small guys or small hands guys could be more attractive.

P.s.: I thought the steel very good (for a 420HC).
 
I really like the strongarm, it's just as solid as the prodigy but with the highly anticipated fine edge. My only complaint was with the factory grind and the vertical carry nylon dangler on the sheath. They should have incorporated a molded piece that snaps in for vertical carry the same way the horizontal piece does. It would've made for a more stable vertical carry.

The grind was easily fixed with a few passes on the work sharp. This knife takes a wicked sharp edge, I reprofiled it to 25° and it's sharp enough to shave your face with. (I actually used it shave with, was bored lol)

I picked mine up at knife center for $55 for the coyote and for the price it's an excellent purchase.

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Took the strongarm out today, and I gotta admit I'm liking this thing more and more...The coating is really good no wear marks barely and after batoning it simply wipes clean....After a couple hours of batoning, light chopping, and feathering this thing is still razor sharp.


Also out of the knives I took out today, a bk2, Gerber prodigy, Gerber big rock, schrade schf 14, and the strongarm. The strongarm by far was the easiest to feather with.

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have responded by naming the steel more often.


They're even naming thier steel now? Woah woah woah....... aren't they worried that it'll be too technical for their customers??

One things for sure, they've really stepped up their game!:rolleyes:

In all seriousness, the knife looks pretty decent. I wouldn't mind trying one out sometime.
 
As a general rule, Im not waiting for...or looking for any contemporary Gerber knives (vintage Gerbers, now thats another ball of wax entirely).

Despite BF's general antipathy towards Gerber's products, one model, the Prodigy, seems to be one of the few knives Gerber makes that some members here find favourable.
Its not a 'general antipathy' per se - Its more lamenting what once was and which products, Gerber turns put these days (Paraframe et al). The knife in question is not bad looking. I agree, its one of the more attractive looking ones. That how ever is not making me buy one. Just my opinion of course. Power to those who buy and like it.
 
They're even naming thier steel now? Woah woah woah....... aren't they worried that it'll be too technical for their customers??

One things for sure, they've really stepped up their game!:rolleyes:

In all seriousness, the knife looks pretty decent. I wouldn't mind trying one out sometime.
It's really not a bad blade, would I trust my life on it? No not yet, it has to prove itself a lot more still. However from what I can tell so far it can take a beating and holds an amazing edge. I batoned 3 or 4 2' long by 5"diameter dried out pine sections and a bunch of feathering with it today and it's still razor sharp. I did the same with my bk2 as well today and it needef touched up when I got home...but I also cross batoned and chopped the tree to get those 2'sections with the bk2 thou...so it saw slightly more use.

The strongarm did perform outstanding thou, and did remarkably well with feathering....It would pair nicely with a large blade to handle the chopping and main batoning.
 
Ok just a heads up strongarm owners, apparently there were some bad batches sent out that have bent blades. I didn't notice this at first, but I ordered a kydex sheath for it and when it arrived was super tight on the knife...I immediately contacted the maker who informed me of this issue and to check my knife as 2 other people experienced the same issue..sure enough my blade hooks to the right near the tip. Gonna contact Gerber for a replacement, I'd suggest you check yours.
 
Just got my replacement strongarm from Gerber in the mail. It was a incredibly slow process for them to ship out a new knife, about a month and half but gotta respect the fact they stood behind there product no questions asked.

The new one came in your typical retail clam shell packaging, where the bent one came in the box. From talking with a few others who experienced bent blades they also received a boxed model and were either ordered from knife center or bladehq.

Also as a side note this is the only Gerber I've ever handled that actually has an even grind on both sides and is ridiculously sharp out the package. Seems like they might have someone who actually knows how to sharpen knives working for em, or this almost prefect grind is a fluke accident lol.

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... Gerber gets very little attention around here, often for experiences that happened to users several years ago and have soured them from giving Gerber any more chances.

Pretty much, for me at least it's too little too late...

If I spend any $ on a 420hc knife, "made in u.s.a." , why would I risk it on a(another) Gerber when in the same price range I can surely get a Buck or Case which have already proven themselves time and time again to be the best in the biz when it comes to 420hc? It really may a great knife, and for their sake I really hope it is, but unless I have one given to me as a gift or GAW, I'll never know for myself either way...
 
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Pretty much, for me at least it's too little too late...

If I spend any $ on a 420hc knife, "made on u.s.s." , why would I risk it on a(another) Gerber when in the same price range I can surely get a Buck or Case which have already proven themselves time and time again to be the best in the biz when it comes to 420hc? It really may a great knife, and for their sake I really hope it is, but unless I have one given to me as a gift or GAW, I'll never know for myself either way...
It's an awesome lil knife, I had my original one for a few months and used it alot. My original one didn't have the best grind out the box so I immediately reprofiled it and it held it's edge remarkably. I used it for an edc for awhile for various cutting tasks, and used it for fire prep batoning a bunch of pine, and making feathersticks. After about 3 Months of good use it never needed more than a quick stropping to touch up the edge.

The sheath is ok, especially if your planning on molle mounting it or a lower back scout carry. The method of vertical carry is what I don't like, they should've made an insert piece for vertical carry similar to the horizontal carry option they provided. That's why I opted for a kydex sheath replacement, which was molded off a straight knife and that's when I discovered the blade was bent near the tip bc I couldn't insert the knife into the sheath more than half way before getting incredibly tight.

Overall thou it's a great lil knife, granted it's not of Becker or tops quality but for $45-55 it's worth picking up. Especially since even if you do manage to damage or break it they'll happily replace it without any hassle.


Also you can check out the gauntlet reviews on youtube of this knife to see what it's capable of withstanding.
 
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My first two Gerbers were from my dad that he sent me for my birthday a few years back. I wanted to support them because they are an Oregon brand and Oregon is the best state in the world/universe (YMMV)... But I was really not very happy after using the knives for a while and eventually moved from newb to semi-newb status and blahblahblah, here I am today, a full blown knife snob.

The point is that I'm interested in the Strongarm and willing to give Gerber another chance. It's easy to joke about them and honestly, they deserve it. I joke about the Ducks too... They wore Raiders colors to the national champ game and ended up playing like them. Always next season... :D

Bobby, your impressions of the Strongarm have definitely helped me so at some point in the future, I'll have another Gerber.
 
Idk if something like that would work the way the stock sheath is set up. A kydex piece would work, but it would seem to need to be custom made around the sheath itself to work.

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My first two Gerbers were from my dad that he sent me for my birthday a few years back. I wanted to support them because they are an Oregon brand and Oregon is the best state in the world/universe (YMMV)... But I was really not very happy after using the knives for a while and eventually moved from newb to semi-newb status and blahblahblah, here I am today, a full blown knife snob.

The point is that I'm interested in the Strongarm and willing to give Gerber another chance. It's easy to joke about them and honestly, they deserve it. I joke about the Ducks too... They wore Raiders colors to the national champ game and ended up playing like them. Always next season... :D

Bobby, your impressions of the Strongarm have definitely helped me so at some point in the future, I'll have another Gerber.
It's honestly my favorite gerber, I also own the lmf2 and prodigy which I picked up in the beginning of my now knife addiction lol. The lmf2i really don't care for and unless the shtf and I find myself needing to break glass, crush skulls, or cut live wire it doesn't see much use. However I've beaten the hell out of the prodigy and it's taken everything I've thrown at it with ease. I didn't really care for the serrations thou, and the strongarm is practically the prodigy with a fine edge option.

Gerber gets a bad rep due to the high volumes of Chinese garbage they pump out to the masses, but when they want to they can make a Damn fine knife here in the USA. I won't even consider a Gerber anymore unless it's made in the states, cause every Chinese knife I've bought has broke with mild use. With the only exception being the Gerber big rock.
 
I've watched the Gauntlet reviews among others on YT. I think it is obviously a tough performer.
I find it hard to believe that anyone can doubt it's value after watching the reviews. Some people seem to jump on whatever new steel bandwagon comes along. I suspect that some of these individuals haven't used the steel they tout or the one they are knocking. It's simply a case of following the pack.

I've no doubt that some steels might exhibit better edge holding. Some of those same steels may not prove to be any more durable though. Some folks are gonna knock a Gerber product no matter how well it does in tests. Again I suspect many of these Gerber haters are following the pack and have little or no experience with the brand. Gerber has released lower quality import models that may be poor performers. I've avoided those. The ones I've purchased and used over the last 30+ years have yet to fail me. Pre and post Fiskars.
I expect no less from the Strongarm. Yes I bought one.
 
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