bear grylls knife

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outdoorsman196

Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Messages
66
okay, so i know that when the bg knife came out at first, the pommel would break off with hard use. however i have been hearing rumors that this has been fixed. can anyone confirm this? has the knife survived batoning/prying/basically the stuff in his show? i know his show isn't the best in survival advice, but he beats his knives pretty good so if they can survive that i figure they are pretty tough. i wanted to know if the knife with his name on it could stand up to it, or if it is just good for opening frozen dinners in your hotel :D thanks
 
I'd be more interested in the rest of the BG line. What about the Gerbers that were featured so prominently in the second season of The Walking Dead? Are these things respectable in quality now or are they still junk like the first run?
 
I've never used it and don't want to. I have the lmf 2 which I don't love but its okay, the bg knife seems like a shitty version of the lmf imo. I did read a positive review of it in Tactical Knives magazine but I've yet to read an article in which they didn't love everything they test.
 
HardTripper said:
I've never used it and don't want to. I have the lmf 2 which I don't love but its okay, the bg knife seems like a shitty version of the lmf imo. I did read a positive review of it in Tactical Knives magazine but I've yet to read an article in which they didn't love everything they test.
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That's because they're paid for their reviews.
 
outdoorsman196 said:
okay, so i know that when the bg knife came out at first, the pommel would break off with hard use. however i have been hearing rumors that this has been fixed. can anyone confirm this? has the knife survived batoning/prying/basically the stuff in his show? i know his show isn't the best in survival advice, but he beats his knives pretty good so if they can survive that i figure they are pretty tough. i wanted to know if the knife with his name on it could stand up to it, or if it is just good for opening frozen dinners in your hotel :D thanks
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It isn't difficult to abuse your knife when there are back-ups at hand, as well as a whole camera crew, consulting survival experts and a medical tech standing behind the camera.

You should look for knives that you can depend on when there isn't a dozen people with sat phones, medical gear and helicopters nearby. Real life doesn't have a "off" button that allows you to have a second take if the first shot didn't work out.
 
I've had mine for 7 months and have abuse it pretty good. Its still in one piece. It is a softer steel though..to allow for flex and banging without cracking or breaking.

It isn't difficult to abuse your knife when there are back-ups at hand, as well as a whole camera crew, consulting survival experts and a medical tech standing behind the camera.
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I hear this a lot, but my one point to make is, has anyone else done what he has?? I've put my knife through the passes he has, and it dose just fine.

Plus, stick your arm in a cooler of 30 degree water for 2 minutes. The pain is rather great and you loose feeling rather fast. Bear has jumped naked into colder waters for 5 minutes...medical team standing by or not, thats freeking insane. Plus, whats the medical and survival team going to do when hes in that water literally freezing his male parts off??

Yes he dose some outlandish stunts, and yes there is a full crew behind him, but at least he dose what he says.

Apart from the steel being a little soft ( needs sharpening more often than my Case knives ), its a good cheap knife that you can use and work with. And if it breaks, it was only 20 or 30 bucks..a d it was well spent.
 
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do a search here on the forums there is a thread that shows the difference between the generation 1 (not so good) and generation 2 (handle issue dealt with) BG Ultimate Survival Knife. good info if you are interested in Picking one up.


EDIT: this thread...took me awhile to find it lol
 
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I'll bet you my ESEE 4 that they have a whole truck load of his knives behind the camera. Not hard to beat up anymore. Plus, 20-30 dollars could've been spent on a nice Mora or a Spyderco Tenacious.
 
If you want it, buy it. Dont' expect it to be as good as a bark river, a fallkniven, a spyderco, a blindhorse, a benchmade or even a mora clipper (which costs less). I wouldn't buy it, but I don't really like Gerber knives. If it's just for camping, go for it. If you are serious and plan on long deep wilderness hikes...I wouldn't.

Next time, you might consider doing a search for "What do you think of model XY" as I've seen about 3 or 4 threads with the exact same question.
 
I bought the BG (second try, without the breaking pommel) a few months ago because I was curious and I found it cheap. I like the design. Unlike some I also kinda like the bright orange (try finding your tacticool camouflage coated knife when you drop it in the bush). It's comfortable to hold, but I have fairly small hands and it might be a bit small for some. People have mentioned it's like a smaller, cheaper LMFII - that's about right, although there are a couple of improvements (the fire starter and the diamond sharpener). And sure it has some gimmicks too (but who doesn't want to turn their knife into a boar spear?) There's plenty of thought given to good control points while chopping, gouging or cutting. Unfortunately the blade steel is too soft to really do any of those things effectively. In my mind it's a great design let down by poor blade steel. Then again, in my opinion so is the LMFII.

I don't think Grylls ever actually intended for that show to be taken seriously. As far as I'm aware it was intended as more of a how-to show like "The Bush Tucker Man" (google it - it's old school Aussie outback survival viewing at it's best) but the producers decided to do a re-edit, which became vastly popular. It can also be pretty difficult for ex-military to make a go of it as a civvy, so if someone is using those skills and a no-fear attitude to make gazillions, then more power to him.

In summation - the knife is an entertaining curiosity and a near miss (but very much a miss nonetheless) as something to be taken seriously.

Spend a bit more cash, buy a simpler knife made from better steel and make your own survival kit to go with it. Have the show running in the background if it helps. And maybe crack open a good bottle of red while you're at it (no South Aussie survival kit is complete without a bottle opener!) :)

Cheers
 
I don't think Gerber realizes sometimes when you have a knife design that fails, you can fix it all you want, but the damage to sales is already done. The think could be bomb proof, and I'd stay away from it.
 
I just. came back from a week in the bush with my son , 10. I bought him the plain edge version of that knife and he beat that thing through knots , logs , whittling , pinged it off rocks, pounded on the pommel for like an hour ( where he gets the energy I'll never know !) , and the only issue iwe had with that knife was that it didn't hold an edge as long as my Fallknivens , Beckers , Esees , and Blind Horse that I brought with me ( and used.)

I know a lot of folks don't like this knife the way it's marketed and made offshore and all , but after the trip we both came to the conclusion that the BG knife ( plain edge only)would be a very acceptable survival knife that can handle some abuse. The grip is actually pretty nice feeling , no hot spots , the blade didn't chip , break or bend after a solid week of bush use , and the sheath with firesteel is a usuable system. The edge holding was adequate to do work, but needed touchups at the end of the day. No problems batonning through firewood every night for hours.

My knife choices and inventory go in a different direction than the BG knife , and I bought it as a cheap survival knife for training a kid. In the end , it really surprised both of us. Even he had major doubts in the beginning and was kind of surprised that I bought it , but it proved to be tough.
 
I've looked at it and I'd buy one in a minute if it was a better steel. That's the only thing holding me back. Make it in 1095 and it's a done deal. I like the design a lot.

I always find it funny that people say get such and such instead of....?

Most of the knives used by the people who actually depend on them for living (indigenous people of any area AKA Inuits, Aboriginies, all of the jungle tribes) use blades that we'd all consider junk or cheap if we saw them for sale on a table somewhere.

All of the survival shows have a crew and back-up emergency people around it needed. Even Survivorman. Yes, it was just him and his camera, but there was a crew close enough that if conditions became that bad, he could call for a pick-up. I saw at least one show where he did call.

People, it's all about liability. We all know that. In the sue happy society we live in today, there is not one network that's going to actually let someone "survive". Bear, Dual Survival, etc, all have the disclaimer at the beginning of the show.

Lots of Bear haters out there. The show was done that way because it SELLS. Sensationalism is what sells on TV. If it can't keep people interested, it's not going to make it. None of the shows are directed to people like us, the folks who are really into the bushcraft/survival theme. The shows are for the general population.

As much as I really LOVE Ron Wood and the Woodsmaster video series, let face the truth, it would never make it as a TV show. Most people would be bored with it, despite the wealth of information in the series.
 
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