- Joined
- Apr 3, 2008
- Messages
- 369
My dad got me a plain-Jane Imperial Officers Ulster scout-style knife for my 12th birthday. I was just tickled.
Couple years later, he brought home a knife from the company store and gave it to my mom.
Kitchen knife. All chromed and stuff. Cast aluminum handle.
Now, I hadn't been what you'd call "enamored of" kitchen cutlery prior to that, but this thing seriously got my attention. So I asked him what the heck that was.
Gerber, he said. Portland, Oregon, he said. Tool steel, he said. Harder than stainless, takes and keeps a better edge, he said.
Gerber, says I. I'll remember that.
Fast forward to 1971, Ramstein AFB. There I am, at the BX, looking through some sporting goods stuff, and there's that name again. Gerber.
Bought three hunting knives that day: Shorty, Mini Magnum, and a Pixie (I think), with the same chromed tool steel blades, cast aluminum handles, with "armorhide" coating. And a large flat sharpening steel. All kinds of pleased with myself.
Roll forward another eleven years, and I'm standing in a knife shop (Cutlery World) at the mall in Las Vegas, and I pick up a Gerber Silver Knight pocket folder, a Muskie (chromed tool steel, aluminum handle + armorhide), and a little dagger, called the Guardian (polished stainless, aluminum + armorhide handle). And the smaller steel.
Over the next few months, all the Gerbers I was used to seeing just vanished. Then Cutlery World closed. That was the last time I would see one of the old school Gerbers new on the shelf. (The last knife I got from Cutlery World was a little thing called a Kershaw Whiskey Gap. Cute. Sharp. Well made.)
Down the road, I picked up a Gerber multi-tool, but somehow it wasn't . . . the same.
Ebay did not yet exist. I wandered in search of another brand to which I could be loyal.
Never mind that there was quality all around me, and in my ignorance I couldn't be bothered to actually LOOK at what was there. I scanned the surface, looking for something that would "jump out" at me. Not with any kind of enthusiasm, mind you; I had other preoccupations, what with a career building and a family building and all that stuff.
Another sixteen years would slip by before something changed.
We'd moved, and were living in Scottsdale. I was spending some quality time with the kids at the local mall, and we strolled into a cutlery shoppe.
I figured they'd be bored. Ha!
We walked out with a double handful of new toys. The fire was back. I was a Kershaw fan. I bought one for my son, and another for myself. Black Gulch and something else. My daughter picked out a Spec Plus AF Survival Knife. My wife would rue the day she sent us out to have some "quality time" together.
We moved a couple more times. Wife and I resolved to get in some outdoor time. Part of my job to this end was equipment selection. What would work well in an everyday context and camping as well? I'd have to check.
And then I found eBay. I picked up at least a knife every couple weeks for the next year, as I tried different brands and patterns. I got a first-hand education in bad ideas.
I also encountered some surprisingly good stuff for surprisingly little money.
I'm less of a "brand loyalist" now, though I've found I like Case, old Schrade, old Imperial, Kershaw, Buck, Böker, and pretty much anything out of Sweden and Finland. Norway, too, but it's expensive compared to the other Scandinavian stuff.
Ebay made it possible for me to get a copy of my mom's old Gerber French kitchen knife. Along with a number of other old Gerbers.
I've finally waded through the advertising hype and run my own tests and had my own surprises.
I now know what works for me.
And I have three tool boxes full of stuff I tried on the way there. Happily, there are quite a few keepers in the lot.
However, dozens of them are going to become gifts or be sold or traded. I suppose I could sell the junk knives on eBay, but I'm stuck with this conscience thing that won't let me pass off some stuff the way it was passed off to me.
So . . .
What was the question?
Couple years later, he brought home a knife from the company store and gave it to my mom.
Kitchen knife. All chromed and stuff. Cast aluminum handle.
Now, I hadn't been what you'd call "enamored of" kitchen cutlery prior to that, but this thing seriously got my attention. So I asked him what the heck that was.
Gerber, he said. Portland, Oregon, he said. Tool steel, he said. Harder than stainless, takes and keeps a better edge, he said.
Gerber, says I. I'll remember that.
Fast forward to 1971, Ramstein AFB. There I am, at the BX, looking through some sporting goods stuff, and there's that name again. Gerber.
Bought three hunting knives that day: Shorty, Mini Magnum, and a Pixie (I think), with the same chromed tool steel blades, cast aluminum handles, with "armorhide" coating. And a large flat sharpening steel. All kinds of pleased with myself.
Roll forward another eleven years, and I'm standing in a knife shop (Cutlery World) at the mall in Las Vegas, and I pick up a Gerber Silver Knight pocket folder, a Muskie (chromed tool steel, aluminum handle + armorhide), and a little dagger, called the Guardian (polished stainless, aluminum + armorhide handle). And the smaller steel.
Over the next few months, all the Gerbers I was used to seeing just vanished. Then Cutlery World closed. That was the last time I would see one of the old school Gerbers new on the shelf. (The last knife I got from Cutlery World was a little thing called a Kershaw Whiskey Gap. Cute. Sharp. Well made.)
Down the road, I picked up a Gerber multi-tool, but somehow it wasn't . . . the same.
Ebay did not yet exist. I wandered in search of another brand to which I could be loyal.
Never mind that there was quality all around me, and in my ignorance I couldn't be bothered to actually LOOK at what was there. I scanned the surface, looking for something that would "jump out" at me. Not with any kind of enthusiasm, mind you; I had other preoccupations, what with a career building and a family building and all that stuff.
Another sixteen years would slip by before something changed.
We'd moved, and were living in Scottsdale. I was spending some quality time with the kids at the local mall, and we strolled into a cutlery shoppe.
I figured they'd be bored. Ha!
We walked out with a double handful of new toys. The fire was back. I was a Kershaw fan. I bought one for my son, and another for myself. Black Gulch and something else. My daughter picked out a Spec Plus AF Survival Knife. My wife would rue the day she sent us out to have some "quality time" together.
We moved a couple more times. Wife and I resolved to get in some outdoor time. Part of my job to this end was equipment selection. What would work well in an everyday context and camping as well? I'd have to check.
And then I found eBay. I picked up at least a knife every couple weeks for the next year, as I tried different brands and patterns. I got a first-hand education in bad ideas.
I also encountered some surprisingly good stuff for surprisingly little money.
I'm less of a "brand loyalist" now, though I've found I like Case, old Schrade, old Imperial, Kershaw, Buck, Böker, and pretty much anything out of Sweden and Finland. Norway, too, but it's expensive compared to the other Scandinavian stuff.
Ebay made it possible for me to get a copy of my mom's old Gerber French kitchen knife. Along with a number of other old Gerbers.
I've finally waded through the advertising hype and run my own tests and had my own surprises.
I now know what works for me.
And I have three tool boxes full of stuff I tried on the way there. Happily, there are quite a few keepers in the lot.
However, dozens of them are going to become gifts or be sold or traded. I suppose I could sell the junk knives on eBay, but I'm stuck with this conscience thing that won't let me pass off some stuff the way it was passed off to me.
So . . .
What was the question?
