does anyone have a dull gerber gator they cant get sharp?

R

richard j

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Apr 1, 2007
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i have heard from some people that a few gerber gators were hard to sharpen. i was sharpening knives at a fundraiser quite a few years ago when this guy hands me his gator. he said it was brand new but he dulled it cutting fiberglass insulation. he tried to put an edge back on but gave up soon after trying. i didnt have any problems getting his sharp or anyone elses. his split a hair up the middle with ease as did every other one i sharpened.
 
I always found my gator easy to sharpen compared to say my buck special.

The problem I found with my gator is that the handle got exposed to some sort of chemical during work and now leaves a nasty sticky goo on my hands whenever i use it. Very frustrating - it's almost new in terms of use but I never use it anymore. You ever seen anything like that or know how to stop it?
 
What metal is the Gator. They made some in ats-34, 154cm and bg-42 (suprised me).

The few I've sharpened just took a bit of time to re-bevel the edge.

As for the sticky handle, I only heard from people that said 1: used adhesive accellerator and 2: put it in an oven. I don't state either worked, but they said the methods did and I felt the issue wasn't of import at the time.
 
darkwing, a few gators i sharpened were funny feeling like you mentioned compared to some others. what kinds of chemicals do you work with?
 
I've had that same problem with every "Kraton" handled knife I've ever used, whether they suffered chemical exposure or not. I've concluded that it's my own body chemistry doing it. I won't buy a knife with a "Kraton" handle again.
 
Richard, I work as a painter so the handle has been exposed to paint thinner, acetone, maybe some xylene and methanol (methyl hydrate). But my knives dont get drenched. I just handled it with my hands damp with the solvent. Couple days later i reached for it and got slimed.

Thanks for the ideas orthogonal, maybe i'll try them cause then knife is dead to me at the moment. And yes yablanowitz, it certainly turned me off of kraton as well.
 
i think the stuff i use is resistant to all that stuff but it would be nice to know if it was indeed resistant to most solvents. if it is, i probably could replace the kraton with what i use.
 
Kraton can get sticky if left in the sun to long, but It shouldn't get sticky from your sweat/hands alone.
I have had quite a bit of experience with kraton as maybe bike grips are made from it and I've been riding bmx for years.
 
it sounds like the stuff gets like plastic night crawlers do when stored next to plastic bobbers.
 
DrivebyTrucker said:
Interesting facts about Kraton. How about G10 or Carbon Fiber do they suffer these problems as well?
Click to expand...

I've not had such problems with any other material, including G-10, carbon fiber, linen Micarta or FRN. My FRN knives in particular have been splashed with a number of truly nasty chemicals, including solvents, acids and caustics.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled thread ;)

I've never had a problem getting my old Gator sharp, just problems letting go of the (expletive deleted) sticky thing.
 
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