Does anyone like Gerber knives?

I bought Gerbers before the LST, when it was a choice of them, traditional Grandpa knives in hardware stores, Solingen imports, or Swiss Army. So, they were the Benchmade/Spyderco of the day, and that was top of the line. There were no others, just expensive customs. Now, they are no better than Smith and Wesson. Surf that sometimes - more models than you have ever seen, all Chinese, and all value engineered to the lowest possible cost.

Fiskars bought them in 1987, and the collective thought at the time was, "Oh, noooooooooo." Mr. Bill style. And the predictions proved true. Fiskars threw them under the bus for profit, and that was the start of the American tactical knife movement. Companies started up left and right to fill the void, the Knife Renaissance kicked off, and Gerber became a low cost also ran.

Like 911, we will never forget.
 
Topcatpt said:
your comparing car maintence to a thumbstud coming off. car maintence changing oil knife maintence sharpening/lube
knife thumbstud falling off car tire falling off would you hate that car if it did that on the road lol
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good one.
i repeat if my tires falls off i will sue.....
 
Ye- NO. As has been said; old ones were good, new ones suck.
What's more important, though.... YOUR WALMART CARRIES ENDURAS???
 
b yond said:
Let me get my flame suit on here...

I have to wonder if some people hate on inexpensive knives just so they feel justified in spending so much on their knives.

Hating Gerber because a thumbstud came unscrewed? Do you hate your car if a it needs maintenance too?

It's ok to buy expensive knives just because you like them. You really don't need to try to find reasons to hate on the cheaper ones to justify it. :p

I'm fully wrapped in kevlar and flame-retardant. Come at me bro. :cool:
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I love it, got a Gerber Evo from a guy for $2 at a gun show because the thumbstud came off and he didn't know what to do with it. Replaced the stud for $3, and I think $5 is a fair price for a Gerber Evo. Probably wouldn't pay much more.
 
I think it comes down to what kind of Gerber. I've carried the 06 Auto downrange twice. It's still by far the best production knife I've ever used. It holds an edge very well. No play at all. As others have noted, it might make a difference if the knife was outsourced or made in USA, or possible Joe Q Public consumer versus Military NSN. Mine is military NSN, made in the USA. http://www.bladehq.com/imgs/side-op...erber-06/gerber-06-auto-dp-serr-30-000377.jpg
 
I have a gerber obsidian . Great knife. Solid lockup, centered blade. Has the push button lock and it works great! Also it has one of the best bottle openers in handle for my brewskis:) Guess i got a good one
 
Guess I am just lucky ~~ as I have 12 Gerbers.! "WOW" 1 ~ Gator 154CM Serrated Drop Point Folder Item# 06065
1 ~ " " Stud Fine Edge w/Sheath Item# 06098
1 ~ " " Stud Serr w/Sheath Model 06909
2 ~ Gerber ~ XCP Fixed Blade Clip Point Model# 06916 W/NWTF on the Blades
1 ~ " " ~ Silver Knight Item# 7669 W/Scrimshaw of Hunting Black Lab. Dog
1 ~ " " ~ Silver Eagle ( Pearl Handle ) W/Knife Sleeve
2 ~ " " ~ Belt Buckles W/Scrimshawed Ram
2 ~ " " ~ " " Turkey in full strut
1 ~ " " ~ Belt Buckle SS
All of these have been Safe Queens for many years as I keep forgetting about them but this is when they made good knives.! Can't find them anymore.*
For what they make now-a-days will not cut soft Butter.!**
Plus all of these Gerbers are NIB's as most people used them back then.
 
Seven pages!? Damn. Well, I didn't expect the topic to get this much attention. Well, I ended up giving the Icon to my younger brother. It refuses to give a good lockup unless you use a bit of force when you flick it open. He doesn't care, he's one of those guys who says "a kinfe is just a sharpened piece of metal". The Evo, on the other hand, is a nice little EDC. It gets used for things I won't use my Manix or RJ1 for. So, basically, it gets all of the abuse. It's held up surprisingly well. So once again, they're not great. They may make a decent one here or there, but I'm not gonna waste my money to figure out which ones aren't crap.

And yes, my Walmart sells Enduras. :D
 
A gerber freeman was my first fixed blade (I think, could have been a case, but I think that was second)

I liked the knife a lot, wish I could find it
 
I have a few, and the few that I've gotten, I've been lucky. They're all USA made; 1 air ranger prototype done up here in the states before they outsourced the specs to be mass produced (gift from an exec), 1 fullsize Applegate combat folder, 1 old multitool. The air ranger pulls backup duty if any of my regular edc's go down, the applegate is awesome enough that it's now a piece of my bug out kit, and the multitool is handy enough that it rides in the console of my truck.

All that said, I don't care much for the brand these days. I like made in the USA, and do find myself considering another applegate or even an 06 auto, but I'm more prone to go with a ZT at this point.
 
franzdom said:
Obviously somebody does or else WalMart wouldn't carry them.
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Yes, Walmart; the three locally carry Gerber's....as well as Spyderco, Kershaw, Benchmade, Buck, SOG, Victorinox, et al. At this rate, there are few knives to buy, if anything anymore, because Walmart carries them.:rolleyes:
 
If you find an old gerber knife from the 80's or the 90's like a LMF or a BMF or some of their other offerings.......they were quite good. Good steel, well made, an eye for detail.

Modern Gerber knives suck. They are almost direct ripoffs in some cases, and even then fail to nail it like you would expect a long time knife company to be able to do, especially if they didn't have to do the damn design work.

The only exception that I have noticed is the NSN numbered Gerber LMFII knives, which are back up in the price range of other knives that I respect more (ESEE, Gravelle, scrapyard), and the LMFII (by design as an escape knife) doesn't have a full tang. it just does not fit my needs in a knife at all. Mostly because I don't try to escape aircraft.

I will say this. If you want a good knife, you can't expect to get it for $25 in most cases. If you want a cheaper knife for less money, go with a kai, buck, or some of the lower end spydercos..........anything else is just going to disappoint you when it comes to real world performance.
 
I bought the gerber mini paraframe from walmart a couple years ago and the blade on it became real loose after I used it once so I just threw it in a drawer and aint used it since I would never buy another one
 
Yeah i used to love Gerber back in the 70's and 80's. they were my carry knife. I remember reading in knife mags about the owner of the company and how they made their knives.

evrything changed now i guess.
 
I have a newer LST and Bear Grylls small folder. Cheap, small and they work.
I have used the knives as you would normally use a small folder.
To cut things. They work. Easy to sharpen.
I have used the Big Rock quite a bit and again, it is a good basic knife. Nothing flashy, nothing "cool". It cuts stuff.
My wife carries a EZ out Jr. most of the time and has no troubles with it. She open packages, feed bags, boxes, rope. You know... stuff a knife is for.
A medic friend of mine has the Hinderer rescue knife and loves it.
Gerber is like many companies. They make some good, some not so good. There is no mystery here.
I respect everyone's opinions here, but I will add that there seems to be alot of energy spent bashing Gerber on a regular basis.
 
I'm not here to completely trash them but I haven't had the best of luck when it came to Gerbers in the past. I've owned maybe two or three of their folders and two fixed blades, the LMF II and the Steadfast.... All of these knives have had issues with edge retention, even when used for simple tasks ie; whittling walking sticks or slicing cardboard.

Even worse then poor edge retention though was the fact that ever time I would sharpen the Steadfast, right at the belly of the blade where it rounds up toward the tip, I would uncover these strange pits in the steal. The blade seems like there is air pockets in it, the result it that it almost looks like a reverse serrated blade now.

My dealings with gerber make me not want to recommend them to friends or family. Now that said,if they stepped up their game, I might try them out again.
 
I have a Paraframe and a Powerframe. Both have withstood a tremendous amount of abuse and are still tight. I also love the ergonomics, even as a lefty. My only complaint is that they don't stay sharp at all. But, for a beater, I'm happy.
 
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