- Joined
- Jan 9, 2013
- Messages
- 32
Hi guys, this is my first post on Bladeforums but I am a keen 'outdoorsman'. Just a little background info - I bought a Gerber Big Rock about 4 years ago for around $40 - I was in Australia at the time. Without going into that knife too much (thats a whole other review) this knife has got me out of numerous situations, done all the Bushcraft stuff from shelters to feathersticks, its been in the water, up Volcano's (every other metallic item I had on that journey was damaged from the sulphur in the air, apart from the Gerber) its been around the world with me through woods, jungles, deserts - you name it its been there and for the money it is still my 'go to' I trust it and have relied on it for the past 4 years and it NEVER let me down.
Sorry to ramble on about a Gerber knife in a Falkniven post but I feel it is important to highlight that a good knife does not have to cost the earth.
Imagine my surprise and delight on Christmas day opening a box to find a Falkniven F1 and not just any old F1 but the 3G 'super steel' version. (Thanks Dad)
After days of drooling over the knife and its paper cutting ability and reading the countless, excellent reviews it was time to field test the knife on a camping trip in Oman.
Before I go into that ill give you the first impressions of the knife out of the box -
The knife feels great in your hand, the handle is grippy (even when wet) and moulded around the blade to prevent dirt and food waste finding its way underneath. You can throw the whole knife in the camp pot after use and boil it to sanitise it after use.
The full tang, convex grind blade is good, VERY sharp and reasonably thick with a drop point and single lanyard hole in the handle end (perfect 550 paracord size).
One thing to point out is that the blade is quite short for some Bushcraft duties like battoning larger pieces of wood and I cant imagine shelter building with it. However the knife was used successfully to split wood on my camping trip.
The knife feels solid without being heavy and its perfectly balanced too.
My knife came with the leather sheath option although a more tactical zytel sheath is also available at no extra charge.
The leather sheath looks very nice, its functional with a large belt loop and press stud fastener on the front to hold the knife in place. The first thing I did though was to wrap it in 550 and attach a fire steel ;-)
My first 'Issue' with the sheath was the press stud, the back of the stud (inside the sheath) is covered by a small circle of leather that after repeated use seemed to peel away and then the stud marks/scratches the knife. The same thing happened on my Fathers knife so we both took it off completely and super glued it back on.
There was no issues after this but lets keep reminding ourselves that this knife is one of Falknivens flagship knives and at around $250 US, Not a cheap blade.
Another issue with the sheath is that I took the knife canyoning (swimming, jumping into rock pools etc) and the leather is now slightly warped from water damage - not something you want if you spend alot of time outdoors. If you are going to use it for bushcraft or situations exposing it to rain (it is a survival knife after all) I would suggest getting the less attractive zytel sheath.
The camping trip in Oman was great fun and as it was the knifes first outing I thought I would take it easy - I cut some food up, used it with a fire steel to start the fire, battoned some small branches and made some feather sticks. everything seemed ok until the next morning when it was light.
Upon inspection of the blade I found that firstly the fire steel had deeply marked the steel on the knife (not a massive problem) but my four year old, $50 Gerber has lit hundreds of fires with barely a mark on the spine.
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu195/manpanics/DSC02352_zpsb23c66d2.jpg
Secondly to my shock and horror the blade had some small knotches/damage to the edge and the tip had broken off ???????????????????
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu195/manpanics/DSC02348_zps5370c613.jpg
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu195/manpanics/DSC02351_zps7e739510.jpg
Let me just clarify
1 - this is a genuine F1 3G NOT a Chinese copy
2 - I look after my knives, the blade was not dropped or used for anything other than what I have already stated, it was put back in its sheath and left there until the morning. But YES I use my knives for the purpose they are designed for.
CONCLUSIONS
I have contacted Falkniven who have asked for me to send the blade to their factory for inspection and regrinding - I sent them an email back saying that the tip should not have broken off, there is clearly a flaw in the so called 'super' steel and that I did not want the knife to be even shorter. Ill post here again on the outcome of that.
As far as the knife is concerned im actually really gutted. I think I just got a bad one but lets be honest here, your knife should be completely and utterly dependable. Mine failed at the most trivial tasks and did not perform how i would expect an expensive, worldwide recognised knife to. Yes it was razor sharp, I like the grippy handle but I thought the blade was slightly too short (personal preference), the leather case was disappointing, the knife was marked all over the blade and spine from what i assume was the fire steel or water damage and the fact that the tip broke off !!!!!! Ive never even seen that happen on a cheap kitchen knife
I will probably look at getting an RC5 or probably budget wise a Becker BK2 now, the Falkniven would have been my faithful travel companion where a Rambo size knife is unsuitable (I find travelling with a slightly smaller knife raises less eyebrows at customs in certain countries) but now I have a doubt and my knife of choice and doubt do not mix in my opinion.
I feel like I bought a case of beer only to get home and realise it was non-alcoholic, I feel like I got a chicken burger only to bite into it and find a cold, wet sliver of tofu in there, I feel ................gutted :-(
Sorry to ramble on about a Gerber knife in a Falkniven post but I feel it is important to highlight that a good knife does not have to cost the earth.
Imagine my surprise and delight on Christmas day opening a box to find a Falkniven F1 and not just any old F1 but the 3G 'super steel' version. (Thanks Dad)
After days of drooling over the knife and its paper cutting ability and reading the countless, excellent reviews it was time to field test the knife on a camping trip in Oman.
Before I go into that ill give you the first impressions of the knife out of the box -
The knife feels great in your hand, the handle is grippy (even when wet) and moulded around the blade to prevent dirt and food waste finding its way underneath. You can throw the whole knife in the camp pot after use and boil it to sanitise it after use.
The full tang, convex grind blade is good, VERY sharp and reasonably thick with a drop point and single lanyard hole in the handle end (perfect 550 paracord size).
One thing to point out is that the blade is quite short for some Bushcraft duties like battoning larger pieces of wood and I cant imagine shelter building with it. However the knife was used successfully to split wood on my camping trip.
The knife feels solid without being heavy and its perfectly balanced too.
My knife came with the leather sheath option although a more tactical zytel sheath is also available at no extra charge.
The leather sheath looks very nice, its functional with a large belt loop and press stud fastener on the front to hold the knife in place. The first thing I did though was to wrap it in 550 and attach a fire steel ;-)
My first 'Issue' with the sheath was the press stud, the back of the stud (inside the sheath) is covered by a small circle of leather that after repeated use seemed to peel away and then the stud marks/scratches the knife. The same thing happened on my Fathers knife so we both took it off completely and super glued it back on.
There was no issues after this but lets keep reminding ourselves that this knife is one of Falknivens flagship knives and at around $250 US, Not a cheap blade.
Another issue with the sheath is that I took the knife canyoning (swimming, jumping into rock pools etc) and the leather is now slightly warped from water damage - not something you want if you spend alot of time outdoors. If you are going to use it for bushcraft or situations exposing it to rain (it is a survival knife after all) I would suggest getting the less attractive zytel sheath.
The camping trip in Oman was great fun and as it was the knifes first outing I thought I would take it easy - I cut some food up, used it with a fire steel to start the fire, battoned some small branches and made some feather sticks. everything seemed ok until the next morning when it was light.
Upon inspection of the blade I found that firstly the fire steel had deeply marked the steel on the knife (not a massive problem) but my four year old, $50 Gerber has lit hundreds of fires with barely a mark on the spine.
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu195/manpanics/DSC02352_zpsb23c66d2.jpg
Secondly to my shock and horror the blade had some small knotches/damage to the edge and the tip had broken off ???????????????????
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu195/manpanics/DSC02348_zps5370c613.jpg
http://i647.photobucket.com/albums/uu195/manpanics/DSC02351_zps7e739510.jpg
Let me just clarify
1 - this is a genuine F1 3G NOT a Chinese copy
2 - I look after my knives, the blade was not dropped or used for anything other than what I have already stated, it was put back in its sheath and left there until the morning. But YES I use my knives for the purpose they are designed for.
CONCLUSIONS
I have contacted Falkniven who have asked for me to send the blade to their factory for inspection and regrinding - I sent them an email back saying that the tip should not have broken off, there is clearly a flaw in the so called 'super' steel and that I did not want the knife to be even shorter. Ill post here again on the outcome of that.
As far as the knife is concerned im actually really gutted. I think I just got a bad one but lets be honest here, your knife should be completely and utterly dependable. Mine failed at the most trivial tasks and did not perform how i would expect an expensive, worldwide recognised knife to. Yes it was razor sharp, I like the grippy handle but I thought the blade was slightly too short (personal preference), the leather case was disappointing, the knife was marked all over the blade and spine from what i assume was the fire steel or water damage and the fact that the tip broke off !!!!!! Ive never even seen that happen on a cheap kitchen knife
I will probably look at getting an RC5 or probably budget wise a Becker BK2 now, the Falkniven would have been my faithful travel companion where a Rambo size knife is unsuitable (I find travelling with a slightly smaller knife raises less eyebrows at customs in certain countries) but now I have a doubt and my knife of choice and doubt do not mix in my opinion.
I feel like I bought a case of beer only to get home and realise it was non-alcoholic, I feel like I got a chicken burger only to bite into it and find a cold, wet sliver of tofu in there, I feel ................gutted :-(
