"Fixing" the current Gerber MK II

R

RX-79G

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Jun 23, 2006
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Daggers are weapons, and most knife people (myself included) prefer to emphasize the utility aspect of knives. But once you have enough "practical" cutlery, it's time to dream a little.

The Gerber MK II is often criticized for its impractical nature and construction. But it is also one of the most loved fighting knives, so maybe we can cut it some slack.


In an early bought of political correctness, Gerber bowed to pressure from the PX system that the wasp gladius shaped MK II was too naughty looking. Gerber added serrations to the blade and the Combat became Combat/Survival. The serrations were pretty light for many years, but the most recent revival of the MK II is full on awful looking. The serrations have become huge and deep, but just on one side. Plus the edge bevel starts 1/2" further from the guard than it used to.

Anyway, I blew up some images of the original wasp shaped MK IIs and the current one, and it looks like I could re-profile the rectangular serrated blade down to the wasp profile, since that shape falls inside the deepest serration cuts.

I have no interest in passing off a new knife as one of the old ones - I just consider the current ones too ugly to preserve. The older 440C ones were nice enough to not mess with.

Has anyone heard of this being done?
 
This
Mark-II_fulljpg.jpg

To this
post-3113-1333653924.jpg


There were considerable variations in just the wasp blade shapes, but this one seemed like a good starting point.

This is a cool MK II site:
http://militarycarryknives.com/Knives.htm#KnifeIntroduction
 
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I've not heard of it being done before, but I sure would like to see one that WAS done!

The new MK II's are indeed hideous.

If you do decide to go with the project, please post pics!!

Thanks,
John
 
I did the serration removal on a 1980's version and it turned out well. The serrations were very shallow so very little metal was lost. The new version has very deep serrations so the removal of enough metal to make it blend would look bad. There was one on Ebay where someone did that to a new version, it looked terrible.

I totally agree on the close but no cigar from Gerber. The blade is narrower and the serrations are not practical or useful. The only advantage to the design is that it is easier to sharpen on a stone. If they just left the serrations off it would be better looking and actually a more efficient cutting tool.
 
Here we go again, an expert reader's approach to fix something that doesn't need fixing... :D
 
I don't think so Poceh, I carried one of the pre serration versions and prefer that. If they weren't so deep that it didn't mess up the blade I'd take them off too. I do wish they had stuck with the cats tongue texture on the grip the newer ones are pretty slippery when wet or greasy. The old ones felt like a part of your hand.
 
The new one has a bit less blade width, too. I have several of the wasp-waisted versions with the cat's tongue handles & think they're some of the most beautiful daggers out there. The newer ones probably function just as well as a weapon, though, & a soldier might even have a use for the serrations here & there.

I believe that the wasp-waisted versions had their curves done by hand, which would've drove up the price.
 
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