GB Field Trials

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Far better and more realistic review of the CRK than the other "review". When you are not busting up concrete, stabbing steel and beating the knife with an iron sledge, it seems to do pretty well!!!

Real world testing is always so much more informative than silliness.
 
Great review so far! It is good to see the edge is holding up even with the chopping & batoning. I was under the impression that a hollow ground wouldn't fair well under heavy use.
 
Great thread man,
keeping an eye on the test.been looking to get one,great pics too.just
picked up a MK VI,looked at the GB but due to such negative reviews
I went with the other:o.hollow ground is holding up well I see.can't for
more pics man.:)

Tyrantblade

from the Chris Reeve website:
As from August 23, 2002, a serialized version of the "Yarborough" knife will be presented to each graduate of the Special Forces Qualification Course.
Without the name "Yarborough" and non-serialized, the otherwise identical knife - The Green Beret Knife - is available from Chris Reeve Knives.
 
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THis is an outstanding review! I have been really pleased with this knife since I got mine in '04 I have deployed with it 3 times since then but really have not used it much.

Please keep this review going!
 
RoyalM said:
Could you replace the tin of peaches with an ammo liner or oil drum? Maybe some 1'' thick plywood or such. I've
had to pierce these types of containers before, not large fully cut open holes you understand but holes big enough
to thread a rope through or a piece of det cord (I did this a lot for tamping charges).

You mentioned the thumb ramp being a pain and forcing you to put your thumb at the slide of the blade. Is there
enough 'ramp' to allow you to grind this down carefully and still a functional ramp rather than a flat spine?
Click to expand...


Where's the respect for the peach can??? :confused:

This is a little outside a wilderness use scenario--but this is more of a combat knife, right? Since you asked
though, I thought I'd try to find some testing materials and give it a whirl. (Do you feel the W&SS love man?)

Out of the local dumpster I found some 1/2" plywood and some 1 mm steel shelving (steel--checked with a magnet).
I clamped this stuff to a pair of saw horses, here's the set-up:

448710926_FHHyz-L.jpg


First I tried the plywood. This was actually a bit easier than I expected. There was no visible degradation of
the blade, but I forgot to check for sharpness, sorry 'bout that. I can say that I used the edge to trim the interior
of the hole of splinters and it still cut well.

Cut one:

448711016_XkrtR-M.jpg


Cut three:

448711152_Py8QW-M.jpg


Done:

448723548_s9cee-M.jpg


Next was the steel shelving. This was more difficult than I expected. I mean, it went through the peach
can like it was butter, how tough could steel be? Well it's pretty tough stuff, especially for a thick blade.
I had to whack the pommel with some...vigor.

448711207_SFfRr-L.jpg


Now I pounded the blade through this steel but the corners of the cut didn't meet--by design, to keep the piece from
being distorted during the test. So to finish the cut, I put the blade in the hole and struck the spine to drive
the edge through the metal instead of the tip.

448711326_RVteV-XL.jpg


If you look at the edge, the bright spots are areas where the edge was dulled or flattened. There was no
chipping, but it did get dull. Looks messy too.

This gave me a need to sharpen this knife :thumbup:. Up 'til now this bad boy has only needed a stropping
(oh, forgot, I did touch it up with an Arkansas stone once, but it was already pretty sharp.).

I used a Norton double-sided stone (medium and India Fine) to resharpen it. I like a knife that is easy to sharpen,
and this one did well. It took me about 15min to bring this one back to shaving sharp. Brought up a burr
and then removed it with a strop.

I also washed it.

448711477_WFfcc-L.jpg


The blue tint on the edge is from a blue felt tip pen. I like to ink the edge so I can see where I'm removing metal.

I'm not sure what to think of this 'test'. The knife performed well, sure. How important it is to cut a hole in these
materials is debatable though. I suppose these tests do give some idea of what a knife is capable of.

Oh, in re the second part of Royal's question: yes, I do think a little of the upper guard could be ground down to make more of a thumb ramp. Hmmm....

 
Thanks for the reply and the tests. (I'm feeling the love) I know some people will question the validity of a knife for this task but I did it frequently on both my tours. A more everyday version of this might be putting holes in a large tin to make it into a brazier for cooking on if you know what I mean. Like this but maybe using an oil tin. I'm sure someone on here has improvised a campfire 'stove' from something like that.

This was the nearest pic I could find:

hobo-stove.jpg



Seems like the GB is proving to be a far better knife than Noss's test would indicate.
 
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RoyalM, I think your requests were fully valid for this knife. It is marketed to Combat types who use thier knives to...well, to do just about everything. I pried more ammo crates open with this knife than I care to remember, a few doors too.

again, I am loving this review, keep it up!
S/F
 
Let's be honest anyone can set about to break a knife,this to me is an actual "test" lovin the review the GB will
be my next purchase:grumpy:man my wife's gonna kill me I spend alot on knives.


oh well such is life


Tyrantblade
 
How about some cross grain batoning. I did this with my Aurora on a 3-4 inch section of a downed and seasoned poplar tree, semi-intentionally using a sloppy technique and at the widest point was mercilessly pounding a small amount of the protruding knife tip using a 2 inch wide baton. It was brutal and took a lot energy but the knife shrugged it off and was still shaving sharp when I was finished. Just a thought :D
 
RoyalM said:
Seems like the GB is proving to be a far better knife than Noss's test would indicate.
Click to expand...

Lets try not to compare the 2 tests because:

Rotte is testing how well the knife works as a tool.
(Put away the hammer dude ;) )

It would be nice if we could keep this tread somewhat clear of Noss related stuff, before it goes downhill and gets locked.

Maybe start a new tread and talk about it there, I would join it in a heart beat. Because its really hard not talk about it in this tread.

I don't know ? Am I the only one to feel like this ?
 
Nice pics and field trial, Rotte! Good thread. :thumbup:

Rotte said:
For those who are familiar with the Fallkniven A1 and GB, how different are the bladeshapes of these 2 knives?
Click to expand...

The knives are very different in many ways, such as:
- GB has a bothersome double guard that limits grip options, the A1 doesn't
- GB has a bare metal tang with handle scales that aren't flush with it, the A1 doesn't
- GB has a sabre hollow grind, the A1 has a sabre convex grind
- GB has serrations, the A1 doesn't

The rough shape of the blades isn't so different, but then, there's much more to a knife than that.

But to get to the trials themselves... I'm sure we all understand that any knife (including a sharpened piece of stone) can do a lot of tasks in the field. There are many cheap (less than $ 50) knives that can do everything you've so far done in these field trials, and more. It isn't at all impressive that a 300 $ GB can do that stuff, too. If it couldn't do this stuff, the knife would be a complete disaster! :eek:

The real question is, how well can a knife do these things, and more, compared to other knives? Comparison is the key, and that is what we knife nuts should be trying to do. I can chop through a log with a stone axe. But a Fiskars will do it faster. I can skin a cute little bunny with a sharp piece of glass, but a cheap Mora will feel a lot better in hand. :eek:

So, the GB can slice a sandwich and chop through a log and it can make a fuzzstick while holding a decent edge. Now, how comfortable was this compared to other knives? How easy? How much fatigue was there? How well did it hold an edge compared to other knives? How well did it chop? How expensive is it?

The problem with the GB isn't that it can't do basic knife tasks. It can. Any knife can. The problem is that it can't do them much better than many knives that are far cheaper. In fact, it can't even do them as well as some of these cheaper knives. That is a problem. To some folks at least. Like myself. :D

Edge holding, for example - in my use, the A1 seems to hold a better edge than the GB. Now of course, the GB has serrations, and those stay sharp long - until they hit something hard, which is when they break and cannot easily be restored, and even when they're not broken, they interfere with precise work. The A1 also sharpens up easier. When it comes to handle ergonomics, the A1 is far more comfortable and versatile than the GB, especially in prolonged use. And the A1 is cheaper. A lot cheaper...

I realize the GB is supposed to be a soldier's knife, or in particular, the Green Berets' knife. I'm no Green Beret. But I do wonder what qualities the GB has that make it a markedly better knife for a soldier than, say, the A1. I can't think of any. The double guard and the handle design - well, the GB makes a pretty decent stabber and offers some finger protection at the cost of comfort in more typical knife use, but how much knife fighting do soldiers do on average? Not much.

Overall, the GB leaves me disappointed. It looks good if you like the tactical style of knife, and the fit and finish is superior, but in actual use, it performs worse than many cheaper knives. Hard to recommend a knife like that to a friend... But then, tastes and priorities differ - if you like it, use it. That's how it works. :thumbup:
 
The "testing site" responded to this thread. I've rarely seen this level of high school drama between websites...
 
I'm surprised that there's so much hate torwards the "testing site". I think his tests are valid. I guess I'd be pissed off if I dropped all that money on an inferior knife too. OUCH!
What I'm trying to say is that Noss is right, no matter how much you don't want him to be... HE'S RIGHT!
 
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