I'm choosing a folding knife for EDC. I'm looking into several different companies, and I just checked out the Air Ranger from Gerber. It seems that Gerber is the only company I've looked at that doesn't tell you what they make their blades out of. The website only says "high carbon" steel. I've looked around on the internet to try to find out what Gerber uses to make their blades, but I'm having no luck.
Can anybody help me out here? What experiences have you guys had with Gerber?
If you go to Gerbergear.com and check the tech specs box, you'll find that they use 420HC on the LST and Gator series knives that are made in Portland Or. I worked with some guys who were not knife nuts, but they needed a knife in the shop. so they bought the LST's from a Galyan's down the street. They abused and misused those LST's, and the knives stood up for all of it. You can still get the made in USA LST for 17'95 at Smoky Mountain knifeworks. Great little knife for the money. Several years ago some non knife person gave me a gator, and I put it too use not really knowing what to exect. It turned out to be a very god knife, just not to my liking as I like traditional pocket knives. But it held an edge through one deer, and a week-end camping trip just fine with no touch up.
If you stick with the knives made in Portland, you get a pretty good knife at a decent price. I suspect most of the Gerber bashing here is just some people jumping on the bandwagon.