Gerber BMF & LMF find

Phrandau

Phrandau

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I got a lucky break on two acquisitions. I found a Gerber BMF, in the box, including all the little foldouts that came with it, the compass and the whole shebang. I also obtained an LMF, but just knife and sheath.
Now, on the BMF based on my memory- a lot of reports claim the BMF premiered in ‘86, and I’m confident this is not true.
I obtained my first when I was in high school, and I graduated in 1984. I wanted it bad so I mowed lawns and whatever to attain it. The point is, I know for a fact it came out in ‘83 or ‘84.
My original was stolen (along with a Buck 184) so I had been heartbroken quite a while. It made me smile to make such a find!
 

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It was a very different world then. I recall being a teen, seeing something in some magazine, advertising for the BMF. I had to have it. And I loved it!
I also recall needing the Buckmaster 184. Now, I was so disappointed with this that I veered from Buck for many years because of it. I recognize that the 184 is so collectible today, and I’m still pissed mine was stolen, I found it overbuilt and sensational trash even as a teen.
 
I don't know when it came out, but FWIW an article in the January-February issue of The Blade Magazine described it as a 1985 entry into the survival knife market.
 
wharncliffe said:
I don't know when it came out, but FWIW an article in the January-February issue of The Blade Magazine described it as a 1985 entry into the survival knife market.
Click to expand...

Yes, I’ve seen several different statements of when it originated, but I can say I specifically recall obtaining one before I graduated high school, which was ‘84. This is another one of those things where the history faded away.
Likely due to Gerber being bought out by another company that didn’t keep track of the origins of the history.
 
Serendipitously, just a few months ago I was looking through some of my magazines and ran across an article by Greg Walker introducing the BMF in the April 1986 issue of Soldier of Fortune. Walker actually had some input into the knife's design.

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Soldier of Fortune had an editorial policy of a four-month lead on content. So presumably Walker submitted his article in late 1985, which, based on his statement that the knife "started out several months ago as a design lark of the research and development crew at Gerber," would put the BMF's origination (including pre-production models) somewhere in mid-1985. The article concludes by announcing the planned production release set for November 1986.

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Soldier of Fortune must have given regular advertiser Jeff Loffer a heads up about the article, because Cutlery Shoppe ran an introductory ad for the BMF in that same issue.

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It's interesting, however, that Cutlery Shoppe was already offering both BMF models for sale in April of 1986 (via an ad submitted to the magazine in 1985) when they weren't due to be released until November 1986! Note also that Walker said the BMF acronym stood for "Big Military Fighter," while the Cutlery Shoppe copy (as well as the knife's box) says it stood for "Basic Multi-Function." That's a strange discrepancy.

I always really liked the design of the non-sawback BMF, but I never had the funds at the right time to buy one back when they were affordable. Great score on those classic Gerbers, Phrandau!

Merry Christmas, everyone! Luke 2:11


-Steve
 
This is great to see!
Now, I recall seeing some magazine (and my first guess was SOF) with an ad for the blade, and I just ogled the knife I saw.
Where my geriatric head is getting confused is, I do recall buying the knife BEFORE I graduated from high school (and within weeks, went into the army) in 1984. I had some foot locker at home where I placed that BMF and a handful of other personal items, including the Buckmaster 184.
I was in Germany until 1986, and while no longer living at home, I had yet to retrieve the foot locker. I was in Florida in ‘87 and asked it be shipped to me, but once receiving it, it had been looted.
Point being, I recall having to give my chore and mowing money to my mother so she could write a check for the order. I didn’t need to do that once out of school and home.

So I wonder- have I lost my damned mind, or are my recollections on point?
I lived in rural upstate New York, and I distinctly recall carrying it in the woods as a kid. It’s so funny how murky this has become!
 
I also wonder now, if there was an early release of the knife before it became official. I also recall my S/N on mine was barely in the four figures. You can only imagine why the loss still burns me.
 
Phrandau said:
This is great to see!
Now, I recall seeing some magazine (and my first guess was SOF) with an ad for the blade, and I just ogled the knife I saw.
Where my geriatric head is getting confused is, I do recall buying the knife BEFORE I graduated from high school (and within weeks, went into the army) in 1984. I had some foot locker at home where I placed that BMF and a handful of other personal items, including the Buckmaster 184.
I was in Germany until 1986, and while no longer living at home, I had yet to retrieve the foot locker. I was in Florida in ‘87 and asked it be shipped to me, but once receiving it, it had been looted.
Point being, I recall having to give my chore and mowing money to my mother so she could write a check for the order. I didn’t need to do that once out of school and home.

So I wonder- have I lost my damned mind, or are my recollections on point?
I lived in rural upstate New York, and I distinctly recall carrying it in the woods as a kid. It’s so funny how murky this has become!
Click to expand...
There are a number of reports of the BMF being sold in 1984. Don't give up on your mind yet.
 
Twindog said:
There are a number of reports of the BMF being sold in 1984. Don't give up on your mind yet.
Click to expand...

I appreciate that! Finally, someone is letting me know I haven’t gone insane! As I’ve rambled on about, I know with confidence I got that knife before I left for the army. That was the summer of ‘84.
 
Phrandau said:
I appreciate that! Finally, someone is letting me know I haven’t gone insane! As I’ve rambled on about, I know with confidence I got that knife before I left for the army. That was the summer of ‘84.
Click to expand...
There are always pre production and prototypes don't forget..... I think you probably remember correctly..... I personally remember stuff better from back then as opposed to last weeks activities😂
 
Maybe the demand wasn’t there from the wholesalers & distributors on the initial release.
Hence the SOF article & related ads to get visibility and increase demand.
Maybe :D
 
It’s a good speculation. It’s seems funny to me that we have to speculate at all. I would assume some firm historical record exists, but I haven’t found it.
 
I purchased my first BMF and LMF during mid 1987, and the knives had already been out for a year by that time. I was a difficult choice between the those and the Buckmaster, which for me eventually came down to the handle.

I still have the original pair, but for some reason the BMF has an aggressive tendency to rust in its sheath; even when oiled, waxed and kept in an environmentally controlled environment. I have come to suspect that the original Gerber sheath may have used celluloid in its structure since the damage looks consistent with celluloid outgassing.

N2s
 
It’s funny you point this out, since my BMF is showing age on the steel, with marks of slight corrosion, while my LMF seems fine. But I never thought of the sheath. I doubt they did, back in the day.
I’m still vexed on the origins of the BMF, in terms of precise dates. I am confident I first attained my first one in ‘83-‘84, but I just can’t recall what publication I first noticed. There certainly was no internet at the time. I recall seeing the shout out in some magazine, but hell if I can recall which one. Likely SOF, but here, decades later, I lost it in the haze of time.
 
My memory of these is that they came out in the mid to late 1980s. I graduated in 1984 and I don't remember seeing them when I was in high school. In fact, I actually thought they didn't come out until after Fiskars aquired Gerber. I remember Tom Berenger's character using one in the movie "Shoot to Kill," which came out in 1988. I've always kicked myself for never buying either an LMF or a BMF.
 
I vaguely remember the BMF LMF and Buckmaster being introduced about the same time. But who can remember 100 years ago.
 
Yes, it was about the same time and I remember getting a Buckmaster at the time. I should note- I was so disappointed with the Buckmaster that I avoided Buck as a company for decades after feeling so duped by that trashy knife. Today the collector value is high, but it was so overblown and yet so under-performing.
But the BMF (for the time) was a stout and reliable, if not monstrous, knife
 
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