Gerber Knives...good or bad

Some of their knives are pretty bad. I like their autos, mp series multis, applegate combat folders and mk1 and mk 2s. I have several of their autos and all of mine open fast. Just as fast as any benchmade i have and faster than some.
 
It's difficult to manufacture a "bad" modern folder knife. Even crappy knives generally cut well and have decent lock strength. The real problem here is that Gerber farms out its manufacturing to Chinese facilities that have relatively low quality control and labor standards.

Consumers are much better off paying 15-25% more for American (or at least Taiwanese) made products, such as Spyderco, Cold Steel, Kershaw, and Benchmade.
 
Oakengroves said:
It's difficult to manufacture a "bad" modern folder knife. Even crappy knives generally cut well and have decent lock strength. The real problem here is that Gerber farms out its manufacturing to Chinese facilities that have relatively low quality control and labor standards.

Consumers are much better off paying 15-25% more for American (or at least Taiwanese) made products, such as Spyderco, Cold Steel, Kershaw, and Benchmade.
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Amen!
 
I only have a couple of the imported models. The instant is good for the price. It opens fast and locks up tight. Edge retention is only fair at best. Easy to sharpen though.
 
You may know from my other thread that I know only a fair amount on steel types but I normally research the heck out of a knifes blade and steel type before I buy. From what I read you get what you pay for. Mostly cheap xCrxMoV
 
And yes you can get a "bad" modern knife. I have some crkt m16 series knives that are worse than gerbers. People complain about gerbers 420 hc and cr7 steels, try crkt's aus 4.
 
jim guy said:
And yes you can get a "bad" modern knife. I have some crkt m16 series knives that are worse than gerbers. People complain about gerbers 420 hc and cr7 steels, try crkt's aus 4.
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I have no idea why CRKT chose that steel. Why would they not use 8Cr13MoV like they do on their Pazoda (which is awesome by the way)? 1.4116? 420HC? There are so many inexpensive steels better than AUS4 they could have used if they're going for a price point.

For that matter, they also use 420J for their KISS knives. That bothers me, because I would have bought one a long time ago if it didn't exclusively come in a junky steel.

Then again, going back on topic, at least they always list their blade steels...
 
Thats true on listing their steels. Gerber only recently started doing that on their imported models.
 
jim guy said:
Thats true on listing their steels. Gerber only recently started doing that on their imported models.
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Yup. Very annoying. You say they do now? Hooray. Ill have to look. I normally look around the gerbers. They're just in the way of the good stuff :p
 
My LMF ASEK is an excellent value for the $, but my favorite Gerber is still my vintage AF folder.

Gerber makes some good and some bad ... Big deal. So does Smith & Wesson, Ford, Microsoft, and just about every manufacturing company out there. Don't like the products, don't buy the products. But why waste time whining about it?
 
Not sure if they do it on all the packages but the ones ive looked at lately had the steels listed.
 
Back in the day I kept a Gerber MkII clipped to the shoulder belt strap in my pickup, right where my left hand could draw it. Thought that was super cool; loved it only second to my Buck 112. Said the guys who toted Sharpfingers were girls, but I secretly wanted one of those, too.
 
mc5aw said:
My LMF ASEK is an excellent value for the $, but my favorite Gerber is still my vintage AF folder.

Gerber makes some good and some bad ... Big deal. So does Smith & Wesson, Ford, Microsoft, and just about every manufacturing company out there. Don't like the products, don't buy the products. But why waste time whining about it?
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jim guy said:
Not sure if they do it on all the packages but the ones ive looked at lately had the steels listed.
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Mc5aw:
I agree. Every company has its junk but I am rather mad at gerber because most of their stuff is bad in my opinion and they do annoying things like (ok not anymore so good!) not listing their steels and using cheap, corner cutting methods to make their product...idk I'm not buying another one.

Jim:
Which ones are these? Just curious.
 
Arkie_in_Texas said:
Back in the day I kept a Gerber MkII clipped to the shoulder belt strap in my pickup, right where my left hand could draw it. Thought that was super cool; loved it only second to my Buck 112. Said the guys who toted Sharpfingers were girls, but I secretly wanted one of those, too.
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Haha. They are almost attractive options to me but my experience with gerber kills my desire. How do you like the buck btw?
 
The instant, all the bear grylls, 06 fast, para frames and swagger they had at walmart had the steels listed. Think they were all 7 cr except the bg para cord fixed blade it said cr5
 
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