vjb.knife
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- Feb 2, 2002
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Gerber Mark II 70th Anniversary Limited Edition is just in today. First to ease the confusion the "70th Anniversary" is of the Gerber company not the Mark II knife which was first produced in 1967. Ther was a 20th Anniversary Mark II made in 1986 and a 35th Anniversary Mark II made in 2001, as well as a black handle "Limited Edition" also made in 2001, (which made no sense at all). This is the latest reincarnation of Gerber's famous Mark II Dagger. It is hot off the presses and has some things going for it and a couple not so great things as well. First a couple of pictures.
First off the Pros: Gerber did a nice job on the knife itself. The blade is S30V so is an improvement over the older 440 series blades and probably over the L6 blades although the earlier forged L6 blades may be arguable. The blade is clean and symetrical and well formed. They left off the serrations and kept the narrow wasp waist design similar to the original.
The handle is also rather authentic with the use of the weld applied stainless steel 'cat's tongue' grip. It was done nicely and looks and feels more authentic than the Cutlery shop or 35th anniversary model.
The sheath is black leather and is the same general shape as the original but that is about where the similarity stops. It is decent enough and is better than the crappy job they did on the 35th anniversary of the Mark II commemorative and the Limited Edition from 2001. The sheath does not have a wire pistol belt hanger and is thicker than the original also. At any rate it is nothing like the original so if you want one more similar to a 1967 model you will have to get a 20th anniversary model Mark II which is relatively close or you can get Vince Peloza to make you one, his are fantastic by the way, but it won't say Gerber on it.
The package comes with a certificate of authenticity card, which has the knife's serial number on it and a small pamphlet with some Gerber history as well.
The Cons: The packaging sucks from the cheap cardboard outer box to the wooden display case and the plastic formed lining inside of it, which holds the knife and the sheath. All of the packaging is made in China as I should have expected. Gerber used to have their own wood working shop that produced some beautiful cases and boxes for many of their knives through the 1970's, but is sadly not in existance any more. The wooden box and plastic insert that I got was damaged and a new replacement knife set is on the way for it. This was due to poor outer padding in the cardboard outer box.
They only made 1500 of these this time and I think they are the same price as the last limited edition and the 35th Ann. model so overall it's not too bad of a deal if you are a collector of this particular piece of history. The retail on these is $270 but discounts should be easy to find for a short period until they are sold out, and 1500 will go pretty quickly.
Hey Tim B. I lost your email so send me a message when you get a chance.
First off the Pros: Gerber did a nice job on the knife itself. The blade is S30V so is an improvement over the older 440 series blades and probably over the L6 blades although the earlier forged L6 blades may be arguable. The blade is clean and symetrical and well formed. They left off the serrations and kept the narrow wasp waist design similar to the original.
The handle is also rather authentic with the use of the weld applied stainless steel 'cat's tongue' grip. It was done nicely and looks and feels more authentic than the Cutlery shop or 35th anniversary model.
The sheath is black leather and is the same general shape as the original but that is about where the similarity stops. It is decent enough and is better than the crappy job they did on the 35th anniversary of the Mark II commemorative and the Limited Edition from 2001. The sheath does not have a wire pistol belt hanger and is thicker than the original also. At any rate it is nothing like the original so if you want one more similar to a 1967 model you will have to get a 20th anniversary model Mark II which is relatively close or you can get Vince Peloza to make you one, his are fantastic by the way, but it won't say Gerber on it.
The package comes with a certificate of authenticity card, which has the knife's serial number on it and a small pamphlet with some Gerber history as well.
The Cons: The packaging sucks from the cheap cardboard outer box to the wooden display case and the plastic formed lining inside of it, which holds the knife and the sheath. All of the packaging is made in China as I should have expected. Gerber used to have their own wood working shop that produced some beautiful cases and boxes for many of their knives through the 1970's, but is sadly not in existance any more. The wooden box and plastic insert that I got was damaged and a new replacement knife set is on the way for it. This was due to poor outer padding in the cardboard outer box.
They only made 1500 of these this time and I think they are the same price as the last limited edition and the 35th Ann. model so overall it's not too bad of a deal if you are a collector of this particular piece of history. The retail on these is $270 but discounts should be easy to find for a short period until they are sold out, and 1500 will go pretty quickly.
Hey Tim B. I lost your email so send me a message when you get a chance.
