Gerber Popularity

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I have one of my fathers EZ outs from a long time ago. It is made from ATS-34 and it seems like a solid enough knife... it's my truck knife. just as well put together as a spyderco native, and that is a great knife for the price.
 
I have never been a huge fan of Gerber, although in recent years, the Metolius and Icon folders have impressed me enough to buy and use them.

My Nephew is up to about his 8th deer that's been field dressed with a Gerber Gator folder without having to sharpen it yet, which is a little impressive to me.
 
I am a newby to Blade Forum. I see you collect pre 1986 Gerber knives. I have the opportunity to buy a Gerber 40th Anniversary 1949 to 1979 Limited Edition Signature Series Paul Knife. It is marked "1" inside the handle indicating it was made in 1979? It is serial #257 of 2,500. 2P is marked on the blade. As far as I can tell, it appears to be unused. It has the original outer sleeve marked "Limited Edition" 40th Anniversary Signature Knife Serial No. 257/2,500. Any idea as to fair value?
Any info is greatly appreciated...........BudroBro
 
there are alot of higher end Gerbers that are good knives:
LHR, LMF II, Prodigy, Yari II, Applegate/Fairbairn combat folder, Mark II, Guardian, Hinderer, Silver Trident, The Gator line, the freeman line, 06 manual and automatic folders, S.A.H., Kiowa, and Safety Auto Hook Knife.

Gerber's lower price "every-man" knives are AFFORDABLE and if they are lost or broken, its not as big a deal. these knives are attainable to the unwashed masses of people who dont know enough to be knife snobs like us LOL. Buck sells alot of low end "affordable" knives, but i think , for some reason there is alot of pent up hate for Gerber.
 
I have a FS1, a FS2, and a 3. The Fs1 is a fine knife in the pocket and will cut like a scalpel.
 
Bobby Craig said:
I have also realized that Wal Mart is carrying Leatherman also, thats kind of cool and helps them off set their dork status for carrying Winchester knives. Nothing like a good Winchester knife, they rank right up their with the Spork from KFC.
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Rofl. Thats funny.
 
2 of my favorite knives in my collection are gerbers. They are both old, and given to me by my dad. One is a Mark II(that my dad had long before I was born), and the other is a gerber paul knife(pw2 if I remember corectly). They are nice, but the gerbers i have picked up lately have fallen short. I think gerber is a brand that people hear and recognize so they buy it. I got a few when I was first getting back into knives that I thought were BA untill I did my homework and educated myself. Now I almost exclusively carry spyderco(ZT, kershaw, BM, and a few others find their way into my pockets from time to time). Last year my "camping knife" was a prodigy, now its an ESEE 6. Knowledge goes a long way.
 
Part of my pent up hate for Gerber comes from the fact that they used to be a really good company. Older Gerbers can be very very good. But recently, they've been very disappointing. I picked up one of their folders that looked appealing to me, and was quite unhappy. The thumb stud was useless; the opening was so poor that it couldn't be opened, even oiled, with one hand, and the placement of the thumbstud was very poor. I don't really like thumbstuds that are flush up against the handle, especially if they're the same height as the handle. The blade was wobbly, the lockup sucked, edge retention was garbage, it was just very disappointing. It's really sad to see a good company sell out and start making mass-produced cheap crap.

I really respect Buck, Leatherman, and Victorinox, because you can find those in your average sporting goods store or Target or something, and yet they still produce quality products. Buck 110 is still a great buy, as is the Vantage. SAK's are hugely popular, and still good buys. It's rare to find a Leatherman that just feels cheap in hand.
 
I have a number of older Gerbers.

Shorty, Muskie. (Had a Pixie and a Mini Magnum. Mom got those.) All early seventies.

Silver Knight, Guardian from the late seventies, early eighties.

Dad got Mom a Gerber French when I was a kid in the sixties. Few years back I found a French and a couple of other same-vintage kitchen knives online and picked them up. Three of them sit even now in the knife block, used regularly in the kitchen.

When my wife and I decided a few years back that it was time to renew our acquaintance with the outdoors, I figured it would be a simple matter of picking up some new Gerbers and we'd be all set.

That is, until I went to the knife store. Gerber was now a division of Fiskars, and everything on the shelf was made somewhere that wasn't Portland. (Nor Japan, for that matter.)

That was the beginning of a pilgrimage of sorts to find where today's quality could be found.

I managed to wind up with more than three large toolboxes full of knives in the process. I have a desk at home that is chronically cluttered with knives of one sort or another. However, I was able to find a couple of brands that give me today what Gerber gave me in the past.

Pete Kershaw remained "true to the faith" when he started his operation, and I'm pleased to say that his products continue to be part of my EDC rotation. Mostly folders, but there are a couple of fixed blades in there.

When some years ago I had to travel to San Diego for an install, I didn't want to pack my EDC group for fear of losing $200 worth of Leatherman/Kershaw/Gerber, so I went shopping for less expensive substitutes to throw in my checked baggage. The Gerber Suspension took the Leatherman spot, a Buck Cutback took the Leek spot, and a Gerber Mini Paraframe took the Silver Knight spot. Total outlay = $60 for a traveling set. I was pleased that Gerber's quality on their imports had improved, but what really got my attention was the quality of the Buck. It was an import, but there was nothing cheap about it. It changed the direction of my search for "something that works for me."

Indeed, the spirit of what Gerber was can now be found in what today's Buck knives is. Yes, it's a mass produced brand. Yes, some of their stuff is made offshore. Yes, some of their products make me squint, but that's true of pretty much every mass market company out there. However, they do some outstanding stuff, they maintain their legacy and continue to make the knives that made them famous, and they continue to innovate and push the envelope while meeting their traditional obligations, which gives me reason to remain optimistic that American knife companies can, indeed, continue to succeed and thrive on American soil.

So, yes, I'm fond of my old Gerbers. In their heyday, they were the standard bearer for home-grown quality.

However, most of my new knives come from another American maker, less than twenty miles from my home. Today, Buck Knives carries the flag.

I continue to hope that Gerber regains its footing in quality.

 
ASBOB said:
We discuss the prominence of the big three--BM, Spyderco, Kershaw--and some folks mention Victorinox or Buck.

But everytime I go to a big box sporting goods store--the kind that is a mass retailer--the one brand of knives they always have in abundance is Gerber. Sometimes they have some Bucks, sometimes SAKs. But always plenty of Gerbers. This seems to be the best selling brand of all, in the clamshell sealed segment of the market, which is probably quite large.

Given Gerber's mixed reputation here, it kind of puts into perspective our concerns and our place in the market.

My edc is a Benchmade. btw.
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I agree. Gerber has a target customer profile that matches that of the average big-box store shopper:
  • Not focused on high performance.
  • Not too well educated about the product or what is "good".
  • Just looking for something with a brand name they recognize that is not too expensive and gets the job done OK.
That's far from the profile of the average knife knut here on the Forums when it comes to knives, though it might when it comes to something like tires or bed linens.
 
from my (LIMITED) experience, gerber to me has been the best cheap knife i could get (key word is cheap), as they held an edge better than POS flea market knives, but i have gotten hooked on higher end knives, so bye bye gerber
 
I broke the plastic liner that holds the blade in the handle on the LMF 2, I was battoning a small loquat tree, now the blade clicks in the handle, big fail, they tout this knife as an ASEK knife willing to do your bidding "behind enemy lines" , and now the hoaky wal-mart bear grills knife? no thanks Gerber...
 
There was probably a time when you could walk into a McDonald's and get a decent hamburger, not the cheap facsimile processed things they serve now...

I think this is similar to what has happened to companies like Gerber, Imperial Schrade, et al.
 
knarfeng said:
I agree. Gerber has a target customer profile that matches that of the average big-box store shopper:
  • Not focused on high performance.
  • Not too well educated about the product or what is "good".
  • Just looking for something with a brand name they recognize that is not too expensive and gets the job done OK.
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Yeah, I see them at the local Target store, and there marked as "Surgical Steel," and from what I've read, look out. (No personal experience though)
 
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