Gerber's 440A?

B

Buck268

Joined
Nov 5, 2006
Messages
1,864
Has anybody experience with Gerber's 440A blades? I've owned a couple "Surgical Stainless" or whatever Gerbers when I was younger and didn't know any better (they completely sucked, in many ways), but I recieved the Gerber Torch I as a gift and am trying to guage if its worth adding to my EDC rotation or not.

It feels a bit nicer than previous Gerber's I've had, but the edge is typical gerber mediocrity, and I suspect the handle and blade pivot screws will require some threadlocker to remain tight. Otherwise, though, I could see this being a nice little beater knife if they do 440A ok. :confused:
 
Low cost knives like Gerber, Case, Ka-Bar, Buck etc, are going to have inexpensive steels. That's a no-brainer.

Your Gerber is a decent, serviceable knife, that will cut most of what you need to cut as long as you are willing to sharpen it often. Just don't expect the kind of performance that you would get from more expensive steels. And don't expect it to hold an edge very well if you use it much.
 
It'll be fine.
Heck, I remember back in the 80's when ANY 440 steel was considered good.
Guess I'm just an old man at 32.:p
 
Try it out. Just be prepared to sharpen daily, or at least touch up on a kitchen steel.

I really was far less than impressed with Gerber's "Surgical Stainless Steel," but to each their own.
 
Anything that is affordable is crap but some of us have squeaked buy for many years using them. Most of my Gerbers are worth what I paid for them, I don't ask for much more.
 
Yeah, their surgical and 'high carbon' stainless is laughable. Worse than some chinese knives I've had.

I'm currently very spoiled with S30V, somewhat spoiled with VG-10 and 8Cr13MoV. Perhaps I'll throw the Gerber in some type of oh-shit bag with TP and deoderant. I dunno...
 
Knife knuts are just like motorcycle, car, gun nuts. Unless it's the latest and greateast hyped up thing in thier particular area of obsession, it's junk. Just as everyone does not really need a 170 mph car, not everyone needs the greatest in steel.

Even the run of the mill steel these days is better than our grandfathers run of the mill 1095 Imperial Barlow's, yet they got on totally ignorant of being under equipted. Just as millions of non car buffs get by for years with a Toyota Corrola or Honda Civic, millions of non-knife obsessed people get on great with 440A.

Before I retired in 2001, I worked in a machine shop with alot of non-knife people. Yet a sharp knife is almost indespencible in that area. Boxes of parts to be opened, bars of round stock to be cut free of greasy dirty tape. many of the personel carried the gerber LST. There was a Gallayns sports store down the road that had them cheap, and it was a popular pick becuase non-knife people don't want to be burdened with knife. Yet they happily cut away day after day with those "junk" Gerbers, totally unaware they were using a less than great knife.

Buck, you may as well go and use the knife. It won't cost you anything to do so. People on a knife forum that worship at the alter of super steel of the month are not a good judge of knives in general. The Gerbers that are made in this country are still decent knives.

Yes, S30V and the rest of them are better steels, but that does not make much difference in the real world. If so, how are all those people in third world countries getting by cutting up things with chinese cutlery?

It' didn't cost you anything, what have you got to loose by using it and judging for yourself?
 
jackknife said:
Knife knuts are just like motorcycle, car, gun nuts. Unless it's the latest and greateast hyped up thing in thier particular area of obsession, it's junk. Just as everyone does not really need a 170 mph car, not everyone needs the greatest in steel.

Even the run of the mill steel these days is better than our grandfathers run of the mill 1095 Imperial Barlow's, yet they got on totally ignorant of being under equipted. Just as millions of non car buffs get by for years with a Toyota Corrola or Honda Civic, millions of non-knife obsessed people get on great with 440A.

Before I retired in 2001, I worked in a machine shop with alot of non-knife people. Yet a sharp knife is almost indespencible in that area. Boxes of parts to be opened, bars of round stock to be cut free of greasy dirty tape. many of the personel carried the gerber LST. There was a Gallayns sports store down the road that had them cheap, and it was a popular pick becuase non-knife people don't want to be burdened with knife. Yet they happily cut away day after day with those "junk" Gerbers, totally unaware they were using a less than great knife.

Buck, you may as well go and use the knife. It won't cost you anything to do so. People on a knife forum that worship at the alter of super steel of the month are not a good judge of knives in general. The Gerbers that are made in this country are still decent knives.

Yes, S30V and the rest of them are better steels, but that does not make much difference in the real world. If so, how are all those people in third world countries getting by cutting up things with chinese cutlery?

It' didn't cost you anything, what have you got to loose by using it and judging for yourself?
Click to expand...

I couldn't have said this quote better myself.
 
There's nothing hugely wrong with 440A and my Cold Steel knives with 440A blades have been tough and sharp. They're not as good as the AUS8A blades, but I like Cold Steel's 440A better than CRKT's AUS6.

I've never seen 440B offered anywhere in mainstream knives, but 440C used to be used a lot more than it is now.
 
jackknife said:
Before I retired in 2001, I worked in a machine shop with alot of non-knife people. Yet a sharp knife is almost indespencible in that area. Boxes of parts to be opened, bars of round stock to be cut free of greasy dirty tape. many of the personel carried the gerber LST. There was a Gallayns sports store down the road that had them cheap, and it was a popular pick becuase non-knife people don't want to be burdened with knife. Yet they happily cut away day after day with those "junk" Gerbers, totally unaware they were using a less than great knife.
Click to expand...

I'll tell you what: the reason I joined this site in the first place was because I wasn't happy with the way the 3 or 4 Gerber knives I had lost their edges quickly doing mundane tasks.

Did they cut very well out of the package? Sure they did. Most of them were razor sharp. I happen to have a couple of them I still like quite a bit.

But I stopped carrying them because I realized I was rationing how many cutting tasks I could do with my EDC before it became butterknife dull.

There's nothing wrong with inexpensive knives with inexpensive steel. And you're right, why not try them out?

But this whole "Steel snobs are just crazy collectors, any old steel will do just fine!" thing gets old.
 
Junk is Junk. I don't care how old you are. You don't have to be a snob to know the difference between even low quality and just plain money wasting junk.
 
I don't like to use anything less then 440C. I don't like to sharpen my knives all the time... On a side note i havnt had good experience with gerber knives recently. When they shippied production over-sees their quality control when way down. I have a gerber EVO which can prove thar point with it's aweful blade pivit.
 
A funny thing about BladeForums...

I didn't know all my blades were junk until I joined BF and got schooled by the old timers around here (some of whom I'm sure are 12 years old and saving up their $5 weekly allowance to buy a Busse).
 
Agreed. There's no such thing as junk. There's only what you have, and what you make of it.
I got my girlfriend a Gerber Evo Jr. for christmas. I had the money and the know-how to get a knife that was better on a technical level, but I felt that was still the best choice for her. She likes the style and feel of the smaller Carson knives - almost lost one of my M16s - and when the time comes that I'm not there to sharpen it for her, she won't have too much trouble with the softer steel. Her last knife, which she used often, had a similar 'junk' steel in it and I only had to sharpen that every couple of weeks or so anyway. Plus the clip is stiffer, so the thing is less likely to fall out of her pocket than my M16 and even if it does, it's not so tragic a loss.
 
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