I have noticed that there haven't been many in-depth reviews out there on the Glock Field knife, so here's my take on this knife. I inculded an overview at the end so if your'e looking for a simple sum-up of this knife, you don't have to read in depth.
Knife Specs:
Weight: 202g/7.13 oz
Steel: HRC55 Spring Steel
Blade Length: 6.5 inches
Overall Length: 11.5 Inches
Thickness: .25 inches
Cost: Around 35 U.S.D
Military Use: This knife was produced by Glock in close cooperation with the Austrian Jagdkommando (Special Forces) and it is currently issued to the Austrian Armed Forces and the German GSG9. Hopefully the below images will work, it's my first time uploading photos. If not, you can always google image search the Glock Field Knife.
Sheath::thumbup: I bought this knife about a year ago and wanted to throughly test it before I reviewed it. Ill start with the sheath. For those of you who are familiar with Glock's firearms, the sheath is made from the same polymer as Glock uses in their handguns. For those of you who are not, it is simply a super strong weather-proof lightweight plastic. The sheath is designed in such a way to allow you to quick-attach it to your gear but then lock it into place by hooking the two pieces together. Retention is a tensioned plastic clip in the front of the sheath, which needs to be pushed back to remove the knife. One hand removal is possible, as is silent removal. The knife can be inserted either way into the sheath, which is useful for lefties like me. There is a small loop in the back of the sheath for a tie-down, and an adequate drain hole in the bottom. Overall, the sheath was done very well, especially for its low price. It is functional and very rugged.
Blade::thumbup: Ill start with the steel. The knife is made of HRC55 Spring steel, which is not stainless and will rust easily in water, and in all honesty I wasn't too excited about that, being a lover of the strong 1095 Carbon Steels. Contrary to my first assumptions, I was really blown away by the resilience of this steel. The idea behind this steel is that it won't chip or snap, making it an ideal field knife, because your'e bound to hit a rock or two in the field, and you don't want your blade to fail. Now I will say, this will not be a shaving sharp blade. It comes sharp out of the box, but it won't get much sharper, but this is because of the spring steel being softer than say 1095, and also it is a quarter-inch thick. This thickness, while inhibiting sharpness, is great for military field use, and allows for the saw back. The saw back is actually one of the best I've seen on a knife. The saw teeth are angled foreword as well so in a combat situation the saw will rip flesh going in, but come out easily. The hand-guard is adequate, and has a bottle opener on the back. The handle fills the hand very nicely, only a little smaller than a KA-Bar's. The base of the handle is capped to allow for hammering. I have also read that it is removable for a bayonet attachment, but that it is discouraged because you could ruin the knife handle in doing so. The blade is a full through-tang, again like the Ka-bar. One complaint I have heard about this knife is the tip. The tip is pretty dull, and difficult to get sharp, but Glock actually did this for a reason. This is so that a stab attack will not stick into the enemy's ribs. It also makes for a stronger tip.
Testing::thumbup: This knife performed admirably in both my chopping and tip strength tests. The first test was chopping through a stairway truss. Seems like an odd test, but a stairway truss needed to be chopped apart for disposal and I decided to test out this knife. The wood was very hard (possibly oak), at least 1.5in thick, and about 12in wide (length is not important because the chopping was done across the width of the truss). Now, this amount of chopping is more than would be done at one time under normal circumstances in the field, because most times your'e not chopping apart a tree thats 12in thick, but never the less its a good test for the limits of the knife. The whole job took about 30mins, and the only real wear was on the black coating. This was extremely surprising to me because the blade is soft steel and there was no rolling of the blade. Also, the blade is balanced towards the handle so there isn't too much weight in the blade for chopping. So it may not be the ideal blade for the job, but the fact that it gets the job done without any problems lends it to be a durable survival/field knife.
My second test was what you should normally never do with a knife...that is throw it (with not much skill) and stab wood indiscriminately. Many a knife has broken a tip or even broken in half from being thrown over and over. Even designated "throwing knives" have broken, even with people who know how to throw well. Me, I don't always hit point first. My throwing is in no way admirable, making it a good test of this knife's strength. Now, this is where the knife really shines. I've probable thrown it 200times into my wooden barn wall, and probable 40% of those impacts have been "bad" ones (i.e not sticking in), and 20% of those bad ones have been critically bad throws (like a hard throw that hits the blade parallel). I've read reviews of throwing knives that break from one of these critically bad throws, but this Glock keeps going. The reason it doesn't break is the spring steel; it springs back into place instead of snapping like a harder, more brittle steel would. This is why I think that this knife would make a great throwing knife as well as field knife.
Overview: In conclusion, this is a great knife. Weather you want a throwing knife to really beat on, or a extremely durable field knife that won't cost 100, or even 50 dollars, this would be the knife you'd want. The steel is durable and easy to sharpen, and it won't chip or snap. The sheath and handle are all made of Glock's weather-proof polymer. The balance between a field knife and a combat knife has reached a good median in this blade. I would suggest this knife to someone who needs a cheap, all around fixed blade; which is exactly how Glock designed this knife.
If anyone has any further questions, feel free to post below and I should be able to respond shortly. Also, this is my first real in-depth review of a knife, so please let me know what you think, and if you have any criticisms or suggestions for future reviews. Thanks for reading!
Knife Specs:
Weight: 202g/7.13 oz
Steel: HRC55 Spring Steel
Blade Length: 6.5 inches
Overall Length: 11.5 Inches
Thickness: .25 inches
Cost: Around 35 U.S.D
Military Use: This knife was produced by Glock in close cooperation with the Austrian Jagdkommando (Special Forces) and it is currently issued to the Austrian Armed Forces and the German GSG9. Hopefully the below images will work, it's my first time uploading photos. If not, you can always google image search the Glock Field Knife.
Sheath::thumbup: I bought this knife about a year ago and wanted to throughly test it before I reviewed it. Ill start with the sheath. For those of you who are familiar with Glock's firearms, the sheath is made from the same polymer as Glock uses in their handguns. For those of you who are not, it is simply a super strong weather-proof lightweight plastic. The sheath is designed in such a way to allow you to quick-attach it to your gear but then lock it into place by hooking the two pieces together. Retention is a tensioned plastic clip in the front of the sheath, which needs to be pushed back to remove the knife. One hand removal is possible, as is silent removal. The knife can be inserted either way into the sheath, which is useful for lefties like me. There is a small loop in the back of the sheath for a tie-down, and an adequate drain hole in the bottom. Overall, the sheath was done very well, especially for its low price. It is functional and very rugged.
Blade::thumbup: Ill start with the steel. The knife is made of HRC55 Spring steel, which is not stainless and will rust easily in water, and in all honesty I wasn't too excited about that, being a lover of the strong 1095 Carbon Steels. Contrary to my first assumptions, I was really blown away by the resilience of this steel. The idea behind this steel is that it won't chip or snap, making it an ideal field knife, because your'e bound to hit a rock or two in the field, and you don't want your blade to fail. Now I will say, this will not be a shaving sharp blade. It comes sharp out of the box, but it won't get much sharper, but this is because of the spring steel being softer than say 1095, and also it is a quarter-inch thick. This thickness, while inhibiting sharpness, is great for military field use, and allows for the saw back. The saw back is actually one of the best I've seen on a knife. The saw teeth are angled foreword as well so in a combat situation the saw will rip flesh going in, but come out easily. The hand-guard is adequate, and has a bottle opener on the back. The handle fills the hand very nicely, only a little smaller than a KA-Bar's. The base of the handle is capped to allow for hammering. I have also read that it is removable for a bayonet attachment, but that it is discouraged because you could ruin the knife handle in doing so. The blade is a full through-tang, again like the Ka-bar. One complaint I have heard about this knife is the tip. The tip is pretty dull, and difficult to get sharp, but Glock actually did this for a reason. This is so that a stab attack will not stick into the enemy's ribs. It also makes for a stronger tip.
Testing::thumbup: This knife performed admirably in both my chopping and tip strength tests. The first test was chopping through a stairway truss. Seems like an odd test, but a stairway truss needed to be chopped apart for disposal and I decided to test out this knife. The wood was very hard (possibly oak), at least 1.5in thick, and about 12in wide (length is not important because the chopping was done across the width of the truss). Now, this amount of chopping is more than would be done at one time under normal circumstances in the field, because most times your'e not chopping apart a tree thats 12in thick, but never the less its a good test for the limits of the knife. The whole job took about 30mins, and the only real wear was on the black coating. This was extremely surprising to me because the blade is soft steel and there was no rolling of the blade. Also, the blade is balanced towards the handle so there isn't too much weight in the blade for chopping. So it may not be the ideal blade for the job, but the fact that it gets the job done without any problems lends it to be a durable survival/field knife.
My second test was what you should normally never do with a knife...that is throw it (with not much skill) and stab wood indiscriminately. Many a knife has broken a tip or even broken in half from being thrown over and over. Even designated "throwing knives" have broken, even with people who know how to throw well. Me, I don't always hit point first. My throwing is in no way admirable, making it a good test of this knife's strength. Now, this is where the knife really shines. I've probable thrown it 200times into my wooden barn wall, and probable 40% of those impacts have been "bad" ones (i.e not sticking in), and 20% of those bad ones have been critically bad throws (like a hard throw that hits the blade parallel). I've read reviews of throwing knives that break from one of these critically bad throws, but this Glock keeps going. The reason it doesn't break is the spring steel; it springs back into place instead of snapping like a harder, more brittle steel would. This is why I think that this knife would make a great throwing knife as well as field knife.
Overview: In conclusion, this is a great knife. Weather you want a throwing knife to really beat on, or a extremely durable field knife that won't cost 100, or even 50 dollars, this would be the knife you'd want. The steel is durable and easy to sharpen, and it won't chip or snap. The sheath and handle are all made of Glock's weather-proof polymer. The balance between a field knife and a combat knife has reached a good median in this blade. I would suggest this knife to someone who needs a cheap, all around fixed blade; which is exactly how Glock designed this knife.
If anyone has any further questions, feel free to post below and I should be able to respond shortly. Also, this is my first real in-depth review of a knife, so please let me know what you think, and if you have any criticisms or suggestions for future reviews. Thanks for reading!
