Has anyone torture tested any of the Gerber Bear Grylls line of survival knives?

[SurvivalKnives]

It tends to be hit or miss. The Parangs were recalled because they broke too much. Plenty of yourtube videos on that. As for your multitool, Gerber is still fairly well respected for their multitools and their higher end knives still seem to hold some water like the LMF. But on principle, I try to avoid brands like Gerber and Cold Steel.

I always wondered what Bear's "dream" knife would be (like Ray Mears' Woodlore and Les' Temagami) but apparently he endorsed the BayLey S4 which looks to be a heavy brick, I'm also surprised that most knives bear uses seem to sport serrations

The Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Multitool is actually just a Bear Grylls branded version of the Gerber Suspension Multitool. And the Bear Grylls Ultimate Fixed Blade is just a Bear Grylls version of the Gerber LMF II. So some of the Bear Grylls gear are just rebranded Gerber stuff.

 

[SurvivalKnives]

May I ask the difficulty in finding a knife in Australia? Is there a regulatory issue?

The knife rules in Australia say that you may own a fixed blade or locking folder, but you may not carry it in publice unless you have a proper excuse like you are fishing or camping or something like that. It is another story if the police find you in town toting a large fixed blade knife with no indication whatsoever to use it in a lawful manner. If this happens you would probably get the knife confiscated and be charged with illegal possesion of a knife in a public area. Knives both fixed and folders are actually pretty easy to come by in Australia, the hardware stores, outdoors stores and the like stock them, but sometimes the store might have a rule of over 18 to buy a knife from them, but it is not national law. It is the management of the store's decision as to whether they will sell to anyone under 18. By the way I purchased a fixed blade knife (Gerber Big Rock) from the local hardware store with no issue and I am under 18.

 

[SurvivalKnives]

well every since I heard about the recalls where the parangs handle would detach from the blade I have been hesitant to "test" a gerber item on anything but spreading country crock on toast.

Actually I have used my Gerber knife as a stake knife before and it worked great! Actually it was the best stake knife I ever owned.