NEW Gerbers

I feel compelled to speak on the behalf of Gerber, or more specifically, the LST. It's small and light, but still capable for most purposes that a pocket knife serves. It's inexpensive, commonly available and made in the US. I've given many as gifts to earth people as their first EDC blade and they love them. True enough, it's not anything special, but for it's intended role, the humble LST is a good value.
 
Reitwagen said:
I feel compelled to speak on the behalf of Gerber, or more specifically, the LST. It's small and light, but still capable for most purposes that a pocket knife serves. It's inexpensive, commonly available and made in the US. I've given many as gifts to earth people as their first EDC blade and they love them. True enough, it's not anything special, but for it's intended role, the humble LST is a good value.
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Well, it was something special when it first came out. However, Gerber could not leave it alone. If you compare old production with what is currently produced, you'll see what I am talking about. The old ones were lightweight. New stuff is also lightweight but, it feels cheap, finish is off. Handles flex a little more. Find an old orange or red handled LST and compare.

Like a fool, I traded an old LST for two new ones. I ended up giving both of those away. IIRC, the blade stock is slightly thinner on the current stuff. The funny thing is the older LSTs are worth as much used as what Gerber is cranking out today. Sometimes even more if the handle is in a rare color.
 
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I've got a US1 and an ultralight lst , I find them both fine US made knives for what they are.
They're slim, lightweight, they'll easily take a razor edge, and of course they'll cut stuff.
A small lightweight knife should not have too much asked of it, and doesn't need to be built like a tank.

I don't hate Gerber as much as many do, but that's only because they still produce a few knives which I feel are perfectly viable options for a cutting tool today and are of an acceptable quality for what they cost.
No I would not buy a Chinese Gerber , but I don't let their BG fiasco steer my overall opinion of them either.
 
Reitwagen said:
I feel compelled to speak on the behalf of Gerber, or more specifically, the LST. It's small and light, but still capable for most purposes that a pocket knife serves. It's inexpensive, commonly available and made in the US. I've given many as gifts to earth people as their first EDC blade and they love them. True enough, it's not anything special, but for it's intended role, the humble LST is a good value.
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It is still a good knife, but many knife lovers today have come to demand a tank of a knife which it is not.
I am not one of those people and love my ultra lightweight knives such as the ultralight lst or US1.
They cut stuff, do it well, and dissapear in my pocket.
 
I guess I have become one of those people that hates Gerber even though I own three of their multi-tools, a rescue knife, and a set of their kitchen knives.

Hate is a very strong word but I really feel that Gerber has let down the American public and that is why I hate them. Yes, they have let us down. By giving us designs like the Paraframe (I own one of those too) and other equally poor products. But even worse is the fact they don't even respect us enough to tell us what kind of steel they are using. Yes, some stuff is marked but much of their product goes improperly marked if marked at all. It's like they are ashamed of the quality of steel they use so they just leave their products blank.

On top of that, they stretch the truth on where products are made. Some stuff is made here in the US. That's cool. Some stuff is made overseas and I guess that's OK. You know, the world economy and all. However, when you dig a little deeper, you will find that many products are made outside the US and assembled here. I can live with that if it is advertised and marketed as such but, Gerber seems to remain mostly silent about that fact. Marketing will tell proudly tell us their multi-pliers are American made. Sometimes that is not the case. Read the fine print on their packaging. You may find that it is proudly assembled in the good old US of A. Nothing more.

The sad thing is that Gerber can do things beautifully well but, actively makes a choice not to do so across their complete line of products. For example, their MP 600 series of multi-tools are well designed. Sure, the metal is a little soft but they are a favorite with the US armed forces. If you want something field tested, just give it to a private and stand back. Its strengths and weaknesses will quickly appear. Gerber is proud of their field-proven MP 600 series and rightfully so.

Then you have products like the Paraframe. I won't bother to comment on it here other than to say Gerber should be embarrassed that they even brought it to market.

I think the biggest reason that I have come to dislike Gerber is that they cut corners on their heat treatment just like another company that comes to mind (CRKT, I'm talking about you). I can live with a lower grade of steel if the HT is done right. Maybe if they improved their heat treatment, we would not see so many knives with serrated edges.

I want to able to hold my head up high when I say that I own a Gerber product. I really do. I can with Ontario, Victorinox, Kershaw, Spyderco, and Benchmade. Looking at what Gerber has become, I find it difficult to do. Especially with most of the consumer products they bring to market.
 
sabre cat said:
I guess I have become one of those people that hates Gerber even though I own three of their multi-tools, a rescue knife, and a set of their kitchen knives.

Hate is a very strong word but I really feel that Gerber has let down the American public and that is why I hate them. Yes, they have let us down. By giving us designs like the Paraframe (I own one of those too) and other equally poor products. But even worse is the fact they don't even respect us enough to tell us what kind of steel they are using. Yes, some stuff is marked but much of their product goes improperly marked if marked at all. It's like they are ashamed of the quality of steel they use so they just leave their products blank.

On top of that, they stretch the truth on where products are made. Some stuff is made here in the US. That's cool. Some stuff is made overseas and I guess that's OK. You know, the world economy and all. However, when you dig a little deeper, you will find that many products are made outside the US and assembled here. I can live with that if it is advertised and marketed as such but, Gerber seems to remain mostly silent about that fact. Marketing will tell proudly tell us their multi-pliers are American made. Sometimes that is not the case. Read the fine print on their packaging. You may find that it is proudly assembled in the good old US of A. Nothing more.

The sad thing is that Gerber can do things beautifully well but, actively makes a choice not to do so across their complete line of products. For example, their MP 600 series of multi-tools are well designed. Sure, the metal is a little soft but they are a favorite with the US armed forces. If you want something field tested, just give it to a private and stand back. Its strengths and weaknesses will quickly appear. Gerber is proud of their field-proven MP 600 series and rightfully so.

Then you have products like the Paraframe. I won't bother to comment on it here other than to say Gerber should be embarrassed that they even brought it to market.

I think the biggest reason that I have come to dislike Gerber is that they cut corners on their heat treatment just like another company that comes to mind (CRKT, I'm talking about you). I can live with a lower grade of steel if the HT is done right. Maybe if they improved their heat treatment, we would not see so many knives with serrated edges.

I want to able to hold my head up high when I say that I own a Gerber product. I really do. I can with Ontario, Victorinox, Kershaw, Spyderco, and Benchmade. Looking at what Gerber has become, I find it difficult to do. Especially with most of the consumer products they bring to market.
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Here’s a plan for fixing gerber.

1. Cut the budget on new designs. You’re not going to win over a bunch of knife lovers who are enamoured by the cleaver fad with designs like the Flatiron.

2. Spend that money on better steel and heat treatment.

3. Cut the budget for advertisements.

4. Put that loot into higher fit and finish. The word spreading that Gerber is putting out a quality product will be advertisment in itself.

However I doubt they will. They are happy selling to the uninformed public. I bet they saw alot of success with the Bear Grylls stuff and now think they just have to put out knives with a gimmick.
 
I am still sentimental for the Gerber Gator. It was the knife I had when I was young and it meant a lot to me.
 
thecigarguy said:
I am still sentimental for the Gerber Gator. It was the knife I had when I was young and it meant a lot to me.
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I have one myself, and it carried me through my Boy Scout career. That said, my most common memories of it were how it always seemed to be dull, because that blade was made of plyboard and mayonaise and it never held an edge. Sure was comfortable in the hand, though.
 
I own two Gerber Gators, one with the partially serrated clip point blade in 420HC and one drop point in 154CM and I love them. I also have an LST that's more than 20 years old and it's great. I had a Paraframe for a while, and no matter how I begged, pleaded, cajoled, threatened, or bribed it, that thing would not take an edge. I ditched it long ago. If you have Gerbers that you like, great! More power to you. If you don't like them, move on to something else.
 
Paraframe has been voted the worst knife ever many times.

So they made the powerframe....and now, the paralite!

They need to paraLYZE these crap designs.
 
They have made a multi million dollar company by not doing what your recommending. Lol.
 
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