We all say "gerber sucks" but no one gives examples, this is my reason why.

I have also had good customer service experience with Gerber.
Their knives that I've come across in the last few years have been un-great. Soft steal, not great construction, etc. I also learned, that at the price point of many of them (under $30 retail!), I was getting what I paid for.

-Daizee
 
retzius said:
OP, if you're "not upset about the poor quality of the knife, not bitching cause I expected a good knife to come back, and pleased with the CS they provided" then what is the point of your thread?
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IF the above is true, I don't understand why you made the post.
 
Not into China-made bashing (I have a ton of chinese knives) but the only gerbers I have are 2 folding gators and a multitool,all USA-Made, that have stood the test of time, the gator having been my workhorse for several years since 2001 and the multitool since '04, HEAVILY abused - it's missing a rivet and still goes on. As it has been pointed several times over and over again (use the "search" function), gerber's QC went downhill when production shifted overseas.

Not a fanboi, but would gladly buy a big honking USA bowie one of these days. The OP came out a bit whiny with the "suck" issues when it seems he got pretty good CS and a freebie.
 
Before I started collecting and learning about knives, I thought that Buck, Ka-Bar, and Gerber were the premier knife companies, so I bought a knife from each one.

For as cheap as they were, the Buck and Ka-Bar were downright perfect AND American made.

The third knife I bought was a Gerber Freeman and oh man did that knife disappoint.
First thing I noticed was how far off center the blade was and when I opened it, it kinda snapped open like it had a really strong detent...not. One of the screws that attached the rubber scale to the handle was so long that it hit the blade and pushed it over and left a nice little groove in the blade.
I fixed that but the blade still wouldn't center so I took it apart just to see what was going on.
One of the cheap plastic bearing / washers was completely smashed.
There were burrs on every hole and the tang was burnt and dark blue and had a huge burr.
Oh, and the blade was dull and looked like it was ground with an extra course belt.
I made two new washers and deburred everything and sharpened it up, which is a whole separate issue, but I did get the knife in decent shape.
If just one of those issues were present I could have been happy, but all of those issues combined was too much to overlook and just wreaked of terrible QC.
I know I could have returned it, but was too disgusted with it to want another.
 
zuluninja said:
Sharpening skills are a must for any knife aficionado. Loosening a pivot screw ain't rocket science. You pretty much got a freebie that will let you practice DIY maintenance. Suck it up.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
My experience with Gerber customer service has been very positive. I think they still make some good knives its just that they have some lower end stuff to confuse things a little.
 
meh some Gerbers are okay I prefer the baby carrots mysel..... wait the knife .... I put them in the same boat as SOG but really there is a plethora of info on qc from them on this forum. They do have some knice (see what I did there , I utilized a silent "k" hehe..ehem) knives in their higher price ranged line up, just be glad you didn't get our old one back all in all they lost money on you.
 
Gerber is NOT the company it used to be. I have older ones that are very high quality knives. Just like Schrade, the new ones are pretty sad.
 
zuluninja said:
Not into China-made bashing (I have a ton of chinese knives) but the only gerbers I have are 2 folding gators and a multitool,all USA-Made, that have stood the test of time, the gator having been my workhorse for several years since 2001 and the multitool since '04, HEAVILY abused - it's missing a rivet and still goes on. As it has been pointed several times over and over again (use the "search" function), gerber's QC went downhill when production shifted overseas.

Not a fanboi, but would gladly buy a big honking USA bowie one of these days. The OP came out a bit whiny with the "suck" issues when it seems he got pretty good CS and a freebie.
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Total hijack here but......who is the knife in your avatar made by?
 
A Cousin from Canada gave me as a gift 1996 i think two gerbers,one bowie 9.5 inch blade with kraton grip and a gator folder and the quality is good no problems at all till now!I dont know if todays quality sucks.
 
theAntihero said:
Total hijack here but......who is the knife in your avatar made by?
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that, my friend, was made by the late master Buster Warenski. Ivory handled flawless scimitar, don't know how much $$$$$ is it worth but pretty sure it's outta my pocket range.

mountaingreek, you got probably the best offerings from the company from that era, nice gifts!
 
i spent years on here defending some of gerbers knives, the ones i owned and used, got tired of posting my tiny bit of positive wholly unscientific findings in threads where guys just wanted to dog pile... it gets old. Sure they make some junk (alot of knife companies do) but its not all junk
while ive never used their CS i have heard its helpful so to me that puts gerbers CS ahead of my experience with say spydercos CS
good luck with the knife
Gene
 
Some years back, after seeing the Taiwan-made Freeman fb at an Academy, I noticed Cabelas offered A US-made Freeman fb in S30V, stag, and with a leather sheath. I ordered mine from a since forgotten source for less than a Benjamin shipped. It came sharp, properly ground, and pretty well made, save the very edge - it rolled when trying to chop some dried hardwood, perhaps indicating it's edge's temper was drawn during initial sharpening. Subsequent resharpening with my Sharpmaker - seemingly a new career - revealed a properly behaving S30V edge with no more problems. My only other observation concerns the jimping - a bit overboard, but all nicely eased. It is top, below, with my CRK Nyala, at ~3X the price in S35VN next, and ny Benchmade Bone Collector 15005-2 in D2, at the bottom and ~1.4X the Freeman's cost.

IMG_4591.jpg


The trio are too close in handfit and are equal in producing no hot spots in use. Of course, the Gerber wouldn't be there - if I hadn't noted the rolled edge just after some initial use, where it went from razor to dull in a few chops. Probably just an initial wire edge that could have been removed by stropping. I nearly threw the Freeman in with the LMFII, a gift from #1 son, as a disappointing example of a Gerber knife. The point is - give them a chance - it could be something simple. If not... there are plenty of other knife brands out there!

Stainz
 
muddog15 said:
I used to own some Gerber stuff but there quality control has gone out the window into a dumpster or something. I still have an orginal 1980's era LMF, that has been used a lot but I have also taken good care of it. I don't use it very much any more but i keep it for a back up if I ever do need it for some reason. Its a good bushcraft knife, I don't like the looks of there new LMF and think it too small for a primary knife......
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Are you serious? Gerber LMF for bushcraft? With a half serrated blade? :eek: The Gods of bushcraft look ashamed down to you.
 
BarkRiverfan said:
Are you serious? Gerber LMF for bushcraft? With a half serrated blade? :eek: The Gods of bushcraft look ashamed down to you.
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gerber-lmf.jpg


^This is the Gerber LMF. The newer LMFII is a very different knife, one not intended for bushes.
 
I would like to thank gerber for changing my cheap azz ways and pushing me to buy better quality stuff. You get what you pay for. You pay more than$60 for a gerber pocket knife you're crazy.
 
chiral.grolim said:
gerber-lmf.jpg


^This is the Gerber LMF. The newer LMFII is a very different knife, one not intended for bushes.
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OK, got it. I'm not a fan of Gerber, so I didn't know this model, but certainly looks like an allrounder for the camp. Too much of a choil for my taste. Good looking knife however.

Thanks for the clarification. Keep 'em sharp.
 
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