What are BFs Thoughts On GERBER Knives? Good, Average or Trash

Well I'll admit I'm a little biased, Gerber was the brand to lust over back in the late 70's. I remember wanting one of their daggers in the worst way, but couldn't swing the $75 they were selling for.

But I just bought a Freeman folder with pear wood scales. It was only $20 , so I said to myself .... what the heck.

Turns out this was one of the Taiwanese made Freemen ( in a box, not clampacked). It's supposed to be 440A steel, AFAIK they still produce a US version in S30V.

I don't know how the 440A steel will hold up , if it's anything like the EVO I have , it's a little soft , but adequate.

The knife itself is made pretty well. I can't say it's any worse than imports being marketed by other companies. Typical liner locking knife with a blead blast finish.

Over the last few years I've bought a few others, like the Vollotton FAST assisted opener, it's actually a great well thought out knife for $40.
I'm not ready to write Gerber off.
 
I've had two Gerbers, an old one I think is the Junior EZ-OUT and a newer one which is the Mini-Fast Draw. I had the EZ-OUT long before I understood anything about knives, but nevertheless I remember it being pretty solid and got the job done without breaking. The Mini-Fast Draw is considerably worse. It's a cheap, disposable gas station toy knife. Second-worst knife I've owned. The design is poor, the build quality is average at best, and the materials are awful. Other knifemakers line the inside of their knives with steel similar to what Gerber tends to use for their blades. Does it cut? Yes. So does a scissor half. It is good to have though, because sometimes I need to scrape the resin out of my pipe.
 
Wow, this has become a really informative thread with great info both for and against Gerber.

I'd be curious to find out how good or bad the Baer Grylls Gerber is so maybe I'll look for some reviews online. The reason I'm curious about this knife now is because I think it's possible, that if the BG knife is remotely decent, that it could be Gerbers attempt at getting back into a somewhat higher end knife market. A knife like the BG ones is a knife that would certainly generate some buzz for Gerber.

I personally haven't a clue about the BG Gerber, though I did order one for the spits and giggles of it from online for $12 shipped so I don't think I overpaid. I should mention that I bought the folder and not the fixed blade one but we'll see what it's like once it gets here.

For the record, I did see one or two reviews for the fixed blade BG Gerber on YouTube and they were mixed at best though the blade was thought to be of "reasonably decent" quality.

I can post a picture of the knife that my Sis has her eye on since I'm not quite sure of the model or vintage. Maybe you guys will know what it is and share any further thoughts.
 
Here is a picture of the Gerber that my sister wants. It bears mentioning that she has really small hands even though she is an adult. So she really needs a knife that has a very small grip so that she can hold it comfortably.

Anyway, this is the knife:
GerberSmallComposite.jpg
 
Maybe as a better option try the Spyderco Dragonfly. I just got rid of one since it was too small for me, but may be just right for your sis.
Photo shamelessly stolen from Spyderco
C28P.jpg
 
Ogien said:
Here is a picture of the Gerber that my sister wants. It bears mentioning that she has really small hands even though she is an adult. So she really needs a knife that has a very small grip so that she can hold it comfortably.

Anyway, this is the knife:
Click to expand...

I have the version that's slightly larger, it has a hidden flipper ( when the blade is closed). You have to flick it with your finger nail to get the blade to deploy. I owned it for a few weeks and never saw it.

I think it's a great knife, if your looking for an alternative check out the Kershaw Chive or Scallion. I bought a Chive for my daughter...
 
I have a spyderco dragonfly II and I love mine, I'd take it over a Gerber any day (and I had quite a few Gerbers back before I cared what kind of knife was in my pocket). The dragonfly is great for small hands or even larger hands, I have medium to largish hands and it fill my hand up like a bigger knife would. Also it is easy to sharpen and holds it's edge for a long time as long as you're using it for the small type of EDC work it's made for. All of my gerbers from back in the day (oldest one is maybe 8 years old, I'm only 24) have tons of blade play and loose thumb studs and other things that plague shoddy made knives.
 
I haven't owned a Gerber in my life, mainly because the first one I ever held I just hated the feel of it, and it felt like it would fall apart. Not to say there aren't some good Gerbers out there, but most of them just don't appeal to me. I'd look to see if any Kershaws are to her liking, as I have yet to have a problem with them.
 
Ogien said:
Here is a picture of the Gerber that my sister wants. It bears mentioning that she has really small hands even though she is an adult. So she really needs a knife that has a very small grip so that she can hold it comfortably.

Anyway, this is the knife:
GerberSmallComposite.jpg
Click to expand...

Yea, that's the Mini Fast Draw I was railing against. I suppose it depends on standards, purpose, experience and budget, but personally I'd call it a low-quality knife. As others have suggested, try looking into Spyderco and Kershaw for good, small knives.
 
The reason there is no 'consensus' is because you can't just slap a label on a company like Gerber.

Gerber has a storied history full of highs and lows, and that will always skew how people view it at the moment.

Also Gerber markets blades of all types, which have been made in numerous countries and to different level of quality. The USA made knives like the LHR and Silver Trident are a far cry from a Chinese 'Paraframe'.
 
Had a Answer XL, worst junk I ever had. Stay far away from the Gerber AO's. I tore the Answer down and the mechanism is chintzy at best and won't lock properly. Unsafe.

I do like the U.S. fixed blades though.

Rich
 
Really fantastic thread with lots of useful information. Thanks guys.

@FortyTwoBlades, I agree with you that from the looks of things, it would seem that Gerber is making an effort to get back some credibility. If I understand correctly, the Baer Grylls Gerber knife was a very hot item this past Christmas season so if Gerber made a decent product with that one then they might just get some word of mouth advertising going on. They have a very good opportunity with this gimmick knife so lets see if they will pick up the ball and run with it.
 
Any time I see or hear about the Paraframe, I want to puke. Horrid knives, and they basically ran their good name into the dirt. I go into a local knife shop every now and then and the guy behind the counter has told me multiple times about customers coming in and the first thing out of their mouths is "Where are the Gerbers? They're the only knife worth carrying". :thumbdn:
 
The only Gerber that really appeals to me is the Prodigy and I liked how it felt in hand. I have yet to buy one though because of the serrations. If they do a version with no serrations I will get one. Honestly if they took off 2/3 of the serrations it had I could live with that. But for some reason Gerber is very fond of serrated blades. I saw the BG fixed blade now has a plain edge version so maybe there is hope yet.

As far as folders go I had several long before I got into other brands and I have not bought another one again. For the price there are other brands I would rather carry.
 
a few of my buddies use and carry them. nothing that terrible or that great but some are fine for edc. i wouldn't carry one because I'm spoiled by zero tolerance. but honestly if thats what you can afford or have a thing for their style i wouldn't sweat it too much
 
stick with their Portland made products and you'll be ok, not the highest quality, however they are making some decent products.
 
Well, I ended up convincing my sister that the Kershaw Chive would be a better choice. I bought one "with a Blemish" for $22 shipped so that worked out well.

The thing that bothers me is that I've got a bid on the Gerber in that picture and I'm probably going to end up winning the auction. It's not going to cost me more than $20 but I'd rather keep that bill than spend it on an inferior knife. Maybe I'll just turn around and see if I can sell it for what I paid or maybe even a bit more. We'll see.

I really do hope that since Gerber is coming out with serration free versions of the BG knife that perhaps my suspicion is correct that they are using BG to bump their lines of knives up to better quality but only time will tell.
 
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