Why No Gerber Love?

D

dyau

Joined
Oct 15, 2009
Messages
26
Hey guys, i can't help but notice that Gerber doesn't get a lot of love here on this forum. Is it because their knives aren't good or is it because people don't like them, or a combination of both?

I know that Gerber is a pretty well established knife brand so i'm curious. :confused:
 
In short its because Gerber sold out to fiskars a few years ago(probably 4-8?). They are now generally thought to be a scissor company that makes knives on the side. From the newer models that I have used/felt they dont seem to pay much attention to their tolerances or fit and finish. Many are rough and pretty far from smooth. However, a few are still made in Portland Oregon and they seem to be the only ones that have some quality. In my opinion they do make some pretty alright knives at that plant. In particular the gator 154cm can be had for somewhere around $50.
 
I think most people are turned off by the mystery 440 or sometime just 400 series steel listed for the blades. If you cant tell us what we are buying then we dont want it. Is it 440a b or c, 425 modified, 420j2, 420hc just tell us and we will decide if we want to spend that much for a knife with that steel. Every decent knife company tells you what blade steel you are getting
 
Because they are crap? I have maybe 500 dollars worth of gerber knives. All of them have the same issues: poor steel, poor finish, poor materials, poor quality control, and way too high a price. They have some damned good designs but there never was a good knife made from a bad steel.
 
Some of us old geezers remember Gerber from the 70's, when they made some of the best knives around, and I for one feel they are worse than dead. The name has been sold to a company more interested in making a buck than making good knives.
 
Do any of you have the Vietnam - era Mark 2s?

That's what I would think of as Gerber's crowning achievement.

Right up there with the myriads of Bowies and WW2 Ka - Bars.
 
There is a lot of myth thats kept going about Fiskars, mostly by knife snobs.

The Fiskars factory has a history going back hundreds of years of making iron and steel products. They make some of the best axes, saws, and puuko's used by lots of sportsmen in Finland. With the amount of Finn's that are hunters and fishermen, Fiskars would not stay in business making bad stuff.

Gerber got a bad rep by making some of thier stuff in China, and that stuff is junk. But the Gator line, and the LST line and a few other products are good stuff. I worked with some non knife nuts who beat up those cheap little LST's in the machine shop where we worked, and they held up fine and cut good.

I've tried several brands of folding saws for the outdoor emergency kit, and the sliding blade Fiskars/Gerber is one of the best I've tried. My Gerber hatchet is several years old, has been used a ton, and is still going strong. The Fiskars fillet knife I have has cleaned enough fish to feed an army. No problems.

Yeah, Gerber makes some junk, but they also make some very tough servicable knives. The edge holding of the steel is about as good as a sak, Case, or most of the other factory stainless steel knives of the 440a series in that price range.

The reason Gerber was bought by Fiskars, was that under Pete Gerber they were stagnating. He wouldn't modernize the line. Thats why Pete Kershaw and Al Marr quit and went thier own way. Gerber was foundering, Fiskars kept them from sinking. Pete Gerber had no choice but to sell as he'd mis-managed the company.
 
I still have an EZ Out from the early 90s. Good knife.

The edge retention on everything I've seen in the last 10 years has been poor.
 
elkins45 said:
Once great brand that now makes mostly low-quality stuff.
Click to expand...

Yup.

I have a Mark II and it's superb. However, their recent (since the Fiskars acquisition) products have been of poor materials and quality. I bought one of those Artifacts after reading some good things about them. Well, two minutes in the car, and I was walking back to Target to return it.

If you can find their US-made knives, then they're a lot better. Fiskars makes some really good scissors, but their knives leave me feeling ripped off.

J_Curd said:
I still have an EZ Out from the early 90s. Good knife...
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Me too. It's still a nice knife. I went to buy a new model, and was dismayed to see that it has cut-outs in the blade and would not lock up.
 
I'm making blades with M2 HSS partially because legendary days of Gerber had
products line of M2. I want to say I'm partially a brain child of Gerber though they
will not recognize me.
 
yablanowitz said:
Some of us old geezers remember Gerber from the 70's, when they made some of the best knives around, and I for one feel they are worse than dead. The name has been sold to a company more interested in making a buck than making good knives.
Click to expand...

I remember when Gerber was the leader of the pack. But no more. IMO, I can get much more bang for the buck from other companies today.


J_Curd said:
I still have an EZ Out from the early 90s. Good knife.

The edge retention on everything I've seen in the last 10 years has been poor.
Click to expand...

I have two EZ-OUTs, one from the 90's and one from this century. I measured the hardness of each.
- The one from the 90's had a hardness of 59.
- The one from this century had a hardness of 55.

It tells the tale of where Gerber has gone. Some companies have driven for the goal line with their products. Gerber has headed for the Cheap line.
 
I have a folding hunter that I bought in 1980 that remains one of my most treasured knives. I spent $40 bucks for it back then, which was a fortune to me as a HS Junior. It was, and still is, a great knife.

Good luck finding a new knife as good with the Gerber name on it today.
 
The mystery blade steel on most of their stuff bugs me but the terrible QC on the ones I've owned prevents me from buying their product again.
 
Coincidentally I handled a couple at the local Cabellas this weekend. Lots of blade play - end of story for me. Daily user for me for years was the LST - great knife. Probably gave away 10 of 'em as gifts over the years.
As a veteran of the stereo biz - it has always amazed me how long a good name can be abused before it looses all value.
 
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