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Bear Gryles knives

4K views 28 replies 14 participants last post by  Belt Feeder 
#1 ·
Hey all,
Anyone use one of these, how are they ?
Thanks
 
#8 ·
OMG! The guy in that link spend $60 for that thing? Walmart has them for about $25 now. They look good and will get you through a weekend camping trip, but I don't know how much abuse it could take. Gerbers aren't made like they used to be.
 
#13 ·
Remember way back when....a Gerber was THE knife to own? I had one of the original MKI's when I was stationed at FT Sill. Oddly enough, the other soldier standby was the big old Buck General.
Dang, I didn't realize Gerber dropped off so badly. I have a Gerber Freeman fixed blade that I bought 5 years ago which is one heck of a good knife (It replaced a Buck with a chipped blade), but then again it its not on the lower tier of their product line.
 
#14 ·
Gerber still has some higher end/higher priced items. They're quality in some of the knives is excellent. I really like the AR series and much of their Multitools. FWIW, I do believe Kershaw has many knives that will out perform the Gerbers, but the same can be said for the opposite.

Then again, I might be a little bias. My first knife was an AR 3 stainless, I really was impressed by the quality. It locked up very tightly, held an edge as good as any 440C blade will, and came sharp from the factory. I also bought the much skepticized Flik MT, I like it much better than the similar priced leathermans.
 
#15 ·
Gerbers are now made in China. I was recently in the Seiverville/Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area so I made a trip to the Smokey Mt Knife Works store. Boy, what a place! You could spend 2 days in there and not see everything. However, I noticed that a lot of the big names (Gerber, Fiskars, and others) are now made in China. There's not a lot of knives (excluding custom knife makers) that are made in the US anymore. I think that Buck, Schrade, Uncle Henry, Case, SOG, and Leatherman (and maybe a few others) are the only ones made in the USA now.

If any knows, for a fact, where certain knives are made, maybe we should make a list of Made In The USA knives. I know that the ones I listed above are made in the USA (at least most of their products are).
 
#18 ·
How did you chip the edge on the Buck?
Butchering a deer. I was cutting around a front shoulder joint, nicked some bone/cartiledge and it took a chip out of the blade. Buck had some heat treating problems with some of their hunting knives about 15 years back, I have a feeling that I had one of them- the edge was very brittle.

I think that Buck, Schrade, Uncle Henry, Case, SOG, and Leatherman (and maybe a few others) are the only ones made in the USA now.
There are a lot of knives still made in the US, but they aren't the cheap ones- Some Gerber, Some Cold Steel, Benchmade, Spyderco (about 1/2 are made in Japan-but quality is superb), Stryder, Emmerson, Chris Reeve.
 
#22 ·
Butchering a deer. I was cutting around a front shoulder joint, nicked some bone/cartiledge and it took a chip out of the blade. Buck had some heat treating problems with some of their hunting knives about 15 years back, I have a feeling that I had one of them- the edge was very brittle.

There are a lot of knives still made in the US, but they aren't the cheap ones- Some Gerber, Some Cold Steel, Benchmade, Spyderco (about 1/2 are made in Japan-but quality is superb), Stryder, Emmerson, Chris Reeve.

Did you bring that to Buck's attention? They are usually very good about replacing anything that fails in reasonable use.

I have heard that Bucks are brittle, but until this, every one that had a problem that I was able to trace had the edge chipped by trying to pound it through bone. That may chip ANY blade! My Bucks have been okay, but I've never done anything with one that might break it. I have lopped a few small branches with a Model 120 General. It worked, but that's more properly work for axe, machete, or saw.

Still, I like to be able to chop a little with a big knife if I must. That's one reason why I favor Fallkniven products. They're made with that need in mind, and the Moran-style edge takes that into account. Their F-1 is Swedish Air Force issue, with the idea that a pilot who bails out in winter has to use it to split kindling and get a fire ASAP!

There seems to be some confusion in this topic about Schrades: Uncle Henry was their better line, with the Old Timer their basic grade. Uncle Henrys have 440A blades I think, and the Old Timers probably had 1095 plain carbon steel.
Both were well heat treated and perform well.
 
#20 ·
These kind of replies ^^^^ are what I was looking for :) What I probably saw at SMKW (the Uncle Henry, Schrade, etc.) may have been older ones that they still had in stock.

Now when I see a knife that interests me I look at the blade to see where it was made.

My hunting knives are all Bucks, I got my first Buck when I was about 10, a small 2 bladed folder. Now I have knives for just about all occasions (like when carrying a certain gun to fit the situation, be it daily carry, hunting, barbecue, church, etc.)

My kitchen knives though, I might be seen as a snob but I have Wusthof and Henckels (bought them when I was stationed in Europe 25 years ago) and haven't needed/wanted anything else yet. I do have a top of the line Japanese ceramic bladed (GP kitchen) knife that was given to me when I went to Japan on business last Nov. and it is outstanding. Have used it almost daily for 8 months now and it cuts as good as the day I received it.
 
#25 ·
I think Bos is retired now, but trained his successor. Not sure. But Buck is said to get good results from 420 series steels. Heat treatment makes a lot of difference.

I think Case's stainless blades are also good, if not the equal of more high tech steels. I have a Case medium stockman that is very well made. And a Copperlock.
 
#26 ·
Did you bring that to Buck's attention? They are usually very good about replacing anything that fails in reasonable use.

I have heard that Bucks are brittle, but until this, every one that had a problem that I was able to trace had the edge chipped by trying to pound it through bone. That may chip ANY blade! My Bucks have been okay, but I've never done anything with one that might break it. I have lopped a few small branches with a Model 120 General. It worked, but that's more properly work for axe, machete, or saw.
I didn't tell you the second 1/2 of the story... and it happened exactly like you described.
I was field dressing a deer with the same knife the next year, and snapped the tip off the blade while splitting the pelvis:eek: I don't do that anymore....

Also, the knife in question is no longer made, it was some sort of fixed blade hunting knife with a kydex sheath that was sold at walmart stores. It looked a bit like the Woodsman, but with a moulded plastic handle and a rough as-cast finish to the blade.
 
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