KNIFE4TREKKING 1- Gerber LMF II: Infantry BLACK**Update**

[seedha.admi]

Dear IFG Members,
A while back I opened a thread about bear grylls ultimate PRO knife. Initially I wanted to purchase that knife but as it released people did a lot of reviews of it on youtube. Watching them I got a little choosy about which knife should I buy. Honestly speaking I wanted it to be with serrated edges and a little less pricy. Thus began one of my obsessions (if you've read my other threads you'd know what I'm talking about) to get a survival knife. Also since I wanted to test knifecenter and am going trekking next month, I thought why not kill three birds with one KNIFE. So I sat down on my macbook for countless hours day & night doing research. At first I wanted my knife to be toughest so looked for knifes with 1095 high carbon steel blade. After many consideration I narrowed it down to Schrade Extreme Survival SCHF9 & KA-BAR USMC knife. And just when I thought I was gonna buy the USMC, my brain just had to be cynical about rust resistance. I swear on my grandmother's name I didn't want all my research up till then go to waste. Now, I wanted my survival knife to be stainless steel. So I started my research again, but this time I wanted to go a little different style about it . Instead of just one knife I'd buy two. One main and the other a backup.

I narrowed down my search to Gerber LMF II & Camillus 19093 Les Stroud Ultimate mountain survival knife. I chose them because A) they were inexpensive B) serrated edges C) they looked BADASS! And ultimately I went with Greber LMF II: Infantry black colour.

These are Some Pics-

[choombak]

Not to rain on your parade, but Gerber products have lately become trash - the only thing they now do is have huge margins on their products, so at most of the big stores, the sales rep will take you to Gerber as being the "best", even past the Benchmade, Spyderco, ZT, ESEE, and Kershaw shelves. Sadly, not everyone is a knife nut, but everyone knows Bear G from his famous series (well, it is interesting to know he does not use the products he endorses in the series). Not sure what steel is on your blade, but mostly it is 420A (not Sandvik 12C27).

With a shoddy quality control, and most products now manufactured in China (one reason why you see Gerber clones a plenty on alibaba), it is best to avoid them totally. If you want a knife to show off your relatives/friends as "badass", then Gerber is the brand. But if you want a field knife that you actually plan to use, then it is not for you.

[seedha.admi]

@ Choombak,

NOPE!

Actually bear grylls will be using the BG ultimate pro knife in his upcoming show on discovery. This knife is US made and the blade steel is 420HC. Like buck knives the 420HC stainless steel if heat treated properly can become very strong with good edge retention. I can clearly spot the difference in the quality. Lately I've been strapping it to my lower right leg and swimming in 8ft depth pool. It's one of my cousin's swimming pool & they haven't opened it yet for summer. So far both me and my friends at the swimming pool are impressed(we're all knife nut here). It has a very good grip in wet condition. I used a string and attached it to wood to make a spear. I threw it at wall & it didn't even chip at the front. I used the sharpener in the sheath & got a good edge. I tested it out on the nails too, it works fine as a hammer. I didn't try to break anything with the pummel but I will test that soon too. So, it's safe to say the knife is worth it.

One more thing, the straps are very well made. They have strings of something like rubber or it may be rubber between the stitches so that it's not slippery when attached.

[seedha.admi]

**UPDATE**

I tested the pummel on a brick. OMG wow the brick broke in two and not single change/damage in the pummel. It worked better than I thought! Or it could be that it was somehow luck. Going to test it again on the brick or ply or something like a stone.

[Skyman]

Do post paper cut pics.Try and make a circle in one go in a sheet of paper.I doubt BG quality also.

[seedha.admi]

Do you want a circle or a curve, also with this knife or BG paracord knife?

[Skyman]

A circle.Both knives would be nice.

[seedha.admi]

Well I didn't know how to cut the paper but still I managed to do this.

[seedha.admi]

Also there's a little update in the sheath:-

THE SWEDISH FIRE STEEL

[Skyman]

Like this

http://indiansforguns.com/viewtopic.php ... it=contest

Have you sharpened the knife?

[seedha.admi]

Yes I sharpened it to test the sharpener in the sheath.

[Skyman]

Oh.That's why it wasn't good.Do try with sandpaper.

[Moin.]

Not to rain on your parade, but Gerber products have lately become trash - the only thing they now do is have huge margins on their products, so at most of the big stores, the sales rep will take you to Gerber as being the "best", even past the Benchmade, Spyderco, ZT, ESEE, and Kershaw shelves. Sadly, not everyone is a knife nut, but everyone knows Bear G from his famous series (well, it is interesting to know he does not use the products he endorses in the series). Not sure what steel is on your blade, but mostly it is 420A (not Sandvik 12C27).

With a shoddy quality control, and most products now manufactured in China (one reason why you see Gerber clones a plenty on alibaba), it is best to avoid them totally. If you want a knife to show off your relatives/friends as "badass", then Gerber is the brand. But if you want a field knife that you actually plan to use, then it is not for you.

Hi Amar;

Beg to differ on this one. Handled a Gerber LMF 2 just today and it is surprisingly well built. Check with Bruno 22 he has one too. This model isnone of the good blades from the Gerber Stables like the Mark 2. Had receieve one negative feeeback from Slingshot who had actuallybseen one break during some camping trip but not sure how it was being used or abused so to speak.

[essdee1972]

Moin, welcome back!! Hope the wedding and the honeymoon went off well......... pics please!!!

[Skyman]

What wedding?