need help identifying a knife..

[Cosmose]

just finished up watching man vs wild season one on dvd. and was wondering what kind of folding knife bear grylls was using? he used it on several episodes. half serrated blade, black handle, no thumb stud or clip.
figured some of you fellows knew what it was. it kinda caught my fancy..thanks

 

[Fat_46]

AFAIK its a Gerber Gator Serrater

 

[Piedmont Plinker]

Please, no one mention anything about Bear Grylls in this thread.
I think he used a Gerber, took.

 

[hso]

Gerber Gator (discussed in previous threads).

And I second that discussion of what people think of Bear Grylls and his show should be left out of the conversation.

 

[alaskanativeson]

My only comment about the show is knives related. I do enjoy the show but I always wondered why he doesn't have a good fixed blade with him. I know I never go out into the wild without a good knife on me somewhere. I'm not saying the Gerber isn't a good knife, frankly I don't know. I just feel much safer carrying a knife I may have to use to survive with that doesn't depend on a pin to hold the handle to the blade. Sure, I carry a folder in my pocket as well, and I always have my Leatherman Wave on my belt, but you can bet that in front of my Leatherman is going to be a Randall, a Busse, or at the least, a Cold Steel.

Just out of curiosity, what is that Gerber like? Is it a decent made knife?

 

[sixgunner455]

Gators and Gatormates are good knives. Stout built, strong, take a good edge.

Had a Gatormate -- much more pocketable than the Gator. Gator is a big knife.

 

[Eleven Mike]

Gators is junk. Or at least they used to be. Gerber ungood.

 

[Cosmose]

thanks for the info,
for 30 bucks i might have to give one a try

 

[mp510]

Gators is junk. Or at least they used to be. Gerber ungood.

The Gerber Gator is one of the few Gerber products still made in the USA. For the money, they are a very solid knife and the quality on those that I've seen actually looks pretty decent. The grip is also very handfilling. While I generally personally prefer the Buck 110, there is definetely situations (ie. wet situations) where I would much rather have a Gator. On BF, a lot of people have noted how Bear abuses/ improperly uses the knives (at least when he's on air). Considering that it survived his maltreatment, I have no doubt that they would more than stand up to the average person's use and then some. While some of us might like to have a Busse or Strider, most of us don't actually NEED them.

 

[Piedmont Plinker]

Gators is junk. Or at least they used to be. Gerber ungood.

Snobbish rubbish! My dad has had a Gator that has lasted him for years. Very solid knife. And I have other Gerbers, including some made-in-China models, that are also very solid.

When it comes to lockbacks, Gerber Gator, Buck 110, and KaBar Mule are all very solid, and hard to go wrong with any of them.
Is it just me, or do all the knives I see fishing or camping lockbacks like this? (disregarding multis and SAKs)
Most of camping is done from campsites or cabins, but you still use knives, and most of the knives you see are largish lockbacks.
Heck, even when backpacking and canoeing (3 days former, 2 weeks latter) most of the knives I saw were either multis, or lockbacks. One of my Outward Bound instructors carried a (Chinese, I'm afraid) Schrade lockback. I don't think I saw 3 fixed blades on the Boundry Waters, but lockbacks were everywhere.
No linerlocks, framelocks, Opinels, etc, just lockbacks and multis.
Anybody else notice this?

 

[Jason_G]

I carried a Gator in the nylon pouch on my belt for about 5 years while I was doing construction. They are a good "beater" knife, they are about the right size for bigger tasks, but not too big to carry comfortably, and the lock is sturdy. They do leave a little to be desired in terms of blade steel though. They can take a pretty sharp edge, but do not hold it very well. The blades are also not very tolerant of any type of lateral stress (i.e. bending or prying). I snapped a blade in half prying off an old hinge on a door that was only glued on, and I wasn't prying with a whole lot of strength either. Not that a knife should have to double as a pry-bar, but like I said, I wasn't really prying that hard with it- I surely wasn't expecting it to break quite so easily, as I've put knives through a whole lot worse than that.

My conclusion: Gerber Gator = good enough for a middle-of-the-road beater knife that's easy on the pocketbook, but you could definitely do better for blade construction.

Jason

 

[Eleven Mike]

My sincerest apologies. I read Gator, but I was thinking EZ-Out.