Gerber BG Ultimate Knife

Can we really call it the "ultimate" knife? Well, what is true of so much else in life is also true of cutlery, "opinions vary." My old man first told me about this knife, can't remember where he ran across it, but he decided to give one a try, which got my attention and gave me a chance to check it out.

Gerber has partnered up recently with Bear Grylls to release a line of various camping, survival, and bladed items. They have everything from survival kits to knives to multitools. I have to say though, that the knife line is all pretty good stuff. The ultimate comes in two versions, fine blade and fine with half serrated. I prefer the fine blade myself, here's why.

I like my "survival" or bush knife to have no serrations to get boogered up. A fine blade is always consistant, easy and quick to sharpen, and guaranteed to hold up to rough abuse longer than serrations will. The baton technique for using a knife to split wood is hell on serrations. Cutting thick vines or dense wood with a sawing motion wears down serrations fast. My little quick fix sharpener will also not touch these at all, but will touch up a fine blade in 6 pulls to the point where I can shave with it. To each his own though.

Nice, fine edge blade. Notice lashing holes.

The sheath setup is pretty nice on this rig. You get a hard plastic main sheath with metal lining to keep the blade from eating through. There is a collar at the top that makes a positive lock with the hilt of the knife, so it gets in there with a satisfying click. On top of that, a little velcro loop at the top of the sheath will lock around the pommel to keep it completely secure. The plastic sheath can swing away from the nylon backing plate, and has a built in sharpening stone on the backside. In addition, the front base of the plastic part contains a neat little fire steel stick, which can be used with a special notch on the back of the knife blade for fire starting. Pretty damn cool little feature which works like a champ every time, and makes a nice shower of sparks. I've used it a couple of times since I had the knife on me and didn't want to dig out my other firesteel.

The blade itself is awesome. It's pretty damn thick, which makes it tougher, and is a decent length without being too much. It handles abuse very well, and the edge, while honed to damn near a razor, held up without dinging or chipping under heavy work. There is very good balance on the thing as well. The handle is nice plastic with very grippy rubber molding and an aggressive pattern that makes it a joy to hold. There are a few holes in the handle which also pass through the blade tang, and are designed to make the knife easy to lash to a pole, so you can fashion a make shift spear with ease. The pommel is a stainless steal brute designed for hammering and smashing. It works, I've used it to drive down tent stakes several times.

Pommel is serious!

For the average price of $50 most places are asking for this knife, you really get a lot of bang for your buck. It even comes with a little emergency whistle on a lanyard, and a pocket survival guide thing deal. Which probably has useful info in it. I'm sure of it. I think. The sheath is pretty super and the knife itself it just a hell of a good tool, and doesn't look bad either. I wouldn't let the Bear Grylls name sway you one way or another, I'd honestly think about this knife based on it's own merits, which are many. I'll have a follow up, I'm sure, after a season or two with this tool in the woods.


-Owen

Included firesteel works like a champ.

Sharpener on back of sheath.