raf from United States, RI Public Profile

Pretty faithful copy of WW II issue Smatchet. My original order never arrived; possibly stolen off my porch although I request all delivery people to "DELIVER TO REAR ENTRANCE". Most do. Vendor was kind enough to ship another, which I had to sign for, but at least I got it. Since it is a replica, I "may" re-shape the "squarish" wooden handle and hilt as per some You-Tube Vids I've seen. Scabbard is leather-covered wood with kinda thin angled belt loop. May make a thicker "lace-on" leather scabbard "frog" with better belt loop. Filled inside of wooden scabbard with linseed oil (and allowed oil to drain) to seal the wood.

Item arrived promptly and in good condition. Would have preferred green laser, though.

Fits and works fine. Very pleased. Will probably be most effective at night/dim light.

Received in new condition, and shipping was prompt. Only OD color available. No included leg strap, but that is easily made/added. Very protective and good for field use. Not exactly a "quick-draw" holster.

Scabbard: Common plastic scabbard with 1/8" dia holes on sides and 1" wide slots for lashing cords/straps. Unsure if the scabbard is reinforced by glass fibers, which would strengthen the scabbard, possibly at the cost of making it more "fragile". The scabbard has the built-in ability to be carried horizontally on user's belt (Scout style) and this feature can be deleted and the scabbard, along with included nylon webbing (frog), can be vertically belt mounted on a PALS platform, although additional cords/webbing straps may be needed.

No leg lanyard, nor additional cords/straps for the scabbard included. Scabbard will allow knife to "snap-in" to it, but I've seen tighter, more secure iterations of this feature. The included nylon webbing items (Frog) have a top-mounted, snapped, wrap-around strap for the top of the knife's handle. Nylon webbing frog has a wide (3-1/2") belt loop at the top of the nylon scabbard attachment.

Handle: Usual overmolded semi-soft plastic with grippy texture. Ends of the handle seem to be made of harder black plastic. Gerber claims the "substrate" of the handle (presumably the exposed ends of the handle) is glass-filled, which adds strength; likely the overmolded plastic handle lacks such, which is of little account, except that such "overmolded" plastics may suffer after contact with oils. From my experience with devices having "overmolded" plastic handles, Strongly suggest keeping all oils away from the "overmolded" plastics.

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