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Review for Gerber StrongArm Fixed Blade Knife
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raf's Review of Gerber StrongArm Fixed Blade Knife
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.
I have seen Y/T vids by reasonable folks who have modified the hard plastic ends of the grip to suit their needs, usually by sanding-down the front guards to some degree. Suggest caution when doing this as doing so may subject the user to serious injury.
Blade: I bought the Coyote Brown version without serrations. Marked with serial number on one side, and mfr's logo and text on other side. What I call a "drop-point" blade, having a false edge dropping straight to the edge of the sharpened blade, as opposed to an "upswept" "Clip" style blade. This form of "Dropped" blade is much stouter than the "upswept" "Clip" style of blade, and generally more useful for common tasks. Blade point on this particular knife is a little "above" the horizontal plane of the handle, which is "tolerable" but not "Ideal" for most bushcrafting tasks, IMHO. In most cases, a Bushcraft/Utility knife will have the point of the blade directly in line with the central axis of the handle for maximum utility.
Blade steel is unremarkable but decent 420 HC steel. Strongly suggest owner keep some decent sharpening device handy and know how to use it. Adequately sharpened from the factory, but expert user sharpening can be beneficial.
Blade Is NOT electrically connected to the glass-striker pommel which has a lanyard hole suitable for paracord. This indicates that this is NOT a full-tang knife.
No expert, but I have yet to read a long-term review of this knife which suggests this to be a significant problem; How many windows need be busted to cause damage to the knife, LOL? Pommel is not suitable for use as a hammer, probably a good thing in this instance.
Maker's Guarantee: Gerber seems to have a "reasonable" guarantee as concerns initial workmanship and materials. IDK how far their guarantee extends beyond that. I have never used or damaged a Gerber knife so far as to need/consider returning it to Gerber. Sharpened quite a few, though--take note.
Overall Impressions: A decent Utility knife for its' price point. Not ideal for bushcrafting/survival use, but will certainly do, if user will do. I elected to buy a knife without serration cuts in the blade. Serrated alternatives exist but suggest buying such only if you have the tools and skills to re-sharpen the serrations. In truth, with the correct tools, it's not hard, just tedious.
Decent knife for those on a budget. One can certainly do better than this knife, but usually at much greater expense. It would also be easy to do "worse" than this knife, while paying nearly identical or lesser prices.
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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.
I have seen Y/T vids by reasonable folks who have modified the hard plastic ends of the grip to suit their needs, usually by sanding-down the front guards to some degree. Suggest caution when doing this as doing so may subject the user to serious injury.
Blade: I bought the Coyote Brown version without serrations. Marked with serial number on one side, and mfr's logo and text on other side. What I call a "drop-point" blade, having a false edge dropping straight to the edge of the sharpened blade, as opposed to an "upswept" "Clip" style blade. This form of "Dropped" blade is much stouter than the "upswept" "Clip" style of blade, and generally more useful for common tasks. Blade point on this particular knife is a little "above" the horizontal plane of the handle, which is "tolerable" but not "Ideal" for most bushcrafting tasks, IMHO. In most cases, a Bushcraft/Utility knife will have the point of the blade directly in line with the central axis of the handle for maximum utility.
Blade steel is unremarkable but decent 420 HC steel. Strongly suggest owner keep some decent sharpening device handy and know how to use it. Adequately sharpened from the factory, but expert user sharpening can be beneficial.
Blade Is NOT electrically connected to the glass-striker pommel which has a lanyard hole suitable for paracord. This indicates that this is NOT a full-tang knife.
No expert, but I have yet to read a long-term review of this knife which suggests this to be a significant problem; How many windows need be busted to cause damage to the knife, LOL? Pommel is not suitable for use as a hammer, probably a good thing in this instance.
Maker's Guarantee: Gerber seems to have a "reasonable" guarantee as concerns initial workmanship and materials. IDK how far their guarantee extends beyond that. I have never used or damaged a Gerber knife so far as to need/consider returning it to Gerber. Sharpened quite a few, though--take note.
Overall Impressions: A decent Utility knife for its' price point. Not ideal for bushcrafting/survival use, but will certainly do, if user will do. I elected to buy a knife without serration cuts in the blade. Serrated alternatives exist but suggest buying such only if you have the tools and skills to re-sharpen the serrations. In truth, with the correct tools, it's not hard, just tedious.
Decent knife for those on a budget. One can certainly do better than this knife, but usually at much greater expense. It would also be easy to do "worse" than this knife, while paying nearly identical or lesser prices.
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Would Recommend:
Yes