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1288 Review
53 Karma

Review on GERBER StrongArm Fixed Blade Knife by Robert Prix

Revainrating 5 out of 5

Decided not to keep it therefore

I was happy to receive this knife but after several days of back and forth I have decided to return it. Here's the thin one. Form factor and weight are good. Agile and quite manoeuvrable, the knife looks and feels like a quality knife (with one exception - see below). Everyone agrees that the sheath is also magnificent and clearly upgrades the knife. At this point I have to say that my main interest is crafting / general use of the camp / setting up firewood and campfires. Now for the cons. I was disappointed that the cutting edge stops about half an inch from the handle. When splitting wood, this is of great importance and accounts for a significant part of the blade's limited straight surface. Second, when I did some "simulation" shading, I felt that the notch in the center of the handle made it too thin for my hand. Overall it's so good that I probably would have kept it despite those limitations were it not for the blade finish which was just plain unsatisfying. The cut is coarse, uneven on both sides, uneven (wandering) over the length of the blade and on the one hand the bevel does not reach the tip. Where a finely sharpened point should have been there was a single edge and a small piece of metal protruding from the point. It's disappointing that this is coming out of Portland - it really looks like whoever sharpened this knife checked their Facebook at the same time. You may have the most advanced production, but whoever touches it last dictates what the buyer thinks of your product. I feel like Gerber could have taken an extra minute to give their product a slightly better edge and maybe finished with a finer grit rather than essentially leaving it micro-scored. After all, a blade is a knife.

Pros
  • Satisfied so far
Cons
  • Will write later