The
Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife (from here on after reffered to as "Gerber
BG") is one of the bestselling knives in the world. Why? I decided to
review how my Gerber BG would perform in different scenarios you would
encounter when bushcrafting. I'm not a knife expert, but I know what one should
expect from a good knife.
At
first glance the Gerber BG is a very cool knife. It
has a hint of tactical look like military knives without any tactical color. The
blade i quite wide and heavy and has a coating to prevent corrosion. The handle
is rubber with a large metal pommel at the end. It also comes with an emergency
whistle attached to the handle. The sheath
is really big, but it has a few extra features than just holding the knife. It
has a sharpener, a small survival guide, and a fire steel.
Gerber BG as a fishing knife.
I
brought the knife to a fishing trip to see if it could replace my regular
fishing knife. It took a while before I caught my first fish of the day. The
thick and heavy blade is perfect for killing the fish with a whack in the head
The thickness of the blade makes gutting and cleaning the fish a bit harder
than usual, but not impossible.
Bushcrafting with Gerber BG
Chopping:
Used the knife on some big branches for fire wood. The heavy blade was a great
help when chopping.
Whittling:
It wasn't easy. Got a feeling that there where something wrong with the handle
when using it at that particular angle. The edge on the blade isn't optimal for
whittling. I prefer a scandi grind when using it for that.
Gerber BG as a hunting knife.
Haven't
tried it on any huntet animals, but to get the feel on how it would perform I
used it to prepare some beef for barbequing. I can see how the rounded edge at
the tip would be good for skinning and gutting - but that's just guessing.
The extra features on Gerber BG
The
survival guide: it covers a few basic survival skills that could come in handy
in a such situation.
The sheath is big and bulky, and not very comfortable to wear on your belt. I've attached a small carabiner to it, so it will hang on to my belt more comfortable. I've also wrapped a few feet of extra paracord around the sheath.
The
whistle is really loud, but not very solid. It took my three year old son under
one minut to break it. I recomend moving it from the handle of the knife to the
handle of the fire steel. Then it won't come it the way of the pommel. I used
the pummel to break some sea shells so my son could fish crabs from the pier.
The knife performed well at the task, but so would a rock have done.
The
sharpner is too coarse to make a good fine edge, but with no alternatives
anything will do. This knife looses its edge quikly so having a sharpner close
becomes quite usefull.
My conclution:
It's really cool looking, but just an ok allrounder.
It's not perfect for anything I used it for. It's a lot of money to pay for
just an ok knife, but if you're a fan of mr. Grylls - as I am... then why not?
;)