Most of us know the story of Gerber Legendary Blades. Let me add to what I wrote at https://knifesearch.blogspot.com/2021/09/gerber-parabellum.html.
Gerber Legendary
Blades is an American maker of knives, multi-tools, and other outdoor and
military tools headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Gerber was established in 1939 by Pete Gerber and
is owned by the Finnish outdoors products company, Fiskars.
Gerber is claimed
to be the largest maker of knives and multi-tools for the United States armed
forces. Backing up that claim is a wide
variety of combat-style knives, Many of which are highly collectable. Susan J Dorey states in her publication (1)
that Gerber switched on December 8, 1941, from making kitchen knives to
military knives. That was the day after
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Gerber's Folding Sportsman II - From around 2000
Slightly off
topic, but I found it interesting that Gerber and Emerson Knife formed an alliance
to produce an automatic knife, AKA switchblade.
Interestingly, it was the first automatic knife made by either company. The knife was based on Emerson Knives’ Raven
knife design. The auto was an issued
item to specific military units. You can
look it up if you want to go down that rabbit hole!
NSN (NATO Stock
Numbers): 5110-01-516-3243
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| A couple Folding Sportsman from "100 Legendary Knives" by Pacella |
I recently got hold of a Gerber Folding Sportsman II. They were released in 1972. The FS II was later discontinued in about 1995. It’s a nice knife. Many people found it a convenient substitution for the larger, clunkier Buck 110 Hunter.
The blade is just over 3.5 inches long and can be described as a flat grind, straight-back blade. I couldn’t find anything listed but I suspect the steel is 440C, a common, but still used knife steel. The handle is an attractive blend of brass and wood. Of course, the blade locks open.
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| Gerber Folding Sportsman II |
The tang stamp doesn't appear to be anything unique. The tang marking system developed by Case Knife is, without a doubt, genius!
It simply says 'Gerber' on the other side
It's an icey cool
knife, and I'm lucky to find one this nice.
The other Gerber under discussion is the Gerber Pixie. The Pixie could be best described as a bird and trout knife or a lightweight kitchen fruit knife.
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| A Gerber Pixie |
There is an elegant simplicity to this knife. It seems too nice to be used for kitchen work or field dressing.
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| The only identification is stamped into the handle "Gerber-Pixie" |
The story here is a little more complicated, and I must find some reference books. I thought I could fall back on my old trick of looking up Gerber's catalogs online, but they don't seem to have any. Damn shame about that!
My limited
research shows that the Pixie is a member of a family of Gerber
aluminum-handled knives. Some handles were
given a coating to increase friction and improve grip. I've found examples of Pixies with leather
sheaths, the knife sans sheath, and at least one with a wooden sheath. It is just an ordinary kitchen knife.
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| I find the smooth flow of the handle and blade attractive. To me, it almost has a futuristic look |
Here is what I
consider interesting about this knife.
My friend Derrick found it at Harbor Freight in 2005. "I don't know," he told me. "They just had a pile of them. Thought you'd be interested." I was, but not enough to rush out, and by the
time I did get there, they were gone.
(1) http://www.susandoreydesigns.com/insights/GerberLegendaryBlades.pdf
