Gerber Legendary Blades

Gerber Legendary Blades is an American maker of knives, multitools, and other tools for outdoors and military headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Gerber is owned by the Finnish outdoors products company Fiskars. Gerber was established in 1939 by Pete Gerber.

Gerber is the "largest maker of knives and multi-tools for the United States armed forces." The LMF II Infantry Knife, features a partial tang blade instead of a full tang blade, ostensibly to avoid electric shocks because the knife was designed to free pilots from downed aircraft.

Gerber was the first knife company to collaborate with a custom knife maker when it collaborated with World War II knife maker David Murphy.

Bear Grylls has also designed a line of Gerber survival knives.

History

In 1910, the Gerber family started an advertising firm in Portland, Oregon.Williams, Christina Dyrness. "Inside Oregon Business: Gerber sharpens edge on growth, marketing". ''The Oregonian'', October 9, 2003, Business, p. D1. While working for the family business, Joseph Gerber mailed twenty four sets of kitchen knives to clients during the holidays. These handmade knives were very popular, with then catalog retailer Abercrombie & Fitch requesting more of these knives from Gerber to sell in their catalog in 1939. Gerber started Gerber Legendary Blades that same year.

In 1966, the company relocated to new headquarters in Tigard, Oregon. Finnish company Fiskars purchased the private company in 1987.

Chad Vincent was hired as chief executive officer in July 2001. By October 2003, the company employed three hundred people, and had revenues near $100 million and was the second leading seller of multitools in the United States, after Leatherman, another company based in the Portland area.

Designs

Designers who have since designed knives for Gerber include: Bob Loveless, Paul Poehlmann, Blackie Collins, William Harsey Jr., Fred Carter, Rick Hinderer, Brad Parrish, Ernest Emerson and Matt Larsen. Former Gerber employees who have started their own successful knife companies include Al Mar and Pete Kershaw.
Gerber built a line of folding knives based on designs of Rex Applegate.

Models

Models of Gerber fixed blade knives include:
*the Gerber Guardian: A boot knife designed by knife maker Bob Loveless more than twenty years ago.
*the Gerber Mark II: A fighting knife.
*the Gerber BMF : A survival knife.
*the Gerber LMF II Infantry
*the Gerber 31-001901 Bear Grylls Ultimate Pro
*the Gerber 22-41121 Prodigy Survival Knife
*the Gerber Blackie Collins Clip-lock Diving Knife
*the Gerber Strongarm
*the LMF II ASEK, or Aircrew Survival and Egress Knife

Models of Gerber folding knives include:

* The Bear Grylls Folding Sheath Knife
* The Flatiron, their only folding cleaver blade knife.
* The Paraframe, a lightweight pocketknife.
* The Kettlebell, a compact pocketknife.
* The Gerber/Emerson Alliance: The first automatic knife made by either company is based on the profile of Emerson Knives, Inc.'s earlier Raven knife design and is an issued item to certain military units under the NSN (NATO Stock Numbers): 5110-01-516-3243 and 5110-01-516-3244.
* the Gerber Gator: A single blade lockback knife with an ergonomic thermoplastic handle molded to resemble alligator skin.

Models of Gerber multi tools include:

* The Center-Drive, known for its automatic opening pliers and bit driver
* The Suspension Multi-Plier, a butterfly opening multi tool
* The Truss, a butterfly opening multi tool and successor to the Suspension
* The Suspension-NXT, a butterfly opening multi tool and successor to the Suspension

Gerber recently announced several new knives and one multi tool at the 2019 SHOT Show.

Gallery

File:Gerber logo.jpg, Gerber logo on machete/saw combo
File:Gerber Machete.jpg, Gerber machete/saw combo
Image:SFC Johnson ASEK.jpg, A Gerber LMF II ASEK used to cut through a 220 volt electrical line during a battle in Iraq
Image:Gerber_Multitool.jpg, A Gerber Compact Sport 400 multitool, closed
Image:Mp 400 sport.jpg, A Gerber Compact Sport 400 multitool, open
File:Gerber Mark II.jpg, A Gerber Mark II combat knife, with black anodized blade
Image:Gerber River Shorty.jpg, A blunt tip Gerber River Shorty dive knife
Image:Paraframe.jpg, A Gerber Paraframe I framelock knife, with fine edge and dark gray titanium nitride coating.
Image:Gerber suspension blades.jpg, A Gerber Suspension pocket tool, blades open
Image:Gerber_suspension_pliers.jpg, A Gerber Suspension pocket tool, pliers open
File:Gerber Vise 1.JPG, Gerber Vise keychain, 60mm long when closed
File:Gerber Vise 2.JPG, Gerber Vise, fully opened
File:Gerber Blackie Collins CLip-Lock Diving Knife.jpg, Gerber Blackie Collins One Piece, Fixed Blade CLip-Lock Diving Knife
File:Gerber Vise 3.JPG, Gerber Vise, only side tools opened
File:Gerber Remix (Redesigned 2011).jpg, Gerber Remix, redesigned with Paraframe opening/closing system
File:Gerber FAST assisted opening.gif, A Gerber Assisted-opening knife
File:Three Gerber tools.jpg, A Gerber Paraframe framelock knife, the Gerber Guardian Backup knife with sheath, and a Gerber Multi plier 600 with sheath.
File:Fixed Blade Full Tang Survival Knife.png, Bear Grylls compact survival knife
File:Gerber Bear Grylls Firestarter.jpg, Bear Grylls series Gerber Firestarter.
File:OLD GERBER.JPG, Old Gerber knives.

See also

* Buck Knives
* Knife making
* List of companies based in Oregon

References

Birds and Bees: How Businesses Are Really Born
(Section on Gerber)

External links

*

{{Tool manufacturers

Knife manufacturing companies
Multi-tool manufacturers
Mechanical hand tools
Fiskars
Manufacturing companies based in Oregon
Companies based in Tigard, Oregon
Manufacturing companies established in 1939
1939 establishments in Oregon
Tool manufacturing companies of the United States