GerberGear LMF II Infantry Survival Tactical Knife - Made in USA Fixed Blade with 4.84" Partially Serrated Blade and Textured Grip - Included MOLLE Sheath - Black

This knife is by far the best knife I’ve purchased. Heavy duty, sharp out of the box, versatile, numerous sheath options. I’m still playing around with different methods to attach to a stick. Great grip handle when wet. I don’t throw knifes so I don’t know about that. It’s a workhorse knife. Everyone should have one. Mine is in black.

I got the opportunity to volunteer for a year of fun & sun in beautiful Baghdad, and decided I needed a manly-man knife to carry around with me. I call it "Plan B" because the duties I perform (gate guard) render my M-16 largely useless, as any... "interactions" would be taking place at close range. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to rack up any knife kills yet (this place is totally not at all like COD), but what I did discover is that this knife is AWESOME.First things first: This knife weighs a ton. Its blade is a full 3/16" thick. You will never snap it. It does not bend, it does not flex. It is a short, stout blade. If I had to draw an analogy, it'd be the little Scottish dwarf guy from LOTR. And his axe. One might think that this blade is too thick to be sharp, and although the knife on my Leatherman is better suited for delicate work, this blade is more than capable of taking an edge sharp enough to cut straight through a 1 liter bottle of water, of which there are billions out here. It is also hard enough to retain that edge for a good long while.The knife isn't very well balanced for throwing, but if thrown with care it will embed its blade a few inches deep into wood, concrete, solid diamond, etc. It's so heavy that even if you don't hit something with the blade, it'll still really, really hurt. Which brings me to the Skull Cr... er, "window breaker" on the butt. So far, it's been most useful for breaking up large blocks of ice, a task at which it excels. However, I have absolutely no doubt that you could crush no small number of hard objects with it. Again, its considerable heft comes into play here, and it is possible to (totally accidentally) gouge a good chunk out of a concrete T-wall with it without damaging the knife.Its handle is electrically insulated to either 600 or 6,000 volts or something like that. I know for a fact that you can cut (and by cut I mean tomahawk chop) through a fallen 400v power line safely in order to keep it from further electrocuting a vehicle. Boy, you should've seen the looks on their faces when I was about to make the first chop! I'm fairly certain I sold a few of these knives that day. In related news, 400v power lines make hella sparks when you cut through them.The sheath. Yes, well, it's rather cumbersome. And it's huge. But it's for a huge knife, so it rather comes with the territory. I don't normally wear a MOLLE vest (which is my armor) so I couldn't use that, but by cutting the top strap off, you can hook it through your favorite 2" (or larger, or smaller, whatever) belt and strap the bottom part around your leg. This has worked satisfactorily for 11 months now, and you get used to it sort of cutting circulation off of your leg. Honest. You have to strap it pretty tight in order to keep the sheath in place while inserting/removing the knife, but the knife will not accidentally come out.There is a sharpener built into the sheath. It's moderately useful. It will put a medium edge on the blade if no other sharpener is around. This would be most useful in remote situations, but using it requires removing the sheath from its strap/harness, which is somewhat annoying. Really, just get a whetstone and you'll be fine. I use a sharpening kit by Smith's:Smith's® Diamond Field Sharpening Kit (that I have also reviewed) and it works wonderfully - enough to put a shaving edge on a pig-sticker.There are holes in the knife that are supposed to be used to lash it to a pole or branch in order to form a spear. I have 550 cord in one of my pockets, and access to palm frond branches, but have not tried this out. I don't see why it wouldn't work, but mostly it just creates places for dust to get into that I have to use pipe cleaners to remove.If you wear this strapped to your leg, be prepared to get a lot of funny looks. Even in VBC, where everybody has a knife, this is a HUGE KNIFE. I have been called "Rambo" on more than one occasion. Even with an M-16 strapped to my chest, this knife intimidates people far more. Questionable contact with questionable locals is almost more effectively broken off by me resting my hand on the butt of the knife than by gesturing with the rifle, as they all know the rifle's pretty much only useful as a large cumbersome club inside of 10 yards. It takes a bit of dedication to wear a knife this ridiculously huge on a daily basis, but its mere presence speaks volumes. It says you ain't ****ing kidding around.Don't buy this knife because it's a miniature sword; it isn't. A big ol' Ka-Bar will serve you better. This isn't a miniature sword; it's a miniature hatchet. A hatchet with a serrated edge, and a mauler on the other end. It might as well have big spikes on it, à la Dk'Tagh. This is a knife that dispenses all pretense and gets straight down to business. This knife is Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction. This is a knife that you can do darn near anything with. You can hunt, fish, kill, shave, crush, not-electrocute, and even pry-bar stuff. The blade is that thick.So if you're tired of your cute little SOG Seal Pups and your flimsy little Ka-Bars, get this knife. It won't let you down. You just have to be brave and strong enough to handle it. It's not for the faint of heart (or leg circulation).

I remember the first Gerber knife I had. It was an old lock blade knife, pretty decent. After that knife, I kinda forgot about Gerber. Then, the Gerber LMF II came out. Before that, I didn't really understand Gerber's work, too artsy, too intellectual, but when the LMF II came out, I think Gerber really came into their own, commercially and artistically. Then, Gerber came out with the Bear Grylls line of knives, and I thought that Gerber was becoming too commercial, and therefore more satisfying in a narrower way. With the Gerber LMF II, they seemed to reach their summit of top of the line production. I don't think a lot of people understand the LMF II very well. People tend to think that it should be a batoning beast, and while it certainly can baton, this is a survival knife that is designed for specific situations. The rubberized grip is excellent and very ergonomic. The tang of the knife is almost full, but not quite. The pommel of the knife is akin to a glass breaker, and the tang is actually separated by a rubber spacer that limits shock and vibration to the knife.The LMF II is actually designed to be able to cut through electrical wires without being shocked. This knife actually has a military purpose and history behind it. The story goes that a soldier in Afghanistan actually cut through electrical wire to allow soldiers to proceed behind enemy lines while not getting shocked and being able to infiltrate the enemy's perimeter undetected. That is a pretty impressive story, and I can't think of many knives that can pull off such a task, but the Gerber LMF II did. I have used this knife for a variety of tasks, and I am just super impressed at its ability to chop and cut through very tough objects with ease. People complain about this steel, but if you had seen some of the things that I have cut through with this knife, I don't think many people would be complaining.Personally, I love the way this knife feels in my hand. This is just one of those knives that has incredible ergonomics, and that is extremely important. Although I am not a big fan of serrations, Gerber does a good job with this knife, and I can tolerate them. Of course, when they get blunt, that is going to be a pain to deal with, but I am not to that point yet.The sheath is a military design with internal sharpening system for field sharpening. It is a good sheath, but it's heavy, probably too heavy for belt use. It can be a chore to get the knife out of the sheath as well, but after some use, it seemed to loosen up just a bit. Personally, I would rather have a knife that has an overdone sheath retention system than one that does not, but people are going to complain about this aspect. However, I knew what I was getting into going into this purchase, and it just does not bother me. The good clearly outweighs the bad with the Gerber LMF II.If I was in a survival situation, I would be very comforted to know that I had the Gerber LMF II by my side. With that said, I would avoid heavy batoning with this knife or be very careful not to hit the handle of the knife while batoning because the knife's handle is rubberized and it will be damaged if you abuse it, but that is the design of the knife. It is not a defect or a flaw of the knife, and it certainly does not reduce the value of this great survival knife. For me, the Gerber LMF II is a great choice for a camping or survival blade. Again, I love the ergos and the grip is just awesome, it cuts and chops like a champ, and it just gives me a confident feeling when I hold it. Moreover, I really like the stainless steel blade of this knife. In a humid and moist climate, this knife is perfect because it won't rust like carbon steel blades.In short, the Gerber LMF II is a champion of a survival knife that could save your life if used correctly and not abused. People just need to understand that this knife is different than a Becker BK2 which I also love. It just depends on what you're doing. If you are going to do a lot of batoning, the LMF II may not be the best choice, but it can baton. If you are going to do a lot of chopping and utility tasks in wet conditions like I do, the Gerber LMF II is, quite frankly, very tough to beat.