Gerber Gear Fast Draw Pocket Knife Assisted Opening Folding Knife - EDC Gear and Equipment

Just a start this review I'm going to put it out that I am a knife junky and I love my knives. I'll have barely over a hundred knives to my collection and out of all my Assisted Opening knives my favorite are the Gerber Fast Draw and the Kershaw so I was looking to pick up a new everyday carry for my summer attire, when it's hot I wear a lot of Under Armour gym tight shorts things that don't have a belt have a lot of pocket room and a heavy knife is bulky and really weighs down shorts like that. After reading a lot of different views in a couple different web sites I ended up going with this nice and let me tell you I am so glad that I did. I'm a large man with large hands so this knife is small but I'll tell you what it's still fits comfortably in my hand for what I needed to when it's clipped onto the pocket of my cargo shorts I don't even notice it's there and even when I'm wearing like flimsy Under Armour shorts and it's just laying in my left pocket loose I still barely notice it's there it is so light and so small but still retains 100% of its function ability I have the partially serrated one I'm so glad that I did I pulled it out of my pocket and caught a 1 inch dick in my backyard with it like it was nothing it just saw right through it get used every day for just cutting packaging tape to open a box cutting a cord cutting a tag off something you just bought I constantly use this knife it came pretty Sharp but I sharpened it to a surgical razor as soon as I got it I've had it for about 6 months now I use it almost everyday and I've only be sharpened it once and it was just a couple drags through a pocket sharpener and it was back to being a surgical instrument again. It's super easy just a slight movement of your thumb flick the knife right open Lightning Fast and has a nice little safety button on it so if you want to make sure that it's not going to accidentally open it won't. I was at a barbecue a couple months ago and someone had a package All of Me they need to be opened hey you got enough here give them my little Gerber Afflicted open he's cutting open the package you need those holy crap I can't believe how much this thing is,just made me grin. If you're looking for an everyday carry that you don't want to notice that you have on you this is the nice to have not to mention it's backed up with Gerber quality which I still love, I have a lot of knives that are nicer than this one bigger than this one but this is the one I carry every single day year-round now. You can see the pictures I added him before you do I just want to stay then I'm 6 foot 2, 225 pounds in just a big man with big hands and this knife is still very comfortable for me to use. The only time I need a nice bigger than this on me is when I go camping and when I do I have my Buck Bowie on my belt but I still have this clipped to the inside of my left pocket. And head into the durability of it that little clip which is very tight has never gotten loose and is never stretched out this is the only life I've ever owned with a pocket clip that I haven't had to constantly retighten the screws to the clip or eventually the clip just permanently getting stretched out and falling out of my pocket

There are two versions of this knife. The one built in Portland Oregon, and this one which is made in China. The better one is SV30 steel, push button, standard military issued, and around 250 dollars. It’s heavier. Built completely out of steel. I think they’re no longer available. Haven’t seen them around in a while.This is the cheaper version. The handle is made out of something that feels like graphite, and the steel is a lower quality. Instead of a button, there’s a switch, and the blade will Fast Assist from the side with pressure from your thumb. I have the better version, and I adore it so much that I wanted the cheaper version. I primarily carry this cheaper version around because one, it’s legal in my state whereas the latter is not, and two, I figure if I lose the inferior one, it’ll be an easier loss. I’m happy with it. I’m a big fan of this Tanto Gerber knife. I’ll include a picture with both versions. The better on the left, and this one on the right.Good luck…

Worth the money. used every day and it still has a sharp edge. safety switch is nice to have so knife doesnt open up in your pocket.

Very sharp bladeWell madeSturdyGreat looking to boot

See my other review of the Gerber Swagger, which I don't like as much as the Fast Draw, but if you have iron-plated thumbs the Swagger might be worth looking at.This is a great knife, at least for me. I carry it in my back jeans pocket and it fits very low, with nearly all of the knife handle hidden inside the pocket. That's because the clip design is one that "loops around", turning 180° back on itself so the curve of the clip that snugs against the edge of my pocket is nearly at the very end of the knife handle. It's almost invisible if it weren't for the clip on the outside.Also, I love the fact that it is a "tip-up" carry, which for me puts the knife in the perfect position to open it when I pull it out of my pocket. The slide lock works like a charm (now it does, see photos and re-work description below) and is very easy to operate. And of course the blade is sharp as sh..., well , sharp as sharp can be. Very nice to carry and use.I would recommend it highly unless you happen to get one with a similar defect to mine. See the rest of the story below.I purchased this from Amazon as a discounted "open box" price, which I assumed meant it was a return. It appeared perfect in every way but once I tried it out the defect became obvious - the slide lock would jam when the knife was used (force applied to the blade when you cut something) and required a lot of wigging of the blade in order to get the slide lock to release so you could close the knife.Rather than send it back I decided to take it apart (bad habit of mine), and discovered that the slide lock mechanism uses a flat bar, sliding in a slot punched in the back of the blade, to lock and unlock the blade. That slot is literally punched in the steel of the blade and left completely unfinished - no machining at all. So the shearing force of the punching operation left a rough surface for the flat bar to slide against, and there was just enough of a burr for the bar to catch and jam.I used a tiny grindstone in a Dremel tool to remove just enough metal from the slot to get rid of the burr. I also did a little smoothing of the corner of the locking bar that slides inside the slot. See photos for details. After this work the knife operates like a dream.