Gerber Yari II Knife
Man’s life was improved the day that he made the first knife more than nine thousand years ago. It’s a tool that we still use today on a daily basis. Something that important and timeless should be taken quite seriously. The tasks that we put our knives to are numerous and varied. For every task there is a knife that will outshine all others. Cutting carpet with a butter knife is nigh impossible and buttering bread with a utility knife would be awkward to say the least.
What I wanted was a knife that would outlast me, be great as a survival tool, and a good general knife as well.
I recently purchased a Gerber Yari II Drop Point Knife to fill this task. Blade Length: 4.25 inches Overall Length: 9.25 inches
There are several factors that should be considered vital in a blade that’s performance you may be staking your life on.
- Strength of materials
- Strength of design
- Edge retention
- Portability
- Ease of sharpening
- Safety features
- Corrosion resistance
Here is how this knife stacks up to these criteria.
Strength of Materials
This knife Blade is made of S30V stainless steel. So exactly what does that mean? I did a little research and this is basically what it means: It’s crazy tough. (According to Eric Daniel (2008), "Yari II S30V says it’s tougher, more corrosion resistant, and more wear resistant than either 440C or 154HC steel, yet easier to work with than S60V/S90V steel; in practical terms I have experienced no issue whatsoever with using the knife in both freshwater and saltwater environments (the knife performed well hacking up salmon heads for crab pots on a concrete bench) and cleaned up nicely, with no hint of corrosion.")
This is not your grandpa’s steel. This is a process that Crucible Materials Corporation developed to custom build a superior knife steel from the ground up, to meet the demands of some of the most elite names in knife making. It is very hard but not brittle. It contains Carbon 1.45%, Chromium 14.00%, Vanadium 4.00%, and Molybdenum 2.00%. The fine grain and even distribution of vanadium carbides in the composition of this steel give it an enhanced wear resistance. Vanadium carbides are harder than the more common chromium carbides. Larger spaces between carbide inclusions means more of the softer base steel can be rubbed away during the cutting stroke. Finer grained, harder carbide means less wear per stroke.
There are harder steels than S30V, but they are even harder to sharpen and usually have other drawbacks as well.
The handle of the Yari II is screwed on and is made of aluminum with a tread pattern cut into it that’s pretty much as strong as you could hope for.
Strength of Design
A survival knife must not break. Of course, you can break anything if you try hard enough. What we are talking about here is how solid the design is. In my opinion, a knife of this type needs to be full tang. Full tang means that the billet of steel that makes up the blade continues all the way back to the pommel to make the core of the knife one continuous piece.
The Yari II is a true full tang knife. The tang extends past the end of the handles and has a hole drilled in it, just past the end of the grip, for a lanyard to be attached to the handle end of the knife. The pommel end is angled; I believe that it could be used effectively to break a car window if needed in an underwater car crash situation.
The blade is a classic Drop Point. The drop point design is strong and versatile, giving plenty of “no nonsense” cutting surface, and a strong tip. The partial serrations allow easy cutting of cordage and the “steak knife” like cutting of game and sawing of bones when needed.
The Handles “scales” are made of Type 3 Hard Anodized 6061 aluminum. The knife feels solid in my hand. I have read a few reviews where it was mentioned that it could be slippery when wet. The handle can always be wrapped if you find this a problem.
The Glass filled nylon sheath has water draining holes and an ambidextrous retention clip.
My overall impression of the construction is that it is top notch. It is well designed and made to last. Perhaps it’s a bit Spartan being all metal, but that means there is nothing that can fail. The human wielding it will be the weak link, not the knife.
Edge retention, ease of sharpening, and corrosion resistance.
The S30V steel will give this knife several advantages in edge retention. The corrosion resistance of the chromium and molybdenum, and the black corrosion resistant coating, will mean that the fine edge will not degrade. It will resist rusting in the field or storage. The fine grained vanadium carbide inclusions will allow it to attain and hold an edge very well. It will take more work to sharpen but not so much as to be an onerous task. S30V is not prone to chipping when contacting a harder material. I don’t know what angle Gerber puts on the blade. Out of the box it was good and sharp and the serrations cut though paracord like butter. When resharpening I will be using a 15 degree to a side approach as this will take advantage of fantastic wear resistance of the S30V steel, and make cutting tasks as easy as possible.
Portability
With a blade length of 4.25 inches and overall length 9.25 inches, this is a nice workable size and is a weight that will not slow you down. It weighs in at 8.7 oz in the sheath. The sheath comes with 2 Malice clips, Belt loop and holster fixture.
Safety
The top and bottom edges of the tang have short ridges in strategic places to enhance your grip. The sheath has a retention strap with a button on it and the retention ridge on the glass-filled nylon part is fairly stiff. It should never fall out of its own accord.
All in all I am thrilled with this purchase. I will eventually get another for my wife’s bug out bag. Unless you are expecting to roam in the jungle where a larger knife would be an advantage, I think this is just about as good as it gets. It is controllable, light, sharp, and has great edge retention, while being tougher than nails.
Sheath
Eric Daniel(2008) "In addition to being impressed with the quality of the knife’s construction, I was also quite impressed with the quality and construction of the sheath as well as the "attachment” options that come with the knife. In addition to the now standard MOLLE attachment straps, the sheath also comes with a belt loop, as well as a screw-in clip for attaching the knife to a molded plastic drop leg pistol holster such as the Safariland Model 6004. While the knife is held securely in the sheath by a pair of “grippers” molded into the sheath (which is how I currently have it configured) an optional thumb release strap is included with the knife for additional retention piece of mind."
References
Haskell.H (2011, May 3). Gerber Yari II Knife Review . allthingssurvival.com. Retrieved Oct 25, 2013, from http://www.allthingssurvival.com.
Daniel. E (2008, March 27). Gerber Yari II Knife. kitup.military.com. Retrieved Oct 25, 2013, , from http://kitup.military.com
No comments:
Post a Comment