GERBER Fullback Knife [31-003011]

I had to return the first one of these knives that I bought because it was truly defective. I did order another one and I’m very pleased with it. There's a post from a guy who bought 4 of these and still can't figure out that A) he's doing it wrong, and B) they're assisted open not automatic. I can tell you that the problem isn't with the knife. The AO Gerber uses is as close to automatic as you can get. It took me a minute to figure out exactly where to apply pressure from my thumb but once I did this knife works and performs great. Opens strong, sturdy, and looks better in person than it does in the ad.If you were/are one of the people who are having problems deploying the blade with one hand, put a Band-Aid on your thumb and practice. Once you get it down you’ll be happy with your purchase. Don't just give a bad review bc of an inability to figure something out.

I literally have no complaints about this knife, only praise I've actually had this knife for about a year or two now and it still works as good as it did when I got it. The action is supreme and it actually shakes my wrist when it opens. I just took it on a big camping trip and it performed excellently. Also its compact size.makes it easy to hike or EDC with. I actually have a spyderco delica 4 and a benchmade bugout and I like it more than the delica and just as much as the benchmade. Overall a sturdy well built knife that is good for carving as well as camping and the ergonomics are great as well...P.S I would not give it to a young kid as first knife though as the spring is very powerful

EDIT: 7/17/20. Cheap Chinesium steel is amazing! So sharp and stays that way! I am quite impressed.Original review:I kept this knife for its blade design and level of sharpness. It came in its package "quite sharp". Less than five minutes later, on a diamond polishing jig(link below) , and then my leather stop yielded "Stoopid Sharp". More sharp than I can get my Taiwanese AUS 8 steel Wharncliffe Boker Kalashnikov knife. Hair shaving sharp.Pros: Blade design and sharpness ability. Shaves hair with ease. It must be the perfect heat treating my Chinesium 7Cr17MoV steel blade received. NO wobble in blade. VERY strong spring assist after you eventually get the blade started. Very light weight. Easy push button blade unlock.Cons: TINY handle for a XL size hand. Hard to grasp when opening with an XL size hand. Almost zero traction on the handle scales. Undersized and somewhat sharp thumb stud. Quite hard (at first) to get this blade initially started to open.DO: Oil the hinge. Practice shifting your grip when opening. Open often to help break it. All of this HELPS!I am used to full auto knives, so adjusting to a tiny (to me) handle AO(Assisted Opening) blade took more than a minute. By day two, I am able to manipulate much better. The initial stiffness of the first 20% of the blade opening is getting better. After the initial resistant 20% opening, the spring assist takes over and the blade LEAPS open into full lock up with a resounding snap.Please, let me say again how STOOPID SHARP I was able to get this blade with about five minutes easy work. Just a fine diamond polish and a couple minutes of leather stop with some fine rouge. You have no leather? No problem. A fine diamond (or ceramic?) polish will be more than sufficient.Realize this is a slightly modified Wharncliffe design. The blade has a slight curve in it instead of being perfectly straight. Close enough to a true Wharncliffe.I used a relatively inexpensive ($27) , but effective chef's knife, draw through, diamond manual sharpener. I used just the polishing stage.Chef'sChoice 4633 AngleSelect Diamond Hone Professional Manual Knife Sharpener for Straight and Serrated Knives with Precise Angle Control Compact Footprint Made in USA, 3-Stage, Black://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008EMFQ8C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1My Amazon boxes and packages now can be opened 25% FASTER than before because of the level of sharpness! :) The Wharncliffe blade design is the best blade in the world to open Amazon deliveries.This knife would be perfect if it: Was 1.5 inches longer in the handle, had G10 scales, and was FULLY automatic.Base your purchase on my review. For me, the pros clearly out weighed the cons. I am EDC this knife starting today.If you have a smaller than an XL sized hand, your experience will be even better!EDIT 10/26/22: This knife long ago was demoted to my "back up only" knife. Never an EDC. It is simply too small for my XL hands. The steel does not hold and edge as well as I thought. The curve in the quasi Wharncliffe design is annoying.My NEXT knife will be a $130 Kershaw Launch 13, fully auto with big-tuchus Wharncliffe blade in CPM154 steel.(GREAT steel!!) And a big (enough) handle. It is a "Bad-Behind/bum/keister/Amazon PC whatever" knife!

I received the knife in retail packaging and did not have any rust as some other reviewers reported. I carry this knife daily and work in construction. My knives are the most used tools in my trade. This knife has exceeded all my expectations for the amount of money I have spent. I love the profile as it very easy to sharpen. The blade is rugged, thick spine and the edge sharpens well. I have no trouble opening, it is a little stiff when new (as expected) but breaks in with use. The lock is nice as you can lock the blade closed or open. In the past, I have spent 5x's the money for a knife with these features. This knife is a bargain.

I carry a pocket knife with me every day and the majority of the time it is this little gem right here. The blade arrived sharp, and after 8 months it is as sharp as day one. The handle is sturdy and doesn't feel like cheap plastic. The thumb studs on both sides of the blade make it easy to open, and the assisted open makes the blade snap open with a purpose. Normal clip, but cannot be changed to the other side of the handle. Holds sturdy in my pocket without sliding around. I wouldn't hesitate to pick up another one.

I ordered one of these blades and returned it, and got a replacement, then returned that as well. Both knives had the same issue, which was the AO mechanism was so stiff that it was dangerous to use. I could not over come the retention with one hand on either knife. When using two hands to open the knife, which wasn't easy either, the AO would spring open once you overcame the retention into one of your two hands, which is not safe.Other than that, the blade design is awesome, both knives came sharp, the grip is comfortable, I like the size, but the AO lock is sketchy and poorly fitted at best (not a big deal). Take out the poorly designed AO, and the absurd amount of retention that needs to be overcome when opening the knife, and then it would be a good buy.

Durable blade, utilitarian and convenient. One thing I want people to be aware of is that this is assisted opening not automatic. The button pictured on the side is the blade lock not an opening trigger.