The Vital is a folder intended for big game hunting. It incorporates a 420J2 stainless steel, #60 razor-style blade.
The blades are easily and safely exchanged at the push of a button, thanks to Gerber’s Split Sec Tech.
www.gerbergear.com/Knives/Folding/Vital-Pocket-Folder
Tags: Gerber
How far our man skills have fallen in just a couple of generations.
Our grandfathers would be ashamed of us for buying replaceable blade knives instead of just learning how to sharpen a good knife that we already own. This is consumerism combined with utter laziness and willful ignorance of a basic life skill. Men have relied on and cherished their blades for untold thousands of years and now we just buy cheap shit from Asia and throw it away when it gets dull.
The Havalon Piranta and others like it are touted by “ultralight” backpack hunters.
I can shave with my Knives of Alaska Brown Bear. And I can chop down a tree with it, as well as not punch a hole in a hide, and the caping knife manages delicate cutting too. No desire here to contribute to the existing trade deficit with China.
+1.
I’m not the greatest at sharpening, but I’m working on it. I would never buy such a product just to avoid doing the work.
I guess this wknd I’ll work on the knives at home.
Keep up the practice Bradkaf308. Check out a sharpening system called lansky croc sticks or spyderco sharp maker as an entry to guided rod sharpening. Also, there are probably many suitable tutorials on youtube.
Best of luck.
So you have several problems… with this product, with society at large, or with products manufactured in Asia?
I never had a grandfather to teach me how to sharpen a knife and my dad was a UAW factory working millwright on 3rd shift…who also never taught me how to sharpen a knife. I am not lazy and still never achieved that skill until I figured it out for myself.
It is no secret that the generations of people these days aren’t what they used to be in comparison to our grandfathers generations… and? People are so quick to criticize, so I hope YOU are actively doing something to change the mindset of the current generations of mindless drones walking this earth. I actually share your sentiment so I work every single day to change the mindsets of the troops in my own unit and that of my children.
The actual take away here isn’t the knife, but rather the interesting innovation and/or twist of combining a utility box cutter with a hunting knife. And sure, this would be more attractive to me if it were made in the US, but it isn’t… so don’t buy one and move on.
@Will
It seems that by the end of your post you have answered your own questions. Not sure what I may to to personally change the mindset of the current generation of mindless drones but I’m trying to do a small part where I can. Perhaps today it was educating you further on this viewpoint, so in turn, you can more strongly inform your own people.
My grandfather didn’t specifically teach me to sharpen either, but I watched him skin, sharpen and use and respect blades from a young age. It was something I took upon myself to place value in and devote time to.
It is clear that you are seeking more evidence for my viewpoint though. I am a long time member of some blade related forums. Bladeforums actually, and rabid consumerism has ruined it or is in the process of ruining the hobby. Guys screwing over other guys to save 7% off of retail, new guys scamming and stealing from each other via mail fraud. Chinese knife companies popping up by the dozens, eventually charging equal to USA made blade prices after decades of reverse engineering our products and stealing our intellectual property and worse yet, the consumers eat it up because culturally, it’s becoming hip and edgy to say F* made in USA and “I buy from wherever I get the best deal…” New guys won’t buy a used knife from someone if it is missing the “factory edge” because they don’t, at all, understand sharpening yet they carry a $450 pocket knife that never gets used.
I swore off Chinese knives many years ago after I observed what it is doing to our USA made knife industry.
Take care, Will.
Sam, I actually agreed with your point of view. I take to heart that at least 2 generations of people have been ruined by the social media and tech era… and that we’ve forgotten how to do things for real these days. Simply, I cant stand the hypocritical sport bitching people do on here and many other corners of the internet. Like I say, your viewpoints are actually in line with my own. I really just want people to take stock of what this is…. Its the internet and its a website that in large part is dedicated to the advancement/new innovations/news within the defense industry. If you don’t like Chinese goods, then don’t buy them and “move on” as I stated. Meaning, why does anyone waste their time doing this on an internet website… they’d all (you and I included) be better off taking their son outside and throwing a baseball or… teaching them how to sharpen a knife. We are almost at the point of having to win the hearts and minds of our own population these days… I know I’d rather spend the time teaching my son how to throw a cut fastball or how to bait a hook.
“so I hope YOU are actively doing something to change the mindset of the current generations of mindless drones walking this earth.”
I am. I a Bear Cub Scout Den Leader. Tuesday night, we worked on the Bear Claws adventure. 4 boys out of 15 cut themselves, and they learned also that cutting themselves with a knife doesn’t hurt, doesn’t kill them, and even the best of us make mistakes and learn from the consequences
You should start there, at the 3rd grade level of sharpening a knife before telling anyone to “move on” while defending your ignorance of a skill 9 year olds are learning.
And, screw Chinese junk, not because it’s junk, (most is) but because I’m not contributing to the trade deficit out of lazy ignorance.
Good for you, I am glad that you are attempting to properly shape the next generation of young people. You had me right up until the point of telling me what I should and shouldn’t be doing… while you’re “holier than thou” self is telling me that I am defending an ignorant position.
The fact is that while I agree with what the SamHill dude is actually saying, I don’t agree with sport bitching about something he doesn’t have to pay attention to, spend his money on, or advocate for. You would be well served to do the same. If you don’t like it, don’t spend your hard earned money on it and teach those cub scouts how to sharpen their knives.
In the end, thanks for the snarky internet tough guy routine. Maybe next time you should take inventory of all the Asian goods you have in your possession before acting foolish and shaming the internet on your misplaced moral high ground. Matter of fact, maybe you shouldn’t be teaching kids anything. I’ll go back to teaching my E-2’s, E-3’s, and E-4’s how to close with the enemy and destroy him.
Turning a simple tool into a symbol of something much bigger and blaming it is a form of mythological thinking. It might have some questionable features, but this is just a tool, after all. And only a way it is being used might be judged.
I can make and sharpen a knife that will be as sharp as this disposable blade using no power tools and fancy modern sharpening jigs. But I have both “traditional” knives and (different) knives with disposable blades exactly because I know advantages and disadvantages of both types.
Referring to the past is a common fallacy – there were a lot of people with hands growing out of their ass in the past too. Maybe, even more than now. They just were unable to compensate for it as easy as they can nowadays. And just to give an example that “disposable isn’t always bad”, I’d mention machining tools. Good luck with keeping tight tolerances and high production with resharpened tools without wasting awfully long time. Same applies to various crafts.
So, yes, if someone enjoys spending time on doing everything in an old-school manner – fine, do that. But nobody should declare this way as the only one that is right. Let other people save time for things they enjoy.
I don’t think anyone proposed stopping anyone from “saving time for things they enjoy.” I spend < 60 seconds getting to shaving sharp, about the same time as throwing out the old and fiddling with the new.
Juding? Not you. Enjoy 1. buying imports and 2. having a disposable blade. Also, look up "myth" while you're at it. I don't think it means what you think it means. (okay, I did judge you for "mythological thinking", wtf?)
These knives're sharp as hell. If I were a surgeon, I'd have one. Nope, 10, to make throwing them away easier.