Gerber Archives

Guys, I like multi tools when I travel or go camping. I have torn up a boat load of cheap imported ones and a Stanley just by trying to use the pliers to grab on to something really tight. I have never had a problem with a Gerber or Leatherman tool – let me say that up front.

At any rate, I wanted to find something compact and with locking blades. I have a Gerber multi tool that I have used a ton since 1998 and my only issue is the lack of a lock on the blade. You don’t really think about the lock until the first time you are really yanking on something to cut it and that blade starts to close! It’s been my goto tool for years and is showing its age.

At any rate, I did some digging around and decided on the Gerber Suspension. All the tools I worried about have a positive locking system and the handles fit your hand pretty well. It has 4.6/5 stars with 1,493 reviews on Amazon. That is a pretty darned good score! I get the warm fuzzies when I see scores like that and the unit was only $23.49 shipped with Amazon Prime.

Here are features and my thoughts

Needle-nose Pliers – Important
Wire Cutter/Stripper – Important
Straight Blade – Important
Serrated Blade – Maybe – they work great on rope
Phillips Screwdriver – Important
Large and Medium Flathead Screwdrivers – Important
Scissors – I have no idea if I will ever really use this but it is an interesting design and seems solid
Bottle Opener – Important – this is an Emergency Beer Access Tool
Can Opener – Important – I can’t tell you how many cans I have opened over the years thanks to the can opener in my old Gerber]
Saw – not that important
Awl – not that important
Lanyard Ring – not that important

Open, it is 6.5″ long and closed it is 4″ long plus it has a little belt / storage pouch.

Here are photos of mine:

So far, everything seems solid. I tested the locking mechanisms and they work. I took a steel rod and grabbed on with the pliers as hard as I could and nothing bent. I’ve had tools in the past where if I did that the handles would crumple. Literally, I put a bar in a vise, grab hold with the pliers and then try and turn the bar which is pretty much impossible. The Suspension held up just fine.

I’m going to be using this more over the summer and we’ll see how it holds up.

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Ok, so I wind up clearing brush pretty regularly. Usually its pine, vines, scrub oak and junk like that. Back in June 2014, I bought a Ken Onion designed Half-A-Chance machete (CRKT K920KKP) from CRKT that has served me well (click here for my review). On my last trip to clear brush this past fall, I accidentally left the Half-A-Chance at home and had to get a replacement machete. Thankfully SMKW was on the way so I stopped in and tried out a bunch of different ones in terms of heft and balance. When I got to the Gerber Golok, I was really surprised. It’s surprisingly thick and that mass makes a big difference when taking out saplings so I bought it and used it to clear the small stuff.

It seems like an opportune time to compare the two and share my thoughts. In the next photo, the top is the Half-A-Chance and the bottom is the Golok.

What really surprised me was that the thickness of the Golok’s blade. Why Gerber doesn’t make a big deal about this, I don’t know because there are fans of knives with big blades. The blade is 12″ long and made from MN65 steel, which is a spring steel that is roughly equivalent to 1065 steel, which is fairly common in machetes. The blade comes in at 0.2566″ when I mike it and weighs 1 pound 10.8oz (26.8 oz). That is a lot of steel! It’s like you are moving the design from being a classical machete more towards a chopper with that kind of width. When I was hitting some dried oak and ash, the Half-A-Chance bit deeper than the Golok and I think it reflects the relatively thin blade of the Ken Onion design that mikes at 0.1147″ which is less than half the Golok. The Half-A-Chance also weighs 20.3oz.

The blade on the left is Half-A-Chance and the right is the Golok on a piece of dried ash.

You can definitely see the the thicker Golok blade right away. It’s the top blade on the left photo and the bottom blade on the right photo:

Just a closer view of the Half-A-Chance on top vs. the Golok on the bottom. The Half-A-Chance’s handle is more ergonomic but the rubber coated Golok isn’t too bad.

The Half-A-Chance’s sheath is fancier while the Golok is simple and to the point.

Folks, in the end, the Golok is a chopper. It’s heavy but too thick for the traditional fast slices you are doing with a machete. I’d recommend the Half-a-Chance for thin stuff like vines and stuff under 3/8″ ballpark and the Golok for thicker vegetation where you need to chop but you are also starting to cross over into where a heavy khukuri or hatchet might serve you better.

While clearing the lot I did put a nick in the Golok and used my Work Sharp Ken Onion edition sharpener to take it right out when I got back to my shop. [Click here for my post on the KO sharpener.]

Bottom line, the Half-A-Chance machete is still my favorite and the first one I would grab to clear brush but the Golok is a keeper also because I like its mass and balance. It’s a lot of blade for the money and I do like big blades. You ought to take a look when you get some time or even pick one or both machetes up from Amazon.