Gerber 10th Anniversary OD Green 06 Automatic Knife Review

Gerber Knives started out different than many knife companies. Joseph R. Gerber started the company in 1939 as a small batch of handmade cutlery stets given as holiday gifts. Quickly though, it turned into thousands of retail accounts around the county. He once described his company as, “the birth of an enterprise that grew into big business,” and while this statement was accurate, it was far from being the whole truth: It was a major understatement. By the time that 1960 rolled around, Gerber had become one of the most trusted, appreciated, and collected names in knives.

Over 70 years since its founding and Gerber continues to grow. Still grounded in the same principles that first guided Joseph R. Gerber’s “enterprise,” Gerber is a company dedicated to making knives and tools that combine high quality materials and innovative designs that will stand up to a lifetime of use. The sleek, stainless steel sheath knives of the ‘50s and ‘60s have given birth to today’s lightweight, open-frame clip folders. Gerber is no longer just a knife company. Multi-tools, axes, handsaws, machetes, headlamps, flashlights, survival kits, digging implements—these are the newest directions that Gerber explores with the same standards of quality and design that inform their revered knife making.

Today we will be discussing the Gerber 10^th Anniversary OD Green 06 Automatic knife.

The Blade:

The blade on this knife is made out of CPM S30V stainless steel. This premium steel is designed and made by Crucible, which is a US based company. This steel was designed specifically with knives in mind, which means that you are going to get all of the best benefits from it. This steel is most often used for the high-end pocket knives or expensive kitchen cutlery, so you know that this is a quality steel for a quality knife. For starters, this steel has phenomenal edge retention and can resist rust with ease. Crucible has added vanadium carbides to bring out the extreme hardness in the steel alloy matrix. Dollar for dollar, this steel is regarded as one of the finest blade steels with the optimal balance of edge retention, hardness, and toughness. One of the only drawbacks that this steel has is that it is known for being tricky to work with. This does increase the cost slightly, and it will prove a little bit harder to sharpen it. However, with all of the other benefits that you are getting from this steel, many people don’t find it as a big enough drawback.

The blade has been finished with a stonewash finish. A stonewashed finish refers the tumbling the blade in an abrasive material. This finish easily hides scratches, while also providing a less reflective nature than a brushed or satin finished blade. One of the best advantages to a stonewashed blade is that they are very low maintenance and preserve their original look overtime because of how easily the finish hides scratches and smudges that occur with use and time.

The blade on this Gerber knife is a drop point blade shape. This is the most popular blade shape that you can find in the cutlery industry today. This blade style is tough, versatile, and the perfect all-purpose blade and knife for you. The most common place that you are going to find this blade shape is on hunting knives, but you will be able to find them on virtually any style of knife. That being said, the blade style is formed by having the back edge of the blade, which is the unsharpened edge, run straight form the handle to the point in a slow curving manner. The belly of the knife slowly curves upward to meet the lowered point. Because it has a lowered point, you are going to more easily be able to control your cuts and slices, which makes this blade shape ideal if you are going to be doing any tip work or need to be very focused on your task. One of the other benefits of the lowered tip is that it is also a broad tip. This is the characteristic of the knife that gives the drop point blade style its famous strength. This strong tip is also what allows you to take on such a wide variety of tasks. One of the other great features of this blade style is that it sports such a big belly, which is used when you are slicing. The majority of tasks that you will be completing day to day involve slicing, so the big belly with definitely be worth it. The drop point blade shape really only has one disadvantage, which is that because it has such a broad tip, you do lose out on much of your piercing capabilities. The drop point blade and the clip point blade are often confused with each other because they are both very popular knife blade shapes that feature lowered tips. The difference between the two lies in their tips. The clip point has a fine, sharp tip that allows you to pierce and stab with ease. However, because it is a thinner point, you do have to worry about it breaking on things. The drop point does miss out on many of the piercing capabilities, but you are left with so much more strength. When it comes to these two blade shapes, you just have to decide if you would rather have piercing capabilities or strength. And with this Gerber knife, your best bet is to have the strength that it provides.

This Gerber knife does feature a plain edge.

 

The Handle:

The handle on this knife is made out of 6061-T6 Aluminum. Aluminum is considered to be a low-density metal that is often used in knife making. This metal is also one of the most corrosion resistant metals that you will find in knife making. The most common alloy used is the 6061-T6 alloy, which is what this knife handle has been made out of. All that means is that the type of aluminum is 6061 and it has been T6 tempered. 6061-T6 aluminum also has one of the highest yield and tensile strengths of all aluminum alloys.

Some of the drawbacks to having an aluminum handle is that they can be cold to hold because of their conductive properties. This means that if you are planning to use this knife mostly in the winter, you need to be prepared to have gloves—it can feel like it is biting into your hands. Another drawback is that aluminum is susceptible to scratches and dings. Lastly, aluminum handles can be pretty slippery. To give you the most texture possible as well as a secure grip, Gerber has cut in diagonal grooves going down the length of the handle scale. There are also two obvious finger grooves and a third more shallow and elongated finger groove. These will work to keep your fingers comfortable, even if you are using this knife for long periods of time. To keep your fingers as safe as possible, there is a thick finger guard. This will protect your fingers from getting sliced if you accidentally slip while cutting.

Aluminum alloy is very similar to titanium, although it is cheaper to machine and produce than Titanium as well as being lighter, weaker, and less resistant to wear. For the most part, Aluminum is an inferior metal to Titanium except for its lightness. However, because this is an automatic knife, which means that it is a complex knife that requires a large amount of CNC machining, aluminum is much cheaper to produce and the material costs less.

The handle has been finished with a OD green Cerakote coating. This is a polymer coating that is very similar to a paint coating. This coating is surprisingly durable and stays on the handle for much longer periods of time than most coatings do. However, the Cerakote coating does prove easy to scratch.

On the butt of the handle, there has been a lanyard hole carved in. This is ideal for keeping your knife close by, without having it get in the way. Also, if you have a lanyard hanging out of your pocket, you can withdraw your knife more quickly than if you just were using the pocket clip. Lastly, although this does not benefit how the knife works, you can add a touch of personal style with the lanyard that you choose to use.

 

The Pocket Clip:

The pocket clip on this knife is black stonewashed, which is when the metal has undergone an acid treatment before the stonewashing to darken it. The clip is kept in place by three black screws that match the rest of the hardware on the knife, except for the oversized firing button, which is silver. This clip is only designed for tip up carrying on the traditional side of the handle.

 

The Mechanism:

This 10^th Anniversary knife is an automatic knife. Because it is an automatic knife, it does fall under a strict set of laws in the United States. This means that this Gerber knife will not be legal in all states, cities, or areas. It is your responsibility, as the user, to know your local knife laws. BladeOps does not take responsibility for your local laws.

An automatic knife is a knife that has its blade contained in the handle which is then deployed automatically by a spring when a button on the handle is activated. The button on this knife is oversized, so that you can still easily press it when you are wearing gloves.

This knife also features a slide safety that engages both in the open and closed position. This means that if you turn the safety on when it is closed, you don’t have to risk accidentally deploying the knife in your pocket. And, if you toggle the safety when the knife is opened, you don’t have to worry about your blade shutting on your hand in the middle of using it.

This knife is going to be able to open quickly and efficiently, because it is an automatic knife. You are going to be able to bring this knife into play easier, which is ideal. However, because there are so many little mechanisms inside of the handle, you do run the risk of one of them breaking, and the knife ceasing to work properly. When caring for this knife you need to make sure that all of the innards are clean and dry before putting this knife away. You do not want the insides to rust. One of the best (although time consuming) ways to accomplish this is to take your knife apart. Just be sure that you know how to put it back together again if you go this route. The other drawback to automatic knives have already been mentioned: it will not be legal in all areas of the United States.

 

The Specs:

The blade on this knife measures in at 3.8 inches long, with a handle that measures in at 4.9 inches long. When this knife is opened, it measures in at 8.7 inches long. This automatic knife weighs in at 7.2 ounces. This already spectacular knife is made in the United States of America, which means that you can be proud to own, carry, and use it.

 

Conclusion:

Celebrate the classics with the 10th Anniversary edition of the Gerber 06 automatic knife. This knife still features an over-sized button for blade deployment which is ideal even when wearing gloves, a slide safety that engages both in the open and closed position and a stainless steel pommel with a strike point. This special edition features an OD green Cerakote-coated handle scales couples with a stonewash finished CPM-S30V blade that has no serrations. On the back side of the blade, you will find a 10th Anniversary reverse flag laser mark which most definitely adds to the value of this acclaimed USA-made auto knife. Pick up this celebratory knife at BladeOps today.