Gerber Booth - Blade Show 2009

[David Bowen]

Well as some of you know the Blade Show is here in Atlanta, GA every year from June 29th-31st. I was unable to get the time off of work to attend the SHOT Show so I was really happy when I was able to get a chance to go to Blade again. The Blade show is mainly for knives of all shapes and sizes and not much for multitools of any kind. What I was able to track down in the form of tools will be here in the events forum. First on my list was Gerber's booth, which greeted me the moment I walked in the door. The only tool to really drool over was the new Crucial, I was glad to see this tool in the flesh so to speak. The Splice/Vice was not there and nether was the Octane tool that Grant and J-Sews got to do some prototype testing for earlier this year. I was told the Octane was being finished up and should be available in a couple more months after the release of the Crucial.





This was my first time to check out the Crucial in person and I must say that it is quite impressive. With all the pictures we saw of the Crucial at SHOT and all the comments that radiated from our forums about how close it appears to be in design to the Leatherman Skeletool. It was quite funny, the designer I spoke with told me that him and the other guys go on this forum quite frequently and read what we have to say about their tools. So in short, they are listening to us. We have a voice and the people of these companies are interested in what we have to say. They thought the bashing and what not was not called for but they take in all in stride and love to hear the comments both possitive and negative.



That being said, I was able to play around with the Crucial and the initial similiarities between the two tools is pretty much where it ends. I was a skeptic when we saw the photos and I too jumped to conclusions. I would like to tell you here myself that this tool is quite nice and even though looks Skeletoolesqe it is not the skeletool at all. The design is at it's final stage and the tool is very tight and responsive. It doesn't seems like the one that Grant tried at SHOT that felt like it was disassembled and reassembled numerious times durring the testing phase.

I think the pliers are a little on the weak side and they remind me of the Clutch but only time will tell how they hold up. The designer reassured me that the tool is meant to be used hard and he would not have it any other way. Gerber has put alot of thought into the Crucial and minimalistic and compact designs with pocket clips/carabiners are all the rage now it seems and Gerber is hopping on board.



The tools opens and closes nice and tight, the drivers are a little different than what I am use to but I feel they will function quite well. The liner locks for all the impliments (except the carabiner) all lock tight and I don't see any reason why one of them would fail.



I do like the blunt/sheepsfoot blade on the Crucial, it kind of reminds me of the Razel series by CRKT. The end in the catalog I picked up says it can be used for prying and scraping. The blade as well as the other tools open up easily and I can see this tool becomming a big hit for Gerber. Gerber stresses that they are pushing harder than ever in the tool market to continue to be a competitor in the industry and I can see it's going to paying off.



Another cool item I saw was a bigger brother to the Gerber Osidian (which I have a love/hate relationship with). The Slate seems to cover alot of the issues I had with the Osidian. I thought the Obsidian had too short of a handle and the drivers, especially the phillips was not formed very good and I had problem using it on some sizes of screws. The Slate is much larger than it's lil' brother and features Gerber's F.A.S.T. spring assisted technology. I own one of the FAST models and it works quite well and is very fast. The handles have inserts which to me feel like a cross between those on a Kershaw Storm and a Kershaw Blur. For the knife guys out there, you know what I mean... kinda like a rubbery insert that provides a lot of traction. The drivers are larger than those found on the Obsidian and are formed much better and they said they had some trouble with machining the driver on the Obsidian and they have fixed most of that problem on the new Slate model.









Aside from the Crucial Gerber has another tool in the works that is in very early prototyping and they did not bring it to the Blade show because they felt they didn't need to bring it, it being a KNIFE show and all The new tool is going to be called the STRATA and it's going to feature full sized pliers with the Legend series type carbide cutters in the jaws. The aluminum handles will be very light weight and have cut outs rather than inserts like the Legend has. They told me it will be similar to the Leatherman Wave but thinner and more sleek. Standard spring loaded jaws with all the Gerber goodness they have talked about makes it sound like something we need to be on the look out for. Since there was not pictures or anything to go by, all I have is word of mouth. It defintaly sounds cool and it will leave our mouths watering for more. Gerber wants this model to be a remodel or an upgrade of sorts for the Legend series. They talked like they were really excited about it and it had alot of promised for their tool line.

That is all I have for Gerber, ask me questions and I will answer them as best I can.

[nuphoria]

Cheers for writing the great review 

Looks like a promising year for Gerber then, with a few new ideas in the affray. Do you happen to know what the blade length was on that Slate?

[cliosguy]

cool, thanks for the news

[David Bowen]

The catalog says the blade is 3 inches. Your welcome guys, not a whole lot of tools stuff here but it sure is fun to play with them. I hate to go back home tomorrow evening.   

[J-sews]

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Dave, what are the handles of the Crucial made from? They don't appear to be anodised aluminum in your photos.....?

[PyroJames]

Great pics, David.  I'm not a fan of the "lime green" colour but the Crucial does look really good.

[DaveK]

I like the look of the Crucial too - how big is it? Is it the standard 4" closed?

[gadgetman7]

I saw this one too. It seemed to be a little thicker than the Skeletool but felt good in my hand. I think the handles were aluminum but I didn't ask. I think the Gerber rep said the blade steel was 420 but Dave correct me if I'm wrong. I also don't like the green and the photos have it about right. This tool has possibilities but I'm going to reserve judgment until I can play with it a little.

[american lockpicker]

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That is all I have for Gerber, ask me questions and I will answer them as best I can.

Tell me about the blade in the background. Also is that a new multitool based on the suspension?

[Nikos]

I don't know about the blades but if you're referring to that multi on the upper left part of the picture, that's a Legend (MP800) and it's a quite good MT (nothing like Suspension).

[american lockpicker]

I don't know about the blades but if you're referring to that multi on the upper left part of the picture, that's a Legend (MP800) and it's a quite good MT (nothing like Suspension).

The blade below the multitool that says " Gerber Proudly Made in USA".

[Nikos]

Dude! I was answering to this part of your post:

Also is that a new multitool based on the suspension?

[american lockpicker]

Dude! I was answering to this part of your post:

Also is that a new multitool based on the suspension?

My mistake.

[Spoonrobot]

I think I greatly prefer the Skeletool as a representation of this concept.

[David Bowen]

Ok, ok....answers to questions:

I don't know if it's aluminum or stainless steel but the color is not painted on, I don't know if you can anodize regular steel. If it is steel it does not appear to affect the weight of the tool. I did notice the color was worn off of some of the points where the handles meet when the tool is closed. Course this model has been non stop for three days and I don't know what it did before I got to play with it.

It's a hair over 3 1/2 inches closed.

The blade steel is I believe 420a or some kind of variant, what gerber uses alot on most of their knives. Some folks have a problem with 440a but if it's done right it's not too bad, plus they feel it's softer and thus easier to sharpen by people who are not use to sharpening higher end steels.

The new tool americanlockpicker is one that is loosely based on an 800, but in other repects nothing like it. It's in the proto phase and they did not have one to show me but they said it's not like the 800 but they used some ideas from it none the less. They said it would be slimmer and more compact than a LM wave.

The blade blank is just an unsharpened blade that says gerber on it and what not, they are not sharp and they remind me of something off like a Gerber Gator, I didn't think to ask them about it.

[Poncho65]

Thanks for the Gerber update Dave if they could just get away from those tiny drivers I think I could warm up to them a bit better Still though from your close up pics the Crucia lseem to be better quality than it looked from SHOT

[J-sews]

I think I greatly prefer the Skeletool as a representation of this concept.

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"Most Innovative....."??

[I'm Still Bison]

The proviso being most innovative IMPORTED design. I was looking at that bit of what I guess is a Lansky farriers knife,first a multi-tool,then a knife.Maybe Lansky is embracing the Spyderco route.

[David Bowen]

Didn't leatherman win most innovative american design for last years Blade with the Skeletool?

[Spoonrobot]

BLADE 2009

[american lockpicker]

So the Gerber isn't designed in America?

[Poncho65]

So the Gerber isn't designed in America?

That or they are calling the Crucial imported from LM

I'll get my coat

[David Bowen]

I thought I had it correct, in Blade Magazine July issue, there is a page of knives and tools from last years show and it says next to the Skeletool: Most innovative American design. I would think the Crucial is designed here too but because the tool is an import and not manufactured here then they have to label it differently. Also like how they call the get-a-way driver the best "accessory of the year". 

[PyroJames]

I think I greatly prefer the Skeletool as a representation of this concept.

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What's that Buck knife next to the Crucial?

[David Bowen]

I feel bad Spoonrobot that both you and I were there and we didn't even try and find time to shake hands  Maybe next year we can do something, Blade is usually a lonely thing compared to the all out ball of fun that Grant has with SHOT each year.