I.C.A.R GAK

[Sea Monster]

Good morning,

I did a bit of a forum search, but between Micarta and someone's user name, I couldn't find what I was after

How do I.C.A.R GAKs rate?
I've come across one, and would like to pick it up, but I am a user, so curious to know how they hold up compared to SAKs.

[kirk13]

Lowtech would be the man to tell you,he's had a lot of experiance of the different GAK manufactures

[lowtech]

Thank you, Kirk.
I have owned, maimed and disassembled a few of the most manufacturers GAKs.
I cannot talk about the steel quality as I have zero expertise in that field.
Butr I can tell you that the finish on the ICAR gAKs is rougher than on others, the edges of the springs are quite sharp, the springs rather unfinishedon the sides and the blades are not polished (they do much like the old unpolished tools on early Alox Soldiers with the grinding marks visible). The snap and operation is not Vic like, but perfectly ok.
I cannot say for sure if it is a problem with ICAR GAKs in general, but I have come across 2 examples with broken springs. the knives werte pretty beat up so it might just be from misuse.

I would rate the GAKs as following, YMMV:

Victorinox
Aitor and Adler
B&H (less nice finish, same quality as above IHO)
CCM and ICAR

Imay be missing some manufacturers here, but my 9 day old daughter is sleeping on my arm and I have only one arm to type and a sleep deprived brain to work with...

Stay away from:
Mil Tec, Fox, MFH
they are no manufacturers but only rebrand cheaply made copies with their insignia. Every once in a while they have a batch from a decent manufacturer but unless you cannot check the actual knife you purchase firsthand, don´t buy those, buy a used real one in good nick instead.

[magentus]

Thank you, Kirk.
I have owned, maimed and disassembled a few of the most manufacturers GAKs.
I cannot talk about the steel quality as I have zero expertise in that field.
Butr I can tell you that the finish on the ICAR gAKs is rougher than on others, the edges of the springs are quite sharp, the springs rather unfinishedon the sides and the blades are not polished (they do much like the old unpolished tools on early Alox Soldiers with the grinding marks visible). The snap and operation is not Vic like, but perfectly ok.
I cannot say for sure if it is a problem with ICAR GAKs in general, but I have come across 2 examples with broken springs. the knives werte pretty beat up so it might just be from misuse.

I would rate the GAKs as following, YMMV:

Victorinox
Aitor and Adler
B&H (less nice finish, same quality as above IHO)
CCM and ICAR

Imay be missing some manufacturers here, but my 9 day old daughter is sleeping on my arm and I have only one arm to type and a sleep deprived brain to work with...

Stay away from:
Mil Tec, Fox, MFH
they are no manufacturers but only rebrand cheaply made copies with their insignia. Every once in a while they have a batch from a decent manufacturer but unless you cannot check the actual knife you purchase firsthand, don´t buy those, buy a used real one in good nick instead.

Thomas my friend you are a true MT hero. 

[Spork, Lord of Lime Jello!]

I'm pretty much in agreement with lowtech's assessment...

[Sea Monster]

Well I bought it, it seemed in reasonably good nic.

all my remaining SAKs are 111mm lockers (except for the mighty Classic), so I wanted a smaller folder to swap out with the Opinel some days.

We'll see how it goes.
Given it cost less than 1/3 of an equivalent SAK, if it can hold its own, it'll be good value.