What happens when you get the Gerber Air Ranger knife? To be quite frank, you get a knife that is confused between over-sized pen knife, and undersized pocket knife. The attributes of this knife can only be described in those terms because of just how awkward this knife actually is. It is one of those products that comes from a reputable survival and hunting gear company, but is one of those products for which begs the question "What were they thinking when they made this knife?"However, enough with the gripes for know, let us go into the specifications.
The steel is classified as 7Cr17MoV steel, and thus, being Chinese stainless according to the http://apg2k.hegewisch.net/blade_steel.html, it is not the highest quality of steel. Like all stainless steels, it is notable for corrosion resistance, but is more budget level in reference to hardness. As per https://www.knifeworks.com/stainless-vs-high-carbon-steel-blades, while it will handle most mundane edc tasks, and be easily sharpened, it will falter in the edge retention and hardness department, depending on your maintenance preferences. All in all, for edc applications, and light use, suits the task well, but it will be up to you to decide between maximal corrosion resistance, but minimal edge retention, or the reverse.
The handle is one area where they really dropped the ball. The G10 composite handle is one of those cases of why CCW permit carriers tend to dislike sub-compacts. There is a point where the reduction in size may make it easier to carry in some respects, but makes the handling abysmal. This is one of those cases. The knife handle is of such size that the handle barely fits the hand in length, width, and depth, and become relatively awkward to hold due to oddly, and uncomfortably, placed indentations on the belly of the handle that really do not follow the contours of the fingers of the hand; more like abrasively force your hand into an uncomfortable position on the knife handle itself. This knife would work for someone of a smaller hand size, but for the 4.2 inches they claim for the closed position, Gerber made a knife most people have to force, rather than naturally rest, on their hand, essentially butchering the ergonomics.
In terms of the blade design, there is not much to talk about. The assigned stat, according to Gerber, in relation to the blade length comes at 3.3 inches. The claim is a bit off as it situates itself at more 3 and 1/8ths of an inch, but you get the picture. The length of the blade is small, which puts in the ballpark of what most conventional states permit you to carry. The design is described on the Gerber gear website (https://www.gerbergear.com/Activity/EVERYDAY/Knives/air-ranger-g10_31-002950) as a drop point design, but the spine is somewhat thinner that what is expected on a drop point. The design as a whole is a short, and skinny, blade that is good for fine cutting work, like whittling and box opening, but for heavy duty tasks, look elsewhere. The knife simply lacks the thickness, mass, and width for heavy duty work. So as an edc, you better have your everday routine in mind for this knife.
The pocket clip is one of those cases where the design is a mixed bag. On the one end, it snugs in the pocket sleeve quite well; on the other, it easily snags when you are pulling it out. This is not necessarily great for emergency tasks where your knife is to be out and ready for use, so it does lend itself to survival applications. Even worse, their is no adjustment on the clip for where you prefer to carry the knife. The design almost obligatorily requires carrying it in the right pocket, in contrast with the left, so lefties are left out. In truth, the pocket clip is overly tight and overbuilt for the function it is meant to perform.
Finally, if one were to describe the thumb stud opening mechanism on it, I would say it pretty much darns this knife completely. The only way to open it is the thumb stud, so flip and flick knife openers are sunk. This makes the knife relatively hard to open one handed, but still minutely possible. The problem is compounded with how stiff the rotation on the knife actually is. You have to give it two to three flicks to lock it, in contrast to one, so it really does not do the already limited opening capacity any favors. Honestly, if they stuck a flipper on it, it could have saved much of the knife as it is. As it stands, however, the knife is confused in having two thumb studs for "ambidextrous" hand opening, but, as stated, is not adjustable for different hand dominance, defeating the whole purpose in the first place.
What can be concluded about this piece of craftsmanship? Hardly worthy of the title craft in the first place. Short, skinny, non-ergonomic, non-ambidextrous, and difficult to open. This knife even calls itself the Air Ranger, but how many air rangers would choose this as their field tool? Not very many. Almost all the applications it has are either done better by the larger scale pocket knives, or the smaller scale pen knives or opinels. A merchandising mishap that is a ball drop for a company that uses survival expert Bear Grylls's image to market their knives. Do not get me wrong, their are more desirable knife designs from Gerber Gear out there. This is one of those unfortunate cases of this product not being listed among them.
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