Glock Knife Review

This past week I was able to spend 4 days/3 nights out in the wilderness teaching my 11 year-old daughter survival skills. I had given her an OD handled Glock 81 knife with the saw teeth on the back of the blade to use as her survival knife. Over the course of our stay we used this knife almost exclusively for all tasks to get a better idea of its capabilities.

Small Game: The Glock 81 was used to kill four live quail we had brought with us to give Pictlet experience in handling game. (hunting is illegal in Brazil). Pictlet did the deed and then used the knife to breast out the bird, separate the legs, and clean the gizzards. The Glock knife did very well. It was shaving sharp when we started and this was the first task we put it to. We did not find it too large to work with these small birds.

Food Preparation: The Glock knife was used to open green coconuts, peel sugarcane, and slice palm cabbage (for quail stew).

Chopping at the coconuts was a waste of time but slicing thin layers across the top was very effective. The narrow blade was especially good at cutting a hole in the top to extract the water inside. FYI the water in green coconuts is under pressure and will spray a good 5 to 10 feet if you aim it just right at someone.

Peeling sugarcane was hindered a little by the steep edge geometry. The saw teeth on the back were useful in cutting a notch to snap the cane into bite-sized portions. However, the teeth clog very quickly and cut less than a centimeter before needing to be cleaned out. They are not aggressive enough to function well on wood.

Palm cabbage (Palmito, or Palm Heart) is very wimpy stuff to cut and the Glock Knife made short work of it.

Chopping & Shaping Hardwood: We had the opportunity to make a pair of fire-hardened spears out of a 4 cm diameter sapling. We used the Glock 81 to chop it down, strip the bark and branches and shape the points for burning. The Glock knife is disappointing as a chopper. We got the tree down but the knife lacks weight at the tip and its edge geometry does not allow it to penetrate well. If I held the knife with two fingers at the base of the handle it did a fair job. As a comparison I did some chopping with my Air Force Survival knife and estimated it as twice as effective. (I had re-profiled the edge of this knife to about 20 degrees). Stripping bark and branches was easy with the Glock knife but the edge geometry was a drawback here as well.

Edge retention: The Glock Knife takes and edge very quickly and looses it if you start cutting wood. It is easy to sharpen in the field but we did not sharpen it to get a better idea of how much useful life the blade had in it. The portion of blade used for chopping is dull but the rest is sharp enough for general use. Touching it up with an EZ-lap would bring it back to life.

Other Handling Characteristics: The Glock 81 is a very lightweight knife compared to a Ka-Bar or Air Force Survival knife. The polymer scabbard is excellent. On several occasions I noticed my daughter listening for the audible "Snap" the knife makes when the clip secures it. She would then give the knife a tug to make sure it was held fast. I had NOT told her to do that. I figure if an 11 year-old blond can figure that out it is a very good feature on a kid's survival knife!

Conclusions: The Glock 81 Knife can be made to work in a survival situation. It's light- weight and positive retention are a definite plus. The steep, almost blunt, edge geometry was an irritation for many tasks. Re-profiling the edge to a sharper angle will greatly enhance performance. The edge discolors quickly and would need to be re-sharpened every two days to maintain effectiveness. The saw teeth on the back don't enhance it's usefulness and are unnecessary in the wilderness.

While I wouldn't rate it "Best of the Breed" like their handguns, the Glock 81 is a passable survival knife. Mac

Wow, 11 years old and doing all that? Your daughter is very lucky to have a dad to teach her survival techniques. I hope she appreciates it.
What really surprises me is that she was able to prepare the quail. I enjoy my meat as much as the next non-vegetarian, but I would've been squeamish at that age (and even now, probably). I'm only just now trying to learn these skills, but has she found it difficult to handle at her age?

Christina,

The live quail dinner is something I do when I take groups of guys out for "survival camp". My daughter has heard about this many times. I once had a group out in the "mato" during rainy season and they were kind of whining about conditions. I told them "You guys aren't doing anything my 11 year old hasn't done and she dosen't complain." They stopped. Of course I told her this and she ate it up. She hadn't done the quial yet so this time she bugged me about it. Personally I didn't want to do it on this trip because it meant going to the central market and buying them, 50 cents each. She just wouldn't let it go.

I gave her every out imaginable to let her off the hook if she wanted to back out and she just flat out told me she was going to do it. It is actually very quick. We hold the bird against a log and swipe off the head with one strong cut. It is about as quick an end as any poultry product gets.

It's all in the attitude. I just think of them as meat that stays fresh as long as you store it near food and water. My four-year-old dosen't quite have that point of view yet. I don't think she will ever participate in that aspect of "survival" and she never will be forced to.

Most people on plant earth over the course of history have had to kill and prepare their own meat. I just tell the guys I take out there, "Look, it's really cruel to just start plukin'em." When I show the guys how to do it I don't even mention how to kill it. I just do it and then show them how to prepare it for cooking.

Pictlet and I have a great time. We get out as often as we can. This last trip freaked her out in that we slept in hammocks and I set hers up about 10 meters away from mine.
That's how the trees worked out. The hammocks were each covered with a black plastic tarp rigged like a tent so she really did "feel alone" at night. The first night she did a great job of hiding her fear. I let her pop one of her two lightsticks, two sticks for a three nigth stay. I was proud of her she came back with the other stick.

Currently we are planning a hike to a high, cloud covered ridge above where we normally camp. Next Thursday we are going to scout out a route to the top. It's too bad this forum dosen't support photos. I took some really good ones this last trip. Mac