Id rather spend my 60$ on a PSP And Buck 119 even if it wasnt associated with bear grills.....I hate him...

You are right. That is why I bought some items that were reviewed and recommended on Doug´s site (thanks for the good advice). For play-it-save equipment this site is excellent.
I saw some episodes with Les Stroud and found some useful information but you notice that he avoids to take too much risk. So his tools may be worth considering if you need a new tool.
However with the BG knife it is different for some people. They buy the spirit of adventure and get a free knife with it. That is an advantage in marketing as it offers access to more customers.

I'm not inclined to carry another person's initials on my knife and I flatly refuse to put an edge on another "out of the box" Gerber!

Personally I'll give my money to DR

Thanks
Mike

Thought I'd fire this thread back up. I was gifted a BG knife last week and did some modest testing on it.

First, the knife itself is nicer than I expected. The handle is grippy when wet or wearing slick gloves, I was at a lake to test this. The blade is very similar to the Gerber LMF2 or Prodigy, darkened with a couple inches of serration at the bottom that easily cut through some cordage I needed. The pommel has a hammer that I only pounded against some river rocks and it did not cave in the checkers, nor jump out of my hand.

Some light wood cutting with the blade only showed it does what its intended purpose is. Same with some hard salami and block of cheese. And the aforementioned cordage with the serrations. I didn't try cutting a tomato or punching through a garbage can.

Accessories. The whistle is corded to the bottom lash point of the handle. Two other lash points are at the top of the handle. Its quite small but my daughter was able to make is go off loud enough that we asked her to stop. I blew it at the lake and a friend 500 yards away heard it quite easily. Its good.

Firestarter. A ferro rod is built into the sheath. It takes a modest pull w/ two fingers on the orange and black triangular handle to pull it from the its attachment point. Of course more testing/use will determine if the seal stays strong. To scrape the rod you use the backside of the knife blade. There is a 1/4" rough spot above the handle that has been left shiny so you can see where to scrap in order to produce spark. After a few scrapes to remove the protective coat I was able to light dry grass I collected nearby in a couple minutes. I have started three fires this week using this product. All comparable in time, effort as my Light My Fire FireSteel.

Sheath/Sharpener. The sheath is nothing special, cordura over a hard plastic insert, (I suppose). It is not bulky, wide or thick which is nice. There is four carry loops on the back, 2 vertical, 2 horizontal, to carry as you wish. A velcro strap secures the pommel to the sheath. The scabbard has a tight seat with the knife so that they mate tight and a slight pull is needed to remove the blade. The scabbard attaches to the sheath at the bottom with velcro and a velcro strap mid way up. When you unhook the mid level velcro the scabbard peels away from the sheath and a knife sharpener has been embedded on the back of the scabbard. I have not used this yet, but by touch its very rough.

Stitched onto the back of the sheath is weatherproof guide to universal rescue signals. Included in the box is a large weatherized paper fold out designed by Bear also giving simple instructions and icons for survival. Not something I would probably carry with me, but I haven't thrown it away yet either.

Overall impression. I own more expensive knives that do less than this. I suppose if someone were looking at buying a fixed blade they could do much worse on the cost and weight. The whistle and fire starter should be factored into the return on investment of as they are in my opinion as good as any individual similar product on the shelf and not mere window dressing.

What's the blade thickness on the commercial BG knife, and did they happen to say which steel alloy they are using?

And by the way, if Bear Grylls made it thru' the normal SAS selection process (which apparently he did), then that's good enough for me. He may have trained with different skills compared to other SAS units, but their general selection process is a b*****. I also think he did a pretty good job of getting thru' the selection for the French Foreign Legion - another TV show he did later.

Pete #2

Someone please tell me that's not his real name.

I've never seen his show as I don't have cable or sat.

His birth name was Edward Grylls. It was explained that Bear was the nickname he was given as a child, and was pretty much what he was called through-out his life. He has since legally changed his name to Bear Grylls.

There are certainly true knife experts on here so if one of them can provide a more detailed answer, I defer my response to them.

There are no marking on the blade to discern the type of alloy/metal it is. A website states only that it is, "High Carbon Stainless Steel"

I measured blade thickness right above the grip handle, and below the fire starter striking area on the spine. It measured 1/8 inch.

Hope that answers your question.

It's most likely 420HC steel, same as what Gerber uses for the Prodigy and LMF II.

It's also worth noting that this knife is Made in China to keep cost down. The LMF II ASEK, on the other hand, is made in Portland, Oregon.