The Bear Grylls Knife, can you believe this one? If you think this is stupid, look at the price as well. I got to give Bear Credit, he's going to get every last thing out of this gravy train.
http://www.bayleyknife.com/bear.htm
Bear Knife

For that kind of money ($698 USD) there should be more info like the hardness and I never heard of RWL steel. Anyone know this steel?
Maybe there are a lot of fans of Bear's that will buy it.

I know it's crazy money for that but there will be tons of fans that will buy that.

$700 is very pricey and from the details on the website it is being produced as a limited edition by a very good custom UK based knife maker. The knives look top notch and I suspect that you can pay the same amount for a limited edition knife produced by the likes of Pat Crawford and many many others in the US. The 'bear' moniker may put some off some for those who know better. High priced jewelery for stock exchange executives Super Army Soldier (SAS) wannabes. It would appear there is roughly a $300 premium for the 'bear' moniker

I thing that guy has spent to long above 10,000 feet and has altitude sickness

Wait a minute... Isn't he using a gerber gator?

Haha, yea. Seems like you can buy the same basic knife out of his "Raven series" for half the price.




He has used a bit of everything. Saks, Gerbers, dive knives, ect.

By the way, there is also a Bear Grylls watch if anyone is interested.

A Gerber Gator on one show, A swiss army knife on one show (the one where he made snow shoes, and cut himselfe) A Onterio USN divers knife on one show. The boy has lots of knifes.

He used some knife with a gut hook on his Everglades show.

On a related issue, anyone know what kind of canteen he uses and what he uses for his flint? I notice he always has his canteen crossed on his back yet it never sways.

An on a related to the related issue, I would sure like to know what his camera crew thinks about following him. There must be some outtakes somewhere!

Michael

The knife in the Everglades episode looks like it might be a Buck Zipper Model 691BK.The canteen seems to be lashed on with some sort of cord sling of his own design. It not only goes over his shoulder, but it also ties around his waist. I must admit, that the canteen rig looks kinda cool.

The knife kindly looks like a Falkniven F1...not exactly of course but a little bit. Wait a minute! Is that Bear's signature on the blade? With RWL (WTHIT?!) steel? I've gotta have one!

MichaelJ07
the canteen is a NATO water bottle you can find out more about it at www.bestglide.com

No one seems to know about the steel in the other forums I've seen it in. The sheath would have to bite me to thrill me less. I'm sorry, but he'd have to pay me to use it, I know they say it is G10 but the handle looks like one of the cheapest things I've seen in a long time. And I got a Bud K catalog in the mail last week. :P

Is it just me, or does he look like he's 12 in that picture, or maybe just a very "special 14"? For a man who is so interested in flash, he could have least found a less embarrassing photo. :P

On your related related, I wouldn't be suprised if his crew has a pool going to see when he has to be medivaced. *laughs*

Great replies, as usual. Thanks for the info on the canteen.

Love the "medivaced" reply as well.

The steel is a powder steel similar to ATS-34 (made by Damasteel). Allen Elishewitz uses it.

Bear looks like Adam Sandler with his brains kicked out and holding his knife like a 13 y/o who just discovered a miracle of nature.Contemporary British knifemaking seems to fall in two camps; the worthy, but also oft overpriced Mears bushcraft knife family or blades of mongrel steels with every angle once mercilessly eliminated by the Supermarine Spitfire's legendary designer brought back to life. What is that famous motoring enthusiast's axiom? " Give a brit a piece of metal and he'll do something silly with it." You can also collect a Lofty Wiseman Parang for a similar price sporting 440 c steel and a black rubber handle. Not that the TRACKER can't be held to your ear and apache heard when you tap the blade into ringing louder than a cash register.It's part of the industry people and If I thought my cellulose handled RCMP folder with SGT Prescott of the Yukon could build a trapper's cabin better I'd carry it. Meanwhile, Our own Randy Schwert did an online review of a nice knife inspired by Mors Kochanski's writings. Of course, Mors and fellow canadian Les Stroud continue to espouse moras and SAKS. One would think Grohmann would lazer engrave a few of their nice blades with " Les is Mor " and double the price.

Camera crew? LOL. My girlfired is in a camera operator and when we are watching "Dirty Jobs" or "MvW" she keeps telling me that whatever freaky, smelly, tight, dangerous shot there is camera had to go in first. It may sound great at first but will get tired really quick. So she stays with "Rescue me" and "30 rock" no suprises there and stunts are controlled.

But when on the set of "rescue me" my girlfriend did mention the "MvW" show and Dennis being himself said: "You know who watches that show? You and his mom."

michaelJ07 the canteen/water bottle Bear G. uses is a british pattern-58 and a cursader Stainless steel teflon coated mug underneath it...it's secured together with 550 cord....well on the knife, like they say there's a sucker born every minute...and i assume fans will want one to be like Bear g....vince g. 11b inf.

Let's see: for $700 I could get a Doug Ritter RSK Mark III AND a Cold Steel Sisu in San Mai steel, AND still take DW out to dinner in a futile attempt to dodge the storm that would follow spending that much money on a couple of hunks of sharp metal.

Sorry, Bear. No sale.

Frank2135

Wow, people think I have problems with being diplomatic. Wont' disagree though.

I must be a bit dense this morning. I just now got that. Gonna be chuckling all day now...

Chris you should post on the message board more often. This is the funniest reply I've read in a long time.

1) The Chris Wood's Ray Mears Bushcraft Knife is one of the best, most intelligently designed knives ever made. It's hand made by a master craftsman. If you want or need the best, expect to pay top dollar for it. I actually had the pleasure of meeting Chris a few years ago. His knives, and he has a wide variety thereof, are what you would expect of the best.
2) I happen to know the father of one of Bear's film crew and I have it on expert authority that there is a lot more to the man than he is being given credit for.
3) We Brit's don't do something silly with a piece of metal, we do something creative.
4) Unlike certain nationality's (who shall go nameless) we Brit's don't mind looking silly. Which isn't the same thing as being silly. Most of our aristocracy look like that. There is usually a very clever, sharp, switched on hard case underneath.

As for the knife, fair play to him if it sells.


Just to come clean about it, I use an Fallkniven F1 my self. Best knife in my price range.

I may be wrong but the Ray Mears's knife on his website just looks like a sturdier Mora knife. The Mora knife has been around and used for hundreds of years by the scandinavians and it's design have remained unchanged for quite a long time, yet the price is still only 10 bucks.

I have the feeling that pragmatic Mors Kochanski is the father of them all, just like J.S. Bach is the father of Mozart, Beethoven and so on.

Very likely, also consider any other flat ground north european knife.
Don't forget that a Mora Clipper is not a "strong" knife. Wunderbar sharp - yes. Tough -no.

Considering that all the developments in the metallurgy of steel such as the development of low alloy, tool, high speed and stainless steels and the industrial processes required to mass manufacture carbon steel were all British developments without which the modern world would not have happened and that on the whole most of the modern super steels used in contemporary knife making are either European or Japanese in origin (from small specialist foundries) I really don't understand the term 'mongrel steel'. Could you explain as I have never heard this term before.

Drink

LOL @ "Drink"

Ha! Cheers.

Kevin B.

For the money, I'd take a handful of nice BRKTs and still have some cash left over for beer.

Ditto Wolf.

Ben...you haven't let us down.

Given the premise of Bear's gig is sillynes I posted in kind. So all our brit members can stop forming squares like this is Rourke's Drift already. Right, now the phrase " give a brit a piece of metal and he'll do something silly with it" was first used in my presense by a retired Jag-u-ar Le Mans raceworks mechanic whilst tuning my MGA coupe's SUs with a Victoria penny.'Mongrel steel' is my phrase for anything you can't readily identify the parentage of; Sandvik, Surgical or modified XYZ crucible formed when 99.99% of the knife community has yet to hear of it. That is called poor salesmanship. Bear's fault lies in the probability some kid will try and duplicate his sillyness with tragic results. It happens. And yes, we probably could find fault with just about everyone. The survival tree is being shaken while it's popular. That a few nuts fall out is to be expected.If anybody is still upset with me, please 'come at me with that bannana." My Webley- Fosbury .455 with manstoppers is ready.

I think the knife will probable be on more episodes. On past episodes it has been the knife of the week. With the kick back, it will be the weekly knife now. Yeah, I watch it every week, looking foward to what he can find to eat.

or drink.

but was it the good stuff or the "mucky yucky" stuff, Blast??

I got to drink the good stuff this time around!!!!

Bo

I'd be hard pressed to pay more than $150.00 for a knife that I planned on using in the field, can say that most of the knives I use consistently didn't cost me much more than $75.00, and would go as far as saying that the rest of the knives I actually use cost between $10.00 and $30.00.

The Bear Grylls knife is probably more of a blade for collectors or fans of the show and will in most cases be displayed rather than used if I had my guess.

If he can sell a knife for that much just by name recognition, more power to him.

Y'know, it's funny that when you consider what is chosen by those who actually have a daily use for a large fixed blade, there are as many variations as there seem to be standards. Most will be satisfied with whatever happens to be available at the time, like what is issued to them. Some with a bit more experience, usually involving hapless incidents where their issue knife failed them at some point, come to the realization that tools that double as self defense items ought not be compromised on and so are all too happy to drop dime on something proven more reliable, usually in the hands of some elite unit, with a great reputation therein.

Then there are those who realize that a knife is what it is, in any of it's myriad forms and functions, and choose to use whatever is handy, be it issue, or otherwise, to get the task done. They are just as comfortable with a Spanish Mauser or AK-47 bayonet as with a Cold Steel Khukri or a KA-BAR issue fighting knife, or a Leatherman. They may still spend the money for a quality blade if they feel it is warranted, but not just because they can. I like that. I will take ingenuity and human adaption to the situation at hand as a far more precious trait than whatever the latest wondersteel and forging process can deliver anytime. The fact that I might also buy some of the most expensive knives on the market is just an attribute of my consumerism drive for excess, which has perhaps little to do with my penchant for survival. The way I see it, if you can't make that 99 cent plastic rain poncho work for ya, then acquiring a $100 piece of plastic ain't gonna do much for improving your odds. People always seem more attracted to the frosting without paying too much mind to what's under it, until they actually have to take a bite and find out just what it is they got.

Chris, you crack me up sometimes. We can always count on you to interject something interesting. I agree that you need to put more on the board from now on. Don't let us curmudgeons discourage you with our dogmatic and cynical posts.

350 quid!!!!!

Youve gotta admire the cheek of this bloke! (I quite like the sheath, though!)

Probably slightly off topic, but Ive had little time for this guy since he drank UNTREATED water in the rainforest, spent most of the night puking & pooing heaven knows what out of his system & then exclaimed to camera "I dont know what I did wrong!?"

D'oh!!

The grip looks sooo uncomfortable!

Bear Grylls money machine = grappy knife.

Martini-Henry Rifle if you please.

"FRONT RANK!.... PRESENT!"
"AIM LOW!.... FIRE!"
"KNEEL!"
"RELOAD!"
"SECOND RANK!.......


Rourke's Drift was a cattle raid. By a bunch of young Zulu Warriors who wanted to obtain enough cattle buy themselves a wife.

So I guess we can rule out this knife being a mongrel as we know the parentage, the bear knife produced by Rob Bayley knifes is manufactured from RWL34, which is produced by a company called Damasteel AB of Sweden who are renowned for their Damascene steel and their production of advanced powder steel metallurgy.

You can find them at http://www.damasteel.com/steelgrades.html

A data sheet is available here at http://www.damasteel.com/pdf/rwl34-datasheet.pdf

We all have a different views on Bear Grylls, but to suggest as others have done, that what seems a well made product is just poor or average just because of the association is I think unfair. I personally wouldn't pay the extra cash for the bear moniker but the knife should be taken for what it is. From the materials selected and from the design it looks like a very fine knife from a good custom builder.