Hey, everyone.
David C. Andersen here coming at you from the KnifeCenter, and today we’re taking
a look at two really cool cleaver-style pocket knives.
It’s the Gerber Flatiron versus the Kershaw static.
Let’s do this.
That’s right, these are pocket cleavers, but first off: No, they’re not really intended
for food prep, they’re just supposed to be cool.
Both these companies designed these knives to be different than your average EDC, but
they’re still very usable.
You can kind of think of them as really big sheepsfoot style blades.
Since there’s almost no belly to the edge on either of these knives, they work well
for any kind of aggressive cutting tasks.
Cardboard comes to mind immediately, because as you slice, the tip is less likely to slip
out while you cut.
That said, the tips are still usable, especially for things like opening packages, and they’re
going to work great for any kind of scoring or cutting on a surface that you need to do.
When it comes to the blades themselves, the Gerber Flatiron features stonewashed 7Cr17MoV
stainless steel featuring a hollow grind, and honsestly, the way that this is shaped
reminds me a lot of a straight razor.
The stonewashing they use on this knife is a really heavy pattern, and it’s a great
working finish.
It’s gonna help minimize the appearance of scratches when you actually use this knife,
because they’re going to blend in to that pattern.
As far as opening the Flatiron, it’s easily achieved with one hand thanks to the blade
cutout here.
One of the criticisms with earlier versions of the Flatiron is that they were a little
bit hard to open, so to address that they responded to those criticisms by making the
hole a little bit larger and moving it further down the blade.
This gives you a little more purchase and a little more leverage, and makes it very
easy to open with no problems.
At the back of the blade here, we’ve got a large finger choil that enables choking
up for fine control of that cutting edge, and you get about three inches of cutting
edge with the Flatiron.
The Kershaw Static is a smaller knife overall, and you only get about two and a half inches
of edge with this design.
To make up for that, though, they use 8Cr13MoV steel, which should have a little bit more
edge retention than the 7Cr on the Gerber.
We get a flat grind on this knife instead of a hollow, and it also has a satin finish,
so it’s not going to hide scratches as well as that heavy stonewashed texture on the Flatiron.
The Static also comes with a large finger choil, and it’s a little bit broader, very
comfortable, and all the edges have been chamfered over for very good comfort.
The Flatiron’s choil is not chamfered, but it isn’t crisp either, and that’s because
of that stonewashed finish.
The tumbling action that achieves this finish does its part to round over any sharp edges
during the process so that there’s not a crisp edge here, and it’s still quite comfortable.
Whereas the Gerber is opened with your thumb, the Static is a flipper design with a KVT
bearing pivot that enables it to get really good action, even though it’s a smaller
blade.
Moving back to the handles, the Flatiron features anodized aluminum, as you see here, or textured
G10.
And that G10 version definitely gets the award for the most amount of grip between these
two models.
As far as size, there’s plenty of length to use a full-handed grip on the Flatiron
without needing to use the choil.
The Static also uses stainless steel for its handles, but it’s been machined into a high-tech
looking pattern, and it has a gray PVD coating for even more wear resistance.
Because of the smaller nature of this design, I can only get a three finger grip on the
handle, but when you use the choil, you can achieve a full grip.
Turning the knife over, we have a stainless steel backside with the same type of machining
and coating as on the front, and as you can see, this is a frame lock design that gives
a lot of security behind the blade.
The Flatiron is also a frame lock, featuring stainless steel on the back, but it features
a stonewashed pattern that matches the finish of the blade.
Now, there’s no lockbar insert on either of these knives, since they are made of stainless
steel, and they shouldn’t really need one, but the Flatiron does have a stabilizing plate.
This arrestor keeps the lock bar from being pushed too far out of shape when you’re
disengaging the lock.
Now, early Flatirons developed a little bit of a reputation for having some blade play,
but they sorted that out pretty quickly, and this one certainly has no problems with the
lockup.
In fact, with both these knives, I have full confidence in the lock.
There’s no blade play on either of them in any direction at all.
Now, as far as pocket carry, neither of these knives are the lightest in the world; the
Flatiron comes in at 5.6 ounces, and we’re at four ounces with the Static, and that’s
mostly due to their stainless steel handle construction.
So, if ultralight carry is your thing, then you’re probably gonna want to stay away
from both of these knives.
That said, I don’t think either of them are too heavy to carry easily every day.
The Gerber has a wide flat pocket clip, and it’s stonewashed just like the frame and
the blade, and it holds it in a tip up fashion, and it can be used on the right side only.
The Kershaw comes with a deep carry pocket clip that’s painted black.
This holds the knife lower in the pocket than the Flatiron, if that’s what you’re after,
and because it’s smaller, it’s gonna take up less space, of course, in the pocket, making
it a little bit easier to carry.
The Static is also going to be more friendly to left handed users, because the clip is
reversible for either side in a tip up configuration.
Between the Gerber Flatiron and the Kershaw Static, they’re both competitive in terms
of build quality nowadays, and the prices are very similar as well, so this is where
you all come in to judge these knives in the comments.
Would you take the larger workman-like blade of the Flatiron, or the smaller and more high-tech
style of the Static?
Be sure to let us know, and to get your hands on either, click the link in the description
to head over to KnifeCenter.com.