Originally I envisioned this video as a comparison  between just the Cold Steel SRK and the Gerber  

Strongarm, two knives I’ve been asked to do  videos on for years- by maybe 5-6 people lets  

not oversell it. But I figured if I added in  a few more knives, the word Amazon, arrows in  

the thumb, then ranked em- that would make for  a better video…. (Laughs) title and thumbnail.  

This video’s complete trash. And with any luck  it’ll bring in new viewers to my knife cringe,  

who say shit like this, maybe this or this.

In today’s posting we’re dealing with 5  wonderful knifes. The Gerber Strong Arm,  

Now you as a viewer might say hey  you left my favorite knife out,  

or you should have picked knives the exact  same after tax price, or stuck to made in USA,  

only knives with blood groves. That’s fine and  your welcome to leave a nasty comment about it,  

but let me tell you why I chose these. First they  are name brands, all around the same siz-ish,  

and you encounter them a lot in stupid internet  lists. The Esee Laser strike is a bit of an  

oddball, maybe the Esee 4 or 5 would have been the  more popular choice… but I had the laser strike  

and to be honest all esses are thicc. In addition:  4-6 inch mid sized fixed blades popular as general  

utility outdoor knives for your basic internet  tabletop survivalists, culture war commandos,  

and backyard hairgel bros. And all are easy to  obtain on other websites, in case you’d like to  

slightly slowdown the pace in which internet  Walmart becomes our next form of government.

As we edge ourselves toward the list, lets  have a quick primer on my knife preferences.  

A daily carry for me is about 2.5 to 3.5 inches.  

I prefer the smaller knife when I know people  will see me using it- like buttering my toast  

in the office. “I’d use the Ti Lite 6 inch  for that boy” . But when I’m at home or when  

I’m camping I prefer a 3-4 inch folding knife,  which is logically a bit wider than an apple.  

I am mostly a folding knife bro, and my fixed  blades are used for specific things. Like when  

I’m camping and I know i’ll be making a fire, and  thinking about the social situations I might be  

in I prefer a real big fucker for processing my  firewood. I want something wider than the wood,  

so I have real estate to baton it through on  either side of said log. This knife will have  

a blade 8-12 inches, and no one at any  of the other camp sites will talk to me.

Small fixed blades might be easier to clean  and better for prepping food, but I don’t like  

batoning much with them. And when you’re talking  about a knife that size, I prefer it to be a  

folder. A horizontal belt carry small fixed blade,  a neck knife, or a pocket carry fixed blade- are  

like phones on a belt clip or sox with sandals.  So this list is kind of the minimum I’d want if  

you want to break down small pieces of wood, or  even food prep. It might make a good pack knife.  

Although I’ll be quite honest I tend to only use  my larger fixed blades for yard work and camping  

anymore so these don’t get much use. Everyone uses  their knife differently and lives in different  

areas, like Southern Missouri. So I will be  more, examining how they feel in the hand, price,  

weight, sheaths. If you’re paring fine vegetables,  or peeling the skin off tomatoes, look elsewhere.  

None of them are fine slicers,if they’re sharp  they can cut vegetables just fine for camp food.

It also occurs to me there are hunters  who watch these videos. And some of these  

might be in the range for dressing game.  Fixed blades are easier to clean than folders.  

One problem I see with these is save for the  Esee none allow you to remove the handle scales.  

Sure the synthethic handles are in  good shape now, but what happens  

when the handles start to age and might  have gaps between tang and scales.  

I like the idea of being able to take the  knife apart to give them a thorough cleaning.

I’m going to piss some people off  first. Let’s start with the worst.  

The one with the tactical ribs and grooves,  for your hand’s pleasure. It looks like a  

real operator knife, is MADE in the USA,  but the handle kills it for me, even though  

you look real cool holding it. The Gerber  strong arm. The diamond grooves look great  

on your pickup bumper, your truck box, the  floor of a service elevator, and so they feel  

exactly like they look in your hands. Maybe it was  designed only for use with gloves, but generally  

the busier the handle, the worse it feels in your  hand- especially if you’re using it vigorously.  

Rubberized by itself would have given a very  good amount of friction to stay in your hand.  

But what about the glass breaker aren’t those  useful? Yes for poking yourself while reaching for  

your knife. What about in an emergency situation,  like I seen in those classes on Youtube? In an  

emergency situation if you could hypothetically  reach for your sheathed knife, your car door caved  

in as you’re sinking in the cold creek. Sure.  But the though enters your head what if I chip  

my blade on this $80 made in USA knife. If you’re  a person who breaks glass often there are better  

more specialized tools than a pointy part on the  back of the handle, which if we’re being honest  

seems more of a way to injure yourself than save  your life. Fortunately they’ll be some opposing  

opinions on glass breakers in the comment, which  if you read technically counts as doing research  

on how awesome and useful glass breakers are. The  blade is a stainless coated 420HC or high carbon,  

it’s rustable for sure, but it ain’t 1095 which  spots when tiniest amount of urine touches it.  

A coated blade spine is also not  the best for striking a ferro rod.  

While they’re no glass breaker, ferro rods are  always a last resort for fire starting anyway,  

but can still produce a spark in the wet- which  if your fuel is wet would also be hard to start.  

Once I started a Coleman stove in the rain  by a ferro rod because my lighter was wet.  

So that counts as a win. Sheath is pretty  good though, a lot of mounting options. I  

prefer a belt but you can do upside down  on your kevlar vest for tactical cosplay.

Now the Buck 119. This knife ain’t bad, for a  Buck. Also 420HC, but uncoated. Unlike Gerber  

Buck trusts the user with 420HC uncoated, and  it was good enough for your grandpa until you  

stole it and left it out in the rain. It broke  his heart, and he’s dead now. I think you can  

get these in different steels higher end steels on  their limited editions too, if that’s your thing.  

I did a video on this years ago, and for one of my  older videos does very well. Buck fans are a very  

serious about their brand attachment, and often  get upset about video games, millennials, tofu,  

and Youtube videos that don’t treat their favorite  knife brand with the respect they fucking deserve.  

My best comments are on my Buck videos. Those buck  nuts just dancing below the video. This knife has  

a bulbous synthetic handle called phenolic. This  is actually a pretty decent knife, and they’re  

about 60 bucks now. Pun intended (old guy voice).  If I had to wager about these knives here, this to  

me feels like the best slicer of the bunch. I’m  sure this is popular with buck hunters… (laughs)  

boy we have fun- or doe or doe as long as you have  your tag. When I was young I went deer hunting a  

bunch, and even processed deer- but was never able  to kill the deer I had to skin and cut up. It’s  

how life works. You’ll get a few huge fans of  this knife telling you under the comments that the  

handle is fine and nothing ever gets trapped down  there. It’s the best hunting knife they’ve ever  

owned that phenolic doesn’t crack or deform as  it ages. The handle has several parts, the tang,  

the butt cap, and the handle. There’s no way to  remove the handle unless you split it. It’s not a  

full tang but a good amount of tang, you can find  pictures of it online sans handle. The sheaths ok,  

not super dangly. Leather with a plastic insert.  The things that rank it a bit lower on my list are  

Buck fans, the sheath could hang lower, the  handle is comfortable but kind of thick, and it  

has odd looking proportions. It’s a perfectly  fuctional knife though, and some may rank it  

top. That’s fine. That would be your list. Look  into the 120 for a larger version of this that  

will set you back about $110. Check out my  full review for details and tofu prep.

Next the Esee laser strike. The Esee warranty is  legendary. The will replace the knife if it breaks  

for any reason, even the dumb shit. It’s full tang  so it’s a tad heavier than the buck, then there’s  

carbon steel which is why it’s coated- because  it’s not a stainless steel like the Bucks.  

Some people say carbon has a flavor when used  on food or human flesh, and some people don’t  

like coatings on their blade. So that’s a ding  for food prep. In all honesty the Buck and this  

both have trade offs so if you’re still  mad about me ranking the Buck Lower,  

you can move it here if you want. This  knife has an extremely comfortable handle,  

micarta, with a hidden fire striker inside the  handle if you get desperate. In all honesty you  

should pack a windproof waterproof lighter, before  the fixed blade. The Esee ain’t the cheapest here,  

which could be a ding against it, about $120-  think of it this way you’re paying a bit more for  

the warranty. The sheath is great and there are  a lot of sheath mount options from esee so you  

can mount it like an operator if you choose,  dangle it or whatever. Since I’ve had the kids,  

I car camp and no longer backpack so I chose  the easy in and out of the pocket or belt clip,  

which mounts to the kydex. I just can’t waste your  time enough by saying enough the handle and even  

the choil, which is chamfered and pointer  finger sized… all very very comfortable.  

Honestly see handles are about my favorite. And  there’s a lot of aftermarket options because they  

make them easy to swap out. If you ever damaged  the handle on any of these other knives here you’d  

have to make a new handle for it. I have  a full review of this already on Youtube.

Ok the second best here. Or arguably the best if  you figure in size or price or the liquor finally  

getting to work. The Cold Steel SRK. This version  uses an SK-5 steel and costs about 35 dollars.  

Not trying to brag but paid about 32 for it a few  years ago on amazon. There are versions with more  

expensive steels- like the 103 dollar san mai  version. The steel here is carbon and coated.  

Good tactical sheath, secures the knife well, made  out of nylon and a plastic, so it’ll outlast you  

in the landfill when your body is dust. Rides a  touch higher than I’d like but it’s not too bad.  

This has been a Cold Steel staple since it was put  out in 1990 or so and very closely resembles the  

knife at the top of the list. This is the largest  blade of the bunch, more real estate on the spine.  

Well balanced a nicer texture in the hands that  the strong arm, and very sharp out of the box. And  

I get there’s some similar to the Gerber pickup  toolbox texture here too, but overall there’s  

less needless groves, glass breaker, peaks, and  the diamond texture is finer. Ok number one.  

It’s hard to say which came first the Cold Steel  SRK or this guy. It seems like the Fallkniven  

came a few years after. There are smaller  Fallknivens and larger ones. Their NL1 bowie  

is like $600 bucks and looks amazing. It’s been  on my list for a long time, but I have room in my  

life for only one $600 fixed blade and thats the  Spear XXL. The s1 is pretty nice though, if you  

want bigger go to the A1, or smaller go with the  F1. Then there’s the pro version with nicer steel  

and full tangers. Your budget and drunkeness  is the limit. This one has not quite a fun  

tang but really close enough. It’s nimble in  the hand, maybe a touch thinner of a handle,  

and it’s also pretty good looking. Fallknivens  are Swedish knives that are as far as I can tell  

made in Japan, and are kind of expensive. It is  unique in this lineup because of it’s laminated  

VG10 steel and it’s full convex grind. While you  can sharpen a convex ground knife like a standard  

knife and just add the bevel yourself, you’ll  need to adjust your sharpening method and possibly  

freehand it or use an adapter for your sharpening  system to maintain the curve of the convex.  

The sheath here is leather, and dangly. Remember  folks leather sheaths retain and lock in moisture,  

the standard sheath here is a locking  zytel thing that’s kind of hideous.  

If you use it in the wet, or store it in a damp  environment that’s the best sheath for you. The  

steel here is stainless, but unless it’s a rust  free steel, and none of these here are all steels  

depending on their elemental makeup are prone  to rust from varying degrees. I prefer leather  

sheaths personally and this one is great. One  day I’d like to get a bigger fallkniven. But  

I probably never will. They’re just  expensive, probably a little too expensive,  

and the tradeoff is a slightly nicer  hand feel and the convex grind.

Just buy the SRK if you want to beat stuff up  or the Buck if you want the best food prep and  

game knife with the hollow grind and never look  back. Ok I can’t stop myself maybe you’re more the  

food prep person the Mora Companion would be good  at Game dressing, finer slicing and food prep.  

$13 bucks it’s light and not full tang, because  you don’t need full tang for this stuff. And  

the slightly larger Ontario SP1. Made in USA,  comfortable handle only $40 full tang a bit  

bigger than the largest SP1 and a little heavier  too. I need to get around to reviewing this one.

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