The Ultimate Knife – Gerber’s Bear Grylls Surival Series

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been interested in knives and anything even vaguely hunting or military related.

I don’t know why exactly; I’ve never needed to hunt for my food (I have a supermarket for that), and outside of computer games, I’ve never had to defend myself using a knife. So why bother owning a survival knife? Well, if nothing else, I think there’s something manly and primal about owning a blade; especially one called The Ultimate Knife. If we face an apocalypse, at least I can take comfort in owning a knife that not only has a sharp edge, but also an obnoxiously loud whistle to annoy my attackers into submission.

The Ultimate Knife, made as a collaborative piece between Gerber and Bear Grylls, is a no frills survival knife that sports a sharp high carbon stainless steel blade, Ferrocerium rod fire starter, and (as previously mentioned) an obnoxiously loud “emergency whistle”, which I’ve personally tested out during a game of beer pong to great effect.

Here’s what I like about The Ultimate Knife

• The knife feels very balanced – almost enough for throwing. I mean, not that I would ever do this. I certainly didn’t spend my teenage years donning a trench-coat in the woods while tossing knives at tree stumps.
• The hilt is ergonomic, and sports a solid rubber grip. Though I find wooden grips more aesthetically pleasing, rubber grips seem a lot more… tactile, and less prone to slipping.
• The sheath has a built-in Ferrocerium rod which, when struck against a small notch on the blade, produces enough sparks to start a fire. During our testing of the striker (both in a party setting, and in the woods), the striker consistently produced enough sparks to put a birthday sparkler to shame.
• The sheath is light, and made of tough nylon. I generally prefer the *look* of a leather sheath, but I’ve found that leather is substantially heavier, and tends to rot from exposure to rain and mud.
• The “emergency whistle” is incredibly loud and piercing, allowing the user to scare off any manner of animal or drunken party-goer.
• The blade seems to hold a sharp edge without getting brittle like many knives I’ve purchased in the past. There’s nothing worse than sharpening a blade only to have small notches form.

This is usually where I list off a few token gripes, but in this case, I really don’t have any. I could say that the hand-signal diagram on the back of the sheath is silly, but in reality, it could actually be very useful in an emergency. Do you know proper hand signals and procedures for attracting a rescue team? I certainly didn’t, and this is the kind of information that would be invaluable if I ever find myself stranded nude in the woods, covered in blood, with a dead deer at my side.

Overall I would say that The Ultimate Knife is an excellent addition to any man’s knife collection. The question you need to ask yourself is “does my knife have a whistle that is loud enough to deafen a man wearing ear protection?”. If you answered no to this question, then your knife isn’t much of a knife at all.