The Greatest Bear Grylls Era - Gerber Knife? Bear Grylls Paracord Knife - Review

Possibly the best blade every released in the 5 year run of Gerber and  in the Bear Grylls Cranking Out Gear, is the early 2013 release - Bear Grylls Paracord Fixed Blade knife.

Let's see how good it really is...

Overview

This blade is one solid piece of good quality, gray coated, stainless steel from tip to butt. The Paracord knife comes with this versatile, kydex-like sheath about 45 inches of orange paracord for the handle, and the Bear Grylls Priorities of Survival Pocket Guide.  

The knife measures just about 7 3/4 inches or almost 20 cm from tip to butt. The blade length is 3 1/4 inches or 8.3 cm. The knife weights 3.5 ounces without the sheath or 5.75 ounces with the sheath. The knife is full tang construction, meaning that the blade steel runs that full length of the knife through the handle... and in the case, the blade steel is the handle which is given grip, texture and more substance through the use of this quality bright orange paracord.

The Edge

The Bear Grylls Paracord knife has a fine edge... so we’ve got no serrations on this baby... and the edge terminates with this clip point.

A clip point blade has the spine side of the blade “clipped” off to form a tip that is sharper and more suitable for piercing than most drop point blades, and is strong yet still great for tasks that require more cutting accuracy and precision.

See the difference between the Bear Grylls Paracord knife clip point and the Bear Grylls Folding sheath knife’s drop point?

The blade of this knife came very sharp and is easy to touch up with the Bear Grylls field sharpener. Between the edge and the parpacord handle we have a finger cutout that should help to keep your hand from slipping onto the blade - this area is also call the choil of the knife. On the blade spine toward handle we have some notches that are called Jimping. Jimping improves the grip of your thumb on top of the knife.

 

The thickness of this blade is around .17 inches or 4.3 mm which is thicker than the Bear Grylls Folding sheath knife blade at .16 inches and a bit thinner than the Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival knife at .19 inches wide. So this is a pretty substantial knife for it’s size. The Bear Grylls Paracord knife is very similar to the Bear Grylls compact fixed blade knife... with the big differences being the fine vs. partially serrated edge and the paracord handle.

 

Let’s Talk About the Handle

This handle of the Bear Grylls Paracord knife has 5 holes and two large cutouts that enable the primary task of wrapping about 4 feet of paracord through and around them to form the handle of the knife.

But there are surprises here. Check this out... When you remove the paracord it’s pretty evident that the 5 holes in this handle were also placed so that this knife could be easily lashed to a branch or pole to make a spear... like the Bear Grylls Ultimate Survival Knife and the Gerber LMF II.SO that’s what I did.

I used the knife to cut a small tree. I removed the paracord. And then used the holes and cutouts to lash the entire length of the paracord to secure this knife to my pole.

The lengh the stock paracord was a

Replacing the Paracord

Now, it’s also easy to replace the stock paracord with whatever color and length you prefer. I like my knives to be a little less conspicuous, so I replaced the paracord with good old OD Green I guess this lets the cat out of the bag on the vintage of my Marine Corps days.

Alright... so, I got two extra wraps around the handle by pulling my mill spec paracord really tight as I wove it around my knife. Then I ran about 6 inches of extra cord out the butt-end and tied it off to make a nice laynard. So in the end, I was able to get a full 5 foot of paracord on my knife.

One last thing about the handle.

Since the metal is exposed on the butt end this knife, you can use it as a pommel to break and smash things.

The Sheath

Now let’s talk about the sheath. Gerber stepped it up here and really improved on the previous sheath that came with the Compact Fixed Blade knife... which was dimensionally smaller than the paracord knife sheath... but struggled to keep the knife in the sheath in upside down carry. Also the compact fixed blade belt clip is cool because it is reversible for upside down carry, but has a problem of occasionally coming loose when upside down which could cause you to lose your knife and that would be a bummer. However, Gerber completely redesigned the sheath of the Gerber Bear Grylls Paracord knife so these problems no longer exist.

The Paracord knife sheath is made out of what seems to be a very tough polymer top and bottom, that are fused together, and the whole sheath is reinforced with these 6 steel grommets that are strategically placed at major stress points around the sheath.  

Now here’s the cool part. The top 4 grommets are strategically positioned so this polymer belt loop in the rear can be removed and repositioned using two hex bolts for: side draw, regular, upside down AND for either left or right hand carry.

Now here is something else that’s pretty cool If you’d prefer not to have the Bear Grylls logo showing when you wear the Paracord knife... you can also attach the belt carry loop to the front side of the sheath, so that the Bear Grylls logo covered by the belt carry loop and facing in.

Now replace the stock orange paracord with the paracord color of your choice and you have an excellent, versatile paracord knife package that has the look you want for your gear. Oh, one last thing with this knife and sheath package... So whether intentional or not, the Bear Grylls pocket survival guide fits snug and perfectly between the belt loop assembly and the sheath.

So you can carry the pocket guide with you whenever you have this knife strapped on. For extra security... make sure that you attach the belt loop so that the bolts are below the pocket guide, which should further prevent the guide from falling out.

Now Let’s Talk About Owner Comments

Owner comments are very positive sighting the surprising quality, good edge holding characteristics and the excellent design of the Bear Grylls Paracord knife and sheath. Some mention how goofy they thought the sheath initially was but how it all made sense when they got to using the knife. Others mentioned how quickly the bright orange paracord gets soiled... But most seem to agree that this is a knife worth having.

Our Rating

We rate the Bear Grylls Paracord Fixed Blade Knife at 5 out of 5 stars for it’s well thought out design from tip to butt.

 

The durability of the steel, how easy it is to sharpen and how well it keeps a blade. We love the full tang construction and the well thought out placement of the handle cut outs for the paracord and the added versatility of being able to easily and firmly lash this knife to a pole to make a spear.

Although we also thought the sheath was a bit of overkill at first... we now appreciate it’s ability to safely hold the knife and carried in many different ways. I admit, I also like that I can cover over the Bear Grylls logo and I have always like it when Gerber incorporates a way for the Survival Guide to be carried along. And the online street price of less than $29 really sealed the deal on our rating.

Okay, so Who is this Knife for?

The Bear Grylls Paracord knife is great for camping, hunting - large and small game, hiking, biking, just about any outdoor activity... it’s a great secondary knife for bushcraft, a bug out bag or emergency kit, and when the Bear Grylls logo is covered and the orange paracord is replaced, it’s a pretty inconspicuous all day belt carry knife.  

If you want a comparable fixed blade knife with a solid handle, check out my review of the Bear Grylls Compact Fixed Blade Knife. If you would like a similarly sized folding knife check out my reviews of the Bear Grylls folding sheath or Bear Grylls Scout knife.

But if you want a tough, lightweight and versatile compact fixed blade knife that you can rely on in an emergency or for everyday use... or you are looking for a great gift and a cost of around $29 sounds good to you, the Bear Grylls Paracord knife is a really sweet blade to consider. 

We’ve just taken a look at the Gerber Bear Grylls Paracord Fixed Blade knife. 

~David