Gerber Reserve Terracraft Review
Review Update: After this review went live Seth Jaramus, being the stand up guy he is, contacted me and asked if I would include the names of the people on his team that brought the Terracraft to life. Here they are:
Jeff Wiwatowksi: product engineer who “ensures stuff lasts forever and doesn’t break.”
Eric Von Holten: industrial designer and “sheath savant”
Max Hayes: manufacturing engineer behind “those nice sanded and matched surfaces.”
Sara Gordillo: sourcing specialist who “ferrets out and negotiates all components that come from contractors and suppliers”
Karrson Koivisto: product manager
Baseball was revolutionized by a night watchman that used his ample free time and prodigious intellect to write a groundbreaking newsletter that gave rise to a new generation of statistics and baseball analysis. this newsletter spoke mostly to a young breed of baseball analysts and it took years for the Old Graybeards to realize the power of this new way of looking at the Great American Past Time. Slowly, but surely the Old Graybeards either went into retirement or started listening to the kids with their calculators. Theo Epstein best characterizes this group of new, young thinkers.
Seth Jaramus at Gerber is basically the Theo Epstein of the knife industry. He brought us the Gerber Fastball. And now, with that success under his belt, Seth and his team have innovated in a big way in the fixed blade space. This is a revamp like the one that Theo did in Boston and Chicago. And we knife fans get to benefit.
Here is the product page. The Gerber Reserve Terracraft costs $150. There are two variants—a green and gray handled version. It is also available in the Gerber Customizer Service. Here is a written review. Here is a video review. Here is my video overview.
Finally, here is my review sample:
Twitter Review Summary: What happens when the Theo Epstein of the knife world makes a fixed blade.
Design: 2
It has classic lines mixed with novel ones. It is stout, but still surprisingly slicey. The Terracraft is just so good at so many things that is hard to avoid the conclusion that this knife is any other than an instant classic. Its a simple, classic blade and an amazingly weird handle that just works. And the sheath, well, the sheath is amazing and raises the quality of the knife substantially. This is a $300 knife available for $150. Its good, really good and it all starts with an interesting and unique design.
Fit and Finish: 2
Fixed blades shouldn’t be hard to make, they are very low on the fit and finish degree of difficulty scale, but what is here is excellent. The real sign of superlative craftsmanship in a fixed blade is found in the sheath and here the Terracraft literally laps the field. The sheath is better than kydex numbers and yet it has the beauty and refinement of a leather sheath in large part because the leather sheath is masterfully constructed. How Gerber managed to do this on a production scale still mystifies me. This is an amazing production.
Handle Design: 2
Theo went out and drafted a great 3rd baseman to revamp the Cubs. There hasn’t been a great Cubs 3rd basement in a generation and in the history of the team there has only been two. So yeah, Theo did things differently. So does Seth and company. This is a weird handle. But here is the thing—when great minds innovate it works. Theo got a ring in Boston and Chicago by innovating. Seth and company made this knife. There isn’t a bird beak or a Coke bottle in sight and the knife is all the better for it.
Steel: 2
S30V has reached the point in its lifespan where you can get good performance out it and you can get it to flex into a bunch of different roles. Here, with some beefy stock and an excellent grind, it is above average. A more sensitive scale would probably result in a score less than two, because, well even this middle age S30V is still a bear to sharpen when compared to results you get. It is a noticeable step up from 420HC and 1095, and a minor step up from 1095, VG10, 154CM, or D2, but it is not as good as 3V.
Blade Shape: 2
It is not hard to see why Bob Loveless loved the drop point—it does EVERYTHING WELL. Here with a stout point there is nothing you should be afraid to do with the Terracraft and that is kind of the point of a bushcraft knife. If the bushcraft blade is the knife equivalent of the No. 5 Jack Plane, then the drop point is the perfect blade shape.
Grind: 2
Its almost a truism that fixed blade grinds are not as precise as folder grinds. In part this has to do with how folders are made and the need for precision sizing inside the blade well and around the pivot, but it also has to do with a bias, I think, that knife companies have against fixed blades. The high end shows this is not necessary. Look at knives from Loveless Acolytes like David Sharp or Mamoru Shigeno and you will see there are a ton of precision in fixie grinds. A peek at something like a KaBar BK16 (especially after stripping the coating) will send shudders of horror down your spine. Here the Terracraft again rises above the crowd. It is not Shigeno good, but it is quite good for a fixed blade. I like the grind choices all around—no zero grind in particular—and what is here is well done.
Sheath Carry: 2
We have long been told that production sheathes are difficult to do and quality leather production sheathes are impossible. To quote Darth Malgus from the epic Star Wars: Old Republic trailer: “You have been deceived.” The truth is when you have great designers working with large budgets you can make not just a decent leather sheath on a production scale, but an amazing one. It requires a lot of rethinking of inherited wisdom, but it is definitely possible.
Sheath Accessibility: 2
This is not just a great sheath on the hip, which most slim sheathes are (or should be), it is also a great one to use. The knife goes in and out of the sheath with little trouble and the retention strap gets out of the way. The innovation comes in the form of a molded rubber “speed bump” on the retention strap.
Not only does it protect the strap as the knife is drawn, it also helps lock in the knife once it is in the sheath. The dual purpose design is yet another idea from the Seth Jaramus-led knife design lab at Gerber. The ideas that powered the Fastball to an impressive showing for Gerber lift this knife high as well. And while the Fastball was good, the fit and finish here put the Terracraft in a different tier of production knives. With a sheath this knife and this beautiful, its not fair to give it the backhanded complement of “its good for a Gerber.” Nope, that is not true anymore. The Terracraft is just good, really, really good.
Usability: 2
The angular handle is different than the Coke-bottle and bird beak we often see on good fixed blades and despite its difference, it is really effective. There are no hotspots here and there are no places that snag or irritate your hand. We did some mid-winter cutting tests of frozen colored water bottles and despite chomping into pure ice for about an hour in 10 degree weather, the Terracraft did well.
Durability: 2
Everything about this knife screams “generational” knife. You can use the Terracraft for your lifetime and then pass it on to a child with some real life left in it. This has to do with the handles and the stout blade stock as well as the superlative leather sheath. In use, it is rock solid, even when doing stupid things like chopping ice in the backyard to entertain your two children who are both suffering from severe cabin fever (it is February in New England after all) and the Covid blues. I have been incredibly impressed with this knife and its strength.
Other Considerations
Fidget Factor: Very Low
This is a knife for an adult. Adults don’t fidget.
Fett Effect: High
With a gorgeous leather sheath, the Terracraft has already started gather signs of wear. In a decade it will be absolutely beautiful.
Value: Very High
When Schrade has knives for $30 it is hard to call a $150 fixed blade a good value, but the Terracraft compares favorably to knives that are two or three times its price, smoking my Bravo 1 in the sheath the department, and bringing to the table new ideas and new touches that no one else in the knife game could. Gerber really has set a new bar for what to expect in the production fixed blade world. And that, of course, is the definition of a very high value.
Overall Score: 20 of 20
This is not a perfect knife. I like the steel, but as I mentioned, it is not a high two. But aside from that, the Gerber Terracraft is outstanding—a not updated take on an old form. With intelligent design choices and an understanding of what makes classic knives classic Gerber under Seth and Company have staked out new ground for a company long left for dead. This is a serious knife for serious users. And it is sheath is a true revelation. I am not willing to give a pass on sheathes anymore. No sheath—prepare for a bad score. Crappy nylon sheath—brace for punishment. Good kydex is par for the course, the minimum acceptable option. The Terracraft is a remarkable blade and a great user.
I am happy to say this—The Legend Has Returned.
Competition
There is really not a lot of competition for the Terracraft. Cheaper knives don’t hold up in terms of quality and expensive knives don’t stack up on price. This is easily a comparable to my favorite Bark River Bravo 1 LT in 3V. I like that knife better because of the steel, but God that sheath was a disaster. This knife also compares to the Falkniven F1. That knife is a bit more with a slighlty worse steel and worse sheath, but the F1 is a smidge cheaper. Spyderco’s Street Beat is pretty good comp too but with worse steel and a cheaper handle material. It is very hard to find a knife that is just better. Which, as I have discussed in this section recently, is a good sign.
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