Gerber Legendary Blades is an American maker of consumer knives, multitools, and other tools headquartered in Tigard, Oregon, United States, within the Portland metropolitan area. Currently, Gerber is a sub division of Fiskars Brands Inc, owned by the Fiskars company of Finland. Gerber was established in 1939 by Pete Gerber. Gerber was the first production knife company to collaborate with a custom knife maker when it collaborated with David Murphy.
History
In 1910, the Gerber family started an advertising firm in Portland, Oregon. While working for the family business, Joseph Gerber mailed twenty four sets of kitchen knives to clients during the holidays. These handmade knives were very popular, with then catalog retailer Abercrombie & Fitch requesting more of these knives from Gerber to sell in their catalog in 1939. Gerber started Gerber Legendary Blades that same year. In 1966, the company relocated to new headquarters in Tigard, Oregon. Finnish company Fiskars purchased the private company in 1987. Chad Vincent was hired as chief executive officer in July 2001. By October 2003, the company employed three hundred people, and had revenues near $100 million and was the second leading seller of multitools in the United States, after Leatherman, another company based in the Portland area. On Gerber's website they claim to be the "largest supplier of knives and multi-tools to the United States armed forces." Several of their commercially available knives fit this claim, such as the LMF II Infantry, which features a partial Tang instead of a full one, ostensibly to avoid electric shocks because the knife was designed to free pilots from downed aircraft.
Designs
Designers who have since designed knives for Gerber include: Bob Loveless, Paul Poehlmann, Blackie Collins, William Harsey Jr., Fred Carter, Rick Hinderer, Brad Parrish, Ernest Emerson and Matt Larsen. Former Gerber employees who have started their own successful knife companies include Al Mar and Pete Kershaw. Gerber built a line of folding knives based on designs of Rex Applegate. Bear Grylls has also helped design and promote a line of survival knives and tools.
Models
Models of Gerber fixed blade knives include:
the Gerber Guardian: A boot knife designed by knife maker Bob Loveless more than twenty years ago.
The Flatiron, their only folding cleaver blade knife.
The Paraframe, a lightweight pocketknife.
The Kettlebell, a compact pocketknife.
The Gerber/Emerson Alliance: The first automatic knife made by either company is based on the profile of Emerson Knives, Inc.'s earlier Raven knife design and is an issued item to certain military units under the NSN : 5110-01-516-3243 and 5110-01-516-3244.
the Gerber Gator: A single blade lockback knife with an ergonomic thermoplastic handle molded to resemble alligator skin.
Models of Gerber multi tools include:
The Center-Drive, known for its automatic opening pliers and bit driver
The Suspension Multi-Plier, a butterfly opening multi tool
The Truss, a butterfly opening multi tool and successor to the Suspension
The Suspension-NXT, a butterfly opening multi tool and successor to the Suspension
Gerber recently announced several new knives and one multi tool at the 2019 SHOT Show.
