Deep in the wilderness, when the gear on your back is the only thing between you and the unknown, you want items packaged with dense manuals filled with words like “tactical” and “performance”, right alongside a few trademarked rugged- and expensive-sounding phrases. But when you just need to cut a bit of twine, or your mother needs something sharp to open a FedEx package, you shouldn’t hand her a knife that can take down a moose.
In situations around the home, office and campfire, it’s best to opt for something simple, well designed and beautiful. Something like the 39 Series, available new this year from Gerber. 2014 marks Gerber’s 75th anniversary, and in commemoration they’ve released a blade that recalls the cutlery that launched one of the most successful knife companies in history.
In the late 1930s, Joseph R. Gerber was making small-batch handmade cutlery sets and gifting them to friends for the holidays. They were simple, nickel-plated kitchen knives, extremely durable and effective. The 39 Series, a sheath folder knife with a nickel-plated zinc handle, copies this no-frills design, but upgrades it with dual thumb studs for easy one-handed opening and a sturdy lock-back mechanism to keep the blade sheathed when not in use. And at 6.3 ounces with a 3-inch drop-point blade, the knife is compact, but beefy for its size due to the thick handle and sturdy construction.
For everyday activities, if and when the need for a blade comes up, handle something with history — something that will have your mother examining the blade before she hands it back, instead of tossing it aside like her old kitchen scissors.