Today we are going to cover the Gerber LMF2 Infantry knife review of model 22-41629, not to be confused with the lighter duty Gerber LMF2 Survival knife 22-01629.
As you all know Gerber has a pretty great name in the affordable knife market, this knife maintains that. Is this knife the most Gucci piece of kit you can find, no most certainly not.
Does it more than make up for that at the quality and price point coming in at around $110 with multiple accessories like sheath with sharpener and leg retention harness, most certainly yes, we would buy another for sure. Another added bonus is this knife is made in the USA, not offshore.
The blade is made from 420 High Carbon Stainless, this makes it rust resistant yet still capable of holding a decent edge. 420HC is usually around 55HRC which is on the lower end of hardness for good Knife blade materials but is still plenty sufficient. Is the blade as good as one made of D2 steel, no, but this knife is affordable and more than capable for almost every user. Most knives out there in this price range use materials that aren’t even classed as knife material, so with that in mind this is actually a great deal for the money.
The handle is Glass-filled nylon with a Thermoplastic Vulcanizates overmould that gives that soft comfortable handle that has grip whether your hands are wet or dry. The handle is actually quite soft, so much so that it scuffs in the sheath, mind you it gets rattled and moved around which may be the cause of this as shown in the picture. This knife is less than a year into use, the dimpled grip looks mostly as new so it isn’t as soft as an eraser and wears away too quickly.
The heavy rear pommel on this knife is great for smashing whatever needs a smash, it is big, heavy and pointy. You can also see the three holes used a lashing straps where the knife can be attached to a branch if necessary for fishing purposes or as a spear in an emergency.
Gerber LMF2 vs Kabar
Here is a side by side comparison to the grand daddy of tactical knives, the Kabar. As you can see, the Gerber is shorter and fatter, a more rigid knife with a more ergonomic handle. The rigidity of the blade, due to the thickness on the Gerber at .182″ vs the Kabar’s .168″ is quite noticeable, even to the eye even though it is only .014″. The tang of the Gerber is also twice as wide as a Kabar but isn’t a full length tang to insulate it from the rear pommel, very good design.
You may see in Gerber ads this knife being used as an axe and being beaten through a chunk of firewood to split wood. Let’s just call that what it is, stupid theatre. Don’t do that.
You need a full tang really heavy duty knife to do that to, it’s not realistic to what the knife should be used for.
Gerber LMF2 Sheath and webbing
The sheath is buried in the plate carrier behind a pouch so the detail cannot be shown on the one in the article, so a stock photo is used. The sheath is more than sufficient for it’s function and has a friction retention system that grips the blade where the wear point was shown previous. The sheath is mountable with either slots for velcro or also holes for paracord, good design. The leg retention webbing is also sufficient but is definitely offshore production and does not match the quality of the knife. This is how they are able to offer this knife around the $110 price point.
To wrap up the Gerber LMF2 Infantry knife review, this knife most certainly comes with a positive recommendation from us, well worth the $115. This is also one of the many items in the dragbag from the article “What should I keep in my Drag bag?“, never know when it is needed.