Gerber Gear Vital Pocket Knife, 2.8" Camping and Hunting Plain Edge Folding Knife with Exchange-A-Blade System

The Gerber I like the best from other saws I've used. They bright orange trim and handle is a big bonus a lot of time we are gutting at night. I don't pay attention as good as I should were I sit it down the orange makes it much easier to find. It works great on the pelvic and the brisket. Safer and easier than trying to get through those areas with your knife and also save on the blade of your knife. The pouch is easy to clean after use in the sink or a lot of times I just through it in the washer with my cloths I gutted with. Saw stays sharp for several seasons and are cheap enough when they finally do get dull I just buy a new one. Typically though I accidentally loose them before they go dull but that's on me.

I have used this knife for perhaps the last five or so years; I was introduced to it by a hunting buddy. Most of what I use it on is moose and caribou, with the occasional bear. I find it to be a very good knife for getting the hide off the animal. Some of the complaints I have seen - that prompted this review - is that the blades do not stay sharp and the knife is difficult to clean. Let's tackle that second one first. I find a stiff bristled toothbrush to work wonders for cleaning this knife. There you have it - problem solved! I haven't kept track of how many times I change blades, if I do, in the course of cutting up a moose, but I've never felt that it was excessive. I believe I've made it through a whole moose on one blade. Keep in mind... this is one tool. I don't use it for the whole moose. I have a couple of fixed blade knives for the thicker, tougher stuff, like cutting through the rib cage and separating the hind quarters. This seems common sense to me. Those aren't jobs for a thin-bladed replaceable blade knife. I bring that up because one review said it worked poorly for removing the back-strap. I'd suggest he/she needs to re-evaluate the idea of using this for back-strap. For what it's for, I find it to be a darned fine cutting tool. I'm very happy with mine.

I bought this saw a few weeks ago because I needed something lightweight, relatively inexpensive and small to carry in my pack for a swamp hunt on a refuge. I knew I would need to gut and break down my kills in the middle of the swamp and I figured this saw would fit the bill to go along with my OE razor-lite knife. It ended up working out as a near perfect combo. Relatively easy to saw through the bones on multiple hogs and deer. The hooked blunt end definitely helped when messing with the pelvic bone prior to finishing the gut job. I do wish it was about an inch longer, but I guess that takes something away with the portability of it. Gerber needs to make a saw like this with a slightly larger handle to where the saw length can be adjusted by allowing part of the saw blade to slide up into the hilt/handle for packing and then lengthening it when the work begins.

I bought this saw to replace an older model I had. The primary use for me is to cut the pelvic bone on game I'm dressing. Works great for that. Very sharp. Not that easy to clean, but it IS a saw. Take the time and clean the teeth after use. It's stainless, but stainless will still rust if you leave blood on it. Keep it cleaned and oiled. I had to replace my last one because I loaned it and it was returned rusty.

I used this knife for skinning and quartering an elk. Overall, I am very happy with my purchase. I basically made it through the entire elk (it was a bit on the small size) with one blade. It stayed sharp the entire time and was easy to hold. Pros: super sharp, long lasting, light weight, blades changed easily, great for skinning and cutting meat Cons: I broke my blade trying to cut around the neck bone (could have been user error), took a little bit of effort to clean once i got home, the replacement blades are in a cartridge that is easy to loose and misplace (which I did, there isn't anything to clip or tie it to), the blade is a bit small (cutting surface) Overall, this knife was great. I was able to apply good pressure on the knife and still feel safe. I think that someone should practice using the knife on something else before using it to process game. My strokes were a bit short and I ended up messing up some of the back strap because I wasn't using a solid cutting stroke (again, my error). I wish the blade had a little more cutting surface. you loose about 3/4 of an inch due to the connecting mechanism. It really wasn't a big issue, I found that it was a little annoying. Am I going to use this knife again, yes. Will I still keep my other knife handy, yes. Mainly for cuts that are around/through bone.

This little saw from Gerber. It works well on sawing through bone.

This was a gift for our son because he liked mine so much! Has been used for separating the pelvic bone and sternum when filed dressing.

Comfortable but too short of a blade. I had high hopes for this to get through the sternum for field dressing, but no luck. The grip is comfortable for small-med hands, but my husband couldnt get his XL hands to fit good. The teeth are crazy sharp, but the overall cutting length is too small to get the leverage or torque to rip up through a sternum. It was used on a mule deer and even my husband struggled. Ill keep it and may find a good use for it, but its not what I had hoped for.