Knife Review: Gordon 8-inch Hunting / Survival Knife from HarborFreight
A Whole Lot of Knife for About $10!
Wow! Maybe you should go get it?
Yeah, let's go!
My wife and I had a bona fide quest for a survival knife and our weekend began. When I got to the Harbor Freight Tools store, I hunted high and low for the $8.99 Hunting / Survival knife. Then, I found it and did a double take. An 8-inch blade is pretty huge. The Gordon 8-inch Hunting / Survival Knife would be very noticeable and quite anti-social hanging from my belt. If it were found during a routine traffic stop, an 8-inch survival knife would warrant a trip to jail for the owner just on general principle. But, $8.99 for a stainless steel survival knife is a very good deal. I wondered: What would I do with that knife? Would my wife think I was a psychopath? Where would I store it? Would I ever carry it outside of the house? I wavered and wimped out and bought a few other things. But, the survival knife made an impression.
My wife and I went on about our day. But, as we ran errands and shopped for household necessities, I was haunted by that infernal crazy knife. A little voice in my head kept saying, "$8.99. $8.99. It's only $8.99. Get it. Get it. Get it!" Plus, the survival knife included a survival kit. I wondered what the survival kit would have to offer. Since I live in Florida, I needed a survival kit. There are hurricanes, fist-sized grasshoppers, and alligator-eating, free-range, former pet pythons down in these parts. My wife said, "Get it!" So with my courage renewed, we returned to Harbor Freight Tools. I became the proud owner of an 8-inch stainless steel Gordon Hunting/Survival Knife.
What did I get for my money? I got plenty of survival knife. The Harbor Freight Gordon 8-inch Hunting / Survival Knife is 14-inches long overall. The blade of this Chinese-made knife is stainless steel and is reminscent of a classic Marine Corps K-Bar fighting knife. The lightweight aluminum handle has the solid machined feel reminscent of a Maglite. The Harbor Freight Hunting / Survival Knife is carried in a tacticool black nylon sheath with an inner plastic liner and hangs on your belt by a generously-sized belt loop. A short lanyard is looped through the top of the handle.
The handle of the Harbor Freight survival knife is hollow and the pommel can be unscrewed and flipped over to reveal a built in compass. Inside the handle, a small plastic bag contains five matches, a piece of flint paper, fishing line with a hook, a safety pin, a sewing kit, and buttons. It's nice to know that if you pop a button while fighting a grizzly bear with this knife, you'll be able to sew it back on or replace it in a jiffy. Fortunately, the handle has enough room to store a few additional small odds and ends. If you are serious about survival, you'll want to try to add extra fish hooks, a bobber, water purification tablets, a whistle, and other supplies. Such survival supplies would be a great idea for hunters and fishermen who do frequent the mountains, forests, and swamps of this great land.
While the extra buttons and sewing kit seem a tad ridiculous, the Harbor Freight Tools Gordon hunting / survival knife is no joke. It is a deadly serious and substantial knife with a sharp blade and a very solid feel. The knife seems well made, but has a few random tool and die marks. The only real worry that I have about this knife is that I noticed a small, faint, brown spot high on the blade near the handle. In the past, I have owned inexpensive Chinese stainless steel forks and knives and they picked up rust spots in the dishwasher. While I don't know what standards and steel were used in manufacturing the Harbor Freight Gordon Survival / Hunting Knife, I would recommend drying the knife thoroughly after washing, avoiding detergents with lemon, and storing this blade with a light coat of oil.
Overall, I think the Harbor Freight Tools Gordon Survival / Hunting Knife is a great bargain for routine use by outdoorsmen. While this knife might not be appropriate for a soldier in Southwest Asia, it should work quite well for the rest of us. At a $10 price point, the price for the Harbor Freight Gordon Survival / Hunting knife is definitely right.
Published by L. Spain
I enjoy sharing my experiences through writing. If you find an article useful, feel free to pass on the link to your friends. I ve lived in Virginia, Florida, Maine, Georgia, Missouri, and more. Over the... View profile
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- An 8-inch blade is pretty huge.
- Survival Kit: matches, flint paper, fishing line with hook, a safety pin, a sewing kit, and compass!
- If you pop a button while fighting a bear with this knife, you'll be able to sew it back on.
4 Comments
Post a CommentAs bought, this knife is truly a piece of crap.
That being said, it can be improved about an order of magnitude.
The single point setscrew that holds the blade is NOT secure. It is also cheap Chinese stock that will strip the first time you tighten it. The gasket in the screw-on cap is a joke since the blade socket is not sealed. To fix this:
1. remove the setscrew and the blade
2. take a hacksaw and slot the setscrew for a screwdriver
3. clean the blade tang and the socket with mineral spirits
4. coat the socket and the blade tang with JB Weld - be generous, this provides a seal and secures the blade when cured
5. coat the setscrew threads with Loctite and TIGHTEN with a screwdriver
Throw away the compass and survival kit and build your own. All the items provided are junk.
Got one, sharpened it, and it is hanging on my survival belt, with the $3.99 dual sided sharpening stone in my camo pouch! Also, grabbed some other Gordon knives, compasses, outdoor stuff, all at great steals!
Also, have their generator, tons of tools, three jacks, 4 safety stands, many house items, air tools, garden tools, wheeled devices, welders, air horns, and surveillance cams!
Huge addiction to tools that work, at prices that don't make me work overtime!
The few that I've handled needed a good sharpening before any serious cutting use.
As usual, all this yammering about survival kits and not one mention of a sharpening stone. That knife won't do a bit of good once it goes dull, if the owner has no way of making it into a knife again.
BTW, if the blade is bolted to the handle, that's a weak spot. Chris Reeve makes one (VERY expensive) out of one single piece of steel to try and eliminate this weakness of this particular kind of knife.