Gerber LMF II ASEK destructive test videos from Knifetests.com

I collected and reviewed the Knifetests.com destructive testing videos for the Gerber LMF II ASEK.

Since this knife is the Aircrew Survival Egress Knife, it has a couple somewhat unique design points. The butt cap / pommel is heavier than usual and angled to act as a glass/plexiglass breaker. The partial serrations are to saw through sheet metal aircraft skins. The handle design electrically insulates the blade from the hand.

One surprise from the videos is that I didn't realize the sheath has an integral sharpener. The partial serrations let it saw through sheet metal though slowly. The heavy angled butt cap did shatter plexiglass. Chopping wood went slow due to the short, sub-5-inch blade. The front of the handle was somewhat damaged while chopping. He ran out of gas chopping. He got not even halfway through a 2x6, even with some batoning.

The blade breaks 5 minutes into Part 6, cutting 1/8th inch mild steel strap. He mentioned that only 2 knives so far got past this: I believe the Falkniven A1 and a Cold Steel tanto.

The handle breaks around 8:20 into the 6th video. You can see inside the handle then. It's not clear on the video and he gets confused by this, but the butt cap is not part of the same piece of metal as the blade. It is electrically insulated from the blade with a plastic that also absorbs shock when hammering.

Some quotes: "never gonna break it with a piece of wood","chopping not it's strong suite", and overall "Heck it did pretty well". The tip was pretty strong and the blade edge never chipped during testing. He really liked handle and secure grip even with gloves.

Gerber LMF II ASEK Destruction Test Part 1 - the knife and sheath, peeling and slicing an apple
Gerber LMF II ASEK Destruction Test Part 2 - breaking Plexiglass, sawing through sheet metal
Gerber LMF II ASEK Destruction Test Part 3 - more sawing, cutting nylon webbing, resharpening, batoning to split wood,
Gerber LMF II ASEK Destruction Test Part 4 - chopping wood, batoning to cut wood, chopping concrete, trying to break concrete with the pommel,
Gerber LMF II ASEK Destruction Test Part 5 - more pommel vs. concrete, hammering spine (into wood then concrete), digging into wood with tip,
Gerber LMF II ASEK Destruction Test Part 6 - hammering tip into concrete, cutting mild steel (breaks the blade), hammering on knife locked in vice (breaks the handle where the butt cap meets the tang, then breaks the blade from the tang), taking apart handle
Gerber LMF II ASEK Destruction Test Part 7 - recap and review