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Glock FM81 Field Knife Review

7K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  Kamatz  
#1 ·
blade length: 6-1/2"
overall: 11-1/2", 7.1 oz
overall with sheath: 12", 8.6 oz

the knife snaps into the plastic sheath with the thumb latch. use your thumb with a twisting motion to get it open.

Image


the belt loop is very difficult to open and close. it will never come apart during use. goes on a 2-3/8" belt. there is a lanyard hole if you want to tie it down. (5/32" x 3/32" oblong)

it rattles in the sheath. any which way, side to side or front to back, it rattles. just loud enough that if you don't care it won't bother you, but if you're trying to be quiet it will be a problem.

Image


the plastic of the sheath and handle seem to be pretty close to the same plastic Glock makes their pistols with. quick test with a thumbnail suggests it might be something slightly softer. maybe.

the hilt and the handle are on very solid. at this time anyway. the hilt is a seperate piece like with an M7 or M9 bayonet. it might be welded on because there is a 1/16" gap between it and the handle yet it won't budge.

it can be used to open bottles, and sticks out far enough to use as a different sort of prying tool apart from the blade tip.

the thumb side feels perfect for trivial work but if you push too hard with that sort of grip, let alone thrust the blade into something, your thumb will slip right off. the finger side is much more positive and would probably catch your fingers to save them from being severely cut. you might apply some knurling or lines to enhance safety.

the texture is slippery as hell. it will slip right out of your hand if you don't have a firm grip. if you are really poking or stabbing hard, it will slip no matter what grip you have, only the hilt would save your hand or fingers from getting sliced wide open. not good. RTF2 or RTF3 would have easily solved this problem. I don't know why they don't do that. or if you want to fix it yourself, send it somewhere for a $300 laser stippling job.

Image


the blade is 1095 carbon steel. tough, not brittle, easy to sharpen, not good for rust. pretty thick at 3/16", however not wide at 7/8". lightweight and stiff. never going to be a chopper. it's a knife and that's it.

as it comes from the factory, the blade is sharp enough, but it's never going to be sharper than that. the shallow angle makes it a field utility knife that holds an edge longer and resists chipping. like the edge on a hatchet. but you can't use it as a hatchet.

you can "baton" wood, where you try to split a piece by setting the knife on one end of the grain and hit it with another piece of wood, but it is possible to break off a saw tooth if you get too enthusiatic. the Model 78 doesn't have saw teeth.

the tip is very strong. well reinforced. that is a desirable trait for poking, stabbing, digging around in uncertain material, or that flechetting technique where you stab the point into a block of wood so you can hold it still while you draw a stick across the blade to shave off kindling or sharpen the stick.

the blade geometry is composed of two simple, flat grinds which form a strong tip yet allow the distal taper and false edge to come together in a clip point. manufacturing is efficient and cost effective.

Image

Image

Image


the finish is some sort of phosphate but looks like nDLC on Gen5 pistols. with oil from the factory it is a shiny piano black. I don't know how it's going to wear. you can see machining on the flat of the blade. that will contribute to wearing off the finish.

Image


the crosscut saw teeth, on this wide of a blade, are for cutting notches to make a trigger for a trap or to cut notches for lashing rope. can be used for cutting through a board or as a root saw if you have to but that is not its forte. this was designed to cut wide shallow notches on the outer surface of a grainy stick.

the false edge is unground. the finish gives it a dull rounded feel. if you want to use it as a scraper you might actually want to grind it flat with a whetstone to get sharp square corners. it's already flat.

here you can see the radius on the hilt for a bottle neck.

Image

Image


the edge isn't sharpened completely to the hilt.

Image


the buttcap supposedly comes off, but it is very very difficult. forget about using your fingernail, you need a butterknife. you have to pry around the edges trying not to break off a chunk. don't count on doing this whenever you feel like it. no matter what the edges will get mutilated. I gave up after messing with it for 20 minutes. if I would have known it's damn near impossible I would have left it alone.

1/8" lanyard holes go through the handle but the cap blocks the holes. if you are going to put rope through the holes you will have to drill a hole through the cap and keep all the holes lined up. but that will allow water to get in the handle.

if you really want to get it off to use it as a bayonet on your Steyr AUG, take the handle off the blade somehow, or stash fishing line and hooks, you could drill a hole and pull it out, but again that would allow water in the handle.

someone needs to make an aftermarket butt cap that a) you can get off without tools, b) has holes to match the existing lanyard holes, and c) won't fall off and is still watertight.

Image


conclusion: it's a very solid knife and quite different from the usual notions of what a knife is and how they are made. a factory must be able to churn these out by the truckload with little effort. at around 35 bucks it has to be the best example of a cost effective utility field knife. certainly in 1978 or 1981 when it was invented it was well ahead of its time. since there is still nothing like it on the market 43 years later, it remains ahead of its time because, well, time hasn't caught up with it.

but that damn slippery handle ruins everything. they need to fix that.
 
#2 ·
blade length: 6-1/2"
overall: 11-1/2", 7.1 oz
overall with sheath: 12", 8.6 oz

the knife snaps into the plastic sheath with the thumb latch. use your thumb with a twisting motion to get it open.

Image


the belt loop is very difficult to open and close. it will never come apart during use. goes on a 2-3/8" belt. there is a lanyard hole if you want to tie it down. (5/32" x 3/32" oblong)

it rattles in the sheath. any which way, side to side or front to back, it rattles. just loud enough that if you don't care it won't bother you, but if you're trying to be quiet it will be a problem.

Image


the plastic of the sheath and handle seem to be pretty close to the same plastic Glock makes their pistols with. quick test with a thumbnail suggests it might be something slightly softer. maybe.

the hilt and the handle are on very solid. at this time anyway. the hilt is a seperate piece like with an M7 or M9 bayonet. it might be welded on because there is a 1/16" gap between it and the handle yet it won't budge.

it can be used to open bottles, and sticks out far enough to use as a different sort of prying tool apart from the blade tip.

the thumb side feels perfect for trivial work but if you push too hard with that sort of grip, let alone thrust the blade into something, your thumb will slip right off. the finger side is much more positive and would probably catch your fingers to save them from being severely cut. you might apply some knurling or lines to enhance safety.

the texture is slippery as hell. it will slip right out of your hand if you don't have a firm grip. if you are really poking or stabbing hard, it will slip no matter what grip you have, only the hilt would save your hand or fingers from getting sliced wide open. not good. RTF2 or RTF3 would have easily solved this problem. I don't know why they don't do that. or if you want to fix it yourself, send it somewhere for a $300 laser stippling job.

Image


the blade is 1095 carbon steel. tough, not brittle, easy to sharpen, not good for rust. pretty thick at 3/16", however not wide at 7/8". lightweight and stiff. never going to be a chopper. it's a knife and that's it.

as it comes from the factory, the blade is sharp enough, but it's never going to be sharper than that. the shallow angle makes it a field utility knife that holds an edge longer and resists chipping. like the edge on a hatchet. but you can't use it as a hatchet.

you can "baton" wood, where you try to split a piece by setting the knife on one end of the grain and hit it with another piece of wood, but it is possible to break off a saw tooth if you get too enthusiatic. the Model 78 doesn't have saw teeth.

the tip is very strong. well reinforced. that is a desirable trait for poking, stabbing, digging around in uncertain material, or that flechetting technique where you stab the point into a block of wood so you can hold it still while you draw a stick across the blade to shave off kindling or sharpen the stick.

the blade geometry is composed of two simple, flat grinds which form a strong tip yet allow the distal taper and false edge to come together in a clip point. manufacturing is efficient and cost effective.

Image

Image

Image


the finish is some sort of phosphate but looks like nDLC on Gen5 pistols. with oil from the factory it is a shiny piano black. I don't know how it's going to wear. you can see machining on the flat of the blade. that will contribute to wearing off the finish.

Image


the crosscut saw teeth, on this wide of a blade, are for cutting notches to make a trigger for a trap or to cut notches for lashing rope. can be used for cutting through a board or as a root saw if you have to but that is not its forte. this was designed to cut wide shallow notches on the outer surface of a grainy stick.

the false edge is unground. the finish gives it a dull rounded feel. if you want to use it as a scraper you might actually want to grind it flat with a whetstone to get sharp square corners. it's already flat.

here you can see the radius on the hilt for a bottle neck.

Image

Image


the edge isn't sharpened completely to the hilt.

Image


the buttcap supposedly comes off, but it is very very difficult. forget about using your fingernail, you need a butterknife. you have to pry around the edges trying not to break off a chunk. don't count on doing this whenever you feel like it. no matter what the edges will get mutilated. I gave up after messing with it for 20 minutes. if I would have known it's damn near impossible I would have left it alone.

1/8" lanyard holes go through the handle but the cap blocks the holes. if you are going to put rope through the holes you will have to drill a hole through the cap and keep all the holes lined up. but that will allow water to get in the handle.

if you really want to get it off to use it as a bayonet on your Steyr AUG, take the handle off the blade somehow, or stash fishing line and hooks, you could drill a hole and pull it out, but again that would allow water in the handle.

someone needs to make an aftermarket butt cap that a) you can get off without tools, b) has holes to match the existing lanyard holes, and c) won't fall off and is still watertight.

Image


conclusion: it's a very solid knife and quite different from the usual notions of what a knife is and how they are made. a factory must be able to churn these out by the truckload with little effort. at around 35 bucks it has to be the best example of a cost effective utility field knife. certainly in 1978 or 1981 when it was invented it was well ahead of its time. since there is still nothing like it on the market 43 years later, it remains ahead of its time because, well, time hasn't caught up with it.

but that damn slippery handle ruins everything. they need to fix that.
 
#8 ·
I don't think the knife is made sans the saw now. I have one and like it. When I cut a piece of standard paracord I always heat the end to stop unraveling, or it can't be pushed through a small hole. The hole in the sheath will not accept standard paracord. How on God's green Earth can a company make a product that will not accept standard paracord? A product not accepting standard paracord fails the definition of tactical. :eek:
 
#11 ·
When I worked at a backpacking store, we sold climbing cord in various diameters by the foot. While paracord is useful stuff, the cord we sold put paracord to shame. Some of the climbing cord was even made of Kevlar...wouldn’t melt, hard to cut.
I’m sure some of that stuff would fit.
 
#12 ·
Looks like a Smith & Wesson I have. Gun companies should stick with guns. I have a number of Ka-bars and they are just hard to beat for all-around knives. Then my M7 bayonet that survived 'Nam, still wicked sharp and functional.
 
#13 ·
right, but the thing is the price and how easy they must be to make. a Ka-Bar costs 80 bucks, M9's seem to be going for at least 150 bucks, while the Glock costs 35 bucks and must take 5 minutes to make at the factory.

an M7 ($50) is a fighting knife. makes a poor field knife.
 
#15 ·
I have a couple. They are good, inexpensive knives. One, I use out in the yard. Yeah, they rust. The other is in my nightstand. In case I need to go all Rambo in the middle of the night.