Glock makes knives?
Guess what Glock made before they made guns. Knives!! No, Really!! I’m not kidding! They made some other gear as well, but we’re not going to get into that. These days they only make two Glock knives… and a few guns. We’re not going to get into those either. Those two knives, however, are the FM-78 and the FM-81 clip point or Bowie knives. There are two basic differences between them. The biggest one being that the FM-81 has a saw on the spine of the blade.
The other difference is strictly cosmetic and is the color. The FM-78 only comes in black where the FM-81 comes in four different colors. Green, gray, black, and flat dark earth. I would have called it brown, kind of stayed with that whole one color one word theme they had going, but they didn’t ask me. The sheath color matches the handle. Ok… you got me, there is one more difference. The 78 weighs slightly more than the 81 because of the metal missing due to the saw.
If you are on a budget, one of these may be exactly what you need. Don’t let the price fool you, these are serious tactical and survival knives. The FM-78 is standard issue to several militaries around the world such as Austria and South Korea and has proven itself in real world situations.
They are made from SAE 1095 spring steel and hardened to a rockwell hardness of 55. The sheath and the handle are made from Glock Polymer. I know, that’s a lot of technical jargon, but what does all that mean? I’m glad you asked. Basically, it’s a field knife. They don’t come out of the box very sharp, they do take some work to sharpen them, and you’re going to have to maintain it.
The FM-78 is designated the Field Knife and the FM-81 the survival knife. What do the letters and numbers mean? You ask a lot of questions, the letters stand for FeldMesser (in English that means surveyor, before you ask) and the numbers are the year they were introduced.
Of the two, I prefer the FM-81. Why not have the added benefit of the saw on your knife? You push the saw to cut rather than pull it like a standard saw. The guard is bent so that it can be used to open ammo cans and it also makes a great bottle opener. Although it looks perfectly designed for that, that’s not what its original intent was. This knife was designed as a bayonet for the Steyr AUG which is an Austrian gun.
Not a fan of the Glock sheath
The overall length is 11 inches and the blade comes in at 6.5 inches. The sheath has a locking clip on it that holds the knife securely and can be easily disengaged with your thumb and the belt loop will accommodate belts up to 2.4 inches wide.
Did I say easily? Ok, mine is brand new and you would have to have iron thumbs to move that locking clip to the side. They also say you can slide your hand down the handle and quickly wedge your finger in between the clip and the handle and it will just “pop right out!”. I have yet to have that happen. I have a feeling it needs to be broken in.
I did notice that the knife does rattle just a bit in the sheath but nothing that is too obnoxious. There is also a hole in the bottom of the sheath for drainage. As you can tell I’m not a huge fan of the sheath. The only hole for attaching paracord to possibly tie around your leg is on the back of the sheath near the bottom. Other than that, there are no holes that allow for it to be lashed to a Molle backpack and we already talked about getting the knife out of it. I am currently working on a paracord wrap for it that I can use to attach it to Molle webbing, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Not a huge fan of destruction videos either
I watched a ton of videos before I ordered mine and was impressed by the fact that it can really take a beating. I’m not a huge fan of knife destruction videos, I don’t plan on jamming my knife into a steel drum and putting a piece of pipe on the handle and bending it until it breaks. Everything breaks with enough force. However, for real world stuff like batoning wood, cutting roots with the saw on the spine, and cutting a steak it works great!
The actual flat part of the tang of the knife goes about 3/4 of the way into the handle where it is connected to a hollow metal tube. This tube, along with the bent portion of the finger guard is part of the mounting
system as a bayonet. Which brings us to the removable cap that is pushed into that metal tube. It CAN be removed, but it’s not easy and many people have damaged their caps removing them. However, if you’re not going to use this knife as a bayonet then you could put some small survival gear in there. It would have to be VERY small.
On-board knife storage?
This is just a suggestion, but this is what I plan to put in the small compartment of mine and I’ll explain each one.
A small nail – the two holes on either side of the handle near the cap go all the way through. You could turn this knife into a spear by whittling down a tree branch and getting it to fit inside the tube. Then use the nail to help secure it.
A cotton ball – Soak it in petroleum jelly and put it inside a short piece of plastic straw. Then use candle wax to seal both ends. This will light up and burn easily (remember to take the cotton ball out of the straw).
A short ferro rod – This wasn’t easy to find but you should be able to find one that will fit. I ordered these Small Ferro Rods. But be warned, I haven’t actually received them yet to make sure they will fit.
That’s it! You’re not going to get any more than that in it. Keep in mind that the tube is not waterproof due to the holes in the side of the handle near the cap.
At this price point, it is an awesome knife. It can take a real beating and come back for more. It will be the first thing you grab when doing camp chores or digging holes or any other work related tasks you can throw at it. But that should be all this knife is used for. You could probably gut an animal with it but I wouldn’t want to try to skin one, it’s not designed for that. This knife will last you a lifetime as long as you keep it rust free. And if it doesn’t? Well, it’s cheap enough you can just go buy a new one!
This knife would have qualified for my Classic Survival Knife post but it didn’t arrive in time. You can find that post here.
