Fifty years ago, Col. Rex Applegate wrote the book on close-quarters combat, and together with W.E. Fairbairn, designed what they considered to be the ideal combat fighting knife. The Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Fighting Knife is a fixed-blade dagger with a six inch, double-edged, spear-point blade, and a coke-bottle handle. The surprising thing is that if you shorten the spear-point blade to slightly under four inches, to slide under most legal restrictions; grind an edge on only one side to avoid bans on double-edged blades; and convert it into a liner-locking folder, excluding it from being identified as a dirk or dagger, you wind up with a versatile and appealing utility knife. That is exactly what Gerber Legendary Blades has done with their new Applegate-Fairbairn Covert folder.

The immediate impression I got, when I handled the Covert for the first time, was of solidity. The handle is constructed of dual stainless steel liners encased in a jacket of "hardened glass and silicon nylon". I don't know how close "hardened glass and silicon nylon" is to being Zytel®, but if you go by look and feel, it must be pretty close. I like steel-lined plastic handles. The Covert feels rigid and of appropriate mass: light, but with good heft and balance. The nylon gives the handle a warm, tacky feel, in addition to being strong and durable. The rounded edges and contours make the handle comfortable for forceful cutting. When wet, the handle has the characteristic oily feeling of wet Zytel®, but it is never truly slippery, even when covered in slippery substances. The two handle sides and the back spacer are bonded into a single piece, and are screwed to the liners with twelve screws, six on each side. There is only one word to describe it: solid. The handle feels like it is made of warm, quiet, tough aluminum.

It is truly surprising how versatile the Covert?s spear-point blade is. The relatively straight and narrow blade makes the Covert an excellent paring knife that will efficiently peel, section, and core an apple. The fine point is perfect for delicate jobs like picking splinters. The full-width flat grind, and moderately thin edge for a "combat" folder, make it an efficient cutter on everything from food to rope to wood. The serrated area near the ricasso is great for cutting woven materials, and due to the blade?s fairly straight shape, leaves plenty of smooth cutting edge for slicing. Gerber will be producing a double-beveled version also, but I recommend the single-bevel for its excellent cutting geometry. The blade steel used for the Covert is ATS-34, which is no guaranty of good performance by itself, but the edge on my Covert holds up very well in direct comparisons to its competition. The bead blasted finish of the blade is of a fine and even grit, but is conducive to rust. If you use the knife in damp, corrosive environments, a rust inhibitor is a must.

The production quality of the Covert is superb. The blade pivots smoothly on nylatron washers and a pivot pin that is held with hex socket-head cap screws at each end. The pivot pin appears to be of extraordinary precision, contributing to a strong lockup, and to the overall solid feeling of the knife. Gerber claims that all moving stainless steel parts are hardened for durability. The dual thumb studs serve as blade stops against two exposed tabs on the liners at the front of the handle. The ball detent does a good job of holding the blade in the closed position, but does allow the blade edge to contact the plastic spacer if the blade is closed forcefully. This caused no dulling of the edge on my knife during normal use. The precision and finish of all parts of the Covert are exceptional.

The stainless-steel liner lock on my knife works flawlessly. It engages the blade ramp with the full thickness of the locking bar just inside the edge of the blade and binds slightly so you hear and feel a faint, reassuring pop when you unlock it. I tested the lock by rapping the blade spine on a bench-top, and by grabbing the knife in a panic grip and twisting the knife in my hand to be sure that my index finger will not inadvertently loosen the lock. The Covert passes this test without demerit. If that is not enough security for you, there is the Interlock, Gerber?s liner lock safety mechanism designed by Ron Lake and Michael Walker. The Interlock consists of a button which slides in a slot in the nylon handle, and a metal disk on the lock bar directly opposite the ball. When the Interlock button is in the unlocked position, the disk on the lock bar fits into the slot in the handle, allowing the lock to be disengaged. When in the locked position, the button covers the slot, and blocks the lock bar from being completely disengaged from the blade. It is a simple mechanism, and it works very well. Why, you might ask, is the Interlock needed when the liner lock works so well on its own? Well, you don?t need the Interlock, usually, but it is easy to use and does not detract at all from the function or reliability of the knife. It could save you from injury under unusual circumstances, just like the seat belt of your car.

The ergonomics of the Covert are very good. The cutouts on each side of the handle offer a secure placement for the thumb and index finger preventing the hand from sliding forward onto the blade, and there are grooves on the blade back for thumb traction during hard cutting. The Covert is the most truly ambidextrous pocket-clip folding knife I have experienced. It is light, but has a slightly handle-heavy balance, just enough so that the handle tends to stay in the hand when held in a loose grip. The presence of the Interlock safety on the right side of the Covert handle necessitates locating the pocket clip on the left side. I find this to be a good thing. For right handed people, it means that when the knife is carried at the top of your right front pocket, the blade his held closed by the back of the pocket. It also means that the clip is not gouging into your palm when you grip the knife tightly in your right hand. On the negative side of the ledger, if you are accustomed to having the clip on the right side, you will notice that drawing and opening the knife takes an extra half-twist to index the knife correctly in your hand. This, coupled with the symmetrical shape of the knife can make for some ambiguous moments in terms of edge orientation, especially when picking the knife up when it is already open. A few times I have picked the knife up from a table without looking and placed my thumb on top of the edge instead of the spine. This takes a little getting used to. The clip itself on my early production knife is only part of the knife that is not of exceptional design. I understand that the folks at Gerber are not completely satisfied with it either, and may be working on an alternative. They would like to make the clip completely reversible, but that would require a redesign of the Interlock. The clip works fine though, and as I have been insisting to my left-handed friends for years, it is better to have the clip on the side of the handle opposite your palm. Finally, somebody has made me a proper right-handed pocket-clip folder!

The Covert is a bit of an enigma to me. Its dagger profile and the signatures of Rex Applegate and W.E. Fairbairn etched into the blade speak unmistakably of the Covert's combat legacy. Yet the Covert lacks the brute strength and ungainly nature of its bigger brother, the Applegate-Fairbairn Combat Folding Knife. It far surpasses the full size version, however, in precision, versatility, practicality, and edge holding. The Covert folder should have a much broader appeal than any of its more highly specialized predecessors. I would also recommend that people who don?t usually care for military-looking knives spend an evening in the kitchen with the Covert. There are very few production pocket-clip folders that cut as well as the Covert. And then, of course, there is the Interlock, which makes the Covert an exceptionally safe folder, if you can just remember to use it.