This is the Gerber EAB Lite, though the name isn’t particularly clear at first glance, it’s actually a small everyday carry pocket knife with an integrated money clip for carrying your bills.
The name “EAB” tells you that its part of the company’s Exchange-A-Blade series, meaning the blade can be quickly swapped out when it gets dull – it takes a standard two-notch utility blade that can be bought at any hardware store.
This is the Gerber EAB Lite, it’s a small everyday carry pocket knife with an integrated money clip.
History Speedrun: Gerber Gear
The first Gerber knives were made as a series of holiday gifts. A man named Joe Gerber ran an advertising firm out of Portland, Oregon, and in the late 1930s he sent 24 sets of handmade kitchen cutlery to his best clients over the holidays.
These sets were so well received that Abercrombie & Fitch soon asked for more to sell in its spring 1939 catalog. Gerber saw the writing on the wall, and turned the ad agency into a knife company that same year. He then brought his sons Pete and Ham onboard, who took it from kitchen cutlery to hunting and outdoor tools over the following decades.
The company moved to a new headquarters in Tigard, immediately south of Portland, in 1966. Fiskars, the Finnish tool and garden group, bought it in 1987 and still owns it. By October of 2003 Gerber employed roughly 300 people on revenues near $100 million and ranked second in American multi-tool sales behind Leatherman, another Portland-area firm.
The EAB Lite
Gerber added the EAB Lite to its Exchange-A-Blade product line in 2010, rather than a built-in knife edge of its own, it’s essentially a folding stainless steel handle built around a standard two-notch trapezoid utility blade, those disposable blades sold in five-packs at any hardware store.
One blade comes fitted from the factory and owner reports indicate that it typically lasts years of regular use. When the time comes, you just swap in a new blade and you’re good to go.
When open, the EAB Lite has 1.5 inches of exposed blade that can be used for cutting. When closed the knife measures in at 2.85 inches, and at 5.1 inches when open – it weighs in at 2.2 ounces or 62 grams.
The name “EAB” tells you that its part of the company’s Exchange-A-Blade series, meaning the blade can be quickly swapped out when it gets dull – it takes a standard two-notch utility blade that can be bought at any hardware store.
The handle of the EAB Lite also works as a money clip, it’s a clever addition to the design as many people carry a money clip anyway – this simply replaces it and adds the functionality of a small utility knife for use around the house, garage, and workshop.
It’s now being offered for sale on the official Gerber Gear Amazon store here with an MSRP of $15.99 USD, though it’s often a few dollars less than this depending on the time of year and what deals are running.
Images courtesy of Gerber Gear
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
