Gerber's Metolius is a versatile, inexpensive and fairly lightweight knife that looks incredibly macho. In other words, it's just what you want strapped to your hip when you pull your Prius into state park campsite #304 and start setting up your REI tent and your portable espresso maker.
The knife's 3.75-inch long, stainless steel blade holds a wickedly sharp edge, and has a drop-point, curved tip that makes it equally suited to whittling sticks and carving steaks. (The Metolius is also available with a gut-hook blade, for those who need to eviscerate game.) The blade's steel extends through the entire handle, giving the knife rigidity; the grip itself is made of plastic augmented with glass fibers ("glass-filled nylon" in the knife trade). It's well-balanced, with ergonomic finger grip cutouts in the handle and divots along the back of the blade to improve your thumb's traction.
A previous version of the Metolius has a nearly identical profile, but folds. The fixed-blade version is new, and comes with a stiff nylon sheath whose flared opening is both ergonomic and cool-looking.
The Metolius will help you feel less like a weekend warrior and ever so slightly more like Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier. As a bonus, it's the real deal: A solid, useful knife that should prove just as useful when camping, hunting or fighting the occasional bear.
