I have been looking for a similarly sized knife for outdoor, camping and other tough jobs if the need arises. i saw one at the gun show last week and the knife is growing on me. but i want one that will last. ive heard that gerber uses really good steel in there knives but was wonderin about the overall quality. thanks

Have'nt heard much about these blades, but they use a decent steel, Sandvik 12C27 Stainless, which is better than most of the other steels that Gerber uses.  Not a huge fan of Gerber though. You should check out a few other blades in this size, like the Fallkniven F1, which would be much tougher than the Gerber. It has a laminated VG-10 blade, which is extremely tough and wear resistant. Heres a link.

www.knifeworks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1066

Also check out the Becker line up. For the money they can't be beat. The Becker Companion is one little brute of a blade. With a thick 0170-6C Carbon steel blade, it holds a great edge and is very tough. Here's a link,

www.knifeworks.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1003

Another great option is the Swamp Rat line of knives. They use a proprietary steel call SR101, which is considered one of the toughest steels around. These are true working blades and will take whatever you can throw at them. They also have a lifetime warranty. Check out the Howling Rat for a blade in the size you are looking for,

www.swampratknifeworks.com/knives.html

From the one I have handled they are a decent knife for the money.  It felt a little clunky to me, as do most of the heavy short bladed knives available out there.  If I were to choose a shorter blade utility knife it would be the BK&T-10 Crewman.  The one I bought off the exchange here was new and cost me all of $40 with shipping.  Thats almost half of a LMF II and less than half of a comparrable SRKW knife.

I like them and God willing might eventually buy 1 for testing, but the blade could be longer, that's 1 thing I don't care for about it, it has good purchase though. Looks and feels rugged though and 1 thing I do like about it is that it looks like a knife I wouldn't hesitate to be hard on, some knives look so good you hate to use them hard.
I looked over that, the buck strider fixed blade, and the blackjack grunt and black jack big country earlier this evening.
The grunt is a heck of a knife, feels really good, good purchase, light and sharp beyond all get out. I've read it's very tough for outdoor camping and such.
The 8 inch big country is basically the grunt with 2 or so more inch blade. Also a heck of a kinfe. But niether are military looking if that's a must.
the buck strider was much heavier and bigger than I expected, tough looking knife but to much weight for what I'd prefer. Gerber was light but against, somewhat short.I read that the gerber's black finish shows wear eaily but performs well.
I preferred the grunt over the others.

LMF's sheath is thermoplastic and is designed to retain blade w or w/o grip straps being snapped...retention on mine required wayyyyyyyy too much force (maybe 20-30lbs) and Gerber said 'put a drop of oil on sheath/grip bearing point'..that solution did not work..yesterday, i removed knife and inserted a 1 x wood block to slightly spread the sheath open and heated the bearing point with a hair drier for 10 minutes..cooling sheath down to room temperature took several hours, but it did reduce force required to pull knife out (it's probably too loose now, oh well)..i'll check force required for knife pull out for several days to confirm that sheath remains open