2013 forum knife... Is this acceptable?

[Ryan Sumner]

I just recently received my 2013 forum knife in the mail, and while I do like the pattern and design of it, there are a couple of flaws.

The first, and most annoying is this.

The tip of the master blade is even with the handle, and I am sure that even with minimal sharpening, the tip will be proud.

The non pivot end was also a bit uneven and had some deep scratches in the end of the pile side bolster.

I would file down the kick a bit, but the pen is in front of the long-pull (I don't mind it as it is, but anymore and it would start obstructing it if it is lowered at all.)

I am not sure whether I'm asking too much out of a $130 knife, but all of the other Great Eastern Cutlery knives I have were much better finished. I had to file the kick on my #61 congress knife to make both blades even in the handle, but that was a personal preference thing, and didn't affect functionality.

I usually use most of my knives, but I imagine this being the 2013 forum knife, it is much more collectable as a 'safe queen' than most other knives.

Would this be acceptable to you? I would consider sending it back but as I live in Australia if I did that I would end up eating 3 international shipping costs.

 

[jc57]

Technically you bought it from Spark, and he said he has an extra 30 of them to cover returns and lost in shipping. You might want to begin your conversation with him.

 

[biglmbass]

The almost proud or "peeking" blade tip is quite common on multiple patterns from GEC. I'd sure like them to be more aware of this during the design process, where it can be more easily avoided.

If it pokes/cuts/snags skin, yeah it'd bother me & the design of that knife doesn't leave you much room for error if you file one or more kicks.

 

[Ryan Sumner]

Technically you bought it from Spark, and he said he has an extra 30 of them to cover returns and lost in shipping. You might want to begin your conversation with him.

Thanks, I just messaged him.

 

[Modoc ED]

GEC has not been stellar with the final finish of their knives. Some guys polish their knives after receiving them, especially those who are heavy into picture taking. Spark never said he had extras for returns. He has extras to offer. Were I Spark, I would not replace that knife. Those are minor issues that can easily be handled by the buyer - a little polishing compound and a polishing cloth for the butt end of the knife and if bothered by the tip of the main blade, a little judicious filing of the kick of both blades and the knife will be perfect. No one should expect perfection from a production knife no matter the manufacture.

Spark said:

All US preorders have shipped. If you don't have it yet, expect it in the next few days. I'm now shipping the internationals - they will ship as payments are received for the postage.

GEC had enough parts for some extras. They will be offered as soon as everyone reports they've received their knives.

For those interested, there's also a few (emphasis on few) of last years model available still. Those will also be posted.

The knife is very nice Ryan. A couple of other guys have expressed concern about the final polishing on their knives but it hasn't seemed to be a big issue with them.

 

[Alnamvet68]

Personally, I would be a bit miffed if a NEW knife was received with those flaws, acceptable to others or not. If I couldn't return/exchange it, I would sell it to those who wanted one and missed the boat, AND find this final fit and finish acceptable, $130.00 production knife notwithstanding.

 

[Campbellclanman]

GEC has not been stellar with the final finish of their knives. Some guys polish their knives after receiving them, especially those who are heavy into picture taking. Spark never said he had extras for returns. He has extras to offer. Were I Spark, I would not replace that knife. Those are minor issues that can easily be handled by the buyer - a little polishing compound and a polishing cloth for the butt end of the knife and if bothered by the tip of the main blade, a little judicious filing of the kick of both blades and the knife will be perfect. No one should expect perfection from a production knife no matter the manufacture.

Spark said:



The knife is very nice Ryan. A couple of other guys have expressed concern about the final polishing on their knives but it hasn't seemed to be a big issue with them.

I think Ed you answered this perfectly!

 

[Double Ott]

GEC has not been stellar with the final finish of their knives. Some guys polish their knives after receiving them, especially those who are heavy into picture taking. Spark never said he had extras for returns. He has extras to offer. Were I Spark, I would not replace that knife. Those are minor issues that can easily be handled by the buyer - a little polishing compound and a polishing cloth for the butt end of the knife and if bothered by the tip of the main blade, a little judicious filing of the kick of both blades and the knife will be perfect. No one should expect perfection from a production knife no matter the manufacture.

Ed, If I follow your logic....Those $8, $10 and $12 Rough Riders are looking better now.... than a $130 Special Limited Edition knife by GEC with issues.

Tom

 

[Pipeman]

I love Some of the GEC knives but they do make quite a few knives with the tip so close to the top of the slot. I consider this a pretty major design flaw. I don't think it's the job of the client to file the kick to make it right. The Sheeps foot Barlow is well down in the slot and a great working knife but the 89 whittler is sticking out of the slot (never sharpened) and if it wasn't for the tangs of the secondary blades would give you a nasty cut. Just my opinion.

Best regards

Robin

 

[Lone Airedale]

Agree with Robin. And even some of their single blade patterns have this problem. My ebony Pemberton required a lot of filing before the tip was buried.

 

[Modoc ED]

Ed, If I follow your logic....Those $8, $10 and $12 Rough Riders are looking better now.... than a $130 Special Limited Edition knife by GEC with issues.

Tom

Well, I'll tell ya that I think the finish - repeat finish - on Rough Rider knives surpasses the finish on GEC knives overall. The price has nothing to do with the finish between the two manufactures. Yes, I've seen Rough Rider knives that are better finished than some GEC knives.

Then again, when I receive a new knife, I don't sit down and nit-pick it to death. If there are fit and finish issues, I take care of them myself or contact the manufacture without coming to the forum asking for others opinions.

In the case of this BF knife, I do not look at Spark as a dealer. He didn't buy them and then offer them for sale to us. We asked him if he would and used him as a go between to order these knives for ourselves. If someone has an issue with one of these knives, go to the manufacture not the go between. It wasn't Spark's job to open and go over every knife that came to him. He prepared a shipping container, placed a mailing lable on it, pit a knife in it's tube in the shipping container and sent it to us which is just what we solicited him to do

 

[akadave2]

Well, I'll tell ya that I think the finish - repeat finish - on Rough Rider knives surpasses the finish on GEC knives overall. The price has nothing to do with the finish between the two manufactures. Yes, I've seen Rough Rider knives that are better finished than some GEC knives.

Then again, when I receive a new knife, I don't sit down and nit-pick it to death. If there are fit and finish issues, I take care of them myself or contact the manufacture without coming to the forum asking for others opinions.

In the case of this BF knife, I do not look at Spark as a dealer. He didn't buy them and then offer them for sale to us. We asked him if he would and used him as a go between to order these knives for ourselves. If someone has an issue with one of these knives, go to the manufacture not the go between. It wasn't Spark's job to open and go over every knife that came to him. He prepared a shipping container, placed a mailing lable on it, pit a knife in it's tube in the shipping container and sent it to us which is just what we solicited him to do

I have bought 3 Rough Rider knives and I cant say the finish is better at all. As a matter of fact the RRs I have bought are just ok fit and finish.

 

[Campbellclanman]

I think for the value, Rough Rider are fantastic knives - the fit and finish is actually pretty darned good, but there is just something about them ( exceptions of course) that don't give a "wow' factor when viewing the knife.

GEC on the whole make absolutely fantastic knives, the value for money is out of balance-we do get a lot more for our money for a knife that will last lifetimes, for $130 you are not buying a knife where you can expect supreme fit and finish, I think on the whole - bar a few exceptions - GEC do a extremely superb job.
In this case of the OP's I wouldn't bother with the hassle of sending it back-sure they are faults the blades sitting up high is getting near border line for comment, but its a simple fix.
I can only imagine how hard it must be in the knife game-GEC have come out and proven themselves to be one of the top leading contenders in Traditional knives, and imo excelling Case-which is a big thing to state, GEC also have just as good customer service dealing with complaints if the odd knife does slip through the QC.

I think having the odd issue and still having hand assembled knives in this day and age where manufactures like GEC have to compete with mass machinery manufactured knives is a very cool thing - and above all odds GEC are here today producing a beautiful quality knife that you can buy for a tradesmans labour charge of just over one hours labour ( hired a plumber or Electrician lately? )

I think in cases like this its a perspective thing - if every knife came out like this from GEC, then yes as a company they would have to do something about it pretty quickly, but this is not the case - in this case the op is questioning if he is thinking too much of the faults he's pointed out-I think in this case yes, but that's MY opinion and nothing against the guy whos asking the question, scratches -2 minutes-they are gone, very careful file of Kicks-gone and then you have a knife where you have a little more connection with too - you tweaked it to your liking!
I hope in any case this doesn't stop the op buying GEC, I personally think that we are extremely lucky to have such a brilliant knife company striving the re-invent such beautiful examples of workmanship of yesteryear - for example look at the jigging on Charlie's Diamond Jacks-GEC are so close to achieving Peach seed jigging, and also lets remember how shattering it is to have lost such a fantastic Company like Schrade, so lets support GEC and use the all important "putting things into perspective".

 

[Modoc ED]

I didn't say RR made a better knife than GEC. I said that,in my opinion the finish (polishing) of RR knives surpasses the finish (polishing) of GEC knives overall.

The main thing here I think is that somehow the OP thinks Spark should do something for him as evidenced by him having sent Spark a message. It's not Sparks problem.
.

 

[pertinux]

To me, there's a difference between whatever one deems acceptable on the spectrum of aesthetic/finishing considerations, and aspects of a knife's finished construction that affect function.

On another pattern, lowering the main blade's kick to properly bury the blade tip into its channel when closed would not be a problematic fix.

With this one, doing so will likely bury the main blade's long pull behind the pen blade and interfere with the function of the knife as designed.

Not doing so leaves an exposed tip now (unclear in the above image how far...?), and it will only become higher with use and sharpening.

To me, this is disappointing at best, and something I would investigate swapping out if it were mine. Very unfortunately, the OP's location overseas turns what would be a quick ship to GEC for most of us into something else entirely.

While Spark is not a Dealer in the typical sense as accurately described by ModocED above, he did state at the outset that he was buliding a "pain in the ass fee" into the cost of everyone's knife to cover various shipping contingencies and address resolutions, etc. While not set aside for a situation like this, perhaps some of that funding can be brought to bear? It might be worth asking, especially if most if not all packages have gone their merry way without his needing to dip into the slush, as t'were. (Big IF, I know, but possible.)

Ryan, if you haven't already, perhaps contact Spark to see what (re)solutions he may have, before all the remaining knives go out...? (Unfortunately for you again, the only reliable means of hearing from him seems to be by calling him at his store number-- another hurdle given your location and the costs of international calls.)

~ P.

 

[Modoc ED]

You make some good points Sarah - this one expecially:

With this one, doing so will likely bury the main blade's long pull behind the pen blade and interfere with the function of the knife as designed.

Personally, my opinion is that some knives of this pattern and some knifes of the stockman pattern as well as others have at least one blade tip that rides a bit proud of the frame. With the OP's knife, it is not practical to file the kick of the main blade without filing the kick of the pen blade as the pen blade rides in front of the main blade.

Yep, Spark did include a "pain in the arse" fee in the price of the knife but that fee in no way paid for the extra knives that he received. He paid for them.

Anyway, I guess this'll come down to the OP, Spark, and GEC. I just don't see it as being Spark's problem in any way.

Actually, what all this comes down to is - "In the Eye of the Beholder".

 

[paulhilborn]

Many good points from Duncan, Ed and Sarah as well as others. If the knife would allow for the kicks to be tweaked I'd have done it (if mine) as soon as I felt it could've been done correctly.

Just going by the third picture there just doesn't seem to by any room for the pens kick to be adjusted without the nail nick dropping deeper into the frame---meaning it looks spot on right now as to where it should be.

Anyway, regardless Ryan I feel your pain and hope that a solution is easily obtainable :thumbup:

Paul

 

[Ernie1980]

The proud blade would bother me the most. It allows no room for sharpening without getting the blade where it would snag and maybe cut your finger. Unacceptable in any knife regards of price.

 

[rockgolfer]

I would expect better on the polish considering this model will mostly be a collector and not a user. I would send it in for the point sticking up and the pull issue personaly. I have a 66 jack and both blades with a hair of sharpening had the tips exposed. Sure its easy to file the kicks but then the springs are not flush. This bugs me so much that it is my deal breaker on a knife now. I wont accept a knife that cost more then say 65 bucks and the kicks will need to be filed in a short time. Its poor design in my opinion.

 

[knifeswapper]

Since this is a new pattern, did GEC propose the setup or did the contractor ask for the setup? Having GEC set the blade depth in finishing seems as if it would present the same problem as doing it at home. How could GEC have lowered the main without causing the same obstruction? To me it is a design problem that could have been addressed in several ways; but not knowing if the setup was asked for or simply presented as an option makes a difference here.

I haven't seen pictures of other examples, but since there is a liner cutout for the small blade - they both appear to ride a little high to me. There are a handful of known anomolies with GEC knives; one of them being they will leave a blade riding as high as humanly possible in the frame. I have a buffing wheel and light cut wheel within 20 feet of my shipping area for just such noticed issues.

When I started collecting, one of the best investments I made was my buffing, kratex, and light cut wheels; they saved a lot of shipping fees for minor cosmetics that were mainly attributed to my being very particular. We shouldn't have to put the final finishing on knives to suit ourselves; be it is a fact of life we other do it, pay a lot of return shipping, or walk away from the offending brands.

My recommendation to the OP would be to lower the pen to the last position it could still be easily opened and the drop the main respectively. But if the setup is a problem and you do not want to do that, get your money back or move it. Because generally if issues like that bother you on one of them, it will both you on all of them. And since it is a problem for you it will be like a neon sign every time you pick up the knife, just eating at you...