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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
2016 GEC Rendevous Dates
- Thread starter jmh33
- Start date
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- May 9, 2010
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- 10,169
half?! whoa! thats a lot of farmer jacks!
knowtracks
Gold Member
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- Jan 16, 2006
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- 3,881
GREAT Photos All !!:thumbup: Looks like a Great time 
I Thank You
Dave
I Thank You
Dave
- Joined
- May 9, 2010
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- 10,169
here is rob theapostlep's second video from the rendezvous https://youtu.be/nmKZrOCf2Vw
Cory Hess
Basic Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2014
- Messages
- 2,117
We got home from Pennsylvania last night. We made a weeklong camping trip out of it, Wed. to Wed. I hope I'm not stepping on toes, but I'd like to recap our visits with all of the manufacturers we visited not just GEC. I will however start with GEC.
I had such a fantastic time at the rendezvous. It's been stated before, but if you have the opportunity to go I highly recommend it. In all honesty, there really isn't too much to it. You can go into the GEC factory store and buy knives directly from Chris, which is a treat. You can take a tour with Bill or William, which is an awesome experience in and of itself. You can stand around and talk to some of the GEC workers, which is a great way to get some insights into their thought process and company culture. That's really about it. What makes the rendezvous so special is meeting and chatting with other knife people, many of which have already posted here. Charlie definitely lives up to his reputation. He was very patient with my kids and very willing to chat about knives or any subject that came up. He was generous with his offerings of pins and blade keys. I really enjoyed getting a lecture on farmer's jacks from Lyle and having him run through his displays of examples with my dad and myself. It was very interesting and awesome to experience somebody that has so much knowledge in, and passion for, one pattern. Sarah was also a highlight. She's always been a huge addition to the forums, but I didn't realize how charismatic she is in person. She's a very easy person to talk to, and had a ton of knives with her to share and talk about. There were about a dozen other members here that I really enjoyed seeing and talking to, but these three stood out as really making my 12-hour road trip worthwhile.
We also got to visit Queen. The Queen factory tour was amazing. GEC is laid out perfectly for displaying the factory floor, but there's a definite charm to Queen's 112 year old factory. It was also neat to be right there looking over the workers' shoulders and being able to ask them questions about what they were doing and interact with them. When we walked into the factory store, Ryan Daniels grabbed a catalog, turned to the page with the picture of my kids and walked over and asked for their autographs. It was an awesome gesture by him, and the kids really got a kick out of it. I had never met Ken Daniels before, and he was also a highlight, trading each of my kids a workhorse trapper in exchange for a coin. I really enjoyed the Daniels family and the factory at Queen quite a bit. There is so much history there that it's hard not to be awestruck by it.
Lastly, we made the trip up to Bradford to see the Case store and museum. They definitely have a ton of knives for sale. You could get just about anything you could want. The Tony Bose collaboration knives were especially interesting, as they had four or five of the patterns out for sale. I'm glad we made the trip up to Bradford, and I'm now able to say I've done it. That being said, I was a bit disappointed with the experience. At GEC and Queen you're surrounded by people that are passionate about knives. Each time we were at events for either of those companies I felt like we were fully ensconced in the knife culture. There was a buzz in the air and you couldn't help but be excited. At Case it felt like we walked into an outlet store. The employees weren't particularly knowledgeable or interested in their wares. If you asked to see a knife they'd need the stock number to be able to pick it out. They talked more about how many of each item they had in stock than the characteristics of the knives themselves. This was also true of their Zippo stock, as I have quite a few Zippos and was interested in picking up another. The museum had a little history, but it was really more about their marketing than the knives themselves. I was hoping to learn more about the Case family and the company's origins. Instead I learned about how many company logos they've put on their trapper and how one individual was able to collect several hundred trappers, each with different covers. It was interesting, and like I said worth going to once, just not what I was hoping for.
Over the weekend, Queen put on a small knife show at the local fire house. They also offered a free dinner there Friday night. It was a good time, and the food was great. The knife show was interesting, with a lot of old knives and a couple tables of newer Queens and GECs mixed in. There was a gentleman with a sizeable Robeson display, and we spent a good half hour talking to him about the history of that company and their innovations. This was the highlight of the show for me.
Of course GEC offered their picnic on Saturday. It was a great time, and I enjoyed eavesdropping on people's knife conversations and even engaging in a few of my own. I was definitely one of the least knowledgeable people at any of the events, and so was relegated to being a consumer of information. It was awesome for me, but I wish I was able to contribute more. All in due time I suppose.
There were questions earlier about what there is to do in the Titusville area outside of the rendezvous if you were to make an extended trip out of it. It seems that most of the area attractions are outdoors, and it rained quite a bit over the last week. However, we were very busy for the whole week. Most days we left camp right after breakfast and didn't get back until after dark. There are festivals, lighthouses to tour, historic places and buildings to visit, trains to ride, etc. etc. We're definitely going to try to make it out next year for another week to see some of the outdoor stuff that we missed.
There's a lot more to say about the people, knives, factories, and events, but I feel like I've written a book already. Instead of boring you more I'll finish off with some obligatory pics.
This is a picture of the upstairs of the Queen factory. It gives you an idea of the layout of the factory as well as the age:
This is a picture of a worker carving out the space for the shield onto a bone cover. She traces the stencil in front and the bit grinds out a miniaturized version onto the bone behind it. This gives you an idea of how close to the action you are on the Queen tour:
My daughter obviously saw many people taking artistic shots of their knives, so this is her shot of the knife my son was given by Ken Daniels:
Here's a shot of the outside of the Zippo/Case museum:
Here's another one of my daughter's shots that gives you an idea of how the Case store inside was laid out:
This is an American flag they had that was made out of Zippos that my kids really liked:
Here's a picture of the lighthouse that we toured in Tionesta:
And the cool old sporting goods store in downtown Titusville:
This was our home for the last week:
Lastly, a couple pictures of my haul. I limited myself to two knives from each manufacturer. From Queen I got this Queen City stockman. It's covers are OK, but what really impressed me was the worked liners.
I also grabbed the Queen gathering commemorative knife, which is a stag mini-trapper in 1095. Nice dark etch on these for those that like that. I liked it because they were working on these when we took the tour:
I was really disappointed this last year when GEC ran the 92s and didn't make any Eurekas. I was very excited to get one from their parts knives, and a barehead to boot:
Lastly, I was able to pick up a Ben Hogan barehead in ebony. I was told that this is the only one like it, but I'm more excited about it because I've been wanting a Ben Hogan for a while and barehead ebony knives are always cool:
I had such a fantastic time at the rendezvous. It's been stated before, but if you have the opportunity to go I highly recommend it. In all honesty, there really isn't too much to it. You can go into the GEC factory store and buy knives directly from Chris, which is a treat. You can take a tour with Bill or William, which is an awesome experience in and of itself. You can stand around and talk to some of the GEC workers, which is a great way to get some insights into their thought process and company culture. That's really about it. What makes the rendezvous so special is meeting and chatting with other knife people, many of which have already posted here. Charlie definitely lives up to his reputation. He was very patient with my kids and very willing to chat about knives or any subject that came up. He was generous with his offerings of pins and blade keys. I really enjoyed getting a lecture on farmer's jacks from Lyle and having him run through his displays of examples with my dad and myself. It was very interesting and awesome to experience somebody that has so much knowledge in, and passion for, one pattern. Sarah was also a highlight. She's always been a huge addition to the forums, but I didn't realize how charismatic she is in person. She's a very easy person to talk to, and had a ton of knives with her to share and talk about. There were about a dozen other members here that I really enjoyed seeing and talking to, but these three stood out as really making my 12-hour road trip worthwhile.
We also got to visit Queen. The Queen factory tour was amazing. GEC is laid out perfectly for displaying the factory floor, but there's a definite charm to Queen's 112 year old factory. It was also neat to be right there looking over the workers' shoulders and being able to ask them questions about what they were doing and interact with them. When we walked into the factory store, Ryan Daniels grabbed a catalog, turned to the page with the picture of my kids and walked over and asked for their autographs. It was an awesome gesture by him, and the kids really got a kick out of it. I had never met Ken Daniels before, and he was also a highlight, trading each of my kids a workhorse trapper in exchange for a coin. I really enjoyed the Daniels family and the factory at Queen quite a bit. There is so much history there that it's hard not to be awestruck by it.
Lastly, we made the trip up to Bradford to see the Case store and museum. They definitely have a ton of knives for sale. You could get just about anything you could want. The Tony Bose collaboration knives were especially interesting, as they had four or five of the patterns out for sale. I'm glad we made the trip up to Bradford, and I'm now able to say I've done it. That being said, I was a bit disappointed with the experience. At GEC and Queen you're surrounded by people that are passionate about knives. Each time we were at events for either of those companies I felt like we were fully ensconced in the knife culture. There was a buzz in the air and you couldn't help but be excited. At Case it felt like we walked into an outlet store. The employees weren't particularly knowledgeable or interested in their wares. If you asked to see a knife they'd need the stock number to be able to pick it out. They talked more about how many of each item they had in stock than the characteristics of the knives themselves. This was also true of their Zippo stock, as I have quite a few Zippos and was interested in picking up another. The museum had a little history, but it was really more about their marketing than the knives themselves. I was hoping to learn more about the Case family and the company's origins. Instead I learned about how many company logos they've put on their trapper and how one individual was able to collect several hundred trappers, each with different covers. It was interesting, and like I said worth going to once, just not what I was hoping for.
Over the weekend, Queen put on a small knife show at the local fire house. They also offered a free dinner there Friday night. It was a good time, and the food was great. The knife show was interesting, with a lot of old knives and a couple tables of newer Queens and GECs mixed in. There was a gentleman with a sizeable Robeson display, and we spent a good half hour talking to him about the history of that company and their innovations. This was the highlight of the show for me.
Of course GEC offered their picnic on Saturday. It was a great time, and I enjoyed eavesdropping on people's knife conversations and even engaging in a few of my own. I was definitely one of the least knowledgeable people at any of the events, and so was relegated to being a consumer of information. It was awesome for me, but I wish I was able to contribute more. All in due time I suppose.
There were questions earlier about what there is to do in the Titusville area outside of the rendezvous if you were to make an extended trip out of it. It seems that most of the area attractions are outdoors, and it rained quite a bit over the last week. However, we were very busy for the whole week. Most days we left camp right after breakfast and didn't get back until after dark. There are festivals, lighthouses to tour, historic places and buildings to visit, trains to ride, etc. etc. We're definitely going to try to make it out next year for another week to see some of the outdoor stuff that we missed.
There's a lot more to say about the people, knives, factories, and events, but I feel like I've written a book already. Instead of boring you more I'll finish off with some obligatory pics.
This is a picture of the upstairs of the Queen factory. It gives you an idea of the layout of the factory as well as the age:
This is a picture of a worker carving out the space for the shield onto a bone cover. She traces the stencil in front and the bit grinds out a miniaturized version onto the bone behind it. This gives you an idea of how close to the action you are on the Queen tour:
My daughter obviously saw many people taking artistic shots of their knives, so this is her shot of the knife my son was given by Ken Daniels:
Here's a shot of the outside of the Zippo/Case museum:
Here's another one of my daughter's shots that gives you an idea of how the Case store inside was laid out:
This is an American flag they had that was made out of Zippos that my kids really liked:
Here's a picture of the lighthouse that we toured in Tionesta:
And the cool old sporting goods store in downtown Titusville:
This was our home for the last week:
Lastly, a couple pictures of my haul. I limited myself to two knives from each manufacturer. From Queen I got this Queen City stockman. It's covers are OK, but what really impressed me was the worked liners.
I also grabbed the Queen gathering commemorative knife, which is a stag mini-trapper in 1095. Nice dark etch on these for those that like that. I liked it because they were working on these when we took the tour:
I was really disappointed this last year when GEC ran the 92s and didn't make any Eurekas. I was very excited to get one from their parts knives, and a barehead to boot:
Lastly, I was able to pick up a Ben Hogan barehead in ebony. I was told that this is the only one like it, but I'm more excited about it because I've been wanting a Ben Hogan for a while and barehead ebony knives are always cool:
- Joined
- May 9, 2010
- Messages
- 10,169
Pretty cool write up Cory! You mustve got there earlier, I only turned up around 6pm on thursday. Hope to get more time around the areas on the next go around, always wanted to visit the zippo factory. Not gonna lie, Im just glad I made the drive up in one piece!
- Joined
- May 14, 2011
- Messages
- 2,772
Wish I could've been there! Thanks for sharing the photos guys.
Here's a rare piece from a past Rendezvous that I managed to pick up on the secondary market. Hope you enjoy the photos!
Here's a rare piece from a past Rendezvous that I managed to pick up on the secondary market. Hope you enjoy the photos!
- Joined
- May 9, 2010
- Messages
- 10,169
whoa! were those previous rendezvous knife? I was gonna start a post asking to see if any one has managed to collect all the previous knives, very curious what the previous knives were
Cory Hess
Basic Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2014
- Messages
- 2,117
Thanks for the kind words, Augie and mrknife. Augie, I really appreciated you sharing your finds from the show with me. I really have a lot to learn about older knives.
Mrknife, I believe I had a conversation with you and Sarah about how terrible we are at modifying knives. I didn't realize who you were until I came back and read this thread and looked at some pictures. I was back and forth so much this weekend that I felt like I missed out on a lot because there was so much going on. For example, I missed out on going to dinner with you all and trading knives/stories because we went to the Queen cookout that night. I feel like I definitely need to go back to make up for some of that.
Mrknife, I believe I had a conversation with you and Sarah about how terrible we are at modifying knives. I didn't realize who you were until I came back and read this thread and looked at some pictures. I was back and forth so much this weekend that I felt like I missed out on a lot because there was so much going on. For example, I missed out on going to dinner with you all and trading knives/stories because we went to the Queen cookout that night. I feel like I definitely need to go back to make up for some of that.
- Joined
- May 9, 2010
- Messages
- 10,169
Thanks for the kind words, Augie and mrknife. Augie, I really appreciated you sharing your finds from the show with me. I really have a lot to learn about older knives.
Mrknife, I believe I had a conversation with you and Sarah about how terrible we are at modifying knives. I didn't realize who you were until I came back and read this thread and looked at some pictures. I was back and forth so much this weekend that I felt like I missed out on a lot because there was so much going on. For example, I missed out on going to dinner with you all and trading knives/stories because we went to the Queen cookout that night. I feel like I definitely need to go back to make up for some of that.
haha! i knew it, its all coming back now! i actually just received a knife in the mail i was about to modify. i thought we all shouldve had those id stickers like hi my name is, and people should put their forum names so wed all know whos who. Come to think of it, a lot more people showed up and we were all there, but not everyone got a chance to introduce themselves. That dinner was quite something, Bill was there drinking with us for quite a bit! Unfortunately, I had been under the weather and was not up to my usual drinking abilities, the drinks were quite cheap! not according to Bill and William tho. They said the resort charged quite a bit more than their usual spots.
Cory Hess
Basic Member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2014
- Messages
- 2,117
This is definitely a winning idea. There were several people that I was mid-conversation with before we figured out that we were both on these forums. I'm sure there were others that I saw/talked to that I know from here and we didn't put it together.
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- May 9, 2010
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- 10,169
right, if I was with other forum members, thats the first thing theyd say, o btw this is so-so from the forums. some folks would introduce themselves that way which made things easier. everyone was good people tho
5K Qs
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2014
- Messages
- 15,351
Thanks to all who attended the Rendezvous and posted in this thread to provide info for those who weren't there. :thumbup: I've enjoyed reading the informative reports and examining the interesting photos! I especially appreciated JSCHENK's photos; mrknife's cool "first-timer report" and pics of the picnic and the goodies he acquired; Augie's report and pictures of his new knives; Lyle's photos of people there; and Cory's fantastic, detailed illustrated report of his family's week-long adventures in the area! Sounds like a wonderful time was had by all!! 
- GT
I especially appreciated JSCHENK's photos; mrknife's cool "first-timer report" and pics of the picnic and the goodies he acquired; Augie's report and pictures of his new knives; Lyle's photos of people there; and Cory's fantastic, detailed illustrated report of his family's week-long adventures in the area! Sounds like a wonderful time was had by all!! - GT
Great find! This brings up something I've been wondering, does anyone have a full collection of Rendezvous knives? I plan to collect them from all the Rendezvous I go to, but 2014 was my first year so I haven't seen the knives from previous years.Wish I could've been there! Thanks for sharing the photos guys.
Here's a rare piece from a past Rendezvous that I managed to pick up on the secondary market. Hope you enjoy the photos!
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2011
- Messages
- 1,941
Here is the Rendezvous knife that I will be keeping and using!
I may, or may not have more.
I may, or may not have more.