2021 GEC #68 White Owl

It is a bit puzzling because I thought the fit and finish on all of the 86s was pretty top notch. I'd say the precision of the 68 made it harder, but they did the 38 whittlers really well, too. Maybe there was a holiday rush or some bad Turkey over Thanksgiving. As for the quality of the stag. . .I just don't know.
 
I got mine not too long ago...

The dealer I got it from informed me in advance that the stag cover has cracks in them. Took it without asking any questions 😅

I did reach out to GEC and Joan said the cracks were in the stag when they were received at the shop and were stabilized prior to getting on the knives. Looks natural to me...

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No rubbing in action on the blades, but there is a rub mark on the pen blade which is puzzling since the pen blade doesn't come into contact at all with any parts of the knife (except at the pivot of course). This tells me that the rub mark on mine may have occurred during the initial fitting after polishing?

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Not a good picture but I don't see any contact point that could leave such a mark on the pen blade.
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Regardless, overall, happy with this one.
 
JTB_5 said:
It is a bit puzzling because I thought the fit and finish on all of the 86s was pretty top notch. I'd say the precision of the 68 made it harder, but they did the 38 whittlers really well, too. Maybe there was a holiday rush or some bad Turkey over Thanksgiving. As for the quality of the stag. . .I just don't know.
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If you're talking about the English whittlers there's actually quite a bit more room to work with in that blade well then on the 68 owls. It's quite a bit tighter in there. Pics below for comparison.

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Now if it was the Grinling 38s you were referring to. Well that's on another level all together.

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Now I'm not making excuses for anyone but if they were to take the time to fine tune everyone of them to eliminate the rub I think we'd be expected to pay the likes of secondary prices instead for these.

I think the tang of the pen scrapes just past the tip of the main as it's opening. That tight space coupled with the pressure put on the nick to pull that secondary up might just be enough to get them to touch when they shouldn't. I have an example of both with and without the scratch there. I think it just how it goes with these. 🤷

The ugly stag I've noticed on a few.... Ive got nothing lol
 
untytled said:
If you're talking about the English whittlers there's actually quite a bit more room to work with in that blade well then on the 68 owls. It's quite a bit tighter in there. Pics below for comparison.

View attachment 1697035

Now if it was the Grinling 38s you were referring to. Well that's on another level all together.

View attachment 1697036

Now I'm not making excuses for anyone but if they were to take the time to fine tune everyone of them to eliminate the rub I think we'd be expected to pay the likes of secondary prices instead for these.

I think the tang of the pen scrapes just past the tip of the main as it's opening. That tight space coupled with the pressure put on the nick to pull that secondary up might just be enough to get them to touch when they shouldn't. I have an example of both with and without the scratch there. I think it just how it goes with these. 🤷

The ugly stag I've noticed on a few.... Ive got nothing lol
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I was thinking about the English Whittlers, and you're right, there is a bit more room in there. I'm not complaining because the rub doesn't both me, but I am curious whether it represents lesser quality or simply a more difficult execution that doesn't show up on other patterns. It seems like it might be the latter.
 
I do think a two-blade single spring pen is one of the trickier patterns to make. In the past GEC has done it well enough but it’s hardly the first time people have complained about rub marks. To me the real bafflement is why the stag seems so uniformly weird on this run.

Craftsmanship on my jigged bone example is pretty excellent except for a tiny rub mark on one blade that doesn’t bother me. But I lost any desire to play the stag lottery on this run, for sure.
 
GaiusJulius said:
I do think a two-blade single spring pen is one of the trickier patterns to make. In the past GEC has done it well enough but it’s hardly the first time people have complained about rub marks. To me the real bafflement is why the stag seems so uniformly weird on this run.

Craftsmanship on my jigged bone example is pretty excellent except for a tiny rub mark on one blade that doesn’t bother me. But I lost any desire to play the stag lottery on this run, for sure.
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I've never had "write home about" stag on a GEC until this 68 White Owl...... All previous knives looked like they used the antlers from a deer that got hit by scud missile...... Anyway, I'm ready to buy another 10 - 15 dogs before I get another GEC with nice Stag...... Gotta keep the deer herders in business!!
 
HEMI 49 said:
I've never had "write home about" stag on a GEC until this 68 White Owl...... All previous knives looked like they used the antlers from a deer that got hit by scud missile...... Anyway, I'm ready to buy another 10 - 15 dogs before I get another GEC with nice Stag...... Gotta keep the deer herders in business!!
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Let’s see the pics!! I’m going to hit the stag lottery one day. Love to see the examples of those that did :cool:
 
mcc850 said:
Let’s see the pics!! I’m going to hit the stag lottery one day. Love to see the examples of those that did :cool:
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Do you want to see only White Owl Stags Lottery Quality or All Lottery Quality Stag ????

Harry
 
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mcc850 said:
Harry you know I’m always down for pics of any knives with great stag! Your lot is my dream collection.
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Thank you very much for the kind words my friend , but since this is a White Owl thread , I would like to leave it at that . There are some very nice ones on this thread . Mine is just so so and is on the previous page , post #110 .

Harry
 
There is definitely some strange Stag on this run - I hope it doesn't reflect the new norm for them. I understand that Sambar Stag is a finite resource but I had been under the impression that GEC had a pretty robust supply.

My Stag 68 is a better built knife than the jigged bone version - the latter definitely seems like a Friday afternoon special. I like my Stag though, it is unique in a pleasing way. Like JTB_5 JTB_5 so aptly put, it has the look of soup bone.
 
Jon0385 said:
View attachment 1696430View attachment 1696431
This is different
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Looks like Burnt Stag that got the Col Saunders extra crispy treatment...put it in your pocket and it'll lighten up soon enough.
As for the rest, I might be a bit unhappy to get a knife that had the low quality stag and scratched up blades I have been seeing. Now I'm glad I picked up one of the first generation stag 68s when they were being offered.....
 
PointyThings said:
Nice photo! But I have to ask: Is that am original Blackwing (Eberhard Faber) or a new Palomino?
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I bought these earlier this year from Blackwing. I know the company revived the original designs so that’s what I have. Isn’t Palomino one of their design lines? You’ll have to clue me in.
 
JTB_5 said:
I bought these earlier this year from Blackwing. I know the company revived the original designs so that’s what I have. Isn’t Palomino one of their design lines? You’ll have to clue me in.
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California Cedar Products Company is the company and they originally produced the new Blackwing pencils under their Palomino brand. Love using my GECs to sharpen wooden pencils. (Had to tie the conversation back to GEC, right?)
 
If the stag was this inconsistent, I would've held off on a stag run. This is the type of stag we'd expect to see on the keychain knives. I get that the 68 isn't exactly a large knife, but some of the ones I am seeing fall more into what should've perhaps been a "polished stag" cover option.

There will always be blade rub on an $80 production single spring knife. If you really have to have a safe queen, I'd wait to pay for one on the secondary.
 
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