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.
Gorgeous Dan. Just received the Ace. Anyone else notice the yeti has thicker bolsters than the Ace? Guess it has to do with the acrylic needing to be thicker than the micarta? I can’t get a decent picture but interesting. Could just be my eyes, caliper needed…Fresh out of the tube! Another winner from GEC!View attachment 1811197View attachment 1811198View attachment 1811199View attachment 1811200View attachment 1811201
Ironwood lotto winner! Wow. Also and excellent review.I got my gator in today to complete the quartet and can now flesh out my thoughts on the pattern a bit more.
For me, despite its quirks, the 88 has been a much anticipated release for me. With my present and keen interest in wharncliffe trappers and my fondness for both the Lambsfoot blade and the Sowbelly frame, it would have been silly for me to scoff at this latest offering from GEC. For all its stated strangeness, I've seen far more outlandish configurations in traditional patterns that date clear back to the 1800s so I won't be convinced that this is anything too out of the ordinary and I applaud Bill and his crew for executing this concept so brilliantly.
(As an aside, I have very much enjoyed the musical evocations that these knives have brought - Iron Maiden's "Aces High" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou".)
I was immediately struck by how this knife met and even exceeded my hopes and expectations. Having a well established preference for two-bladed knives, this one pairs a brilliantly and elegantly designed clip blade with the most utilitarian of all straight edged blades and packed them into one of the more ergonomically superior frames in existence. How can I not love this knife? Plus, with a very fine effort from GEC on the build quality, I am rather hard pressed to find anything to nitpick. As I mentioned before, I haven't pocketed another knife since I received my Ace.
Should GEC opt to run a single blade clip version of this knife, I think folks would be very, very pleased. If folks have blade deletes in their forecast, despite my fondness for the Lambsfoot, the clip is the one that you should retain. It is sinuous, graceful, and wickedly elegant - it flows with the frame perfectly.
For fans of the Sowbelly, you will find that this 88 runs on the larger side. Comparing it to the Queen-made Winchester, you can see the obvious similarities - it is just oversized.
One of my regular users that I find most comparable in size and utility is my 82 Dixie Stockman. I think the 88 to be more robust overall but I'd say pocketability and efficiency run in the 82's favor.
This gives you some idea of how the blade might be oriented in hand when using either option.
My example of Ironwood is quite pleasing and it thrills me to death that GEC opted to take the extra care to polish it out versus their typical and uninteresting satin finish from past runs.
Some additional thoughts:
I thought this run encompassed a lot of thought and care on GEC's part. A nice and concise selection of handle materials (only thing missing really was a Stag interpretation), excellent shield choices (seriously, I love that Ace shield and I don't hate the Gator), and an innovative and utilitarian design concept that was executed brilliantly. If GEC continues this trend with future runs, I think we are in for some exciting releases.
If it hasn't been apparent yet, I am very pleased with this run - well done, GEC.
Thanks! I've tried to follow Murray Carter's method as much as possible, which involves eyeballing the knife edge from six different angles. Also, using water stones might give a little more sight and feel feedback.You have a very sharp eye JoshuaJTB_5 . I put mine to the rods yesterday and thought I saw the same thing on all three of mine but blew it off but after reading your post, I checked mine on a straight edge and you are correct. All of the clip blades have a very slight recurve and all of the lambfoot blades have a very slight belly. Another trip to the rods has taken care of the matter.
Yes sir. This and Apocalypse Now. “Death card”Funny, my mind went immediately to "Ace of Spades" by Motorhead.
Well done, sir. The single blade lambsfoot looks fantastic.
Well I wanted to make sure I got it reassembled with at least one blade in it before switching to bourbon.
Fantastic! That’s exactly what I want to have done. Well done!
Harvey, that is a beauty! Great pics! In today’s scramble for new GEC drops helping out porch regulars is just good karma.
Harvey, that is a beauty! Great pics! In today’s scramble for new GEC drops helping out porch regulars is just good karma.
as usual.... the master of understatement....
Fantastic job, that would be a great carry!
Do you have a favorite cover? That DIW is gorgeous
Congrats on getting all four, and thank you for the thoughtful review. I had the choice of one out of four, and it wasn't an easy decision.I got my gator in today to complete the quartet and can now flesh out my thoughts on the pattern a bit more.
For me, despite its quirks, the 88 has been a much anticipated release for me. With my present and keen interest in wharncliffe trappers and my fondness for both the Lambsfoot blade and the Sowbelly frame, it would have been silly for me to scoff at this latest offering from GEC. For all its stated strangeness, I've seen far more outlandish configurations in traditional patterns that date clear back to the 1800s so I won't be convinced that this is anything too out of the ordinary and I applaud Bill and his crew for executing this concept so brilliantly.
(As an aside, I have very much enjoyed the musical evocations that these knives have brought - Iron Maiden's "Aces High" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou".)
I was immediately struck by how this knife met and even exceeded my hopes and expectations. Having a well established preference for two-bladed knives, this one pairs a brilliantly and elegantly designed clip blade with the most utilitarian of all straight edged blades and packed them into one of the more ergonomically superior frames in existence. How can I not love this knife? Plus, with a very fine effort from GEC on the build quality, I am rather hard pressed to find anything to nitpick. As I mentioned before, I haven't pocketed another knife since I received my Ace.
Should GEC opt to run a single blade clip version of this knife, I think folks would be very, very pleased. If folks have blade deletes in their forecast, despite my fondness for the Lambsfoot, the clip is the one that you should retain. It is sinuous, graceful, and wickedly elegant - it flows with the frame perfectly.
For fans of the Sowbelly, you will find that this 88 runs on the larger side. Comparing it to the Queen-made Winchester, you can see the obvious similarities - it is just oversized.
One of my regular users that I find most comparable in size and utility is my 82 Dixie Stockman. I think the 88 to be more robust overall but I'd say pocketability and efficiency run in the 82's favor.
This gives you some idea of how the blade might be oriented in hand when using either option.
My example of Ironwood is quite pleasing and it thrills me to death that GEC opted to take the extra care to polish it out versus their typical and uninteresting satin finish from past runs.
Some additional thoughts:
I thought this run encompassed a lot of thought and care on GEC's part. A nice and concise selection of handle materials (only thing missing really was a Stag interpretation), excellent shield choices (seriously, I love that Ace shield and I don't hate the Gator), and an innovative and utilitarian design concept that was executed brilliantly. If GEC continues this trend with future runs, I think we are in for some exciting releases.
If it hasn't been apparent yet, I am very pleased with this run - well done, GEC.
Very brave of you. I generally prefer multi-bladed traditionals, but I'll bet that single lambsfoot is an ergonomic dream.After that plan failed, I decided to try a different tactic using the razor blade, which actually worked out ok...
Now with the knife apart, I removed the spring and blade. The blade was actually a huge pain to remove, and required the pin be polished some, and some choice words to be said.
I got my gator in today to complete the quartet and can now flesh out my thoughts on the pattern a bit more.
For me, despite its quirks, the 88 has been a much anticipated release for me. With my present and keen interest in wharncliffe trappers and my fondness for both the Lambsfoot blade and the Sowbelly frame, it would have been silly for me to scoff at this latest offering from GEC. For all its stated strangeness, I've seen far more outlandish configurations in traditional patterns that date clear back to the 1800s so I won't be convinced that this is anything too out of the ordinary and I applaud Bill and his crew for executing this concept so brilliantly.
(As an aside, I have very much enjoyed the musical evocations that these knives have brought - Iron Maiden's "Aces High" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou".)
I was immediately struck by how this knife met and even exceeded my hopes and expectations. Having a well established preference for two-bladed knives, this one pairs a brilliantly and elegantly designed clip blade with the most utilitarian of all straight edged blades and packed them into one of the more ergonomically superior frames in existence. How can I not love this knife? Plus, with a very fine effort from GEC on the build quality, I am rather hard pressed to find anything to nitpick. As I mentioned before, I haven't pocketed another knife since I received my Ace.
Should GEC opt to run a single blade clip version of this knife, I think folks would be very, very pleased. If folks have blade deletes in their forecast, despite my fondness for the Lambsfoot, the clip is the one that you should retain. It is sinuous, graceful, and wickedly elegant - it flows with the frame perfectly.
For fans of the Sowbelly, you will find that this 88 runs on the larger side. Comparing it to the Queen-made Winchester, you can see the obvious similarities - it is just oversized.
One of my regular users that I find most comparable in size and utility is my 82 Dixie Stockman. I think the 88 to be more robust overall but I'd say pocketability and efficiency run in the 82's favor.
This gives you some idea of how the blade might be oriented in hand when using either option.
My example of Ironwood is quite pleasing and it thrills me to death that GEC opted to take the extra care to polish it out versus their typical and uninteresting satin finish from past runs.
Some additional thoughts:
I thought this run encompassed a lot of thought and care on GEC's part. A nice and concise selection of handle materials (only thing missing really was a Stag interpretation), excellent shield choices (seriously, I love that Ace shield and I don't hate the Gator), and an innovative and utilitarian design concept that was executed brilliantly. If GEC continues this trend with future runs, I think we are in for some exciting releases.
If it hasn't been apparent yet, I am very pleased with this run - well done, GEC.
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