A factory photo showing some differences

rockgolfer

rockgolfer

Joined
Mar 1, 2008
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Looking over on GEC's website I came across some new pictures of the Buckaroo model. Here is their picture of their purple sage bone.


750-purple-sage_zps9503e1ed.jpg




I have an obsession with low riding sheepsfoot blades. Upon looking over these knives closely I think its pretty obvious that the factory can make them lower, just look at the bottom knife in the photo. It also appears that the joint is sunken in the bottom knife. Look at that compared to the top knife which has an extremely high blade with a lot of the joint showing. I was unaware you would get that kind of variation when jigs and such are used to make the parts. Its troubling knowing I could get the top one when the bottom one would be exactly what I want. I know some like them to ride high and would equally be disappointed in getting the lower. That much variation in height would be noticeable in hand and being such a small frame, harder to adjust around. I guess I am really curious as to why any of them are left so high? Its not like you can pull them open without the nick, GEC's springs are way to strong for that in my experience. Just seems like a big variation, maybe they could specifically market and sell the lower riding, sleeker ones? I for one would be interested in a super sunken series of knives that allow you to enjoy the frame shape more and not have blades digging in your hand. Here is a cropping from the above pic with some highlights added to clarify.

GECsize_zps1e5bbcd1.jpg
 
It is hard to understand that much variation. It looks to me like the holes were drilled in the tangs from a millimeter to a 1/16" off. Just filing the kick on the higher one would lower the "bump" of the spine, but could actually raise the sharp edge of the tang at the bolster. A good retailer might be willing to go through a few to find one for you that has the lowered sheepfoot.
 
Jeff, after some experimenting with fleabay knives I am not a fan of lowering the kick. It makes the closed position spring lower below the frame and feel's weird. I am being picky, I know, but its not like I need all of the knives I own lol. I am sure one of the fine paying retailers around here would help me out if needed. I am not really interested in this pattern, just pointing out an observation.

I would like to think it is just the angle of the photo. The shadows look fairly even across all the blades and they all look to be sitting rather close to the same. It does seem like quite a variation across the board with this color. The pics on GEC's site of the other handle materials look more consistent or are at an angle that make it impossible to judge.
 
Five bucks says the differences are an artifact of the camera. If the lens is over the center of the picture and less than five feet away, the difference in the angle between the lens and the top knife and the lens and the bottom knife is enough to cause that much difference.
 
yablanowitz said:
Five bucks says the differences are an artifact of the camera. If the lens is over the center of the picture and less than five feet away, the difference in the angle between the lens and the top knife and the lens and the bottom knife is enough to cause that much difference.
Click to expand...
This. :)
 
I think you're trying to hard to see something that's not there.......look at the shadowing on the knives on the left side bottom to top. glare to shadow and then look at the knives on the right side and the degree of shadowing bottom to top...it's obvious the picture was taken on an angle.
 
I dont think I am trying to see anything, just talking about what it is my mind is interpreting from the photo. Just seemed out of place and felt I would share. If you guys(skilled cameramen) say its the pic, then I got my answer.
 
All I know is that I was able to grind off a considerable amount of the kick on my GEC Hay'n Helper and lowered the main sheepsfoot quite a bit. I'm pretty sure I could lower it even further. It was almost cartoonish how high it sat originally.
 
I think that's an illusion, based on perspective of the photo, and the angle of the lens vs the angle at which the knives are sitting. The reason the sheepsfoot blades look "lower" in the bottom knives is because, relative to the camera, those knives are rotated slightly "downward." Make sense? I hope so. ;)
 
Pipeman said:
Could be the angle that the picture was taken.

Best regards

Robin
Click to expand...

Yeah, my vote is for angle of the camera. You can see the perspective narrow down along each row of knives with the next one down having a lower sheep foot blade and a more sunken joint. By the time you get to the bottom you can see part of the back spring and liner, which you can't see on the top knife.

The picture had to have been taken from an angle.

Nate
 
The top photo appears to be straight on and I see the same variation that Rockgolfer does. Some explanations?

It could be an effect of the photo. Holding the camera too close and compensating by zooming out to a wide angle will exaggerate the angle differences.

Perhaps the knife on bottom is rolled a bit, not laying flat like the others.

Perhaps the jig was adjusted during production. "This blade sets too high/low, I'll fix it a bit for the rest of the run."

Studying the top photo and comparing the knives in both rows, I'm inclined to think it's an effect of the camera lens and angle. Notice how the top knife in each row has a high sheepsfoot, the center knives gradually transition, and the bottom knife in each row is a low-riding sheepsfoot.
 
I too believe the difference in the apparent blade height is due to the camera position; however, I just don't understand the Calf Roper like etch on this knife. Looks like thery'll be a lot of Flitzing when these knives arrive. It really is a great looking little Cattle knife.
 
In this photo there is both position of the camera and LENS effect. A likely factor of a zoom lens in wide mode with a very open (small number) fstop. This effect wiill make the center of the photo appear slightly 'curved' upward.

I would be curious to see the one in lower left column in hand.

I have always been envious of knives with no sharp corner showing as Bucks have a consistant 'a-plenty' of it.

300Bucks
 
It could even have something to do with the individual thickness or radiusing of the handles. Some knives lay perfectly flat, others have a tendency to lay awkwardly due to the bone jigging or uneven thickness etc.

However, the OP's concerns are very interesting. It seems to me that most of us WOULD prefer knives with lo-rider Sheepfoot and the advantages of sunken/semi sunk joints, this is what GEC and others should consider with new multi blade knives perhaps?
 
I can see part of the backspring on the knife at the bottom of the photo. It's turned downwards in comparison to the others.
 
The camera is almost directly above the bottom knife, and looks "into" the gullets as you count upward. Look at the camera reflection in the bolsters!
 
willgoy said:
It could even have something to do with the individual thickness or radiusing of the handles. Some knives lay perfectly flat, others have a tendency to lay awkwardly due to the bone jigging or uneven thickness etc.

However, the OP's concerns are very interesting. It seems to me that most of us WOULD prefer knives with lo-rider Sheepfoot and the advantages of sunken/semi sunk joints, this is what GEC and others should consider with new multi blade knives perhaps?
Click to expand...


I am actually glad you all can point out that its just the photo, would be a little far out of most tolerance's for a manufacturing company. It just seemed odd and all I really looked at was the reflections on the blade and bolsters which seem to reflect back at relatively the same angle. No expert over here when it comes to photo stuff, thanks to all the replys.

Willgoy, I to would be interested to see how many people would prefer the sheepsfoot blade lower? I look at some of the pics of the new Barlows and wonder how they can get to the main blade over the pen, just shows how close you can stack pulls. I think a lot of people would love a low riding, sunken joint cattle knife. Re-make the 53 and sink that coping as best you can, make it 3 3/4" long and I think a bunch of people would be all over it(the 4 1/8" length keeps a lot of folks away from this gem).

We all sit here and dream about what our perfect knife would be. Ideas flow freely around here yet, I rarely see anything we talk about make it to a production knife. We are the target audience, we are the market(at least a good chunk of it), why does no one listen? As a business owner I would love to have this kind of access to my target demographic. I think its pretty obvious that breathing some fresh new ideas into these slipjoints is getting people interested. How many people want a slippy with lightning strike carbon fiber now after seeing a few?
 
IF the blade was sunk due to pivot pin placement the blade would not fit without alteration ,if the hole was drilled high the blade would flop around. I'm pretty sure GEC would not make that mistake if it's even possible with they way their blades are cut and punched.

Regards

Robin
 
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