A Question for Those of You Who Have Wore Out a GEC Knife

Easyrider

Easyrider

Joined
Jan 31, 2000
Messages
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For the individuals who have wore out a GEC knife blade were you able to send it back to GEC and have them replace the blade?

I am no where near wearing one out yet but I am curious if they replaced the blade?
 
I'm no where close either but perhaps they would at the customer's expense. Since they have only been in business for ten years, it's unlikely that one of their knives could be "worn out" under the circumstances of normal, responsible use. Therefore, I doubt it would be covered under warranty.
 
I rarely see them sharpened in photos! Haha! I do sharpen mine but I suspect it will be a long time before I use one up. Someone broke a blade and they replaced it... I don't recall the details. You might email GEC.
 
How you gonna wear out your blade if you know how to sharpen it using it's original bevel and don't abuse it ( if no chips ...ect in blade ) ?
 
Easyrider said:
For the individuals who have wore out a GEC knife blade were you able to send it back to GEC and have them replace the blade?

I am no where near wearing one out yet but I am curious if they replaced the blade?
Click to expand...

Mm it really depends. I've heard that it's a 25$ fee for a replacement. Also GEC rarely has extra parts for some blades on hand so you might find yourself stuck with the same blade unless you have an aftermarket modifier help you out/you buy a donor knife for the process. Best bet would be emailing Christine.

Their warranty is also somewhat stringent and a grey area with these kinds of replacements if you try to do so.

For Example, one of my TC's had "variable" centering where you could push it to one side slightly and adjust the centering if it was touched. The amount of "play" was minute but it did bother me since it was a factory issue. I had bought this knife from the original owner who had bought it off a dealer, unsharpened with a full blade but with pepper spots and patina.

I asked a friend and they told me it might be due to stock being nicked off during the forging process. There was a chunk of the tang missing on either side within the tang where the blade sits. No issue with the blade at all but I entertained the idea that if I ever had to send the knife to GEC..if they would be able to replace it for me so I emailed.

When I asked I was told
"We have look through the shop and we do not have any blades left over that will fit that knife. Looking at your pictures, the owner of the company said there is no way that knife left here with the tang that way. We can no be sure that it was altered after purchase by who ever you got it from."

Afterwards I even asked three other owners of Clip TC Barlows and they all told me there were slight voids missing from their knives near the tang as well so it wasn't something uncommon. Perhaps mine had more taken off but that apparently voided my warranty completely with them and disqualified me from the warranty.
 
I'm doing my best to wear out my #73, but it's not looking too good. Normal sharpening and stropping doesn't seem to take off much metal. The initial reprofiling took off more material than a couple of years of use has.

If it does ever get to that point I doubt I'd have it rebladed. I'll just use one of the others I have lying around.

supratentorial said:
I rarely see them sharpened in photos!
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There are a few out there Jake.

12747806824_b003e68905_c.jpg


;)
 
I'm in agreement with some others here, I'm not sure how anyone could have "worn out" the blade on a GEC knife in the relatively short time GEC had been around, unless it's been abused and/or over-sharpened. I feel like I've over-sharpened one or two of mine (usually trying to adjust/"fix" the factory bevel), but by "over-sharpened" I mean you can tell the sharpening choil is less deep than when I got the knife. I know you see some of those old blade that used to be spears or clips and have been sharpened down to toothpicks, but I always figure those at knives that belonged to someone who had one knife and carried it every day (and even then, it's hard for me to fathom using and sharpening a knife frequently enough for long enough to get it down to that point).

Now, hypothetically, if someone were to use a GEC enough that it was "worn" down to a toothpick, I would be surprised if they were willing to replace the blade under warranty. Also, as Ryouchijtx noted, since GEC doesn't have anything in "regular" production, the likelihood that they would have a blade lying around to fit the worn out knife in question would, I think, be pretty low.
 
A lot of those toothpicks didn't get that way from maintenance sharpening. Many of those belonged to "one knife" guys and they used them for everything. That led to chips and dings in the edge which required much more material to be removed to fix. Over a lifetime, it added up. At least that was the case with the knives that belonged to my grandfathers and great grandfather.
 
Easyrider said:
For the individuals who have wore out a GEC knife blade were you able to send it back to GEC and have them replace the blade?

I am no where near wearing one out yet but I am curious if they replaced the blade?
Click to expand...

Uuhhm, wore out?
No. And No.
 
I remember that back in the 30's Remington said that the life expectancy for one of their knives was 3 years. Howsoever, their customers weren't knife knuts with dozens of knives to swap around and carry as todays knife knuts do.

Which is to say, "wore out? not likely."
 
I have a GEC that was poorly sharpened by the previous owner. I contacted GEC to inquire about having the blade replaced. I got pretty much the same answer as Tim. They looked around and don't have any extra blades to use for a replacement. I asked Chris hypothetically, what if this were a warranty issue and I needed it replaced. The answer is you'd have to wait until they made that pattern and blade again to get it replaced. They don't even keep a very small inventory in stock for situations like this. The same goes for handle cover materials (I've asked about those too). I had a crack from the factory in some bone and was told I'd have to wait. So my point is, a lifetime warranty is only good if the manufacturer can back it up. Forget about having any non warranty work done.
This is not to say that I don't love their product. I do. I just don't have much faith in their warranty system.
 
I've seen a few Tony Bose and Rick Menefee knives worn enough, through honest use, to replace the blade.
 
i have yet to see a GEC sharpened down to a tooth pick/sliver. im curious definitely. i suppose most people dont use carbide sharpeners. most of the time my user gec just get honed, rarely sharpened. some of the ones ive bought used have only been touched up a little at best that the original edge is still there. so i can only see poor sharpening and mistreatment as the only way to reduced the blade in such a way.
 
kamagong said:
I'm doing my best to wear out my #73, but it's not looking too good. Normal sharpening and stropping doesn't seem to take off much metal. The initial reprofiling took off more material than a couple of years of use has.

If it does ever get to that point I doubt I'd have it rebladed. I'll just use one of the others I have lying around.



There are a few out there Jake.

12747806824_b003e68905_c.jpg


;)
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They DO exist!! ;) :D :p

I can't imagine using a GEC with the factory edge. The first thing that I do before they go in my pocket is to sharpen them up.

On old knives, another problem is that the knives are sometimes sharpened poorly with a grinding wheel instead of bench stones. But I have seen a few that were used up from honest wear. The handles were used up too. There was an interesting topic a few years ago that's somewhat relevant. A guy bought two knives ages ago... around the 60s or 70s IIRC. He used up one and started carrying the one that he had kept unused. He posted photos of both knives.

Lots of good experiences in this topic. I'm surprised that they don't keep extra parts for warranty replacement. I'm sure they keep the dies though. I suppose its not economical to bring out the dies to punch out one piece.
 
supratentorial said:
....There was an interesting topic a few years ago that's somewhat relevant. A guy bought two knives ages ago... around the 60s or 70s IIRC. He used up one and started carrying the one that he had kept unused. He posted photos of both knives.,.
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Found it!

1scooter said:
Just wanted to share an old 6217 knife that I've carred since 1973. Used on a diary farm for about 12 years, castrating, cuting thousands of bales of hay, and every thing else associated in farming. Then in the construction industry for about another 20 years that I owned, used for sharpening pencils, cutting out window and door openings, and every thing else.
Finally broke the blade a couple of days ago, and had to pull out the new one that I bought the same time. Old one is a 8 dot, new one is a 7 dot. You can still see the price I paid for them at the time. Notice how much the scales are worn down, as well as the blades. I really loved that knife, but in the last years it developed a lot of wobble in the large blade. You just can't admagin how much that knife hase been used.

041.jpg
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Not a GEC, but I wonder how much longer this knife would last.:confused:
It was certainly used respectfully - I am sure it is getting easier to break than when it was new!
The snap it weak on the main blade - at least I think it's the main - but otherwise it still functions. I have retired it though! It deserves a rest!!:D
Worn%20out%20Barlow_zpsaq9hfniz.jpg
 
So, I shouldn't worry about wearing it out but if I am then buy a spare. Does that sound about right?
 
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