Anyone have an idea of what total production numbers Queen puts out yearly?

I just did a very un-scientific experiment on the big auction site. I typed Queen Cutlery into the search bar. No other filters. 812 hits. I then typed Great Eastern Cutlery into the search bar. No other filters. 217 hits. For what its worth. As I said, very un-scientific.
 
rma100 said:
I just did a very un-scientific experiment on the big auction site. I typed Queen Cutlery into the search bar. No other filters. 812 hits. I then typed Great Eastern Cutlery into the search bar. No other filters. 217 hits. For what its worth. As I said, very un-scientific.
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OK... I tried to get it, but I don't see your point. From you:

rma100 said:
I would be willing to make an educated guess that Queen Cutlery produces ten times as many knives as GEC does in a years time.
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So that says something about the raw volume Queen makes, probably many thousands more knives each year.

From Knives Illustrated article: http://www.knivesillustrated.com/inside-story-new-owner-at-queen-cutlery
" The current resident of the Titusville, Pennsylvania, factory is Queen Cutlery Company, which has produced knives in that facility since the 1930s..."

So Queen has been making thousands and thousands of knives a year since the '30s, surely making their overall count in the millions in about 80 years of continuous production.

GEC (according to Mike's website) just started shipping their products six years ago.

I am not sure what conclusion I was supposed to draw, but it seem to me that a product that is represented by literally millions of examples over a span nearing a century should have more resale presence than a company that has only made a tiny percentage of that amount.

I missed the point, and it wasn't from lack of effort. Would you elaborate?

Robert
 
I don't think Queen is significantly out-producing GEC at this time. When you figure GEC averages 70 knives daily; I haven't seen a ton of knives coming out of Queen. They have made a lot of parts knives and done several runs of F&W, along with standard production and probably quite a few Moore Makers, etc. But with as many setups as they have to tear down and put up, that slows production. So, they may be making as many / more than GEC, but I don't think it would be even double. When you search for Queen, you are getting 40+ years of results; GEC only 7. Lower production numbers should bode well for quality as well.
 
sgbeskin said:
"these are a lot different than they were in the 50's."
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I had to laugh at this quote because I see a bit of myself reflected in it. I think many of us knife knuts are hide-bound traditionalists who look for the same covers and steels in use for...ages.
 
sgbeskin said:
I am the same age as you guys too. And a Mississippi resident. My daddy and father in law both said that there were Queen knives around, but just like Jackknife said, nobody wanted them much because of the stainless steel.
I gave my father in law a Queen stockman with a D2 blade several years ago and he was real hesitant about it until he used it for a while. He said "these are a lot different than they were in the 50's." he said they wouldn't hold an edge back in the old days.
...
...
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According to Bernard Levine, proper heat treating of stainless steel for knife blades (to include a dwell at -120F or colder) did not become common in the United States until the 1960's, although Robeson started using it in the 1950's. The process was invented in 1939 by Henkels. They trademarked it as "Friodur" in 1951.

So while stainless bladed cutlery has been around since the 1920's, GOOD stainless blades were still uncommon in the United States in the 1950's, which lead to the common preference for carbon steel, or low alloy steel blades. Now, of course, properly heat treated stainless blades are common.

Hence the surprise at the performance of the Queen D2 blade.
 
Most online dealers that I have recently checked out, and that carry both Queen and Gec made knives, seem to have more GEC inventory. Now, to get to my opinion, and my believing that both GEC and Queen rely almost strictly on online dealers to sell their wares... it seems GEC products are a currently better seller. So, though Queen may have had, and may still have the ability to produce more volume, I believe Queen has been idleling their operations because GEC may be getting more of the traditional pocket knife buying pie. I really don't believe that Queen is currently making and selling more trads than GEC... and if they are, probably a small number higher... not that much at all over them. Don't know the exact employee count at Queen, but I believe it was like lower teens or low twenty something total when Daniels purchased Queen. This is similar in size to the GEC work force. Hoping somehow we can get some round about numbers... but thank you all for your input thus far :-)
 
As an update to what I wrote above about employee numbers at Queen when Daniels made the purchase of the firm.... there were 24 (a local Titusville Pa paper had those numbers). It also said that Daniels planned on keeping most of those people on board. He better, he does not want another GEC type branch off again! lol! ;-)
 
Jimmy, yeah, I was thinking about Queen employees leaving when and if the economy gets better, to start their own company. Ryan is good people but people will see what GEC has done. GEC started and Queen took a nosedive. With GEC we are now seeing consistent quality cutlery. With Queen, quality over quantity is hoped for. Case could stand to learn a thing or two.
 
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knifeswapper said:
I don't think Queen is significantly out-producing GEC at this time. When you figure GEC averages 70 knives daily; I haven't seen a ton of knives coming out of Queen. They have made a lot of parts knives and done several runs of F&W, along with standard production and probably quite a few Moore Makers, etc. But with as many setups as they have to tear down and put up, that slows production. So, they may be making as many / more than GEC, but I don't think it would be even double. When you search for Queen, you are getting 40+ years of results; GEC only 7. Lower production numbers should bode well for quality as well.
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Hopefully they will figure out how to remake quality knifes at a profit
 
Knarfeng, thanks for the info! I didn't know that. Guess you do learn something new everyday!
 
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