Great Eastern Cuttlery (GEC) and their brands Tideoute, Northfield, and GEC. They also do short factory runs for other companies and special orders like TC barlows (Tom's Choice) etc.
I have a set of Scharade Fire and Ice trappers 73 and 23 from them that are excellent.
I've had terrible experiences with Queen and S&M (but I've only bought their collaboration pieces with limited production Burke and Perdue collaborations, and their File and Wire series which are supposed to be the higher end too). Based on those purchases, I don't buy sight unseen unless it is from a seller I trust to take good photos or give me an accurate description. Gaps big enough to see daylight through, poor grinds and poor walk and talk compared to GEC priced the same or less (when I bought those models). I had to do major work with vice, hammer and grinder to make them usable for me. Full reprofile on the Queen D2 blades, not just edge work. The Queen/Perdue had uneven blade spring strength between the three springs, tons of metal shavings through out, that took considerable time and an air compressor to sort out. Wobble in the blades, and what I consider to be near lazy snap on one of the main blades, which is something I can't really fix.
The Burke/Queen grandad Barlow had gaps between bolster/liner/scales, super thick primary grinds, and blade wobble.
The Schatt and Morgan File and Wire had worse gaps in scale and liner/bolster than any traditional I've ever received. I was able to cinch it up a bit with a vice and hammer, but, that made it a bit crooked. Also blade wobble was able to be tightened. The blade grind was decent, and thin enough, so that was nice.
All that said, I have kept and use those knives (though I deeply regret not spending that money on a few other GEC patterns like a couple of big Whalers...... which were readily available and I had in my cart multiple times.... They were cheap at tha time, and I could have bought multiples.........)
I've only owned a few current manufacture Case. They are not at the level of fit and finish of any of my GEC made knives. But I've also not had a bad one, in my very limited examples.
But, they are less expensive. I'd still purchase the GEC in most instances. Unless I can handle the actual Case, or see detailed photos and good descriptions from a trusted member or dealer of the actual knife.
The T.Bose/Case connotations are very nice. Their quality is a very high level, and a good example will be at or above the quality of the best GEC. But, they are significantly more expensive. At prices approaching or exceeding some pretty decent custom makers that are turning out higher volume customs. I have never brought my self to actujslky purchase one, because of multiple reasons. Money on other knives, scaling back, different Production knives being purchased, and frankly, limited funds to justify it. I have sold off my only custom, an absolutely flawless, perfect, one of a kind J. Oesser XL Gunstock made just for me. That is one sale I will always regret, but adulting (ie closing on a house, and financial cooncerns right at Christmas made me nervous, and I knew it would sell immediately.... while other knives I had worth as much would have taken longer, in my experience).
GEC are not all perfect either. You may get one that has an issue. But they are not customs.
I have, however, gotten immense pleasure our of all of the ones I own. I especially enjoy when friends and family handle them, and tell me "they sure don't make knives like this any more" im always happy to tell them. " yes they do"
Availability is an issue, and you have to be on top of releases to get what you want. Secondary prices from greedy flippers probably hurts the brand more than anything right now. It is both a curse and blessing. It means that the manufacturer and dealers sell out quickly(which is beneficial to keepimg the manufacturer in business, able to pay employees, and keep quality high), but often not to people who actually want the knives. It is often flippers who hoard and relist immediately at huge markups.
