Best Fit and Finish U.S. *Manufactured* Traditional Folders

Will Power said:
Sound points ibute, GEC's aversion to stainless is really annoying and pointless. Actually not seen ANY CASE/Bose collab Eurekas yet from anybody. Have they actually released them yet?

That said, GEC maintains a consistency that's a standard others should aspire to. If they can, their future would be rosy.

Regards, Will
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Will, I've been seeing them pop up on the evil auction site. Quite a few actually. As for at the dealers, none to my knowledge but I only know of a couple Case dealers that stock the Bose collaborations.
 
Will Power said:
Sound points ibute, GEC's aversion to stainless is really annoying and pointless. Actually not seen ANY CASE/Bose collab Eurekas yet from anybody. Have they actually released them yet?

That said, GEC maintains a consistency that's a standard others should aspire to. If they can, their future would be rosy.

Regards, Will
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It's a bit of an apples and oranges comparison. If we dismiss or ignore the problems, then the percentages are good. But a single run with problems is actually a relatively large percentage of knives since GEC's total production numbers are so low. An entire run of forum harness jacks with mechanical issues for example. I gave some more examples also in my prior post. GEC's production numbers are so low that Case's limited production runs are often larger than the total production of a pattern from GEC.

Victorinox (previously mentioned in this discussion although they are not made in the USA of course) has high consistency (and relatively HUGE production numbers) but they are much more automated than Case. And Case is much more automated than GEC.

I have no idea of the production numbers from Bear and Utica... they get talked about so infrequently that I had to check their websites to make sure they were still open!

The biggest difference is GEC is using much more old fashioned manufacturing. That has value. The construction of a Case Bose collaboration knife is superior. You just can't make a knife with the same precision using old school manufacturing. Plus those knives have bushings and mill relieved liners for better mechanics. But when it comes to skilled hand labor, GEC is just amazing. When I see the blades being ground at GEC, I can only describe the results as magic.
 
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One thing I’ve noticed in this thread, has been some consistency in agreement, acknowledged or not, that anything Bill Howard has had a hand in , seems to be a good or better quality knife. The older Queen, S&M, and Black Box Winchester’s are all highly praised. Perhaps the simplest way to find quality is to peruse his job history?:D;)
Canal Street was certainly a quality company, what happened to their personnel?
Thanks, Neal
 
supratentorial said:
Victorinox (previously mentioned in this discussion although they are not made in the USA of course) has high consistency (and relatively HUGE production numbers) but they are much more automated than Case. And Case is much more automated than GEC.

I have no idea of the production numbers from Bear and Utica... they get talked about so infrequently that I had to check their websites to make sure they were still open!

The biggest difference is GEC is using much more old fashioned manufacturing. That has value.
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There is indeed something to be said for old fashioned manufacturing. It is interesting to see the parallels between Arthur Wrights in the UK and GEC in the USA. Although they are not made in the USA either, they seem to have intentionally turned away from automation.
 
Jake Yes I agree that there was apparently a problem with a run of Forum Knives. But what happened? They halted production and called in the faulty knives, I was given one of these early knives that had to be tweaked but I can't notice a problem with it. I tend to feel that was a quick response to a situation. GEC has also been making Forum Knives in 11,12,13,14,16 and 17 I think are the correct years. CASE wouldn't consider making a Forum Knife, Queen did 09, 10 possibly an earlier one too but after that shied away, Canal St. did an early one and their last ever run of knives the Forum Knife 15. So I think that given their strong record of ever expanding SFOs for dealers, clubs, individuals et al. and their experience in making Forum Knives does show them to be a) more reliable in QC than others and b) prepared to take on such work to enhance their reputation. It seems to be working.

CASE/Bose Collabs are expensive and are cut out using high tech equipment, but they are still put together by CASE workers and they are relatively large in run numbers, which may explain that through the years there have been complaints and QC issues even with them.

7Gvk5B7.jpg
 
Bartleby said:
There is indeed something to be said for old fashioned manufacturing. It is interesting to see the parallels between Arthur Wrights in the UK and GEC in the USA. Although they are not made in the USA either, they seem to have intentionally turned away from automation.
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Not really sure about this one. We have to be cautious about worshipping old for old's sake...:D Lack of investment in viable machine tools and using worn-out equipment will compromise production methods, viability and particularly quality. Sheffield itself is a pretty good example of this, resting on past glories and not responding to certain necessary changes. Wright and GEC are fundamentally different....GEC is a new company, Wright seems content to be a very small scale outfit with extremely antique machinery, this being a virtue it seems.:)
 
Bartleby said:
There is indeed something to be said for old fashioned manufacturing. It is interesting to see the parallels between Arthur Wrights in the UK and GEC in the USA. Although they are not made in the USA either, they seem to have intentionally turned away from automation.
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That reminds me of Holley. They continued to hand forge blades long after the industry had moved to drop forging (and later moved to stock removal that is widely used today).

Will Power said:
Jake Yes I agree that there was apparently a problem with a run of Forum Knives. But what happened? They halted production and called in the faulty knives, I was given one of these early knives that had to be tweaked but I can't notice a problem with it. I tend to feel that was a quick response to a situation. GEC has also been making Forum Knives in 11,12,13,14,16 and 17 I think are the correct years. CASE wouldn't consider making a Forum Knife, Queen did 09, 10 possibly an earlier one too but after that shied away, Canal St. did an early one and their last ever run of knives the Forum Knife 15. So I think that given their strong record of ever expanding SFOs for dealers, clubs, individuals et al. and their experience in making Forum Knives does show them to be a) more reliable in QC than others and b) prepared to take on such work to enhance their reputation. It seems to be working.

CASE/Bose Collabs are expensive and are cut out using high tech equipment, but they are still put together by CASE workers and they are relatively large in run numbers, which may explain that through the years there have been complaints and QC issues even with them.

7Gvk5B7.jpg
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I think the forum knives would only be a lose lose situation for Case. It's too small an order for them and Case already gets heavily criticized here. I do give credit to the companies who have worked on the knives for us. And to the kind folks of our forum who have volunteered their time. Collectors are a finicky crowd!

These are relatively small runs. If we narrow our focus to forum knives, GEC is leading 6 to 0. When it comes to comparing entire production by the companies, it is much more complicated. Buyers of Case knives on Bladeforums are only a drop in the bucket compared to the total market of Case knives.

What you say about the Bose collaboration knives agrees with my prior posts. The wire EDM cut parts, pivot bushings and mill relieved liners are all machine made. And they are extremely consistent because they are using precision machinery. I've had good experiences buying the knives but when problems occur it is the hand assembling of the knives.

neal70 said:
One thing I’ve noticed in this thread, has been some consistency in agreement, acknowledged or not, that anything Bill Howard has had a hand in , seems to be a good or better quality knife. The older Queen, S&M, and Black Box Winchester’s are all highly praised. Perhaps the simplest way to find quality is to peruse his job history?:D;)
Canal Street was certainly a quality company, what happened to their personnel?
Thanks, Neal
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Hopefully they are doing well. CSC is missed.
 
Will Power said:
Lack of investment in viable machine tools and using worn-out equipment will compromise production methods, viability and particularly quality. Sheffield itself is a pretty good example of this, resting on past glories and not responding to certain necessary changes.
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True, that is indeed also a good part of what did in Imperial Schrade, Camillus, and others a generation ago (and what seems to be happening to Utica's domestic production and perhaps Queen as well at this time). As you point out, with very few notable exceptions, most of the past glories of the Sheffield industry now sadly Rest In Peace. Case and Buck seem to have weathered the storm in the mass production realm, although as has been mentioned Buck in now in the process of downsizing its traditional knife selection.
 
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neal70 said:
One thing I’ve noticed in this thread, has been some consistency in agreement, acknowledged or not, that anything Bill Howard has had a hand in , seems to be a good or better quality knife. The older Queen, S&M, and Black Box Winchester’s are all highly praised. Perhaps the simplest way to find quality is to peruse his job history?:D;)
Canal Street was certainly a quality company, what happened to their personnel?
Thanks, Neal
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Great point, Neal!
 
I was excited about the release of the case/Bose eureka jack. About a month after they came out I picked one up off the bay from an authorized dealer.
There was visible " waves" in the ebony. Under the bolster on each side there was a "divot" in the ebony scale (almost like one side was messed up and whoever was on the belt grinder that day tried to match the other side).
The main blade is rather narrow,
I contacted zippo/case to see if they would replace or look into the ebony scales, the woman told me to send it back to the dealer. I had let about a week pass since I received the knife and should of sent it back to the dealer but did not (I had oiled and worked the blade of grit several hundred times ha).
I am not overly picky but the bolster to cover transition is a big deal to me.
Fwiw I have got an ebony coffin jack and it is put together well. Expensive mistake
When comparing the case ej to the GEC ej the handle of the GEC is more prounounced and the case is more rounded like a bar of soap. Like case started off with an eureka jack pattern and then rounded all the edges on it.
 
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