Clydsdales and gec's

[pholder]

greetings everyone, i must have 14 or so gec knives. i use my 66 jack and 66 stockman and 71,72,73's mostly. the rest are for show and then someday be my grandsons. my post is simply this: most if not all of the gec's i see posted are mint and absolutley beautiful. not very often do i see them with honest every day work out. are we reluctant to really put them to good use, do we feel they cannot handle it or do we just prefer others that have proven themselves out. like to hear your points of view
thanks for listening, Troy
by the way the clysdale reference was about being a strong workhorse and not to be put on display

 

[mrknife]

You know, most if not all of my GEC knives are mint. The late bigbiscuit sought to help me out by sending me a user clip 15 sometime ago so that I wouldn't get so worked up about using my knives. Of course now the knife has such tremendous sentimental value that I would be very upset if I lose it; I rarely carry out if im in scrubs. However, the recent run of 15s has allowed me to select a few for using. But it is still a problem I have a with as some time ago I did buy a 15 clip to use and even had it modified and rehandled. Just needs to be re-centered by gec. Even my modded knives are practically still unused.

 

[Burnt Stag]

They can be carried and used and still look great. Some get hard use and it shows fairly quickly. Some of mine get light duty and carried in a slip but used here and there and still look like new. And then there are the ones that are pretty much just show ponies but I always threaten to use them and never do.

Burnt Stag

 

[TheChunk91]

I buy some knives just to collect and some to use, it depends on what it is. I have too many to use so now I'm trying to lean more to collecting these days. I am mulling over selling/trading most of my user grade knives down to a handful of favorites, then turning to pure collecting from there. There's just far too many users, I would enjoy minty knives more.

Here's some favorite gec users.

 

[black mamba]

I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of GECs, so I have workers and safe queens. Here are some users.

Modified Eureka Jack

Stag Linerlock #23

Modified #73 Jack

The stainless doesn't show patina, but this is my carry Cuban

Stag Churchill (in my pocket right now)

Ironwood Calf Roper

Modified Bull Moose

Modified #56

#48 Wharncliffe Trapper

 

[TheChunk91]

Jeff, you don't seem to stray too far from a sheepsfoot blade.

 

[black mamba]

Yeah, Paul, if I'm gonna carry one, I'll modify it to my liking, including usually turning the secondary into a sheepfoot/coping of some sort. A straight and a bellied blade is just such a useful combo.

 

[TheChunk91]

It is a good combo, and I use a sheepsfoot more than any other blade.

The main reason I like a stockman or cattle knife the best is because you have a longer main blade with belly, the sheepsfoot for most work, and a spey or ideally a pen to keep sharp in reserve or for detailed tasks. Sometimes the 3rd blade can be a beater while the other two are kept sharp but I usually don't do that.

 

[black mamba]

Agreed. I have stockmen with pen, spey, pen clip, and punch third blades, and can't decide which is more useful, as I don't use any of them much. The tight bellied spey makes a good scraper, though.

 

[HeathH]

I've done lots of work with several of my GEC knives. This 2014 vintage 15 has seen tons if pocket time and use

 

[jc57]

most if not all of the gec's i see posted are mint and absolutley beautiful. not very often do i see them with honest every day work out

Probably because some people take one picture of a knife, when they first get it, and keep re-using the same pic when showing it in threads. I personally hate taking and posting pics. It is a chore, and I don't do it very often. So when I post a knife pic, it is often from 4 or more years ago, and the knife may not look like that now.

 

[Camillus]

I rarely use a brand new 1095 knife as I don’t like ruining the finish. I have 3-4 GEC knives designated as users and I tend to rotate through them.

The other reason is that I have some older traditionals, such as old schrades, and using these is very satisfying. I don’t need to worry about damaging them or changing their condition (1095). I normally buy older knives in the expectation they will get pocket time.

Finally, although GEC build quality is very high there is nothing that makes them obviously better users than cheaper patterns or older patterns, but they often look better due to being new. So it stands to reason that preserving their looks is a logical choice.

 

[Railsplitter]

I have users and safe queens. Some are GEC's and some aren't.

My pocket knives see very light usage mostly because of a restriction at the workplace where I do 98% of my cutting chores but also because of my suburban lifestyle.

These photos of my Churchill were taken after 7 months of pocket time. Still looks brand new aside from some blade scratches that don't show up in the photos. That was a month ago and it still looks the same today.

I'm obviously the minority in this respect but John made a good point a few posts above about using the original photos when posting pics.

 

[pistonsandgears]

Clydsdales are beautiful to me.

 

[WinchesteRalox]

When I read the title at first I thought it was pictures of GECs and horses.

 

[Signalprick]

I'll bet if most are being perfectly honest with themselves it's because 1095 is a PITA to maintain day in and day out for real world use while still keeping your knife looking good. That's why a large majority carry a modern folder with the gec as a secondary. Personally I don't think twice about throwing my $350+ Case Bose or customs into my pocket because I don't have to spend half the day thinking about wiping them down after every use or constantly oiling them. I don't have to consider that today is going to be 90* with 100% humidity, will I sweat too much and make my knife rust.

 

[kamagong]

You only use 5 out of the 14 GECs you own. By your own admission, most of your knives are "mint and absolutely beautiful." It's probably the same for others too.

Here's one that's a user. Probably would've been smarter to keep it as a safe queen.

 

[JD Bear]

I'll bet if most are being perfectly honest with themselves it's because 1095 is a PITA to maintain day in and day out for real world use while still keeping your knife looking good. That's why a large majority carry a modern folder with the gec as a secondary. Personally I don't think twice about throwing my $350+ Case Bose or customs into my pocket because I don't have to spend half the day thinking about wiping them down after every use or constantly oiling them. I don't have to consider that today is going to be 90* with 100% humidity, will I sweat too much and make my knife rust.

I think you're absolutely right. I just ordered a 78 because I love the golden brown bone and I'm so excited to get it.....but I probably won't carry it until the fall. I work 14-15 hours, 6 day a week and I sweat my tail off so it's going to stay home. I've brought GEC's with me to work every once in a while, but I end up putting it with my wallet and keys so it's not in my pocket. It's a shame to not carry them and I can't stay away from buying such awesome knives so it's a dilemma I reckon I'll live with. I wish I had the will power to save for a Bose. The cattle knives are everything I want in a knife and the new stockman knives look great too. Speaking of those...I really dig the pictures you post of yours. You have a great eye my friend

 

[2Dead]

Most of my pics of users are when they were new. Maybe a few have updated pics but even those are old.

That said, I first thought this thread was about GEC's horsepick knives...

 

[Travman]

You only use 5 out of the 14 GECs you own. By your own admission, most of your knives are "mint and absolutely beautiful." It's probably the same for others too.

Here's one that's a user. Probably would've been smarter to keep it as a safe queen.

Perfection. Looks great as a user.