First GEC- first impression

Gaspumps

Gaspumps

Joined
May 14, 2012
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Just got it in the mail.
GEC Northfield 68221 Autumn Gold Jigged Bone.
I did a lot of research and and looking before I took the plunge.
Found a dealer on GEC's site and pulled the trigger. The dealer shipped fast.
Nice finish. Very pretty.
Blade pulls about a 2
Main blade doesn't always close all the way on its own, neither does small blade.
Not very sharp.
Kind of underwhelmed right now. Keeping an open mind until I can look at it closer but...
Will update.
 
Nice looking knife - really like that bone.
I have a White Owl with a spear main that doesn't always close all the way on its own either - but I still love and use it! :)
 
My white owl, which is one of my most carried knives, came so dull it would not open an envelope. No exaggeration. For some reason, the grinds on these are rather thick compared to most other GEC knives I own. As such, you have to remove a lot more material to get it sharp than a typical thinly ground GEC. I finally had to send mine back to the factory because I just couldn't get it sharp. It arrived a few weeks later sharp enough to shave phonebook paper and I have not looked back.
 
I'm sorry your knife isn't what you'd hoped, and had reasonable expectation of receiving.

I don't know if this will help, but when my White Owl arrived-- same edition, autumn gold with spear main, and my first GEC as well-- the pen blade had very little "walk and talk," and had to be helped to close. I wondered what I'd gotten into. A thorough cleaning (hot water and soap, although now I'd probably start with WD-40) followed by some oil restored its snappiness.

As compared to other GECs I own or have handled, my White Owl has the lightest pulls (though: the blades snap, and close on their own once past the midpoint). For me, this contributes to the overall elegance of the pattern, but that is of course very subjective.

~ P.
 
Might have to flush out the joints. I've received a few slipjoints where the walk-and-talk improved significantly once you cleaned out the factory grit.

As to the sharpness, that's par for the course when it comes to slipjoints. Occasionally you'll receive a sharp one, but that's an unexpected bonus.

- Christian
 
I would take P's advice and then consider sending it to GEC. I have a few GECs and sent back one. It was fixed when I got it back which took about 3 weeks.
 
As a GEC Distributor, I have handled probably thousands of GEC knives. I would recommend to all Forum Members, and of the OP, a good flush and cleaning of the joints should be the very first thing done with any new GEC Knife. That being said, the PPP 68 White Owls did have a rather soft spring in general. GEC has a Lifetime Warranty on workmanship and materials, and some Distributors offer a "No Questions Asked" Return Policy.
 
Must be disappointing as it's your first, puzzling too. The Clip bladed White Owls I own have satisfying snap, the joints could be fouled with production gunk so a WD-40 purge could help.

Ah, must be that bail weighing things down......:D:eek:
 
The owl is one of my favorite knives all time. But I will admit that the blade grind is a bit thick on both of the ones I own. One has a little weaker springs than I would like, the other is absolutely perfect. The good one springs open more like a half stop knife than anything else. How a knife walks and talks is very important to me and in all honesty I think I got very lucky on the way my owl works.

If there is one thing GEC needs to work on it is consistency of pull. Whether it is tang grind geometry, too tight assembly, or just weak springs I cannot say. But I have seen the same thing on the #33 knives as well. And even on a couple of the 68 moose knives I have stowed away.

Will
 
DrPenguin said:
The owl is one of my favorite knives all time. But I will admit that the blade grind is a bit thick on both of the ones I own. One has a little weaker springs than I would like, the other is absolutely perfect. The good one springs open more like a half stop knife than anything else. How a knife walks and talks is very important to me and in all honesty I think I got very lucky on the way my owl works.

If there is one thing GEC needs to work on it is consistency of pull. Whether it is tang grind geometry, too tight assembly, or just weak springs I cannot say. But I have seen the same thing on the #33 knives as well. And even on a couple of the 68 moose knives I have stowed away.

Will
Click to expand...

GEC didn't make a 68 Moose. They made a 68 White Owl and a 68 Buckaroo. And now of course the 68 Pony Jack.
 
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I'd echo the others, first impressions of a GEC have to be suspended until you can a) clean out the joints - to either make the walk and talk snappier, or make the pulls less strong b) reprofile the blades - GECs are always very obtusely ground, but one compensation is, they are done very well and very evenly - even if you don't like the cutting power of your knife at the moment, you can still look at the evenness of the edge grind and compare it to any of GECs competitors. This makes them very easy to adjust to your own preferred edge.
 
My first was a #48 two blade trapper. I got it about a month ago, and am still trying to get it sharp. This one is frustrating me.
 
Walk and Talk... always new terminology I have never heard before. :D

Hope the cleaning helps improve the snap.
 
My first one is on order, one of the pony jacks. Decided I would try something other than Case.

From all of the posts here praising the brand I have high hopes.
 
I have a Clip bladed White Owl in 440C and Elk. It was a bit stiff out of the tube. I found that after cleaning and oiling the joints the pull was about a 4, which for me is about equal to that on an SAK. For me, that is perfect. I do not wish to struggle with sharp objects.

I found the blades to be satisfactorily thin at the edge and at least sharp enough to cut paper out of the tube. However, the first thing I did after cleaning the polishing compound out of the joints was a go on the Sharpmaker. The bevels are now at 15° per side and the cutting is superb.

A very sweet gent's knife for sure.

100_3261_zps1a1021f5.jpg
 
kamagong said:
Might have to flush out the joints. I've received a few slipjoints where the walk-and-talk improved significantly once you cleaned out the factory grit.

As to the sharpness, that's par for the course when it comes to slipjoints. Occasionally you'll receive a sharp one, but that's an unexpected bonus.

- Christian
Click to expand...

^^ This^^ Traditonal knives are hit and miss with sharpness, and I think the companies like to put small, pretty little bevels on them for the collectors.

I just picked up my first #68 white owl with a clip point off the forums (thanks Jim!) and it is one of my sharpest GEC knives out of the tube. Mine opens and closes nicely too. Just flush the joints and see where it puts you. The pull on the #68 is notoriously light, which is a nice change from all the GEC nail breakers.

Sorry that you are dissapointed, that Autumn gold jigged bone sure is purtty!
 
knarfeng said:
I have a Clip bladed White Owl in 440C and Elk. It was a bit stiff out of the tube. I found that after cleaning and oiling the joints the pull was about a 4, which for me is about equal to that on an SAK. For me, that is perfect. I do not wish to struggle with sharp objects.

I found the blades to be satisfactorily thin at the edge and at least sharp enough to cut paper out of the tube. However, the first thing I did after cleaning the polishing compound out of the joints was a go on the Sharpmaker. The bevels are now at 15° per side and the cutting is superb.

A very sweet gent's knife for sure.

100_3261_zps1a1021f5.jpg
Click to expand...

Frank -that white owl is a peach. I have a snakewood clip which was (and is) superb out of the tube.
 
How would I go about properly flushing out the joints? Do you mean wd-40 or washing with soap and water?
 
I just got my first White Owl with the clip main from the exchange a little while back and I really love the pull on it. I would say it's about a 4 or 5 and it would snap close but it had a lot of grit in it especially the pen blade. I didn't have any WD-40 on me but I flushed the joints out real good with Tri-Flow and it is working very smooth and perfect now. The only issue I'm having is every time I open the blades now the Tri-Flow oil comes out between the liners and the back spring. Is this why and when I should be doing a hot water and soap bath? Do you just use regular old Dawn dish soap then blow it out with compressed air and put a dab of oil back into the joints?
 
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