First proper american slippie: GEC Northfield UN-X-LD Sunfish

A.L.

A.L.

Joined
Jun 27, 2007
Messages
8,232
Greetings folks!

For a long time I've been pondering for my first old pattern slippie. Mostly I've been carrying SAK's as slippies go, and my beloved Fällkniven U1. So, I finally decided and this is the one I chose:

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The sunfish or elephant toenail has been attracting pattern for me eversince I saw it. Add to that, the shroud of mystery that goes with it. If you want to read about the pattern, user of BF "John Schedel" wrote about it here.

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Unfortunately the stock photos were not so good. After getting the knife though, I was certainly impressed by the beautiful materials used (antique walnut bone)!

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It's quite well sized knife, weighting pretty much equal to victorinox swiss champ! :eek: I cannot comfirm this however, since I don't have scale. It's pretty much perfect size, since I don't see any problems carrying swiss champ either.

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It's not that thick though!

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Not sure of what the meaning of this gap is, if there is one. Since the fit & finish is so great otherwise, I have hard time believing this is fault. And I don't care really. Maybe someone educated could tell me?

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Everything looks tight and nice!

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And I just love these scales. Yummy!

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This is going straight to use and to my EDC, with my U1.

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Finally, here is the knife with both blades opened.

Overall, I really am impressed. The knife is kind of like me: not so slender! :D

The only complaint I really have, is that this knife is TIGHT! I've read about this with GEC's, but it really aches my fingernails, especially with the small blade. I've already made improvised steel thumbnail that I've attached to my keyring. This might sound ridiculous to some, but I actually think it's pretty funny! I've used U1 in light campfire settings and I've felt like the bar tension was too weak. Problem fixed! I've have my trusty U1 as quick access knife in case of urgent need of cutlery.
It also seems that this knife doesn't have any kind of washers, hence the slightly "grinding" feel when opening and closing. I've never really liked washers anyway, they've been the achilles heel for many "hard use" folders.

Last but not the least, could anyone illuminate me what is the difference between GEC sister companies? Do they have any philosophy or are they just branches?

I hope you enjoyed, and thanks for reading!
Please do share your thoughts of this review.

Thank you!
 
Congrats on that big hunk of knife! :thumbup:

My custom "sunfish" by Don Hanson (4.5" closed) weighs a full 9 1/8 ounces. :eek:

If you don't have a good belt or suspenders you're going to wear your pants around your ankles! :p
 
A.L. said:
gecci06.jpg

Not sure of what the meaning of this gap is, if there is one. Since the fit & finish is so great otherwise, I have hard time believing this is fault. And I don't care really. Maybe someone educated could tell me?
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure what your seeing is a gap between the end of the backspring and the "catch bit" . Some catch bits are pinned from the inside and are stationary, others are allow to pivot slightly. Either way , it can be a time consuming chore(but can and should be done on a handmade, hand-fit knife) to fit, so no gaps exists. I do not believe function will suffer in any event.

A catch bit is basically a spacer making up the difference in tang thickness between the thicker master blade and thinner secondary blade when using a single backspring. Other makers etc here on the forum maybe able to give a more clear, better understood definition of a part that is seldom seen separate from the knife.

Ken

PS, nice looking knife!:thumbup:
 
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My GEC toenail has that same gap. All of the ones I have looked at closely have that, I think it is intentional. I have seen that on some older toenails as well. I don't think it hurts anything- that pattern is a beast. You may have to invest in a pair of suspenders to keep your pants up! ;)
 
A.L. said:
Last but not the least, could anyone illuminate me what is the difference between GEC sister companies?

Thank you!
Click to expand...

GEC markets knives under 3 brands, Great Eastern Cutlery, Northfield UN-X-LD, and Tidioute.
Great Eastern brand knives use high polished 440C stainless with little or no swedging and natural handle materials (wood, bone, horn, stag).
Northfield brand knives are the top of the line, with polished and swedged 1095 carbon blades and use all the handle materials, both natural and sythetic.
Tidioute brand knives have satin finished 1095 carbon blades with little or no swedging and use all the handle materials except 1st cut stag (they do use 2nd cut jigged stag).
 
moonwilson said:
D'oh! I didn't see that. :o I can be a real maroon sometimes.

I wonder if I actually skimmed over that and just parroted it back, thinking I came up with it myself? :confused: I'm not that old yet, but I'm getting there quickly.
Click to expand...

They say gecko blubber helps with that...;)

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Can't remember, myself. :D
 
whooo weeee that's a whopper. like jani i had no idea elephant toes were so big. sure looks nice though. excellent pics too.... thanks for posting.

my first experience with GEC is similar to yours. the blades had poor walk, smoothness of movement and feel, but did improve a great deal after a light oiling of the joints and working the blades a bit.
 
looking that beatiful and tight fitted knife made me almost cry compearing that to my Queen Canoe... both samples. Oh, well, enough of that. I might want to have GEC Sunfish too...
 
Congratulations!
I have been looking at one of those myself. More for a converstion piece than an EDC, but I can see how you would want to carry it.
The double pulls on the main blade, the giant shield, those scales that really "fit" that pattern, single back spring, and from the looks of it (in your exceptional pictures :thumbup:) outstanding fit & finish all add up to one awesome looking knife!
 
I had no idea about the size of the sunfish. That's a whooper! :eek:

Also the differences in GEC I never knew so I learned something today! :thumbup: :)
 
a.l. it's embarassing how good scandanavians are with english. we should be as educated in this country. i have the same sunfish & i believe it has the largest shield in the gec inventory.most gecs come with leftover compound in the joints & i usually flush the knives out with rem-oil or w.d.40. i guess you've noticed the large pause on the closing cycle. this was done to prevent losing a finger to the power of the massive backspring. this baby can do any job if you're man enough to lug it.
dennis
 
DennisStrickland said:
a.l. it's embarassing how good scandanavians are with english. we should be as educated in this country. i have the same sunfish & i believe it has the largest shield in the gec inventory.most gecs come with leftover compound in the joints & i usually flush the knives out with rem-oil or w.d.40. i guess you've noticed the large pause on the closing cycle. this was done to prevent losing a finger to the power of the massive backspring. this baby can do any job if you're man enough to lug it.
dennis
Click to expand...

BIG +1 on flushing out the gunk. I use Break-Free CLP. But have used A LOT of WD-40 also. It makes my GEC's much smoother with little grit feeling.
Thank you +++ for your very fine pictures.

BEAUTIFUL :thumbup: :thumbup: :D
 
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