- Joined
- Nov 1, 2007
- Messages
- 2,412
Haven't posted my 25 here yet, posted it in another thread and figured I should post it here too.
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That is a Beautifull knife. Would you call it a three finger handle or four? It,s hard to tell in the pic.
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Haven't posted my 25 here yet, posted it in another thread and figured I should post it here too.
![]()
That is a Beautifull knife. Would you call it a three finger handle or four? It,s hard to tell in the pic.
A study in wood.
In no particular order; snakewood, jobillo, ebony, rosewood, bocote, and African blackwood.
There are many that I'm missing like cocobolo, che chen rosewood and the rare zebrawood and jigged walnut both from '08 but it's the '12 kingwood that I really want for the collection.
Have a good Sunday everyone :thumbup:
That WOOD be a nice group, Paul. Have a good Sunday.
Beautiful collection of wood 25's Paul.
I love 25's with easy open notches.
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Thanks Travis, that che chen is lovely. One that has yet eluded me
Did you mod the ebony yourself?
That's a fantastic mail call Paul! Congrats on finally scoring a drop-point.
Drop point!!! Congrats! :thumbup:
~J
Categorically amazing: tale of desire, story of wishes fulfilled and of course, that awesome knife. Love the 25, thanks for the great read & pics."It's been a long, a long time coming" as the great Sam Cooke said.
Any regular visitor to the Traditional subform will know that I am an avid collector of the #25 little jack or barlow pattern by Great Eastern Cutlery. I have them in 1095 carbon steel and 440C stainless. I have Northfields, Tidioutes and acorns. I have end capped, bareheaded, easy-open notched versions with stamped, threaded and pinched bolsters sporting branded and plain shields with wooden covers, jigged and smooth bone covers, linen and canvas micarta, acrylic and stag, single bladed and doubles with clip, spear, pen, sheepfoot and wharncliffe blades.
I have some extremely rare pieces but the elusive drop-point blade has always remained out of reach. I have been haunted by images posted by fellow forumites of their splendid examples, some of which were even obtained by accident! I have eagerly read reviews exclaiming the virtues of the profile by people whose opinions I value which I could not respond to. I have even shamelessly begged some very patient and understanding members to sell me their drop-point #25s but without success. Oh how I craved them!
Then a while ago, whilst exchanging messages with a fellow enthusiast who I know has probably the best collection of #25s outside the factory museum itself (I am of course referring to AKC), a favour was asked of me. I agreed without hesitation, as he is a real gentleman, and true to form he offered me in return a knife which was described as an old drop-point user.
It arrived a couple of days ago having spent a number of agonising days waiting in a remailing warehouse in Oregon before crossing the Atlantic.
It is glorious!
The blade disappears into the handle perfectly. In its dormant state this is clearly the sleekest and most pocket friendly version of Bill Howard's classic reinterpretation. The nail nick just peeking above the liner offering enough of itself to allow access without disrupting the beautiful lines of the closed knife. In this regard, the EO notch to me is superfluous to requirements as the spring pull is a firm 7 and there isn't a great deal of blade surface available to get purchase on anyway. ~I'm not an EO man but that's another story~ It's walk and talk is immaculate; an authoritative, definitive and vigorous snippity-snap which is extremely pleasing to the eyes, ears and fingers. When open the spring tension is very firm which provides me with a great deal of trust in this small pocket knife, which is, I suppose, no surprise as I haven't come across a limp #25 yet in any configurations.
Performance wise, this blade profile is excellent. More of a point than the spear sibling but not as much as the clip point, yet able to afford more belly than either without peering above the handle horizon when closed. As any hunter knows, the drop-point design makes for a very dextrous blade which allows the user to manipulate the cutting edge directly by placing a finger along its entire length without bumps, edges or elaborate swedges getting in the way. The 1095 heat treat is, as usual, very good.
Lastly I find it interesting that by sheer coincidence I gave three GEC knives to forum friends recently. All were Northfields in Cocobolo covers with cloud shields. The Gods of sharpness extend Karma.