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- Jul 30, 2006
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Great Eastern Cutlery (GEC) has been making knives for only a few years now, but have developed quite a following among fans of traditional knives. Many have commented on the high level of fit and finish for these knives. I dont think anyone has talked about how well they perform. Dennis Strickland and I have talked about steel a lot and how to measure performance. He sent me a GEC Pioneer in 440C and asked me to test the performance of the blade. There are two sections to this. First I will talk about the steel itself, then about total cutting performance.
First part, how does the steel itself perform?
I was unable to get a valid reading on the hardness. To measure the hardness on a Rockwell tester, you have to have a sample that with parallel sides. Since the GECs are flat ground, that means you have to measure at the tang. GEC anneals the tangs of their blades to extend the wear life of the pivot area. So there is nowhere to get a valid reading.
I did perform some edge retention testing on just the alloy. I do this by sharpening several knives each to the same angle. For this series of tests, I used DMT diamond hones, extra coarse, coarse, fine, and extra fine. I rested each hone against a Sharpmaker rod using the 15° per side angle setting. Once the blades are freshly sharpened, I then make 20 slicing cuts in 3/8 manila rope. I then examine the blades under a 3x hand lens using a high intensity light and compare the amount of edge damage. I then resharpen the blades, and repeat the test. I do this until I can firmly see the differences in edge damage and can rank the blades.
The advantage to this type of testing is that it is only dependent on edge angle and alloy. The blade shape does not enter into it, and. Since the edges are all beveled the same, the only difference should be the steel itself. I do mark of each blade so that I use the same amount of each blade to perform the cuts. That way a longer blade has no advantage.
For this test, I used the following blades.
KaBar Large Dozier in AUS8 with a blade hardness of 59HRC.
Buck 110 in 440C at 58HRC.
Spyderco Native III in VG10 at 59HRC.
After several runs, I came to the conclusion that the GEC 440C performed at the same level as the Buck 440C. This was a definite step above the performance of the AUS8 and a little below that of the VG10.
Now, second part. How does the blade actually perform?
When Buck was developing their edge 2000 profile, they produced indisputable proof that blade shape is far more important than alloy in determining the performance of a blade. By using an optimized shape compared to their previous grind shape, they got 420HC to outperform BG42. Of course when both blades had the same shape, the BG42 ruled.
So, back to GEC. GEC has an optimum grind for slicing. Not only is the blade flat ground, the blade thickness immediately above the edge bevel is thinner than that of most other blades. For instance, for the Pioneer, it is 0.022 while the Spyderco, the KaBar, and the my Queen blades are all 0.34. The result is that for slicing, the GEC outperforms all of them.
I took thick cardboard and made 20 cuts. Each piece of cardboard was approximately 24 long. By the 20th cut, the GEC was noticeably easier to use.
Conclusion:
So, I said all this to say that GECs are more than just lookers. They cut really well also, using a combination of good, but not premium steel, good heat treat, and excellent blade geometry.
Hell of a good knife. Recommended.
Thanks, Dennis.
First part, how does the steel itself perform?
I was unable to get a valid reading on the hardness. To measure the hardness on a Rockwell tester, you have to have a sample that with parallel sides. Since the GECs are flat ground, that means you have to measure at the tang. GEC anneals the tangs of their blades to extend the wear life of the pivot area. So there is nowhere to get a valid reading.
I did perform some edge retention testing on just the alloy. I do this by sharpening several knives each to the same angle. For this series of tests, I used DMT diamond hones, extra coarse, coarse, fine, and extra fine. I rested each hone against a Sharpmaker rod using the 15° per side angle setting. Once the blades are freshly sharpened, I then make 20 slicing cuts in 3/8 manila rope. I then examine the blades under a 3x hand lens using a high intensity light and compare the amount of edge damage. I then resharpen the blades, and repeat the test. I do this until I can firmly see the differences in edge damage and can rank the blades.
The advantage to this type of testing is that it is only dependent on edge angle and alloy. The blade shape does not enter into it, and. Since the edges are all beveled the same, the only difference should be the steel itself. I do mark of each blade so that I use the same amount of each blade to perform the cuts. That way a longer blade has no advantage.
For this test, I used the following blades.
KaBar Large Dozier in AUS8 with a blade hardness of 59HRC.
Buck 110 in 440C at 58HRC.
Spyderco Native III in VG10 at 59HRC.
After several runs, I came to the conclusion that the GEC 440C performed at the same level as the Buck 440C. This was a definite step above the performance of the AUS8 and a little below that of the VG10.
Now, second part. How does the blade actually perform?
When Buck was developing their edge 2000 profile, they produced indisputable proof that blade shape is far more important than alloy in determining the performance of a blade. By using an optimized shape compared to their previous grind shape, they got 420HC to outperform BG42. Of course when both blades had the same shape, the BG42 ruled.
So, back to GEC. GEC has an optimum grind for slicing. Not only is the blade flat ground, the blade thickness immediately above the edge bevel is thinner than that of most other blades. For instance, for the Pioneer, it is 0.022 while the Spyderco, the KaBar, and the my Queen blades are all 0.34. The result is that for slicing, the GEC outperforms all of them.
I took thick cardboard and made 20 cuts. Each piece of cardboard was approximately 24 long. By the 20th cut, the GEC was noticeably easier to use.
Conclusion:
So, I said all this to say that GECs are more than just lookers. They cut really well also, using a combination of good, but not premium steel, good heat treat, and excellent blade geometry.
Hell of a good knife. Recommended.
Thanks, Dennis.
