GEC #77 Medium Barlow Impressions

I have done a fair amount of dyeing - yes you can strip color out, you buy a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and place the knife in it and wait. The bone will become white and chalky. Use RIT dye to dye the white bone any color you choose. There is a high risk you will get small pepper spots on the exposed metal during the dye process.

As glossy as these new camelbones are, would the finish need to be roughed up to take the dye, or does it matter?

I'm thinking crazy thoughts here. I may keep and mod my strawderberry.
 
While the Elderberry is not quite my cup of tea, I actually like the color more than expected. It is a nice reddish color with some purple highlites. I will most likely run it as is for awhile and let the patina start to form and see how it ages? If I still find the looks not to my liking, pretty easy to darken it to a brown;)

Aside from the color, everything is darn near perfection. Beautifully constructed, 6 pulls, very snappy on the main and just a little less so on the secondary. The swedges are a thing of beauty, crisply ground and symetrical.
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I figured as much, but I thought I'd ask. This is the first notable flaw I've had in a GEC. Anyone know what step in the process such a flaw would occur?

I wouldn't call that a flaw. Most of my GEC bevels are not perfect from the factory. If you decide to use it then it doesn't matter because it will sharpen out (or make it worse if Buzzbait Buzzbait gets ahold of it :D). If you decide to keep or eventually sell it doesn't really matter either because if you look close at most GEC's the factory bevels are a tiny bit off.
 
I wouldn't call that a flaw. Most of my GEC bevels are not perfect from the factory. If you decide to use it then it doesn't matter because it will sharpen out (or make it worse if Buzzbait Buzzbait gets ahold of it :D). If you decide to keep or eventually sell it doesn't really matter either because if you look close at most GEC's the factory bevels are a tiny bit off.

Case in point, the secondary blade on the 77 in my pocket today. The edge is "flattish".

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Check this out. I noticed that the secondary on my 77 has a slight upsweep to the tip of the blade. Is this a design feature?

It's that way on mine, too. A straight edge blade reveals inconsistencies in grinding less forgivingly than something with belly. My sheepsfoot even has a little recurve toward the back of the blade. Having reground blades, it's easy to overgrind one part of the blade and undergrind another, especially on a thin, small blade.

If you want it to be perfectly straight, just drag the edge along a file until it's flush, then get to setting a new cutting bevel (with diamond stones or silicon carbide media, lest it take you a while ;) If you don't mind, and most Queen and Case knives and even some customs have edges that are worse, just sharpen and use it and it won't perform any differently than if it were straight.
 
I figured as much, but I thought I'd ask. This is the first notable flaw I've had in a GEC. Anyone know what step in the process such a flaw would occur?
I can think of at least three steps in the process where the blade edge is against a belt (there could be more for sure). I've been told by a few employees that straight edges are tough by hand because there's no room for error, as in - it's easy to tell when a straight edge isn't straight.

My Palo Santo TC suffers from the same issue...
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Thanks for the replies and examples, fellas! I probably shouldn't have called it a "flaw" as that communicates something more negative than my opinion on the matter. I asked more out of curiosity than disappointment.
 
Thanks for the replies and examples, fellas! I probably shouldn't have called it a "flaw" as that communicates something more negative than my opinion on the matter. I asked more out of curiosity than disappointment.


You were right. It's a flaw. It's just a mistake rather easily made, and kind of difficult to overcome.
 
What I should expect to pay for a red sawcut. One listed on the bay for $275. Is that a good price?
 
Thanks for the replies and examples, fellas! I probably shouldn't have called it a "flaw" as that communicates something more negative than my opinion on the matter. I asked more out of curiosity than disappointment.

You are right in that it is a flaw. I guess I don't think of it as a flaw because I expect it on GEC knives. It's not a big deal...more of a hassle if anything because depending on where the bevels is off it can take awhile to fix it by hand sharpening.
 
What I should expect to pay for a red sawcut. One listed on the bay for $275. Is that a good price?

Sorry, that's a fair question for a gold member. I'm not sure there's a better place for it then here.

In that case, I'd say $275 is not a "fair" price, but is probably close to what to expect on Ebay given the newness of these knives and their general popularity.

However, there are multiple trade offers in the trading forum here, and also at least one that went on sale in the sale forum for $140, so if I were you I'd check the trade and sale forums here for a few weeks before resorting to Ebay or other secondary markets.
 
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