I was on the lists, but missed the email and "hunting season". I ended up getting one on the exchange, and I'm happy I did. GEC never ceases to impress. I love the bone color and texture, I love the thinness, the build is immaculate, and it's rock solid. The pull is pretty strong, a bit more than my ideal, but easily within specs and on par with my Stag Jack. The tip is closer to proud than I like, but I'm overly sensitive about that for some reason. Overall, this is an absolutely top notch knife. I can see this being a great user, as I think the #77 is an ideal size. Honestly, it makes me really wish I could have picked up one of the two blades (especially in abalone) and maybe one of the two other single blade styles.
It sounds far fetched, but they can patina in the traditional sense. My sheepfoot and Anniversary Charlows both have patina, one from sitting with pizza sauce on it and the other from a friend holding it with Doritos or something on his hands and then not cleaning it off till the next day. That latter one is incredible, you can actually see his fingerprint. Whatever he was eating probably isn't good for the human body if it can do that.
