GEC #89 wharncliffe melon whittler Problem

[shrapne1]

Good afternoon everyone, I want to say that most of you probably dont know me too well, but i dearly appreciate your knowledge and advice, and i apologize in advance for the long post, but this is important to me.

I ordered a GEC #89 melon whittler and its my first Great Eastern, and i was very humbled at first to have my hands on it since all the previous trad. knives i had before this were small fry. After a few minutes i started noticing the plethora of problems on it and i know some of you have had problems with GEC and i'd like to know how you handled them.

Firstly is the scales, they are terribly mismatched, pile side is dark rich brown, the mark side is whitish yellow; the bigger problem--one side is nice and full, the other side is concave. Literally concave, it looks terrible, but more importantly it is hard\awkward to handle (the bolster sticks out twice as much as the stag, see pic)

Second major problem is the gaps, between the liner and the springs on both sides. This sounds ridiculous but when i was taking the pictures i was watching tv through the gap...

Thirdly the pull is all sorts of screwed up. It feels like the spring is dead on the primary and secondary blades. They open smoothly the first 1\4 of the way, and then the rest of the way its like theres no backspring. Im new to GEC but not to pocket knives, so i tried washing out the joints with warm water and working them and oiling them up. Nothing.

Fourth is the blade rub, which is to be expected on a multi-blade knife, but both the secondary blades are pushed into the liners so badly that it takes the same force to pull them away from the liners as it is to open them up.

Lastly, they burned the backsprings when they ground them to fit in. So i didnt think of this earlier, but if you burn the steel, it destroys the heat treat, which might be why the blades dont open up properly?? The blades are dull but that is fixable.

I mailed GEC, and i very kindly explained the problems, telling them that the knife is brand new with all these problems. I was very sincere with them because i know stuff happens and maybe it slipped through quality control, but the mail i received back was like a kick when i was down. Her exact words were: "send the knife in but we dont know what we can do." Not very promising. I work full time and i go to college full time, and i literally saved up for just under a year to get this knife for myself, so if youre reading this post youll understand why it hurts so much.

Any ideas?? :grumpy:

 

[yablanowitz]

Only one. Send the knife in. They can't tell what the problems are or what thay can do about it if they don't have it in hand.

One other bit of advice. If uneven and mismatched covers bother you, never (and I do mean NEVER) buy stag. Uneven and mismatched is the rule rather than the exception with stag.

 

[TLARbb]

Yep, send it in. They'll do what they can to fix it for you; maybe replace it. There is a lot more variability in stag than almost any other handle material. But the gap problems and the burned springs are quality/workmanship issues. Good stag is very nice. It is hard to come by on production folders; GEC probably is more consistent than other manufacturers with their stag.


Ed J

 

[Will Power]

Nowhere NEAR acceptable quality. Those gaps and spring problems are a no no.

Don't like to hear that GEC gave you a curt reply on this either. I think you should've returned it to the dealer and demanded a refund, he should not be sending out stuff like that, very poor.

As for the handles, this may sound silly but are you sure it is stag?? It looks awfully like Primitive Bone to my eye. This material is frequently different and hard to match well. Perhaps you got a mis labeled knife, examine the tube does it have a serial No. does it have a certificate?

I really hope you get proper satisfaction on this, you deserve it.

Regards, Will

 

[meako]

Even with substandard pics that does not look like stag antler. Neither should it have been sold with those mismatched scales. Send it back.

 

[quattromori]

As others said, there is no way that knife should have made it to your home (or any other home). Send it back, get a refund, do something there's no excuse for that. They will handle it somehow.

As for the handles, this may sound silly but are you sure it is stag?? It looks awfully like Primitive Bone to my eye. This material is frequently different and hard to match well. Perhaps you got a mis labeled knife, examine the tube does it have a serial No. does it have a certificate?

I'm glad Will spoke before me. I'm not an expert on GEC's stag and PB, meaning I never handled one, but your knife looks alot like primitive bone to my eye (the pictures - which of course were intended for other purposes - don't show it clearly).
Oh, and obviously, let us know how the story goes on.

Fausto

 

[knifeswapper]

Well, it is stag. If for no other reason, then at least for the show of torching.

The stag is not very pretty, and that is enough; but the variance in thickness could not be helped by the deer that offered them up (he tried his best)

Those gaps are not common with GEC's, nor is any significant blade rub. The #89 does get more rub reported than most patterns because folks push in on the lighter weight blades when trying to get a nail grip on them and cause the rub. I very rarely see rub on the outside liners, but it does happen.

I see no, nor have ever seen, sign that GEC has burnt the backsprings. First off, they don't take some one size fits all spring and grind it to fit a pattern. They are cut to fit and any finishing that needs to be done is completed on low speed equipment. Any blade traveling issue is probably in the radius on the round end; but they would need to look at it to determine. If it has good action the last 20% of open or close, it is not a spring tension issue.

As for the factory response; it was honest. They work with many different folks with many different objectives and levels of experience. I suspect they learned a long time ago not to promise anything based on what the customer thinks is wrong with a knife. Most professionals do the same thing (when I take my pickup to the shop they are friendly when I tell them what I think is wrong - but doubt they every skip their troubleshooting and go right to fixing my perceived problem. And when I pick it up and they tell me the actual problem, I am glad). I expect the quote taken from the middle of an email might seem a little harsher than the full tone of the email; but maybe you caught Chris before her coffee and cigs (like the "messin with sasquatch" commercial) [she will read this and I need her to know this is purely humor]

This knife should have at least been sold as an EDC; as none of the problems are really functional. Especially if the blade holds open and holds closed (traveling issue only). But, if it was not sold as EDC, GEC very rarely disappoints on their solutions to failed customer expectations. Send it to them with the aspects that fail to meet your expectations, and let them determine the best solution. They may decide to have the dealer refund your money and send the knife back to the parts bin; you never know.

 

[biglmbass]

Send it in. The gap & the lazy springs would bother me the most. To avoid uneven and poorly matched stag it's always best to see pics of both sides before buying, but I understand that's not always possible. One side being concave is not at all uncommon with GEC stag to a small degree. Keep in mind that 89 pattern is fairly thin & long, so any concave or convex covers are probably going to look exaggerated.

 

[abcdef]

I'm surprised you would get one with that many issues. Be sure to come back with the results.

 

[puukkoman]

The handle covers look great to me; that's some nice looking stag/bone/whatever. The difference in thickness or color is normal for that material.
The gaps and springs, however, are not good in my opinion. I would send it in (as all these other folks have already instructed).

 

[Pipeman]

In addition to all the other major issues, is that shield off as much as it looks in the picture? Personally, I would NOT use this as an edc because it would PMO every time it took it out of my pocket. Just my opinion.

Hope they send you a new one, should have never left the factory.

Best regards

Robin

 

[tonystl]

I mailed GEC, and i very kindly explained the problems, telling them that the knife is brand new with all these problems. I was very sincere with them because i know stuff happens and maybe it slipped through quality control, but the mail i received back was like a kick when i was down. Her exact words were: "send the knife in but we dont know what we can do." Not very promising.

I've sent one knife back to GEC for service and I also found their email replies to be curt and not very helpful. I understand they are a small company but that shouldn't mean they get a pass on basic customer/company relations.

 

[MT Damascus]

Grrrr..... customer service should be a high point of ANY company. That is a pretty sloppy looking knife. Good luck with GEC.



Kris

 

[mike Berkovitch]

This one probably escaped the QC. The gaps and lazy spring are not acceptable. IMHO I'm not sure that lazy springs are even acceptable as an EDC.
Mike

 

[Vandal783]

As others said, there is no way that knife should have made it to your home (or any other home). Send it back, get a refund, do something there's no excuse for that. They will handle it somehow.



I'm glad Will spoke before me. I'm not an expert on GEC's stag and PB, meaning I never handled one, but your knife looks alot like primitive bone to my eye (the pictures - which of course were intended for other purposes - don't show it clearly).
Oh, and obviously, let us know how the story goes on.

Fausto

I agree, that is not stag. Its primitive bone.

 

[shrapne1]

Well i got a lot of responses, some positive some negative, but each one gave me some more insight, for that i thank you all.

Let me just clear up a couple things real fast, the knife IS stag, and about 50% of you said it wasnt, and that in and of itself attests to exactly how disappointing the handle material is. Stag should stand out there should be no doubt as to what it is.

Also, the knife was 140 bucks, 60 dollars more and thats an entry level custom... Im not going to trash talk the dealer i got this knife from, but lets just say that the photos were not representative of the knife i got.

Secondly, i apologize for the terrible pictures, but its really hard to get excited about taking pictures with a knife like this.
And yes even the shield is at an angle, its just another flaw with this knife.

I know it seems obvious, "ya just send it in," i just needed some reassurance...i really dont want them to "fix" this knife...i just want to get it replaced...and as selfish or bad as that may sound, there is a certain obligation a company should have to their customer, a guarantee of quality. I have seen knives in the EDC section that were 20 times better than this.

 

[Pipeman]

Well i got a lot of responses, some positive some negative, but each one gave me some more insight, for that i thank you all.

Let me just clear up a couple things real fast, the knife IS stag, and about 50% of you said it wasnt, and that in and of itself attests to exactly how disappointing the handle material is. Stag should stand out there should be no doubt as to what it is.

Also, the knife was 140 bucks, 60 dollars more and thats an entry level custom... Im not going to trash talk the dealer i got this knife from, but lets just say that the photos were not representative of the knife i got.

Secondly, i apologize for the terrible pictures, but its really hard to get excited about taking pictures with a knife like this.
And yes even the shield is at an angle, its just another flaw with this knife.

I know it seems obvious, "ya just send it in," i just needed some reassurance...i really dont want them to "fix" this knife...i just want to get it replaced...and as selfish or bad as that may sound, there is a certain obligation a company should have to their customer, a guarantee of quality. I have seen knives in the EDC section that were 20 times better than this.

You are absolutely correct that they should replace the knife, no questions asked IMO. I'd also like to say, sometimes bad knives slip by quality control However, IMO the dealer should be the last in the quality control line and NOT send a knife to a CLIENT without close inspection.

Hope this gets replaced for you.

Best regards

Robin

 

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