GEC Annual RendeZvous

What a RENDEZVOUS! I had an exceptionally great time! I got to see the Old Friends, New Friends, New Knives and Old Knives! Johnny Two Shoes, Pertinux, Tim Jackson, Donnie Carter! Just on and on! Gary, Charlie, oh my. What a time! Jan Carter, Bill Howard, Chris Tucker. Not to leave any one out! TK and his Brother! Man I had a GREAT time!
 
From what I hear tell from Bob Andrews, aka rma100 of Old Hundred Collectibles fame, he said that there was a very good turn out this year, always encouraging for the GEC work family to have people come to visit!

some shots from the tour, pardon if they were repeats of others as you walk around a windowed theater of sorts viewing the work floor below, the finishing is done, for the most part, up on the second floor; pardon the quality, shooting through glass had to try and keep the reflections down to a minimum plus there were finger prints and the like on there as well..

IMG_1673.jpg


IMG_1674.jpg


IMG_1675.jpg


IMG_1678.jpg


the tray he was working from ;

IMG_1677.jpg


as the knife nears completion, it goes into be cleaned, here are some getting a scrub down after an oil bath.

IMG_1679.jpg


a brief demo on putting it all together, on the far left is our tour guide, Bill Howard, son of the Owner Bill Howard, (thanks to Bob's help putting names to faces)

IMG_1681.jpg


some more pending completion as well...
IMG_1683.jpg


our tour guide asked his father to sharpen his blade up to show how that's done

IMG_1684.jpg


IMG_1685.jpg


Final sharpness was shown easily slicing curves in newsprint when the knife was returned.

It was a very nice visit, glad to have gone, my wife 'knows' I'm crazy, so as you can imagine, I traveled alone, but came home safe and sound with a couple of real pretty ones I'll share later one!
Thanks again to GEC for hosting this for all of us !

And it was great getting to meet some of the forum people there too !!!
G2
 
Last edited:
The Owner is Bill Howard, his son is William Howard, not Jr. Also known as Bill Howard. And his wife (the son Bill) Gretchen was the "Greeter" for the Rendezvous.
 
Old Hunter said:
I would like to hear too, but I bet it has something to do with this old Remington R963 design (cannot wait to own one of the GEC versions):

Remington_R963_opt.jpg
Click to expand...

I did ask Bill Howard about that while we were on the tour, he said "check the thread in Blade Forums, they already answered that themselves" so, there is the answer :)

And thanks Bob for the names, I'm terrible about names!
G2
 
Great work, Gary! Lots of beautiful works of art. Great portrait of Charlie:thumbup: Love the sawcut soupbone Charlow
 
Well, Great Eastern Cutlery Rendezvous 2013 has come to a close and I can't help but think that this one was one of the best!

From the beginning your met by an awesome cast of individuals who work at this awesome knife factory, and from ownership on down you get the perspective of everyone involved with this company. Getting the wonderful opportunity to further your relationship with this company and it's people is a lure that I will forever seek, attending the Rendezvous has been an experience and memory that I will always admire.

Mr. Howard is a class act, and a guy who is really steeped in the traditions of running a knife company. He isn't transfixed on building the biggest knife company out there, but he is devoted to making the best factory knives in the game, all while using time tested and prove techniques.

This man has vision of what quality is.
He and his team achieve it every time a freshly oiled knife is rolled into one of those trademark tubes.
 
One of the best kept secrets about this company is the employees who help to make these knives happen.

Christine in the front office is a peach to deal with and if it wasn't for her, I'm not sure I'd be such a fan of this place.
Her personality is so inviting and you can't help yourself but think she is family, and heck why not?

Then there are the faces and names of those who work these knives from start to finish, but to be honest I can't tell you their names right now. :rolleyes:
Just know that the quality of knife that you receive doesn't even compare to the quality of people who are behind them.

Bill and his wife did an awesome job of inviting people into tours and giving everyone a warm welcome.
 
Gary it was nice to meet you and everyone else. I wnjoyed seeing bith the kni es you bought and brought. I took pics but yours are much better. Since we were next to each other on the tour my pics a basically the same.

Here's a few others including my haul. Sorry for the quality as it was raining all day at home so indoor pics were the best I could do.
null-906.jpg

Charlie's collection. Well some of it. Lots of nice stuff right there.
null-1014.jpg

Charlie
null-1979.jpg

Our tour guide Bill Howard
null-466.jpg

This is the router for inletting shields. If you look against the wall those are all the various shield
patterns lined up.
null-2450.jpg

Here is one of the cutlers demonstrating how the knife is pinned together.
null-1776.jpg

The haul.
null-1586.jpg

null-1982.jpg

null-1153.jpg

null-732.jpg


I brought these three along to discuss. Charlie provided some interesting facts about the trio.
null-1500.jpg

null-1006.jpg

null-1241.jpg


It was a great time and everyone there was so nice. I had a great time talking with Charlie, Sarah, Bob, Gary, Bill and everyone else. Thank you GEC for hosting us. I will look forward to coming back in the future.

Brian
 
Now, a bit about those fellow GEC knife nuts, but first a thanks to Mr. Graley for the wonderful photos.
Awesome work behind that camera!!!

I had the chance to speak with Mr. Graley there on the front porch of GEC and his passion for these knives is evident when he talks.
His taste in knives is impeccable as well, love that Ivory Gary!!!

I also got to meet Mr. Way North himself and he is a very fine gentleman with an exceptional attitude and a wonderful collection.
The collaboration of Charlie's passion for the barlow knife alongside Mr. Howard's talented crew has proven to be a match made in knife heaven. His wisdom of the knife industry is something that we here at BF should never take for granted.
We are definitely lucky to have him here.

Sara (AKA Pertinux) is a wonderful lady filled with about as much passion for the knife worlds as anyone has ever been, and after speaking with her for just a few brief seconds I get the feeling that she has an immense knowledge of these wonderful pocket knives. I always look forward to reading her posts here at BF and after having met the source of all those great reads, I will enjoy them that much more.

Bob Andrews, is a great friend.
His view on life is one I can relate to and his idea of what a knife should be mirrors mine, which makes it that much better when I'm looking for a new knife, because I know how Bob views things and I know I'll be getting exactly what I want when I place an order. He loves this company as do I, but his devotion to his customers is one that any dealer should envy.

Bob, you pulled through again and helped me to get the "one" I needed to make this trip perfect.
Thanks again.

Mr. Badexample was also at the Rendezvous today. I didn't really get a chance to share with him because a tour was starting and he was off to join it, but I think we would have shared a good conversation.
I hope that he had an awesome time.

You are all invited to my campfire anytime!!!
 
Katie and I had a wonderful time at the Rendezvous today, as expected! We have been to the factory before, and once again Bill and the crew put on a great tour and treated all the guests wonderfully.

It was fantastic to meet Sarah, Charlie, Gary, and Brian. It's really neat to meet up with people from the forum and be able to converse face to face! A few pictures from the day:

GEC's front porch.
20130727_091858_zpse60dae58.jpg


The production floor. Don't let all the machinery fool you, these knives are as hand made as possible.
20130727_093257_zps2ad6440e.jpg


GEC's factory display cases:
20130727_111209_zps1eb750cf.jpg

20130727_111252_zps4315858d.jpg


Gary snapping a picture of Bill Howard sharpening his son's knife. Bill (William) readily admitted that if he needs his knife to get darn sharp, he has his dad do it. :)
20130727_104029_zpscab24b56.jpg


Out of the many Barlows that Charlie had on display, this one (the one on the right) was my favorite. It's a 4 piece knife with iron scales/bolsters, and then just the blade and the backspring. Unfortunately I can't remember the brand on this one. Hopefully one of the other attendees will recall.
20130727_122111_zpsb95d5cd7.jpg


Before this event, I didn't own a single Barlow. Now, I'm the proud owner of two!
20130727_203938_zps1e7868f2.jpg


I initially planned to buy just the smooth bone two blade model, but after talking to Charlie and spending a couple hours thinking about it, I couldn't pass up the walnut model. There was just too much history there to ignore it!

20130727_203949_zps78c75a19.jpg


And, since I'm kind of a dork, I asked Charlie to sign one of my tubes. ;)
20130727_122850_zps958fcf35.jpg


Everyone was great today, and even Katie had a good time. We'll be there again in a year!
-Dan
 
Nice guys and thanks, I thought for an impromptu portrait Charlie sat still enough ;)

Here's a shot of my first production run of the spear point TC Barlows, has the PPP on the one side, lovely knife!!!

TC-barlow.jpg


GEC-TC-Barlow.jpg


And this is a Two bladed #79 Montana Workhorse in bark ivory, it was REALLY hard to pass up, two of the three things I was looking for when I planned to go to GEC was a TC Barlow, a 2 bladed #79 in stag and a spear point #55 Hounds tooth, well as the song goes, 2 outta 3 ain't bad and I 'guess' I can live with an ivory handled one instead of stag ...

ivory1a.jpg


ivory1.jpg


And don't I look serious taking that photo? thanks it was really great meeting all of you guys and gals !
G2
 
Last edited:
I drove from around Bedford ,Pa early Friday and met Sarah(Pertinux),Charlie(Waynorth),Bob (Old Hundred,sorry Bob I didn't get your picture).

I had been up all night,and most of the week visiting a bricklayer buddy in Bedford,Pa.I kind run out of gas that afternoon.I enjoyed talking with Sarah and Charlie,all the folks at Gec and Bob.Sarah is engaging and I think has more general knowledge of knives than I do already.

We went up to a knife show about 5 miles away(if you go the right direction:))and I met Galvanic(Mike Losicco) and several friends from other forums.Brett888 and Kathy(from another forum) invited me to stay at their place,lodging was scarce around town,but I returned home that evening.I wish I could have stayed and met others,I really enjoyed myself.


The few pictures I took.

________Sarah and Charlie__________________________________________




___________Bill,Me,and Charlie______________________________________________________



________________Bill,GEC's engineer(Randy??,thanks Johnny),and Waynorth___________________________________________________

 
Last edited:
Great photo's everybody-thank you for taking us folk here who couldn't make it - to there!
Just fantastic.
Thank you.
 
Thanks for the brilliant photos guys, really heart-warming to see. That's a great portrait of Charlie Gary :thumbup:

It looks like you all had an amazing time, and I think it's absolutely fantastic that GEC put on this event, their porch looks almost as welcoming as this one :) Always makes a huge difference when you both like and respect the person making your knives, and Bill Howard and his team certainly do an outstanding job in keeping traditional patterns alive and in introducing them to new generations of knife users :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top