btb01
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2008
- Messages
- 7,793
I'm rather disappointing with the fit and finish on my beerscout. The blade's edge is very wavy and uneven, with a very noticeable sloping upwards towards the base of the blade. (I don't think this is acceptable for a straight edged blade.) There is a substantial enough gap between the cover/bolster on the shield side that you can fit your fingernail in it. The knife looks as it had been dropped; there is a slight scuff and discoloration on the acrylic near the bail, and a chip/indent of some sort on the cover/bolster transition. All in all, I think I got something that is more inline with case's or rough rider's quality standards, not a $90 GEC in my opinion.
This is the first GEC knife (my 11th!) that I have ever considered returning.
Sorry to hear about your issues with yours; it's definitely frustrating to get something you've been looking forward to and end up unhappy with it because the quality isn't up to snuff.
I think I know exactly what you're talking about with the wavy bevel, as I've experienced the same thing on a couple straight edged knives from GEC. The first was an Ancient TC Barlow; the width of the bevel was very inconsistent, resulting in that wavy appearance. At the time I was a sharpening novice (now I think I've graduated to "novice plus"
), and I couldn't get a result that I was happy with on that knife because of the imperfect sharpening job from the factory. I ended up sending back to GEC and having them resharpen it; it came back with a greatly improved edge with an even bevel (from Chris' email, it sounded like Bill did the job himself).The second time I've seen this on a knife from GEC was with this run of Crown Lifters, on the antique yellow bone example I got. The bevel was noticeably wider at one point (about 3/4 of the way towards the tip), again resulting in a wavy uneven appearance. I took this one on myself, and with an extra couple minutes on the sharpening stone (and the removal of ever-so-slightly more material than would be normal on a first sharpening of a new knife) I was able to sharpen the wave out and get a nice even edge.
If the wavy edge were your only issue, I would say sharpen out or (if you were more comfortable) send it back to GEC for a resharpening, but given the other issue with the covers, I would probably return this one, too.
As always with GEC buttons, it does seem to be a crapshoot whether you'll get one or not. I got one with my maroon Micarta, but not with my acrylic. (The acrylic arrived first, so when the Micarta arrived I did the same little tube-shake you described, hoping to hear that rattle.
)
