GEC new #43 pattern, who’s excited?

Leslie Tomville said:
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Well this is disappointing. I love the gnarly stag on this knife and the way it looks. But the blade is slightly off center and I can see a tiny spot where the blade edge touches the backspring. Neither flaw is that bad, but I will probably just return the knife to the dealer rather than sell with disclosures or return to GEC. I have not had great luck asking GEC to make repairs. What is the consensus on the porch?
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That is some beautiful stag, Leslie! Bummer about your issues though. The off-center blade wouldn't bother me too much, personally. Unless, of course, it happens to be rubbing on the liner. Otherwise, it simply is what it is I guess. The blade rap is something that bugs me quite a bit though and I discovered that I have a sizable section of the edge on my Red Jigged 43 where the edge is almost folded over ever so slightly. It will sharpen out, no doubt, but still drives me a bit nuts...

I can understand your chagrin.
 
Pàdruig Pàdruig @rswanson Thanks for the input. I have nothing to complain about. I have gotten some great knives lately. Ironically, the only two GECs that I have had any problems with are Stag. There is no blade rub, and I could have the blade sharpened. However, I will probably just offer it on the exchange to give members an opportunity to buy it. If that does not work out, I will probably return it.
 
Man I love this thing!

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Leslie Tomville said:
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Well this is disappointing. I love the gnarly stag on this knife and the way it looks. But the blade is slightly off center and I can see a tiny spot where the blade edge touches the backspring. Neither flaw is that bad, but I will probably just return the knife to the dealer rather than sell with disclosures or return to GEC. I have not had great luck asking GEC to make repairs. What is the consensus on the porch?
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You have to understand that my opinion is somewhat influenced by my partiality toward Nice Stag . I would keep the knife because Stag that nice is now being hard to find unless you pay a pretty good premium . The off center condition would not bother me . I would work on the Blade Rap issue with GEC . I doubt that there are any knives at the dealer or GEC to trade with you . I have just checked mine again and it shows no issue , but it Appears to me that down in the Well the Boss around the Spring has been polished down a little bit . I can not understand why GEC did not Stop Shipments until this issue was Corrected . This issue was reported early on by customers in time for that to happen for these Stag versions .
Good Luck my friend with finding an acceptable resolution to your problem .

Harry
 
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Karl Meyer said:
So my cocobolo #43 isn’t even here yet and I just ordered a beaver tail. I think I have a problem you guys! ;)
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Welcome to the club Karl or shall I say disease:eek::)...I've been collecting GEC's for three years and have something north of two hundo. I told myself that I was only going to get one 43 and here I sit with 4 and an inbound stag...yikes.:confused:
 
007hunter said:
Welcome to the club Karl or shall I say disease:eek::)...I've been collecting GEC's for three years and have something north of two hundo. I told myself that I was only going to get one 43 and here I sit with 4 and an inbound stag...yikes.:confused:
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200+ That is quite the collection!!! I started collecting pocket knives a few years ago and my collection has grown pretty slowly. I used to cook professionally so chef knives were my thing, then moved to pocket knives because using sharp things every day gave me a real world appreciation for fine blades. I can see how these GEC’s might be a slippery slope though :p

mugwump867 said:
I have a beaver tail, just ordered a camel bone, and would grab a micarta if they were readily available so I feel you.
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Preach!
 
Leslie Tomville said:
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Well this is disappointing. I love the gnarly stag on this knife and the way it looks. But the blade is slightly off center and I can see a tiny spot where the blade edge touches the backspring. Neither flaw is that bad, but I will probably just return the knife to the dealer rather than sell with disclosures or return to GEC. I have not had great luck asking GEC to make repairs. What is the consensus on the porch?
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A friend got one like that and after washing it out (which usually helps) it got way worse and the blade now rubs and sleeps tight against the liner. Its going to GEC.
 
For my two cents, it boils down to how badly you want the stag. Off center blade (especially offset to the mark side, so that use will tend to center it) and very light blade rap are extremely minor fusses in my opinion, not flaws. If I liked the stag, I would keep it and never worry a bit. You are not likely to get a replacement if you send it back to the dealer, so sending it to GEC for repair is the only other option.
 
Yes, with only 125 stag made a person lucky to get one.

Model 43's are nearly gone, not quite as fast as single blade 78's, but close!
 
black mamba black mamba E Elgatodeacero

Both of you are correct. These are minor problems, easily fixed or ignored. I just wanted to see what people thought and generate some discussion. However, Harry Old Engineer Old Engineer hit the nail on the head as he usually does. At this price point, and with these nice materials, you would think GEC would have got that blade issue sorted out.
 
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I lost control and bought a total of 8 43's and all have had dead centered blades after ya washed out the gunk, and everyone else's have been that I've seen. The only ones I've heard of that weren't were in the stag..kinda funny..maybe it was Monday morning. I started buying older gec's first and not one had a centered blade and all had rub marks. They were actually bent in the direction they were rubbing. Why I have not been able to figure out..I liked them anyways because they had tight blades and good old fashioned hard pulls. I figured if you got one with a centered blade it was a bonus.
 
Leslie Tomville Leslie Tomville sent you a PM

Leslie Tomville said:
View attachment 880485 View attachment 880486 View attachment 880487

Well this is disappointing. I love the gnarly stag on this knife and the way it looks. But the blade is slightly off center and I can see a tiny spot where the blade edge touches the backspring. Neither flaw is that bad, but I will probably just return the knife to the dealer rather than sell with disclosures or return to GEC. I have not had great luck asking GEC to make repairs. What is the consensus on the porch?
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That's some great stag! Sorry to hear about the off center blade and blade rap. Mine, after oiling, had some light blade rap but it just took one sharpening to take it out. Now I do agree that they should have seen that there were reports of blade rap and made sure that there wasn't on the later knives, but I suppose I also hate proud or close to proud tips and appreciate that it wasn't so on mine. I do think it's not too much to expect both not proud or close to proud tips and no blade rap. I'm surprised it's an issue on this pattern, as it looks to me like there's lots of space between the blade and backspring when closed, but maybe it's a bouncing thing due to the largeness of the knife.
 
I've been reading this thread from the beginning this morning while drinking my coffee. I've only made it to post #360 so I know I have a lot more reading to do so if this has been covered I apologize. Size wise how do these compare to the something like a Case 54 trapper? I've been eyeing these but was holding out for a stag one but of course missed out yesterday. I own zero GEC but do have a stag #81 on the way. So GEC is new territory for me. Thanks for any help.
 
Ky, the #43 Oregon trapper is the same length as the #54 Case trapper @ 4¼" closed, but the Oregon is a much deeper knife from spine to blade well. I just measured the depth of a couple of mine at the spring pin (center) and they are as follows:
____________ CASE _____ GEC ___
CLOSED -------- 0.86" -------- 1.07"
OPENED -------- 0.66" -------- 0.81"
 
Very nice, Luke, mine just arrived as well, and has some nice bold grain and color. It came a little sluggish (improved with flushing and open-closing), with 4½-5 pull, no blade rap, and VERY sharp. I'm pleased.

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