This appears as a thorny issue, for a long time people have been asking after more opportunities to buy stainless GECs. Various reasons emerge- too punitive on the ageing GEC machinery-might be true but the large volumes of knives in recent issues would also tax elderly equipment. Stainless knives are unpopular and hang around on dealers' shelves- must have had some credence in the past, but now? And perhaps the patterns weren't such popular ones? Speculating about the robustness of GEC's business model and by inference that stainless knives could compromise GEC's viabilty is futile, only those who run&own GEC know the actuality of their business model. It may be that they themselves simply don't like making stainless products, it's their company & they wish to guard certain principles.
However, there is a hunger for quality made stainless Traditionals, of that I am sure. Ask yourself why are most Customs stainless? Sheer vanity at wanting the latest fad steel or laziness over maintaining carbon? Evidently not. Like others, I don't always want to be wiping down a knife, oiling it etc particularly as I like to use pocket-knives on foods, do so frequently. Patina on carbon steel can look very attractive but it takes some doing&application, spotty blotchy patina is very unpleasant and just looks bad maintenance, carbon knives require constant use for them to be looking good. Put them away for a bit and even decent patina loses is hue/bloom, it can impart flavours too. Rust on blades is rare but rust inside the well is common and very annoying.
This is not a binary thing, most rational people don't adopt an either or attitude about carbons-stainless, most of us like both. Nearly all of us like GEC very much for what it has done almost single-handedly against the tide to raise the quality&desirability of Traditional production knives. Who of us are not really proud of some of our GECs both users and display knives? My most recent GEC the 62 arrived last week, astounded by the build quality-no compromises here-the pattern suits me but yes, I would prefer it in stainless as it is beautiful and elegant. Unless I carefully nurture the patina, clean it, oil it it won't look like this for long, it will be leaden looking and greasy unless I'm careful.
Some of the late Queen Cutlery's best made and most useable knives were its White & Amber Stagbone knives in D2, true they often came blunt and D2 is hard stuff but if you got a sharp one you got a knife that has GEC's DNA in it, literally due to the owners. Lionsteel makes a fantastically well made stainless/titanium knife as a contemporary Traditional, not everybody's taste-what could be? But the quality, materials and looks are there. So if as has been mooted, GEC could opt for a Premier Line doing limited runs of existing patterns x times a year using all stainless construction I'm certain they'd be a sell out (and not to traditions or quality
) Let's have a stainless equivalent of Northwoods, you can drop the Mammoth though
Thanks, Will
