GEC Quality Control Issues

dma1965

dma1965

Joined
Mar 9, 2013
Messages
403
I have purchased over 25 GEC knives in the last 6 months or so. I have discovered that their quality control is hit or miss. At least half of the knives I have purchased have had what I would consider significant blade wobble.

Granted, my standards may be a bit high. To me the gold standard for production knives, when it comes to blade wobble, is the plain old Swiss Army Knife. I have owned nearly a hundred SAK knives, and only one older used model has ever had even the slightest blade wobble. This is on a knife that is about 30 years old.

I have sent nearly all of the GEC knives back to GEC, and most of the time they fix the blade wobble on the first try, so I know they can produce knives without wobble, and fix them if they do.

But why?

Why don't they spend a little extra time during the quality control process and not send out knives with blade wobble? My Case knives also exhibit less frequent blade wobble than the GEC's I purchase at nearly twice the price for a comparable model (and sometimes more).

Don't get me wrong...they are sweet knives, and that is why I keep buying them. I just wish they would pay a bit more attention than they do.
 
One of the biggest complaints of early GEC knives was the "nail breaker" pull on the blades. This has lessened significantly the last few years, and this may account for the wobble you experience. My own experience has been very positive with GEC. I own dozens and have only had one with a blade wobble issue. I sent it to the factory and got it back in perfect order in about three weeks.
 
Subspace, are you saying there is a relationship between the nailbreaker & wobble? Was the nail breaker just a tight fit causing extra friction?
 
Hmmm. Not my experience. Overall all companies are going to have some bad apples now and again. What tells all is the warranty and how on the ball the company is to fix things that come up and as I said in my video when the tip issue came up with my knives I have not seen anyone but myself move that fast to get something done for someone. That makes up for any shortfalls in my book. At least GEC finishes their products to a high level and when anyone is spending that kind of time to bring out that much shine on a folder that means it is in someone's hands for a long time. It is hard to think a lot gets missed that way as anything less than perfect is likely to get picked up in that long acquaintance in the hands of a master trained in what to look for. While not all get caught its certainly got to be few that get out the door that bad to be an issue.
 
dma1965 - Surely you've been around long enough to have seen this topic (especially GEC blade wobble) discussed time and again. Here is a link to one of the latest discussions.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1125428-GEC-Lockback-Blade-Play-is-this-common?

The horse that was beaten to death in that thread actually got up and beat another horse to death.

Some GEC knives including their lockbacks have blade wobble. So do other brand's knives. It may be disappointing but that's just how it is.

Thanks for bringing it up again though. Perhaps others (newer members) have missed it.
 
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dma1965 said:
I have purchased over 25 GEC knives in the last 6 months or so. I have discovered that their quality control is hit or miss. At least half of the knives I have purchased have had what I would consider significant blade wobble.
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What is your definition of significant? Just how much wobble does a blade have to have to be significantly wobbly?

I'm not trying to be curt here. I just can't wrap my head around 12 or 13 GEC knives out of a total of 25 GEC knives having significant blade wobble. It makes me wobbly just thinking about it.
 
Ive got 30 or so GEC knives and havent experienced ANYTHING like the OP is describing. This is either really bad luck or a bad run or something?
 
It's getting close to my bedtime (old guys go to bed early) but it'll be interesting to hear - errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr read what dma1965 has to say - errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr type tomorrow. I'd like to get the details - patterns, clip blades or spear blades, lockbacks, linerlocks, etc..
 
I've had the normal movement with some GEC lockbacks, but no wobble like the OP experienced. I did actually steer clear of GEC because of the tough springs, initially. I had one single blade 23 lessened, and I didn't get any shake from it. My 73 Beaver Tail has a bit of wiggle but not bad. Just checked a 73 single, 48 single and 15 single and all were fine, with the 73 exhibiting a hair of a wiggle.
 
I have about 20 or so GEC's that I use regularly and my #72 clip pt in stag is the only one that has any play whatsoever.
It is also the only one with a large gap in the backspring/liner.
The rest are fantastic F+F.
 
Wobble vs movement can be construed in a much debated manner. After 5 years of having the pleasure of carrying and collecting GEC knives, none have had wobble to the point of being unacceptable. Some do have movement but far from wobble. Not a worry for me, but rather an enjoyment for the wonderful action. I strop my pocket knives, and none of my GEC`s wobble, while a few other makers do have wobble. A big difference...
 
Did you guys know that if you have a knife with gaps between the spines and liners and between the liners and covers that you can place a tightly woven nylon screen materil over the various gaps, liners. and covers and blow through them like a harmonica and play blues, country, hip hop, and all other manner of songs. Go ahead, put your lips to your knives and blow. If you use toilet paper you can get them to sound like a kazoo. They would have a distinct BUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZ if you used toilet paper.
 
I own many GEC's, and have had NO issues whatsoever, it would be very interesting to see the op's knives and see exactly what he means - on what models of knife as well.
 
I dunno. I guess that if I were the OP I wouldn't go buying any lottery tickets. I have a half dozen GECs and have handled a few more. None of those slipjoints has had a bit of wiggle.
 
I've had 10 GEC's so far and all have been fine. The OP must have incredibly bad luck to have experienced this problem he describes. There are people who've been struck by lightning more than once before, so anything is possible.

In any case if I did have one with wobble I'd send it back to be corrected. I know GEC will correct the problem as long as you haven't altered the knife (such as grinding the kick down for example).
 
Modoc ED said:
The horse that was beaten to death in that thread actually got up and beat another horse to death.
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Modoc ED said:
Did you guys know that if you have a knife with gaps between the spines and liners and between the liners and covers that you can place a tightly woven nylon screen materil over the various gaps, liners. and covers and blow through them like a harmonica and play blues, country, hip hop, and all other manner of songs. Go ahead, put your lips to your knives and blow. If you use toilet paper you can get them to sound like a kazoo. They would have a distinct BUUUUUUUZZZZZZZZ if you used toilet paper.
Click to expand...

LOL! You're on a roll Ed! :D :thumbup:

knarfeng said:
I dunno. I guess that if I were the OP I wouldn't go buying any lottery tickets.
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Yup :thumbup: None of my GEC slipjoints have had any blade wobble at all.

For me, this is one of two recent gripe threads that could have just been comments in the 'Lets Talk About GEC' thread.
 
first off -I'M TRYING THE KAZOO THING .
my question to dma1965 the OP is (and I ask this because I have 22 GEC knives and not one has anything I would consider significant blade wobble) ...
as a child did you break toys or do you still own some?
This is a question that divides the world into two distinct groups. I mean no rudeness to you. I definitely fall into the second group.Many people I know are in the first group.It pretty much works for everything we own .
If we try to wobble things they will most likely wobble.
 
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