GEC SFO 85 Handle Materials , what do you think ?

[Ogri]

I have picked up a few of the 85s sold by forum members over the past few weeks. I was interested to know what others thought of the blood wood and natural micarta handles. Seems to me some people love the micarta but other are not too keen on the mat bolsters and unpolished micarta.

What are your thoughts?

 

[BigBiscuit]

I don't have any of the new 85's, but I have had knives with both finishes. The bloodwood is gorgeous in my opinion. Very nice variegation to the wood. Very rich coloring.
I also like the natural micarta. If it were polished, it would be very much like linen micarta. So for that reason I think it is better to leave it in it's natural state.
The mat, or satin bolsters are a different story for me. I like satin bolsters, but I don't care for GEC's treatment and final result. I would prefer to have a nickle silver or steel bolster and give it my own satin treatment. They started that satin treatment with the last run of #77 Medium Barlows. I found it very uneven looking. I can redo it myself, but if I'm going to do that, I would rather start from scratch and do the whole thing myself.

 

[tstaut]

I agree with what Bob said. I absolutely love the bloodwood, and find it distracting to have in my pocket because I just want to take it out and admire it all the time.

The micarta is fine but I got an uneven amount of "satin" scratches on one of my bolsters that really bugs me.

One of my bloodwoods:

 

[MCar]

I haven't noticed the uneven satin scratches on the micarta examples. Not saying it's not there, it's just something i haven't keyed in to and that could because I'm so focused on my pinched bolsters. I like both cover materials. I am very glad the micarta itself is not polished. I also think the satin bolster are appropriate. But why? Why does the less "bling-y" look go with the unpolished micarta?

My comment lies here. I think part of what we love about the micarta is that it's a modern, "user" material in a traditional pattern.

I own one of each of the micarta models (so three) and I've inspected 2-3 others (so 5-6 total). Every single one has fit and finish problems with the "pinches" on the bolsters. But none of my Bloodwood or jigged bone examples (or any other #85s I own from previous runs) has issues with pinches on the bolsters. This, I find far more distracting than satin finish lines. Some of the pinches are so far off its embarrassing and it looks like something the factory could have fixed after the fact if they wanted to.

My point: I'm not sure if there is something about the matte finish that affects the pinching of the bolster. But I would rather have that issue correct than worry about which finish (satin vs. polished)

If we like the micarta because of the modern "user" element, I think it would have been neat to have the micartas withoutout pinches and rings entirely. It would have looked like the bolsters on the BF 2011 knives, only satin finish. I think it would have been a more appropriate trim of the "modern," "user" #85. Heck, I even think it would have been cool to have rings, but no pinches--something unique on the #85 and still thematically appropriate.

Incidentally, I have the same issue with my #18 in natural micarta with satin bolsters. I don't want to sound like an unsatisfied customer. These are now among my favorite knives precisely because someone was willing to do a SFO in natural canvas micarta and leave it unpolished. LOVE them. But I think this point is relevant to the OP's question.

[URL=http://s882.photobucket.com/us.../20160326_123006_zpsafcb58pp.jpeg[/IMG][/URL]

 

[Buzzbait]

I absolutely love the natural canvas micarta. It's my favorite cover material. My knives generally get used pretty hard, so micarta works well for me. Great grip and never a cracked scale. Very functional and rugged.

I also dig the satin bolsters. I've never been a fan of very shiny bolsters or blades, so satin is good for me.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Ogri]

MCar, the shield on yours seems really well fitted, I have seen some micarta ones that are pretty " gappy" around the edges.

Also can help wishing that they had done these knives with either Cocobolo, ebony or plain white oiled bone

 

[Jfowl31]

I was going to make a comment about the pinches too. I assumed it was all of the examples though as I've only seen the natural micarta ones... I wonder what changed in the pinch jig between the runs? It is something I was surprised to see get through quality control with gec. Something I would have expected as a pretty big flaw on one of their "store knives" or seconds.