GEC "Store" Models (Seconds?)..If You Have One I'd.....

[willc]

I have a couple seconds GEC’s that I cannot find a flaw with but I think the boat may have sailed on getting any like that now.
This 19 is newest seconds knife and it only took a couple minutes to find the flaw.

 

[brochacho]

I’ve got a snake wood viper S I think the only “problem” is the wood is a bit dark and doesn’t bring out the snake pattern as much. I love it.

 

[nickvnlr]

I can't find anything wrong except the "S" stamp.

 

[mrknife]

GEC has seconds? I was not aware of that.

i believe those might have been from awhile back. the 2 and S models have had been the point of contention and debate for some time in at least several of the facebook groups.

 

[huntnfishin]

I have a 33 with the S stamp. The knife is perfect except the pen blade tang must be deformed somehow as it pauses like it has a half stop on closing. Don’t bother me at all. Good value.

 

[TexasTomcat]

Given the current feeding frenzy for nearly any GEC, I wonder if the 'S' practice has been discontinued? What's the newest one anybody has?

Seems that bargains were to be had and the 'S' denoted cosmetic flaws rather than functional ones.

I have bought the following S knives 'recently'. I don't regret any of these buys. Most were 5-15% cheaper than a non-S knife from same dealer.

470120 Stag S - functionally fine, cosmetic; slightly mismatched stag I assume was the issue, one side dark & slim, one side lighter and fat; both sides = nice stag.
380321 Bloodwood S - functionally fine. Cannot find a cosmetic issue....puzzling one.
380321 Burnt Orange Jigged Bone S- functionally fine. Jigging fine, but one light and one dark side, noticeable.
892121 Lemon Brite Acrylic S - functionally fine. 1 VERY small ( . ) tan spot on the back cover near the bolster.
852221CL Cherry Natural Smooth Bone S - functionally fine. Perhaps inspector thought there was an excess of white on some of the bone edges, close call for me. Good Cherry color, very little pink & white. I'm glad to have it.

 

[Nebrasketball]

I have a Northwoods IRJ from the latest run that is a store model. There is a small black spot in the micarta. I also have a store model, 92 eureka jack in stag that is flawless.

 

[Nature Boy]

I’ve owned a number of them. Most I couldn’t tell you what the flaw was. One seemed to have an uneven swedge grind. One had an over spun pin. One had the start of an extra pin drilling. One might have mistook the natural fissure in the stag as a crack? All have been, or would be, perfect users.

 

[CtotheMax]

I have an ‘S’ beer scout and can’t find a thing wrong with it, one of my favorite knives.

 

[Travman]

No problems with this ”S” knife.

 

[sf fanatic]

Have these two and for the life of me I can’t find any flaws. View attachment 1634149

 

[jakemex]

GEC has seconds? I was not aware of that.

Yeah, I have a couple, just not marked as such

 

[Travman]

A Store knife is marked with an “S” and a second is marked with a ”2“. There is a difference between the two. I’m sure there is a detailed explanation about the difference somewhere here on the porch. However, I wasn’t able to find that explanation.

 

[mrknife]

A dealer would likely have the actual explanation. Especially a dealer that's had sfos done.

 

[Doppler Bob]

I have an ‘S’ beer scout and can’t find a thing wrong with it, one of my favorite knives.

That’s what my “S” knife is, a Beer Scout.

 

[Modoc ED]

A Store knife is marked with an “S” and a second is marked with a ”2“. There is a difference between the two. I’m sure there is a detailed explanation about the difference somewhere here on the porch. However, I wasn’t able to find that explanation.

That doesn't make any sense Trav Travman . Just because a knife is sold via the store, shouldn't mean it is marked as so. I've bought knives from the store in the past and none of them have been marked with an S. I just bought an S marked knife from CK and it was sold as S - Cosmetic Blemish the S meaning Second.

 

[mrknife]

That doesn't make any sense Trav Travman . Just because a knife is sold via the store, shouldn't mean it is marked as so. I've bought knives from the store in the past and none of them have been marked with an S. I just bought an S marked knife from CK and it was sold as S - Cosmetic Blemish the S meaning Second.

no, once upon a time, there was an actual 2 stamped on the knife tang over the tang number

 

[Modoc ED]

no, once upon a time, there was an actual 2 stamped on the knife tang over the tang number

You are correct but as far as I know, an S stamped on the blade or anywhere on the knife does not stand for Store. Why would anyone need to mark a knife with an S to indicated it was from the store?

 

[Travman]

That doesn't make any sense Trav Travman . Just because a knife is sold via the store, shouldn't mean it is marked as so. I've bought knives from the store in the past and none of them have been marked with an S. I just bought an S marked knife from CK and it was sold as S - Cosmetic Blemish the S meaning Second.

You are correct. Just because a knife is sold at the store does not mean it is marked with an “S” and called a “Store” knife. The GEC factory store does sell regular knives. The stamped “S” does mean “Store” knife though. It means that something was cosmetically not perfect. It does not stand for “Second”. “Seconds” are stamped with a “2” and are similar in that they were flawed. However, these are flawed SFO’s that are moved along to that SFO dealer to distribute.

I was trying to provide clarity because a lot of folks are unclear about what an “S”stamped on a knife means and what a “2”stamped on a knife means. This has been covered a few times before and written up well by Mike Latham. I’m going to call on knifeswapper to point us to that previous discussion.

 

[knifeswapper]

You are correct. Just because a knife is sold at the store does not mean it is marked with an “S” and called a “Store” knife. The stamped “S” does mean “Store” knife. It does not stand for “Second”.

I was trying to provide clarity because a lot of folks are unclear about what an “S”stamped on a knife means and what a “2”stamped on a knife means. This has been covered a few times before and written up well by Mike Latham. I’m going to call on knifeswapper to point us to that previous discussion.

It might be easier just to post my perception instead of trying to find an older post. GEC has no intention for seconds (true defects marked with a "2" on the tang) to make it into the market. Some have, but not many. They are generally sold to employees with the understanding that they will not make it into the market. If contractors of sfo's provide components (generally slabs) and those components are the source of the defect, the factory asks the contractor to take the seconds since it was not due to factory action. Early on the factory realized that many times there are small cosmetic issues with the knives that it would not be fair to put on someone at the same price as a standard product. Their original intent was to sell them out of the factory store marked with an "S" for store. This way customers could come by the store and actually hold the knife in their hand and if they accepted the cosmetic imperfection at a lower price - everyone would be happy. Eventually they realized that the quantity was a bit more than what they needed in the factory store and started offering them to dealers. So, dealers can take them if they are available and offer them to their customers at a little lower price. To be fair, these days they don't turn out a lot of "S"tore models; and I don't remember the last "2"nd I have seen. Now I have seen "S" models that probably should have been a "2"; but the vast majority of "S" models hide their issue well enough that I don't know for sure what it is. It also seems that the price difference in the "S" models and the regular production models has contracted quite a bit. Generally seems to be about a 10% discount these days.