Well, after lurking on this forum for the past month, and seeing all the goodies from the traditional folks, I decided to go ahead and try out a slipjoint of my own.
My favorite EDC knife I've ever owned was a spyderco endura. I loved it; growing up I always thought the big lockbacks were cool. Keep that in mind when I give a run-down of my initial thoughts and impressions.
So, mail call finally came today. I had my off day, so I hoofed it down to the airfield specifically hoping that my package waiting on me would include the bullnose I had ordered a week ago. And it was! I hurried off to my corner of the hangar and opened it up. Most of you here on the traditionals forum have (several) GEC's so you all know about the cool little tube they come in. For those of you that don't know, it's a neat idea that helps distinguish their company even further. Their knives come packaged wrapped in oilpaper and stuffed in a small cardboard tube with a sticker on the outside. This particular model is called the "Farm & Field Tool" Bullnose. Fittingly, the scene portrayed on the sticker shows a farm and a hunter shooting fowl with his pointer. A really cool touch, if superfluous. I liked it.
Opening up the tube, I unwrapped the knife from the oilpaper. The F&F Bullnose I ordered is handled in black delrin. I found the fit of the handle scales to be very nicely mated to the liners and the pivot pin, lanyard hole, and... I guess it would be called a bolster pin?... all show no gaps at all. However, the right and left scales are not evenly sanded/shaped. That's not a huge deal, just something worth noting.
Next, I pulled the blade out. Here is where a personal preference shows: as much as I think the old slip-joint trads are cool, I do prefer the one-handed opening of more modern pocket knives. But, it is the nature of the beast. I found the "pull" of the F&F to be very nice. Firm, but not difficult. The blade has a half-stop, which is a neat touch. Now the blade... oh, the blade shape is perfect. I love it. Very, very practical. The material is 0-1 tool steel, which I am very excited about. The edge was not as sharp as I was hoping for, no shaving going on here (I tried), but at chow it sliced right through the special prime rib dinner they gave us for new year's... I think this knife will earn it's patina in a relatively short period. In the hand, it just fits. It is a very, very comfortable knife with an awesome blade. I love it.
Overall, if you like slipjoints (which I am assuming everyone here does) and you don't mind not having bolsters or bone handles, and you just want a GOOD knife, I think you'd be hard-pressed to beat the value of the GEC F&F Bullnose at the prices they are currently selling for. I am really glad I got mine.
Jake
My favorite EDC knife I've ever owned was a spyderco endura. I loved it; growing up I always thought the big lockbacks were cool. Keep that in mind when I give a run-down of my initial thoughts and impressions.
So, mail call finally came today. I had my off day, so I hoofed it down to the airfield specifically hoping that my package waiting on me would include the bullnose I had ordered a week ago. And it was! I hurried off to my corner of the hangar and opened it up. Most of you here on the traditionals forum have (several) GEC's so you all know about the cool little tube they come in. For those of you that don't know, it's a neat idea that helps distinguish their company even further. Their knives come packaged wrapped in oilpaper and stuffed in a small cardboard tube with a sticker on the outside. This particular model is called the "Farm & Field Tool" Bullnose. Fittingly, the scene portrayed on the sticker shows a farm and a hunter shooting fowl with his pointer. A really cool touch, if superfluous. I liked it.
Opening up the tube, I unwrapped the knife from the oilpaper. The F&F Bullnose I ordered is handled in black delrin. I found the fit of the handle scales to be very nicely mated to the liners and the pivot pin, lanyard hole, and... I guess it would be called a bolster pin?... all show no gaps at all. However, the right and left scales are not evenly sanded/shaped. That's not a huge deal, just something worth noting.
Next, I pulled the blade out. Here is where a personal preference shows: as much as I think the old slip-joint trads are cool, I do prefer the one-handed opening of more modern pocket knives. But, it is the nature of the beast. I found the "pull" of the F&F to be very nice. Firm, but not difficult. The blade has a half-stop, which is a neat touch. Now the blade... oh, the blade shape is perfect. I love it. Very, very practical. The material is 0-1 tool steel, which I am very excited about. The edge was not as sharp as I was hoping for, no shaving going on here (I tried), but at chow it sliced right through the special prime rib dinner they gave us for new year's... I think this knife will earn it's patina in a relatively short period. In the hand, it just fits. It is a very, very comfortable knife with an awesome blade. I love it.
Overall, if you like slipjoints (which I am assuming everyone here does) and you don't mind not having bolsters or bone handles, and you just want a GOOD knife, I think you'd be hard-pressed to beat the value of the GEC F&F Bullnose at the prices they are currently selling for. I am really glad I got mine.
Jake
Currently at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan.
