Graveyard Goodness: Primitive Bone Knives

These are really beautiful scales with a character all their own. Can someone tell me if the cracks in the bone would be a weak point for future chipping/breakage or is it purely a cosmetic feature?
 
Shaggy....

GEC stabilizes all their bone..but like any bone handle cracking could occur........................cosmetic feature nah - adds character
 
Nice to see this ol' thread rising from the dead. My best one to date.

GEC85HarnessJackinPrimitiveBone.jpg
 
Got hold of a 26 Pocket Sunfish (Clip master) not long ago.

My first PB and it wasn't cheap, but it's a stunner for sure. Nice groove running all the way down the pile side and the shield is wonderfully inlet. This bone is smooth and very highly polished like some hard sugar/candy. I'd rate this well above most stag for quality feel in the hand and appearance for that matter.

The knife itself is truly well finished and sports an interesting broad and short blade, pull might be a bit heavy for some but my nails are used to it.

Regards, Will
 
Rick and meako, great examples of the depth of texture and color you can get in the best primitive bone.
 
Disclaimer: please don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player :D
I 've been looking at GEC's primitive bone knives many times, since they gather alot of positive feedbacks around here.
I came to understand that, apart from maybe a couple of them (like Rick's HJ), I don't really dig it.
Why? I don't know exactly. But I think it has something to do with the reason why I don't dig stag. In one word, it's a bit too "primitive".
Not that I'd love my Canoe in G10, not at all. And I understand why most of you like PB. To me, it's one step too far. It just looks too rough, too raw, too crude (not sure if I'm explaining what I mean).
Wood, horn, ivory, pearl (along with some selected bone) stand right in the middle of my taste range, and I prefer them to PB. They're still classic and traditional, but look more refined. Of course, it's just personal taste.
Which means, you have one less competitor when hunting for these knives :rolleyes:

Fausto
:cool:
 
I completely understand Fausto, my wife does not find it attractive for the exact same reason. I am still drawn to this material.

While the bone on my Ben Hogan is not as figured or "contrasty" as some already posted, it intrigues me nonetheless.

BenHoganMay23a.jpg


BenHoganMay23b.jpg
 
The two sides of my #65 in primitive bone do not match at all. The side with the shield is beautiful. The other side is about three shades lighter and has some fill. Of course the good side was the one shown in the online catalog. I shoulda asked the vendor to check the matching. Ah, well.

OTOH, my #12 is beautiful. It came from a different vendor and there were some blemishes on the steel, but GEC took care of it promptly and at no charge, except shipping it in.

I like the medium.
 
My Calf Roper came in today. It's a beauty (at least to me it is!). It has a few stabilized cracks, but nothing through a pin. Pulls are without half-stops, my preference, and smooth but firm, 6-7 out of 10. Blades are sharp.

Well matched scales for texture, with pile side slightly darker.
PrimRoperMark.jpg

PrimRoperPile.jpg


Beautiful pulls and swedges, with minimal etch on the master.
PrimRoperOpen.jpg


Shield is inletted deeper at one end, because the scale widens at that point, as it does on the pile side (nicely matched).
Pins are consistently flush to slightly proud, and no liner gaps at all.
PrimRoperGaps.jpg


This knife could easily become a favorite of mine. If they had used a muskrat or California clip and put the sheepfoot nick on the mark side, it would be just about perfect. How about a 3-7/8" serpentine with my blade preferences, eh GEC???
 
black mamba said:
PrimRoperMark.jpg


If they had used a muskrat or California clip and put the sheepfoot nick on the mark side, it would be just about perfect.
Click to expand...

Going solely by your picture above, if the sheepsfoot nick were on the mark side, how would you open it? :confused:

Or are you envisioning a different placement?

Beautiful knife!

~ P.
 
pertinux said:
Going solely by your picture above, if the sheepsfoot nick were on the mark side, how would you open it? :confused:

~ P.
Click to expand...

The muskrat clip would be much lower to the frame, exposing plenty of the sheepfoot for the nick to be on the same side.

Like this:
IMG_0285-1-1.jpg
 
Sorry, bass, I don't think they've ever made the big jack in primitive bone. I do have them in burnt stag, snakewood and burnt grizzly cut bone (my first ever GEC).
 
quattromori said:
Disclaimer: please don't shoot me, I'm only the piano player :D
I 've been looking at GEC's primitive bone knives many times, since they gather alot of positive feedbacks around here.
I came to understand that, apart from maybe a couple of them (like Rick's HJ), I don't really dig it.
Why? I don't know exactly. But I think it has something to do with the reason why I don't dig stag. In one word, it's a bit too "primitive".
Not that I'd love my Canoe in G10, not at all. And I understand why most of you like PB. To me, it's one step too far. It just looks too rough, too raw, too crude (not sure if I'm explaining what I mean).
Wood, horn, ivory, pearl (along with some selected bone) stand right in the middle of my taste range, and I prefer them to PB. They're still classic and traditional, but look more refined. Of course, it's just personal taste.
Which means, you have one less competitor when hunting for these knives :rolleyes:

Fausto
:cool:
Click to expand...
Would you like it better if the PB was jigged in some way -but then it wouldn't be primitive I guess.
So is it the colour or the finish? I see what you mean tho- rough, primitive & crude...and yet somehow new and teckanogically advanced..
 
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Jeff-you just had to show that one didn't you?
The PB Calf Roper has just gone to #1 on my must have list.
cheers.
 
meako said:
Would you like it better if the PB was jigged in some way -but then it wouldn't be primitive I guess.
So is it the colour or the finish? I see what you mean tho- rough, primitive & crude...and yet somehow new and teckanogically advanced..
Click to expand...

No, I wouldn't like it more if it was jigged. I tend to prefer smooth handles, and I don't think jigging would do any good to this kind of bone.
I'm not saying that PB isn't an awesome material for a knife handle. It probably is. The looks of it, though, are too primitive, too "unfinished", and I tend to favor more refined materials. For the same reasons, I don't like "raw" horn in Sardinian traditionals: it seems like they ripped the horn from the ram and stuck a blade into it. Just too rough. And if I have to be honest, sometimes even stag gives me the same sensation. Not sure that I can explain it better. Just taste, I guess.

Fausto
:cool:
 
We're free to feel what we like, and I feel that I like primitive bone better each time I see a new example. Thanks for the pics, folks. Is the primitive bone anything like Case's "Antique Bone?" Is it the same material, with a different finish (jigging on the Cases)?
 
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