Well, I don't quite agree with the notion that the primary customer base is content with just 1095 and that gradual improvement is all GEC need to aspire to.
I'd suggest that it's maybe the current customer base that is content, due in part to some of the popular craze over rocketing prices for certain GEC 'must haves'. This can vanish as quickly as it began....
As I've stated before, I don't find GEC's attitude to no longer pining shields on stag knives to be a convincing improvement at all, frankly the opposite. But that's just my view, it has meant I'm no longer interested in their stag knives though. GEC's strength is its QC which is demonstrably better than the competition when one considers consistency overall. This is important to the customer, I simply don't approve of the argument that goes like "well traditionals are hand made so you HAVE to expect some kind of quirks and stop moaning because my grandfather liked this and it was no big deal then" etc etc This kind of complacency is what may have kept people away from Traditionals, fuelled the 'dinosaur' myth about non modern knives and their weird attitude to QC. So GEC's approach to QC is all important, but what I and others argue is that they should get away from their exclusive 1095 fetish and build upon their solid QC reputation by offering D2 or more contemporary stainless, using less brass and yet maintaining the look of the patterns. Looking over the pages it seems that many people would welcome a more open minded approach by GEC to having more contemporary steels. Lion Steel's Barlow has been cited and it's a good example of adventure using modern material and steel in a contemporary version of a Trad knife. Personally, I don't care for the knife itself but it's a good ilustration of potential.
SAK produce vast quantities of quite complex knives using very modern processes and their QC is ultra reliable, what many Traditional enthusiasts would like to see is a company like GEC or Queen having the money to invest in modern reliable precision tools to make Traditional knives that don't bother you with build faults, uneven finish and issues, using some contemorary materials. It's clearly not an either/or situation of all modern steel or just 1095, the two are not mutually exclusive or divisive. Obviously, investment is expensive but when used properly it is a guarantor of a long-term future for both the collector, user, enthusiast and company. When I think of what has been going on at Queen Cutlery the past few years, it seems to me that their core problem is wildly variable QC, some recent examples I've had have been shameful. I suspect that they are over dependent on worn machinery and equipment and that no amount of verbiage or mission statements with all the will in the world can overturn that central flaw which compromises consistency. Yet Queen shows an interest in modern steels, paradoxically GEC appears to shun that but certainly has the QC at an impressive level. What i would argue is a combination of the two as a real draw for knife enthusiasts.
By putting all its eggs in a carbon basket...GEC does run some risks..
