Is the Quality Too Good??

sitflyer said:
Ha! I just went back to see and noticed that you got matching numbers on those beauties...how cool is that!
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They were sold as a set at the Rendevous, And that's how they were offered to me.
I don't know if they would separate them - maybe not!

That walnut is nice, RDR. Nice reddish tone - or is that Photoshop??
 
Great looking knives! When you're done with your research, just holler.

To answer your question, it depends on the person. For a collector, no, quality is not too good. For a user, yes, often quality inhibits hard use.

There are exceptions in both direction. Some folks like to collect, well, junk. And some folks beat the snot out of high-end stuff. But in general...
 
kamagong said:
Quality too good...nonsense! That's like complaining a woman is too beautiful; it is not possible.
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Christian,
maybe it is true that great minds think alike; as I read the title of this thread, I wanted to write the same thing...but you were faster :p
But, as Will wrote in one of his threads a while ago, it's a good era to be a traditional knife enthusiast. And GEC plays a big role in this.
The only GEC knife that I own now is a HJ6, and that's not a casual fact; it has all the great features that many people here like in GEC knives, in an uncommon pattern that I love, and with a pull that allows me carry and use it.
There is no such thing as "too much quality", nor there is any need for that.
Quality, instead (real quality) is always good, and never out of fashion ;)
Oh, and I love smooth wooden handles by the way :rolleyes:

Fausto
:cool:
 
pinnah said:
Christian and Fausto, would you toss either of those beauties into your toolbox?
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Believe it or not, there's no knife in my toolbox, just a box cutter :p
But if I ever bought one of those two knives (possibly the single blade lockback, for ease of pull), I would surely carry it around and use it whenever I need to cut something...and I would be very happy of getting such a fine knife for 100 usd.
Which would make me carry and use it even more :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
Those are outstanding! Makes me look even more forward to the forum traditional
 
Charlie, good question - is the quality too good?
For $100 I have continually stated that we are terribly spoilt for the amount of quality of workmanship, and excellent materials used on that knife.
I have read quite a few times when the forum is talking about "faults", and have read quite a few comments that if someone pays $100 for a knife, that it had better be near perfect, this angers me, it seems that we are spoilt for choice, and when you equate the TOTAL running costs of GEC into the knives they produce...many would sit down very quickly when opening the bills that GEC do I imagine.
I think those knives are absolutely perfect Charlie, if I was to pay over $100 a knife ( and I do many times over ) I expect slight "nits"
$100 buys very little in ANY other sector of the world be it food, building materials, takeaway meals, and yet on the flip side you can get a knife built like this that LOOKS like this and that PERFORMS like this for most probably 3 to 4 lifetimes if a little drop of oil is used now and then.
 
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Hi Duncan,

I hope all is well with you my friend. Just to comment on your thoughts I think I can give some ideas. For me, GEC sucked me in with near perfect, stunning handcrafted knives. I paid the asking price and my expectations were set by the actual knives I received. I have received quite a few GEC knives that I had to fine tune here and there. Most of them are great. I think where you may see people upset that they are receiving less than stellar examples would be from guys that PUSHED GEC on the forums. Giving them free marketing so to speak by using their gained and trusted reputation to pass the word along and showing off these fine knives with enjoyable photos. If you go out and put your name on the line and then GEC were to start cutting corners in any way, yielding less refined, sloppier knives, then that could make one feel a little annoyed.

I personally find myself disappointed if I, or anyone on this forum, receives a GEC with major flaws. The reason I mentioned GEC's rep earlier is because if they want to build a rep or near perfect knives for a decent cost then they need to stick to that ideology. I hate the bate and switch. I see tons of places do it to get folks in the door and then slack off. I am NOT saying GEC has or would do this, its just the point I was getting at.

I hope they stick to building AND maintaining their reputation.

A final thought, if someone sold you on GEC saying, "these knives are the BEST production slipjoints, I bought 50 of them all near perfect" and then you spent your money on the knife to get a newer sloppy GEC, well, you would be a little offput?

Kevin

Campbellclanman said:
Charlie, good question - is the quality too good?
For $100 I have continually stated that we are terribly spoilt for the amount of quality of workmanship, and excellent materials used on that knife.
I have read quite a few times when the forum is talking about "faults", and have read quite a few comments that if someone pays $100 for a knife, that it had better be near perfect, this angers me, it seems that we are spoilt for choice, and when you equate the TOTAL running costs of GEC into the knives they produce...many would sit down very quickly when opening the bills that GEC do I imagine.
I think those knives are absolutely perfect Charlie, if I was to pay over $100 a knife ( and I do many times over ) I expect slight "nits"
$100 buys very little in ANY other sector of the world be it food, building materials, takeaway meals, and yet on the flip side you can get a knife built like this that LOOKS like this and that PERFORMS like this for most probably 3 to 4 lifetimes if a little drop of oil is used now and then.
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I have sent at least 5 GEC's back for flaws. Not quite one per year.
One took 2 months to get back. All were fine upon return.

They lose their shirts doing repairs, but they do them, and I have seen them give the customer the benefit of the doubt when I sure as heck would not have!!

I think Case, Queen and GEC could give a "Dubious Repair of the Month" award quite regularly, and get us a lot of laughs, but in the long run, it would harm us all!

Staying positive is the only way to live - and to do business!!

Back to the original topic, I want to thank you all for the insightful comments! You have confirmed for me that their general quality is very good.
GEC has distracted me greatly from the antique knives that I collect, just by producing stuff that is just as good, for a better price!!
But I don't see them getting rich doing it!
 
sitflyer said:
Oh my, those are spectacular! I'm thinking walnut will make a very nice sheepsfoot Barlow indeed, if such a dream could come true:)
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And to think I had just wiped up the drool I had from the Opinel thread ;)
 
Too good sounds like an oxymoron.I like oxymorons,Gecs,and Charlie's taste in knives.
 
Good points Kevin, I am not talking about major flaws at all, such as blade play etc.
I am talking small cosmetics, the odd small gaps in liners etc...these minor issues are way accepted in GEC's fine knives to me.
Charlie, the insight that you have bought to us here in Traditionals is just fantastic, and with Bill at the helm, I am pretty sure that the quality will continue, and dare I say it get better, that Lockback is a pretty darned good looking knife!
 
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