Lets talk GEC!

[supratentorial]

Even with videos and shop tours, people will disagree. As an example.... By sight, the edge looks like a stone edge to me. Mike talked about a belt edge. People will disagree and discuss.

I see edge miscues from nearly every maker, with GEC being fairly common. But if the fault is one that can be remedied in a few minutes it doesn't aggravate me nearly as bad as old fashion poor craftsmanship. But, I guess the first question is - where did you "acquire" this knife. One would assume straight from one of the dealers distributing them since it is also assumed it is a factory edge. But the edge doesn't look like a belt edge, just too many transitions.

It is funny how this forum is like politics.

You can see how they hone the blades on a stone wheel starting at 5:36 in this video. An unskilled or weary hand will not make a perfect edge. Perhaps the OP's knife was honed around lunch time. The knives are honed by hand and people aren't perfect. The knives aren't clamped in a Hair-Popper-2000[SUP]TM[/SUP] constant angle sharpener.

In my opinion, it's not a big deal. I sharpen my knives and it would be fixed with my very first sharpening.

[youtube]yPzgOs6JEyg[/youtube]







A real problem with Queen's knives is the primary grind on many (most?) of their knives. Their 1095 knives seem to be an exception. A bad edge is easy to fix by sharpening but a bad primary grind can only be fixed if the entire surface of the blade is reground by a skilled knife maker.

 

[supratentorial]

ALLHSS, It was a joke but I didn't set that criteria. We should talk about the knives, not compare the value of eachother or eachothers comments. As in my post above, there can be disagreements about things even when they are well documented.

 

[B.F.U]

ALLHSS, It was a joke but I didn't set that criteria. We should talk about the knives, not compare the value of eachother or eachothers comments. As in my post above, there can be disagreements about things even when they are well documented.

Oh ok. It just seems like people are getting overly worked up and derisive about this. Not singling you out at all.

 

[supratentorial]

Oh ok. It just seems like people are getting overly worked up and derisive about this. Not singling you out at all.

No problem. I think things are getting too off track and personal. We're just here to talk about knives. I think if we stay on the subject of knives we'll be ok.

 

[knifeswapper]

You make some assumptions here. But based on this viewpoint, you should also not comment on Bill's decisions at all unless you are assembling 75 knives a day in a factory (whether you agree or disagree with it). Also then there's no point in asking...

You are assuming I am assuming When I want to understand a decision or a process, I call and ask him. I don't start trying to figure out his motivation; I learned a long time ago that would put you in a straight jacket.

I think the person doing the work and getting paid for his time would have a different opinion.

There is a difference in doing an easy job once, and doing it 100 times in a few minutes then moving to another station. I cut my packing slip from my label with scissors during shipping; it is not a hard or time consuming job. But that doesn't mean the other 30 steps in the shipping process require the same skill level.

It has to do with him making decisions to maximize profits.

It is fun to guess, but in the end we just put words in someones mouth that they would not speak themselves.

I don't see it as a matter of profits, because GEC doesn't draw up a pattern and put a price on it - then try to make it to maximize profits. They are not bidding it out to someone like highway repair. Bill doesn't set the price on a knife until it is being packed to leave. Why? Because he has his costs figured down to the penny and can apply his "profit algorithm" at that point. So, pin depth or shield install have nothing to do with profit. If he spun all his pins on the surface - he would just add any cost impact. If he installed shields one way or the other - he would just add any cost impact. So on any given day whether he makes 75 knives at $20 profit each or 50 knives at $30 profit each - makes no difference to the "profit" of his decisions. But he owns the company and can do things the way he sees fit. He has done well so far pleasing a niche market; but maybe one day he makes another poor decision and it cost him business. If it were always only our own decisions that impacted us, what a great place we would have.

Vote with your dollars. I myself probably won't be buying any more stag covered knives from GEC.

There ya go. That is the optimal solution - a personal one. The highest price knife GEC made for some time was the Genuine Stag - dealers could not keep them and they had no shield. But stag has gotten expensive enough that their sale has slowed already. They have stopped making Genuine Stag altogether due to inability to source it. Recently GEC has essentially eliminated serialized Burnt Stag and just went with Burnt Stag as their unserialized and Natural Stag as their serialized. Then you have Sambar Stag with is generally not burnt and not serialized - my head is hurting again. I would rather have shields as a hoarder, but if is saves me money due to lack of demand - that is more money I can spend on Natural Canvas Micarta....

It is a conversation from different vantage points and differing opinions. Civil and cooperative; nothing more. Just because I don't agree with some of the assumptions, doesn't mean they are not more accurate than mine. Just because a dealer has something to say, doesn't mean there is some hidden agenda; nor implied grandeur. But dealers are put in a position to handle a lot of knives and have daily conversations with those that make them, so that does afford a slightly different perspective.

BTW, HAPPY NEW YEAR and be safe!

 

[knifeswapper]

Even with videos and shop tours, people will disagree. As an example.... By sight, the edge looks like a stone edge to me. Mike talked about a belt edge. People will disagree and discuss.

Don't know when this post was from, nor the conversation it applied to. But it only takes a couple minutes to call and see that they do final honing on a paper wheel. Since they do use a stone wheel in the process I guess you were closer; but I expect I was referring to the difference in a hand sharpening vs machine since the discussion was about transitions.

 

[Cory Hess]

I don't see it as a matter of profits, because GEC doesn't draw up a pattern and put a price on it - then try to make it to maximize profits. They are not bidding it out to someone like highway repair. Bill doesn't set the price on a knife until it is being packed to leave. Why? Because he has his costs figured down to the penny and can apply his "profit algorithm" at that point. So, pin depth or shield install have nothing to do with profit. If he spun all his pins on the surface - he would just add any cost impact. If he installed shields one way or the other - he would just add any cost impact. So on any given day whether he makes 75 knives at $20 profit each or 50 knives at $30 profit each - makes no difference to the "profit" of his decisions. But he owns the company and can do things the way he sees fit. He has done well so far pleasing a niche market; but maybe one day he makes another poor decision and it cost him business. If it were always only our own decisions that impacted us, what a great place we would have.

I stand corrected. Bill doesn't make his decision on what's easier or what's most profitable. He just prefers to have sunken pins because he thinks that they look better. He must also like lockbacks with blade play. I guess me and him just have different tastes in knives.

 

[B.F.U]

I stand corrected. Bill doesn't make his decision on what's easier or what's most profitable. He just prefers to have sunken pins because he thinks that they look better. He must also like lockbacks with blade play. I guess me and him just have different tastes in knives.

Have you bought a GEC lockback recently?

 

[jc57]

Too much deep thinking - errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr typing here. Either people will buy GEC with the past/upcoming changes or not. It's as simple as that.

Pretty much my view on it as well.

I don't know anything about the knife manufacturing business. My only input is whether or not I choose to buy a product. If I like a particular knife offering from GEC or anyone else, more than I like keeping the money in my wallet, I buy it (assuming I am even in the market for a knife at that particular moment). If not, I pass on it.

 

[draggat]

Speaking of Beagles and Coyotes, I sure am glad they made the Houndstooth as well..... 2.81" is just too small for my grubby mitts. I wonder if they'll do a mini version of the 56 and 57 as well?

In regards to Bill Howard's decisions regarding his company.... they make many knives I'm not very fond of, but they also make many that I'm extremely fond of. I would reckon that if those of you who hate the idea of no shields on stag wrote or called GEC directly with your complaints, they may take that into consideration.

Personally, I'm just happy to see the return of snakewood!

Here's one of my coveted Houndstooth with a recent friend.

 

[supratentorial]

draggat, Nice knives!

Have a happy new year!

 

[draggat]

draggat, Nice knives!

Have a happy new year!

Thanks! You too! We still have about 5 hours to go here..... what's better than a relaxing night off, ogling knives?!

 

[SadSappySucker]

So... How about that coffin jack?

 

[cbr1000]

Speaking of Beagles and Coyotes, I sure am glad they made the Houndstooth as well..... 2.81" is just too small for my grubby mitts. I wonder if they'll do a mini version of the 56 and 57 as well?

In regards to Bill Howard's decisions regarding his company.... they make many knives I'm not very fond of, but they also make many that I'm extremely fond of. I would reckon that if those of you who hate the idea of no shields on stag wrote or called GEC directly with your complaints, they may take that into consideration.

Personally, I'm just happy to see the return of snakewood!

Here's one of my coveted Houndstooth with a recent friend.

Great looking Washington Jack. My favorite of 2015

 

[clutchcarter]

I kinda like the way that looks.........

 

[mrknife]

that diamond shield is pretty cool, i wouldnt mind some newer shapes

 

[supratentorial]

Here are a few GEC shields that haven't been used frequently... or frequently enough imo.

I think the shield on this one would look even better without the "Northfield" text.

 

[supratentorial]

Can't please everyone. Here are a couple of knives with proud shields.





Doesn't detract at all. YMMV of course.

Beautiful knives. GEC has done both inlaid flush and proud shields on many knives, including bone. I was looking through photos and 2Dead has some wonderful collections so I'll use one of his posts an example. There are more examples of different patterns in the original post (if you click on the arrow in the quote, it will link to the original thread) but I selected the 53s and Tuna Valley knives as an example to keep things simple. Some of the shields are inlaid flush on the bone covers and some aren't. There are also many examples of both among vintage knives.

....#53s and Tuna Valleys

...

 

[cbr1000]

In GEC's what's happening section it shows the 47 stag harvester with shield. It's hard to tell from the picture, but appears the shield is not recessed.

edit: Correction, was looking at image 20/23 and it appears it was jig bone. Please disregard.

 

[Cory Hess]

I may be missing something, but all of the stag pictures I see of the 47s are sans shield. There are some pictures of the jigged bone that look like the shield might not be recessed, but it's hard to tell because of the angles and distances of the pictures.