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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Lets talk GEC!
- Thread starter rockgolfer
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draggat
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Although GEC leaves us scratching our heads sometimes, this one kind of makes sense to me. By definition of its name, the Navy knife is, or was, used around water which makes it the perfect candidate for stainless. I think they go more for tradition than anything although I wouldn't mind seeing a stainless beer scout myself. I can be pretty clumsy after a couple of beers and spill it all over.
Also, I too would love to see a short run of 92's with spear blades, but I wouldn't hold onto that too hard. History shows that they stay with the same blade shape when they pair a short run with n SFO. Plus, we recently saw the 85 SFO with no short run at all. :grumpy:
I agree with Steve and will also note that high-alloy steel (stainless like GECs 440C) contains carbides which make it MUCH better than carbon steel at cutting fibrous materials like rope and cardboard. The performance difference is not even close, since the carbides are harder than the steel matrix they are embedded in and do most of the cutting. The edge of a SS Navy knife that cuts rope will outlast carbon steel by a wide margin.
As much as I love the refinement of a carbon steel edge, and the individuality of the patina it will acquire, for cutting rope and cardboard, stainless makes a lot of sense. :thumbup:
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Navy folks are near water, so a SS knife would resist the inevitable rust.
I feel like I'm telling you something you already know.
Pretty sure it's the opposite with me: Gov't trusts me with a knife, but not with Nukes. Go figure.
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Stainless rope knife that will be used around the salt water makes a lot of sense. I saw that one cover material will be natural canvas micarta which is a really nice option. I personally wish they had gone blue denim as a blue dungaree NAVY knife would be very fitting.
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We need a knife with a Zulu spear, and some micarta of a kind different than what we have been seeing, either in texture or color - or both. Variety!
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You know, I think GEC is kinda headed down the same road as case a little. They are making themselves into a special order only knife company. They have so many wonderful patterns already on the books and you can't get a single damn one of them. I guess I don't understand why a company would choose to not keep certain popular patterns in stock all the time like stockmans, Jack knives, sodbusters, and other popular historical working knife patterns.
See, we want others to appreciate slipjoint knives and we want to send our kids down the "old timey/traditional path", but you can't buy a dad gum top quality American made pocket knife (GEC), because they're always outa stock; because the friggin company is catering to the speciality and collectors market.....some of us aren't collectors, we couldn't care less about collecting but we DO want a fine working knife. Or we want to get our kids, friends, or family members GEC knives and were left scrambling to try and buy one from a dealer (never happens cause they're all spoken for in early reserve) or scramble for one on the EE or flea bay; which is an act in futility at best. They're either way over priced it they're snapped up in a matter of minutes.
I apologize about the rant but I'm fed up with NEVER being able to find simple patterns, that I feel should be in stock all the time as they're base line product. GEC started out making pocket knives with a FF/quality not seen here in uncountable decades and now they cater to the special order/ collector above the average workin guy....
See, we want others to appreciate slipjoint knives and we want to send our kids down the "old timey/traditional path", but you can't buy a dad gum top quality American made pocket knife (GEC), because they're always outa stock; because the friggin company is catering to the speciality and collectors market.....some of us aren't collectors, we couldn't care less about collecting but we DO want a fine working knife. Or we want to get our kids, friends, or family members GEC knives and were left scrambling to try and buy one from a dealer (never happens cause they're all spoken for in early reserve) or scramble for one on the EE or flea bay; which is an act in futility at best. They're either way over priced it they're snapped up in a matter of minutes.
I apologize about the rant but I'm fed up with NEVER being able to find simple patterns, that I feel should be in stock all the time as they're base line product. GEC started out making pocket knives with a FF/quality not seen here in uncountable decades and now they cater to the special order/ collector above the average workin guy....
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Yeah, and then when you ask why they don't make more knives in SS, they'll turn around and tell you that they are harder to make (true) and they don't sell as well cause the demand isn't there (untrue). If they took one of their flagship knives, like a Viper, Beerscout or (this is really dreaming here) just imagine, something in the 3 3/8" - 4" range with a clip main and a pen/coping secondary, and put it SS. It'd sell so well people would forget what IRJ stood for. A sheepsfoot by itself is useless to me, the Mako had a big sexy clip but it was 4 1/2" long and had spikes on the end! Give me something in 440C I can use!! Dang but it just puts a hair up my hind quarters.
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Totally agree.
Im new to GEC knives... I only own 6.
... I would love to buy more, but I work around water all day long and have already noticed rust on my two heavy users.
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556 hunter I agree but I think that maybe that big run of #47s we saw earlier this year may be an answer - lots of worker knives in that run. Also, there is really big run of 15s coming, and a run of 72s, that should also help. So I think GEC has listened to the point you've made.
Personally I would like to see less of the SFO in different handle materials (boring and unimaginative) and more quirky knives like the 98 and other Campagna specials, complemented by a steady run of the more successful patterns.
Personally I would like to see less of the SFO in different handle materials (boring and unimaginative) and more quirky knives like the 98 and other Campagna specials, complemented by a steady run of the more successful patterns.
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draggat
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I totally get what you're saying, but here's another viewpoint. GEC has only been here for about 10 years. They're a pretty small company and the way that they make their knives limits just how much they can manufacture, especially if they want to keep their quality as high as it is.
One way to increase standard production is to limit the SFO's and dealer add ons during specific knife runs.
The other way would be to buy or lease a larger warehouse along with more machinery and hire more cutlers. The second is pretty dicey, especially considering that traditional American cutlery isn't anywhere near as popular as modern cutlery. Last year even saw the demise of Canal Street Cutlery, who made very fine knives. Add to the list the fact that GEC uses really old equipment for manufacturing. It may not even be possible to buy some of that machinery without having it custom made.
I would like to see them increase production, but not at the expense of quality. I'm positive that GEC knows about the problem, and is trying to do something about it. Supposedly they are going with option one, limiting the SFO's.
Something that needs to be taken into account is that it's only been in the last two years that we've seen an explosion of interest in GEC. When I first happened upon them 3 years ago, it wasn't much of a problem to find an example of nearly all of their patterns. I remember even seeing Snakewood handled knives sitting on dealers shelves for months. GEC also has to consider the economy as part of their future. Often times, companies that expand too quickly end up collapsing. None of us wants to see that.
I suppose the only solution at this point for those of us who want a particular knife is to be vigilant and keep up on current events. This isn't Case after all, and personally I'm glad they're not. For me, part of the thrill is tracking down the elusive ones.
*Edited to add:
If GEC decided to keep a few patterns in stock all the time, then the vast majority of their production would be only those particular patterns. Take last years beer scout run for instance. The production numbers on those were the largest for GEC ever. Still can't find one even near initial dealer pricing. The same holds true for most of the recent viper run. What I'm saying is that they would end up making maybe 3 or 4 patterns a year, which would probably drive a lot of people away. I, for one, would probably stop buying them. One of the greatest things about GEC is the massive amount of variety they produce.
This is all just my opinion though.
Happy hunting!
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GEC is not going down the "same road as Case a little".
If you visit the GEC "factory" you will see a very small production knife manufacturer in comparison to Case. GEC's reproduction of historical patterns with a fairly high level of quality (for a production knife) is what drives demand, not some "commemorative knife of the week" customer base. Granted there is a collector base that scoops up limited runs, but it's a simple task to pre order a pattern thanks to most of the GEC distributors (without making a deposit no less). It's a very smart business plan to pre determine demand for a pattern rather than having hundreds of knives sitting on shelves gathering dust.
If you visit the GEC "factory" you will see a very small production knife manufacturer in comparison to Case. GEC's reproduction of historical patterns with a fairly high level of quality (for a production knife) is what drives demand, not some "commemorative knife of the week" customer base. Granted there is a collector base that scoops up limited runs, but it's a simple task to pre order a pattern thanks to most of the GEC distributors (without making a deposit no less). It's a very smart business plan to pre determine demand for a pattern rather than having hundreds of knives sitting on shelves gathering dust.
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I really appreciate everyone's support and helping look at things from a different point of view.
I guess what I was trying to say is that I'm kinda tired of seeing so many SFO's and not enough Northfield or tidioute production knives.
**** I hope no one misunderstood me tho, I would NEVER advocate dropping quality to increase production!!! That's what makes GEC great in my opinion, there the top of the heap in production knives as far as I'm concerned.
If anyone happens to have a ******************* laying around, please let me know🙂
(Never hurts to ask lol)😅
I guess what I was trying to say is that I'm kinda tired of seeing so many SFO's and not enough Northfield or tidioute production knives.
**** I hope no one misunderstood me tho, I would NEVER advocate dropping quality to increase production!!! That's what makes GEC great in my opinion, there the top of the heap in production knives as far as I'm concerned.
If anyone happens to have a ******************* laying around, please let me know🙂
(Never hurts to ask lol)😅
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