Lets talk GEC!

okbohn said:
Don't worry. They have really cut back on the Northwoods production.
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I am more than happy for them to keep producing your knives Derek!

I just want a) to occasionally be able to buy those special knives that GEC has obviously gone to an extra effort to make b) not to have to pay your extraordinary shipping costs for the Northwoods line c) for GEC's own production knives to be of equal interest/quality d) to be able to buy the Northwoods knives when they go up for sale :) e) not to have to be dissatisfied because I 'only' get to buy the regular GEC knives.

If GEC's regular production knives showed a bit more variety, then I would have no issue with Northwoods and other lines being higher priced and harder to get.
 
Discussion of pricing, shipping, flipping and all other commercial/purchasing issues belong in Feedback, not here. We already let this thread cross the line quite often. Don't push it.
 
Just to add information to the posts above, copied from KSF newsletter.

"As you likely know, our Northwoods line is a very popular brand of pocket knife. We have had some serious supply issues. Our main supplier (Great Eastern Cutlery), because they are having trouble keeping up with their own knives, has had to cut us back to just 3 runs of knives this year.

That sent us on a quest to find another manufacturer who could meet our high expectations. We found two. We are working with them to produce some traditional pocket knives at a level you've never seen in a production knife. I can't wait to show you.

We keep hearing a timeframe for the first run, but it keeps getting pushed off. Hopefully soon. They will be worth the wait."
 
I think we all need to keep something very important in mind. Ten or fifteen years ago, you couldn't get an American-made production traditional knife as nice as a GEC. When I first came to Bladeforums, 15 years ago, the traditional pickings were so bad that there wasn't even a forum for traditional knives here. We had plenty of traditional US manufacturers to choose from, but they were all faltering, and quality was dropping quickly. You could get a pretty good knife from Case or Camillus, if you had a pile to handpick from, but mail ordering one was a disappointing experience, 90% of the time. Maybe the only exception that I remember was some of A.G. Russel's wonderful offerings, but the great ones were new old stock from 10 years prior, and maybe not even US made (I'm not sure). A.G.'s Cattaragaus labeled knives come to mind. I'm pretty confident when I say that the worst GEC I've acquired (from about 20 or 15) is better than pretty much anything I bought 10 to 15 years ago, and I bought A LOT of traditionals back then.

I am exceedingly thankful for any GEC that comes into my hands. Every one of them is an absolute miracle. I spent years searching for any traditional of this quality, praying that I'd someday find just one that was worthy of EDC, in terms of both performance and fit&finish, whether I loved the pattern or not. GEC has single-handedly transformed the face of traditional knife collecting. I don't want GEC to change anything they're doing, for fear that overall quality may suffer. If I miss out out on a few, so be it. If I have to pay a lot more on the secondary market for one that I really want, so be it. Whatever it takes for this incredible run to continue.

Every time I pick up a GEC, I am in awe. They're that much better.
 
Buzzbait Very good points I'd say. GEC abolished nostalgia and gave us knife reality:D Not to say of course, they are beyond specific criticism. Their quality is something to be thankful for.
 
Buzzbait said:
I think we all need to keep something very important in mind. Ten or fifteen years ago, you couldn't get an American-made production traditional knife as nice as a GEC. When I first came to Bladeforums, 15 years ago, the traditional pickings were so bad that there wasn't even a forum for traditional knives here. We had plenty of traditional US manufacturers to choose from, but they were all faltering, and quality was dropping quickly. You could get a pretty good knife from Case or Camillus, if you had a pile to handpick from, but mail ordering one was a disappointing experience, 90% of the time. Maybe the only exception that I remember was some of A.G. Russel's wonderful offerings, but the great ones were new old stock from 10 years prior, and maybe not even US made (I'm not sure). A.G.'s Cattaragaus labeled knives come to mind. I'm pretty confident when I say that the worst GEC I've acquired (from about 20 or 15) is better than pretty much anything I bought 10 to 15 years ago, and I bought A LOT of traditionals back then.

I am exceedingly thankful for any GEC that comes into my hands. Every one of them is an absolute miracle. I spent years searching for any traditional of this quality, praying that I'd someday find just one that was worthy of EDC, in terms of both performance and fit&finish, whether I loved the pattern or not. GEC has single-handedly transformed the face of traditional knife collecting. I don't want GEC to change anything they're doing, for fear that overall quality may suffer. If I miss out out on a few, so be it. If I have to pay a lot more on the secondary market for one that I really want, so be it. Whatever it takes for this incredible run to continue.

Every time I pick up a GEC, I am in awe. They're that much better.
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This is a GEC topic (and arguably most of the Traditional forum is a GEC topic ;) ) so there is a bit of slant to the discussion. "10 to 15 years ago", there were Case Bose collaboration knives (first one in 1999). The Case Bose Muskrat from 12 years ago, is the best production knife that I have ever bought from any company. GEC is making very high quality knives. But I am happy that Case is making AUTHORIZED reproductions of Tony's work.
 
supratentorial said:
"10 to 15 years ago", there were Case Bose collaboration knives (first one in 1999). The Case Bose Muskrat from 12 years ago, is the best production knife that I have ever bought from any company. GEC is making very high quality knives. But I am happy that Case is making AUTHORIZED reproductions of Tony's work.
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Okay. Maybe I should rephrase. I was talking about knives that I could actually afford. :eek: The Bose collaborations were way to expensive for me to afford at the time. Probably still are, although some of the GEC's are creeping up there.
 
Buzzbait said:
Okay. Maybe I should rephrase. I was talking about knives that I could actually afford. :eek: The Bose collaborations were way to expensive for me to afford at the time. Probably still are, although some of the GEC's are creeping up there.
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I don't think we can exclude them based on cost. I actually paid less retail for some of my collaboration knives than some of the GEC/Northwoods knives with exotic cover materials.... or some of the GEC knives on the aftermarket. I do agree that prices seem to be rising but that isn't an allowed topic for discussion. I just don't think it's fair to exclude them. I could also argue that the Case Bose regular production sowbelly from around the same time is very high quality. ...same for the Case Bose swayback but I think that was later... maybe around 2008. But I do agree that GEC is consistently producing high quality knives across their entire line.
 
supratentorial said:
I don't think we can exclude them based on cost. I actually paid less retail for some of my collaboration knives than some of the GEC/Northwoods knives with exotic cover materials.... or some of the GEC knives on the aftermarket. I do agree that prices seem to be rising but that isn't an allowed topic for discussion. I just don't think it's fair to exclude them. I could also argue that the Case Bose regular production sowbelly from around the same time is very high quality. ...same for the Case Bose swayback but I think that was later... maybe around 2008. But I do agree that GEC is consistently producing high quality knives across their entire line.
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I was talking more about production knives. Aren't the Bose collabs more like semi-custom? I don't know much about their manufacture.

But then again, with the GEC's production numbers and manufacturing, many of their knives could almost be thought of as semi-custom.
 
The "collaboration knives" like the Muskrat (2004) are wire EDM cut from Tony's patterns. Unlike the regular production knives, they also have pivot bushings and mill relieved liners.

The Case/Bose sowbelly (2001?-present) and swayback (2008?-present) are regular production. Less expensive but very nice knives.

Schrade was also making some nice knives. The Old Timer 8OT wasn't exactly a looker but it comes very close to GEC's Abilene stockman. Unfortunately, quality was not always consistent especially near the end. But their best work was impressive. Blade steel was also 1095.






 
Jsega51 said:
I have to admit, I was one of the people scratching my head as well when I first joined the forum and wanted a TC to see what the hype was all about...I was able to acquire some TC's without much painstaking work.

Here's the rub: they're a GEC #15 or #14. That's all, save for the longer bolster and some different handle scales. GEC does not build these any other special way. I've had TC's with worse issues than any other knife from GEC that I've owned and it's happened on several occasions. To be fair, I've also had some that were spectacular.
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I'm 100% in agreement here, Jake. Some time ago there was a discussion where somebody asked what the difference between a #15 boys knife and a TC barlow was other than a longer bolster that got pretty heated. It piqued my curiosity and I ended up picking up 10 or so TC barlows and a couple of boys knives to compare them to. I really didn't see any appreciable difference other than how the pictures of the knives were responded to here. I ended up trading and giving away all of the TCs I owned, and haven't regretted it one single time. They're an interesting knife with an interesting story, but nothing worth getting all worked up about. They stand on their own merits as a fine knife, but if you're buying one hoping that it's the be-all-end-all of slipjoints you're most likely going to walk away disappointed after realizing that it's no better or worse than the last 20 you bought. There are knives that are just as well made, using better materials, that don't cost any more, and perform better. If the action of collecting the knife isn't enjoyable, what's the point?
 
I totally agree.

One time I tried to give a friend of mine a knife. He looked at me, reached in his pocket and pulled out an old Schrade and said, "I already have a knife, I don't need another."

The truth is that all but one of these knives is for a collection and because we want and like it.

So, if a knife is what you want at a price you are willing to pay for it, buy it and enjoy it. If it isn't, pass on it. I carry a Northwoods second every single day. I have a few expensive customs and a few expensive production knives, but I have them because I wanted them, not because I need them.

I love the variety that the market place is producing, but I don't like to ever talk about "need".
 
Maybe, just maybe....if we are lucky there will be plenty of #77's ;) in more of the configurations and covers that we have seen and love to fill the void and make everyone interested a very happy Barlow owner.
 
I whole heartedly 2nd that comment as GEC customer since late 2006...


Buzzbait said:
I think we all need to keep something very important in mind. Ten or fifteen years ago, you couldn't get an American-made production traditional knife as nice as a GEC. When I first came to Bladeforums, 15 years ago, the traditional pickings were so bad that there wasn't even a forum for traditional knives here. We had plenty of traditional US manufacturers to choose from, but they were all faltering, and quality was dropping quickly. You could get a pretty good knife from Case or Camillus, if you had a pile to handpick from, but mail ordering one was a disappointing experience, 90% of the time. Maybe the only exception that I remember was some of A.G. Russel's wonderful offerings, but the great ones were new old stock from 10 years prior, and maybe not even US made (I'm not sure). A.G.'s Cattaragaus labeled knives come to mind. I'm pretty confident when I say that the worst GEC I've acquired (from about 20 or 15) is better than pretty much anything I bought 10 to 15 years ago, and I bought A LOT of traditionals back then.

I am exceedingly thankful for any GEC that comes into my hands. Every one of them is an absolute miracle. I spent years searching for any traditional of this quality, praying that I'd someday find just one that was worthy of EDC, in terms of both performance and fit&finish, whether I loved the pattern or not. GEC has single-handedly transformed the face of traditional knife collecting. I don't want GEC to change anything they're doing, for fear that overall quality may suffer. If I miss out out on a few, so be it. If I have to pay a lot more on the secondary market for one that I really want, so be it. Whatever it takes for this incredible run to continue.

Every time I pick up a GEC, I am in awe. They're that much better.
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CASE/Bose Collabs have other differences from GEC knives: they are actually produced in relatively large numbers, 300 or so per handle type, I believe. They are also all stainless in construction having no brass,carbon or iron. GEC seems very much committed towards carbon knives from the word go.
 
Will Power said:
CASE/Bose Collabs have other differences from GEC knives: they are actually produced in relatively large numbers, 300 or so per handle type, I believe. They are also all stainless in construction having no brass,carbon or iron. GEC seems very much committed towards carbon knives from the word go.
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The numbers varied from 100 to 1000. Some of GEC's runs of regular production knives are actually larger.
http://www.wrcase.com/special_programs/checklists/Case-Tony Bose Custom Collaborations.pdf

Buzzbait said "But then again, with the GEC's production numbers and manufacturing, many of their knives could almost be thought of as semi-custom." I don't agree. There's a HUGE difference between low production size and custom made. But I do agree (and nobody has disagreed) that GEC is making quality production knives with good consistency.

I'm a GEC fan. But I don't think it's necessary to diminish the accomplishments of Case and others. And I'm extremely pleased that Case supports the custom knife making community with their Bose collaboration. This collaboration has a positive impact on both the custom knife making community and production knife collectors. Similarly, Queen's collaborations with Burke and Ruple are also very positive. They should not be taken for granted. Traditional knives is a very small cottage industry and it's important that we respect the history and contributions of others.

GEC started from scratch and there are enough old time patterns keep them busy without reproducing the work of custom knife makers. But some day a GEC collaboration knife would be cool.
 
There's a picture of a barrel floating in the doorway at the end of a hall on GEC's site. What do you guys make of this? My first thought is it's a keg or something related to the Beerscouts, but I thought we wouldn't see those till October ish?

end-of-hall-barrel.jpg
 
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