Lets talk GEC!

Cory Hess said:
I have presented all of these things as negatives for one company, but in my head I think of them as positives for the other. I don't think it's bad that GEC doesn't offer more steel choices, I think it's awesome that Queen does. I don't think it's a negative that Queen doesn't offer more patterns, I think it's awesome that GEC does. I don't know if that makes any sense, but it's significant to me.
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Best line ever! All the current manufacturers have their pluses and minuses. If we want to see them all succeed, that's a good attitude to have.
 
There's a lot going on in this topic! I'll comment on a couple of things and might come back and comment on a couple of others...

If I understand correctly, the criticism was not about the dealer distribution of prototypes but how GEC chooses the knives. I've heard from others on the forum that the prototype is one knife chosen randomly by GEC from a batch rather than an actual prototype that was used for patterning. If this is not correct, then please correct. For ME, prototypes are of absolutely no interest at all. I don't care but I do appreciate that others care about them. This might be important to collectors (not users) but I don't think it has been a very large focus of GEC marketing. And you rarely hear much fuss about prototypes.

Someone mentioned centered blades and I'd like to reiterate that I don't think it has much to do with quality. It seems to be confusion or carry over from modern knives. GEC anneals the tangs and crinks the blades so that they are centered. It's not a matter of tolerances during assembly. It is attention to detail rather than a matter of quality in manufacturing. If a blade is off center but not touching other blades or the liners then it should not make any functional difference at all.
 
cbr1000 said:
It's Jobillo on the #92.

Back to the barrel, what do you think that barrel is made of? I'm guessing it's a bourbon barrel? Maybe it's a white oak for the beer scouts?
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Okay, here's my last guess on this. They are bourbon barrels and have something to do with the 72.
 
Some really great points have been made in this discussion and it is great that everything has remained so respectful. My perspective is this....I love well made GEC knives and I love well made Queen knives. I also love well made Case knives. Heck, I just love a well made knife that is worth the money that I spent on it. I don't care for any knife that was not made well regardless of the manufacturer. I believe it is a blessing that we still have these cutlery companies operating here in the US and it doesn't have to be a GEC v. Queen v. Case type of atmosphere. If you limit yourself to knives from only one of these manufacturers, you are doing yourself a disservice.

somber said:
Take ten knives from Great Eastern Cutlery and they'll all be perfect.
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I have handled, purchased, owned, and used a lot of GECs and Queens and I have seen glorious samples as well as poor samples from both companies. I agree that GEC probably has a leg up on Queen in regards to QC but this statement may be a bit presumptive. At least, my experience does not directly correlate with this but I'm sure we all have a different opinion of perfection. The important thing is that you enjoy your knife and that you use your knife. If it is just to collect, then that's a different conversation all together.

cbr1000 said:
Back to the barrel, what do you think that barrel is made of? I'm guessing it's a bourbon barrel? Maybe it's a white oak for the beer scouts?

Edit: My final guess on the floating barrel is, bourbon barrel aged white oak for the 72.
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Maybe that just had a big weekend!
 
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Tilley Knife said:
Some really great points have been made in this discussion and it is great that everything has remained so respectful. My perspective is this....I love well made GEC knives and I love well made Queen knives. I also love well made Case knives. Heck, I just love a well made knife that is worth the money that I spent on it. I don't care for any knife that was not made well regardless of the manufacturer. I believe it is a blessing that we still have these cutlery companies operating here in the US and it doesn't have to be a GEC v. Queen v. Case type of atmosphere. If you limit yourself to knives from only one of these manufacturers, you are doing yourself a disservice.

I have handled, purchased, owned, and used a lot of GECs and Queens and I have seen glorious samples as well as poor samples from both companies. I agree that GEC probably has a leg up on Queen in regards to QC but this statement may be a bit presumptive. At least, my experience does not directly correlate with this but I'm sure we all have a different opinion of perfection. The important thing is that you enjoy your knife and that you use your knife. If it is just to collect, then that's a different conversation all together.



Maybe that just had a big weekend!
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Highlighted words reflect exactly how I feel.
 
rma100 said:
Make no mistake about it, handing out free knives to youngsters is every bit a Marketing Tactic, as much as publishing mystery photos. And an obviously successful one. This is merely a comment, not a judgement.
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Not every company is self serving. And GEC commits to fund raising events every year. Check out their web site for details during the year to learn what they do.
 
I haven't felt the need to add much to this forum as of late, most of what I have to say is in the way of praise for GEC anyhow and that seems to be covered in here a lot, which I think is well deserved considering the affect they have had on the traditional knife world thus far.

Every company has something different to offer and appreciate, but in my experiences it's hard to even call it close when quality is on the line. Although the steel choices are limited from Great Eastern when compared to the likes of Queen, I've personally never had to deal with grinding an edge onto a GEC like i have with Queen. Now, all of my experiences with Queen predate the Daniels ownership, so I'm a little dated when it comes to the newest offerings. I had called it quits on trying with their product based off of a few really bad knives. The worst being when I bought the Queen show knife years ago and instead of receiving the knife I picked out, I received one with a cracked scale and a ton of blade play. It was made worse because I bought it direct from Queen. Now, many moons have passed since then, but the experience has left a bad taste in my mouth. I still appreciate their presence in the traditional knife world, but as long as Great Eastern is in the game I'm sending my business that way without worry.

As far as considering Great Eastern a company geared toward collectors, I have a hard time seeing that. Especially with how beefy a lot of their folders are. I think traditional knives are more of a nitch when compared to the regular knife user of today and so we see a ton of "old timely" references that can seem a bit gimmicky, but we get that from every company. I've personally put a lot of GECs through the paces, wether it be on the farm or in the field. My go to knife this season was a #73 that didn't get a break until the season was over. In that time I field dressed three dear with it and skinned just as many, I never once touched the edge up either. Their knives are built tough and are meant to last, wether it be in a glass display case or the pocket of your blue jeans.

I appreciate what Queen does with their kiddo program, it's a great way for kids to get an interest in knives at an early stage. While GEC may not have an actual program devoted to such actions I know that they have routinely donated knives to the local scout troops and charities, along with holding a raffle for the wounded worries at every years Rendezvous. On a personal level Great Eastern has blessed me on a multitude of occasions. I don't think it's fair to name all of the ways they have done so, but I think it's a disservice to have anyone think they aren't contributing to their community. About a year ago my family had a house fire, everyone made it through safely and the only thing lost was our poccesions, those possessions included almost my entire knife collection, a great deal of those GECs. That's life and when no one is hurt you move on. I was hesitant to even start collecting again, but a few months later the Rendezvous rolled around and I couldn't help but ride up there. When Chris and the rest of the gang heard about the fire, they took care of me. They got my collection started again and renewed that passion I had! Mr. Howard pulled me to the side and told me to go through my collection of burnt blades and pick out what I thought could be saved and to send them to him, he would take them apart and access the damage done. It was an amazing offer by an extremely busy man. I didn't feel right about adding to his work load, so I've done most of the clean up myself and while I'm no knife wizard like he is, I can use most of my knives! It's that kind of compassion and friendship coupled with a traditional pocket knife executed to near perfect that has earned my almost complete devotion.
 
johnny twoshoes said:
I haven't felt the need to add much to this forum as of late, most of what I have to say is in the way of praise for GEC anyhow and that seems to be covered in here a lot, which I think is well deserved considering the affect they have had on the traditional knife world thus far.

Every company has something different to offer and appreciate, but in my experiences it's hard to even call it close when quality is on the line. Although the steel choices are limited from Great Eastern when compared to the likes of Queen, I've personally never had to deal with grinding an edge onto a GEC like i have with Queen. Now, all of my experiences with Queen predate the Daniels ownership, so I'm a little dated when it comes to the newest offerings. I had called it quits on trying with their product based off of a few really bad knives. The worst being when I bought the Queen show knife years ago and instead of receiving the knife I picked out, I received one with a cracked scale and a ton of blade play. It was made worse because I bought it direct from Queen. Now, many moons have passed since then, but the experience has left a bad taste in my mouth. I still appreciate their presence in the traditional knife world, but as long as Great Eastern is in the game I'm sending my business that way without worry.

As far as considering Great Eastern a company geared toward collectors, I have a hard time seeing that. Especially with how beefy a lot of their folders are. I think traditional knives are more of a nitch when compared to the regular knife user of today and so we see a ton of "old timely" references that can seem a bit gimmicky, but we get that from every company. I've personally put a lot of GECs through the paces, wether it be on the farm or in the field. My go to knife this season was a #73 that didn't get a break until the season was over. In that time I field dressed three dear with it and skinned just as many, I never once touched the edge up either. Their knives are built tough and are meant to last, wether it be in a glass display case or the pocket of your blue jeans.

I appreciate what Queen does with their kiddo program, it's a great way for kids to get an interest in knives at an early stage. While GEC may not have an actual program devoted to such actions I know that they have routinely donated knives to the local scout troops and charities, along with holding a raffle for the wounded worries at every years Rendezvous. On a personal level Great Eastern has blessed me on a multitude of occasions. I don't think it's fair to name all of the ways they have done so, but I think it's a disservice to have anyone think they aren't contributing to their community. About a year ago my family had a house fire, everyone made it through safely and the only thing lost was our poccesions, those possessions included almost my entire knife collection, a great deal of those GECs. That's life and when no one is hurt you move on. I was hesitant to even start collecting again, but a few months later the Rendezvous rolled around and I couldn't help but ride up there. When Chris and the rest of the gang heard about the fire, they took care of me. They got my collection started again and renewed that passion I had! Mr. Howard pulled me to the side and told me to go through my collection of burnt blades and pick out what I thought could be saved and to send them to him, he would take them apart and access the damage done. It was an amazing offer by an extremely busy man. I didn't feel right about adding to his work load, so I've done most of the clean up myself and while I'm no knife wizard like he is, I can use most of my knives! It's that kind of compassion and friendship coupled with a traditional pocket knife executed to near perfect that has earned my almost complete devotion.
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I'm very sorry for your experience, but thank you very much for sharing it.
 
There are also "Factory Test Production Run" knives.

Here is a picture of one. knifeswapper's picture.

l3rHgM5.jpg


This is a picture of mine. The etching is not prominent in this picture.

n2H8DtP.jpg
 
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If what I've heard is correct, GEC's "prototypes" are more like "1st runs" rather than actual prototypes. But in manufacturing there is often more than one real prototype. As an example, I 've bought prototypes from a local gym equipment manufacturer. They often have several prototypes of each new product and I can pick from them. Some have slightly different builds or different paint etc. They are much less expensive than the regular production. In collectibles it's a bit different. Collectors like prototypes and 1st runs.
 
Interesting, the question of whether GEC is geared toward collectors... My .02 is that collectors will never be this passionate about a product that isn't TRULY designed and built to be used. Now, some of their marketing strategies and tactics are certainly geared toward collectors. I'm a career marketer myself and must say they've done an excellent job of doing things like ensuring slight variations in model runs, fostering perceived scarcity, and enabling a ton of us to collect, collect, collect! If we didn't, really, we'd only need 2-3 knives total and they would last us decades.

So... is the PRODUCT geared toward collectors? No, I think it's built for generations of use, work, and dependability.

Is the MARKETING geared toward collectors? You betcha.
 
tstaut said:
So... is the PRODUCT geared toward collectors? No, I think it's built for generations of use, work, and dependability.

Is the MARKETING geared toward collectors? You betcha.
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Nailed it!

,,,Mike in Canada
 
johnny twoshoes said:
I haven't felt the need to add much to this forum as of late, most of what I have to say is in the way of praise for GEC anyhow and that seems to be covered in here a lot, which I think is well deserved considering the affect they have had on the traditional knife world thus far.

I appreciate what Queen does with their kiddo program, it's a great way for kids to get an interest in knives at an early stage. While GEC may not have an actual program devoted to such actions I know that they have routinely donated knives to the local scout troops and charities, along with holding a raffle for the wounded worries at every years Rendezvous. On a personal level Great Eastern has blessed me on a multitude of occasions. I don't think it's fair to name all of the ways they have done so, but I think it's a disservice to have anyone think they aren't contributing to their community. About a year ago my family had a house fire, everyone made it through safely and the only thing lost was our poccesions, those possessions included almost my entire knife collection, a great deal of those GECs. That's life and when no one is hurt you move on. I was hesitant to even start collecting again, but a few months later the Rendezvous rolled around and I couldn't help but ride up there. When Chris and the rest of the gang heard about the fire, they took care of me. They got my collection started again and renewed that passion I had! Mr. Howard pulled me to the side and told me to go through my collection of burnt blades and pick out what I thought could be saved and to send them to him, he would take them apart and access the damage done. It was an amazing offer by an extremely busy man. I didn't feel right about adding to his work load, so I've done most of the clean up myself and while I'm no knife wizard like he is, I can use most of my knives! It's that kind of compassion and friendship coupled with a traditional pocket knife executed to near perfect that has earned my almost complete devotion.
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Thank You for sharing your story. I hope the rebuilding of your life is coming along.

As much as I wanted, I did not think I could get to the Rendezvous this year. Your story has inspired me to re-double my efforts.

Scott
 
Did anyone score one of the recent SFO 48s? The shield on those appeared to be a bar as opposed to the hotdog, very surprising and cool.
 
Those #48's looked great and are a true piece of history. It also looks as if a little work is being started on the #14's in NifeBrite-

 
StoneBeard said:

Those #48's looked great and are a true piece of history.
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What is it that makes them a true piece of history?

Never mind. My bell went off after Ramrodmb's post.
 
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Just a guess here but I'd say because of the materials that went into making them.
IE: wood from the USS Texas.
 
The knives being done right now are the single blade trapper from the USS Texas steel that is forged into raindrop pattern Damascus by Devin Thomas.
And the USS New Jersey two bladed trapper forged into ladder pattern Damascus by Devin Thomas also.
Either knife is the same price and comes in a walnut display box with the ships logo engraved on top, It has two shields and the Name of the ships is on one and then

Here is our USS Texas BB35 Battleship Folder. Steel
forged from the Ship, and handle material of the
decking off the ship.




I was interested and that's the info that was sent to me. Pretty awesome!
 
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