Lets talk GEC!

Ooooohhhh! Single clip blade and classic cover choices. Mike did a great job picking the options!

I wonder if the "green" will be Case green (brown) ...or what shade of real green? Sounds interesting.

I'm always late to the show for the preorders but I'm happy to have gotten in on at least one. I'm "OK" for a greenie and "standby" for a copperhead. Someone please cancel your order for a copperhead to bump my status up. ;) :p :D
 
Man, I'm bummed I didn't notice this earlier. Should have checked the text I got I guess. My only complaint with the #77s was that they were difficult to open (I put an easy open notch on my forum knife, if you have it and see this and want to sell it let me know), so the pinch able blades are a huge upgrade. Bone linen micarta sounds awesome also.
 
pmew said:
Goodness me. I don't know what to say.
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Sounds to me like he could have saved his money and commissioned a nice custom that is exactly how he wants it to be. Production knives are obviously not his cup of joe.
 
Jsega51 said:
Sounds to me like he could have saved his money and commissioned a nice custom that is exactly how he wants it to be. Production knives are obviously not his cup of joe.
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Really?

I'm not complaining, nor criticizing the company. I enjoy their knives immensely. I was merely trying to make a helpful post, the point of which was that some people might have a hundred "perfect" knives and others a dozen "bad" ones. It all depends on your perspective, and that if someone is ultra picky (which I am not) they can feel almost anything is a defect. We all know GEC's general level of quality. Every one of the issues I mentioned has been one that I've seen people complain about on here. Every one of them doesn't in and of itself make for a "bad" knife.
 
I've lost count (or rather, never bothered!) of my GECs. Some I've given away here, some traded or sold but I've never had a GEC I've had to send back apart from one that cracked a centre-pin after 3 days use, no dropping it either. I've found their quality to be very consistent and those made 15-16 if anything seem to be improving. One area of improvement is radiusing the scales around the liners, some earlier models had receding scales at times, exposing a bit of the liner. Also, they've improved the pin finish on the ones I've received, more domed or flush pins and no sink-holes which I think detract visually. I've written criticisms of the 18 and latest 14 patterns, the designs disappoint me but the finish on these and the 15 Stainless I just received is first-class, well it meets my requirements: no gaps, no play, no blade rub, centred, good W&T, no proud or sunk springs on open or close. GEC's consistency is across patterns and scales (Stag, Bone, Wood, Acrylic) as it should be as they cost more than CASE, Buck or most Queen knives. However, high cost is not always a defence, all the problems of a serious or unpleasant nature have been with costlier knives, custom, a certain Collab knife, and a recently closed knife company. So I don't want to make light of the catalogue of faults other people have encountered with GEC. i've been lucky perhaps.
 
Will Power said:
I've lost count (or rather, never bothered!) of my GECs. Some I've given away here, some traded or sold but I've never had a GEC I've had to send back apart from one that cracked a centre-pin after 3 days use, no dropping it either. I've found their quality to be very consistent and those made 15-16 if anything seem to be improving. One area of improvement is radiusing the scales around the liners, some earlier models had receding scales at times, exposing a bit of the liner. Also, they've improved the pin finish on the ones I've received, more domed or flush pins and no sink-holes which I think detract visually. I've written criticisms of the 18 and latest 14 patterns, the designs disappoint me but the finish on these and the 15 Stainless I just received is first-class, well it meets my requirements: no gaps, no play, no blade rub, centred, good W&T, no proud or sunk springs on open or close. GEC's consistency is across patterns and scales (Stag, Bone, Wood, Acrylic) as it should be as they cost more than CASE, Buck or most Queen knives. However, high cost is not always a defence, all the problems of a serious or unpleasant nature have been with costlier knives, custom, a certain Collab knife, and a recently closed knife company. So I don't want to make light of the catalogue of faults other people have encountered with GEC. i've been lucky perhaps.
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Hey Will, I saw in another thread you aren't a fan of the 14s/18s. I wanted to ask, but didn't want to take the thread off-topic: do you have the same feeling about the famous Peanut pattern? GEC patterns always seem beefy to me, I was surprised you considered these too delicate.
 
GaiusJulius said:
Really?

I'm not complaining
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I guess I misinterpreted your long post that pointed out flaws in most of your knives then. I just said maybe you should try a custom out for a change of pace since you obviously just have bad luck with productions.
 
It's funny how opinions on "faults" vary. I recently saw the worst design flaw that I've ever seen on a knife (Queen/Trestle Pines skinner easy open barlow) and I was the ONLY person on the entire forum that voiced a criticism of the design flaw. There were some criticisms of appearance that are subjective and (in my opinion) relatively unimportant. But NOBODY criticised the flawed design. If you used and sharpened the knife (these were marketed as intended to be users) then the tip of the blade would eventually be exposed by the easy open notch. And you'd need to grind the spine right through the forward placed nail nick to bury the tip of the blade. Yet NOBODY thought there was a problem except for the appearance. Does nobody use and sharpen their knives???

Some folks like to nit pick and others don't. Sometimes criticism is necessary but it can be a over the top. A few years back, someone sent me a page long list of questions about a sale item. He even said that he has never found a knife that satisfied his criteria. LOL! I wondered if his hobby was nit picking or if he was actually interested in knives!

GEC is usually pretty good but there are lots of little cosmetic things that can always be found if you look hard enough. And there are some minor problems that occur in manufacturing of hand made knives. Sometimes there are real problems. It happens. And there are some designs that are spot on and others that could be improved a little... and some that are just weird. ;)

No manufacturer is perfect. But GEC is doing very good work. I hope they are around for a long time.
 
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Jsega51 said:
I guess I misinterpreted your long post that pointed out flaws in most of your knives then. I just said maybe you should try a custom out for a change of pace since you obviously just have bad luck with productions.
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No worries mate, I should have expressed myself better. A custom is definitely on the horizon at some point -there are some amazingly talented makers out there. But, touching on GEC quality, it's hard for me to justify the price of entry to myself when I know I can buy 5-10 new knives that are beautiful and cut stuff very well. But perfection has its price!
 
Good point Eric, thanks for asking:D

My disappointment in the 14 and 18 pattern is that they are narrow and lack breadth, very lightweight giving a pencil like feel ( I have smaller hands too!) The proportions do not feel right to me as they come across as skimpy. Some of this might have to do with scale thickness, in my opinion a small knife benefits from having thicker handle slabs, makes it more substantial in the hand. Take for instance a small Opinel No.6 or a small Laguiole, they may have small frames but there's a thick slab to grip on, very pleasing yet not heavy.:thumbup:

The Peanut you ask? uh uh never been my cup of tea, given them all away bar one. Tiny secondary blade that's hard to open :barf: but the CASE Crandall at least has thick slabs, I always prefer a single-spring 2 blade Penknife to a Jack anyway. So, CASE Pen or GEC's excellent Conductor pattern are fine small knives with plenty of blade and feel to them. Serp patterns such as Böker's Pen do the trick too. GEC's Conductor has the right proportions but would be even better with smaller or Tip bolsters from an aesthetic point. In the hand, the 33 is a very good knife. The 68 works well too, is smaller than the 15 but broader but they are of course not really 'small' knives.

Regards, Will
 
Oh I know what you mean Eric, and even with customs, you'll see slight gaps and other "things" that will show that the knife was made by hand and not alien technology. I guess no matter what, you really don't know what you have until it's in your hand.
 
A well made production knife and a custom are apples and oranges. A custom knife is about the maker first and foremost. In my opinion, this concept seems to have been lost in recent years for some reason and I think it's unfortunate. As an example, I admire Ken Erickson's work since he is exceptional at patterning. He can make ANYTHING. I hold this in very high regard. He is truly an artist. Likewise, Ryuichi Kawamura is a very skilled artist. The knives aren't being punched out from dies. They are truly individual pieces of art. Ken and Ryu are also good people as well as good artists.
 
I know what you're saying Jake but I have knives from Ken that have gaps (build "issues" is what is being discussed) one is in my pocket as I type this. I admire his work as well, very much so. I was just stating that if I was consistently getting production knives with "issues", I might try looking elsewhere. Next step would be a custom. Wasn't comparing the two as apples to apples. I have plenty of customs in my collection along with a fair amount of productions. Those productions would be sold off in a heartbeat if needed before most of my customs would.
 
Not really arguing with you or anyone else. Just stating my opinion. There can be "flaws" in any knife... custom or production. In my opinion, buying a custom is about buying art. Nobody is perfect. And as with any profession, a custom knife maker improves over the years. Tony, Ken, and Ryu maybe pretty close to perfect though. ;) They are exceptional artists. They have also contributed a lot... to knifemaking, to the forum, to the community, etc.

Nit picking is always going to be possible with any knife... hand made or even fully automated. Appreciation for art is a separate thing.
 
I've looked at a couple of the GEC acrylics and whilst the design had major appeal to me (23s & 54s) the acrylic covers were just a bit all over the place,haphazard and blobby looking.
Inconsistent-thats the word.
Maybe they're supposed be like that -I dunno.
 
Which acrylics were those meako?

I'm enthusiastic about quite a few of their acrylics, but some make me, er, uneasy.....
 
I'll flat out say that I'm not a fan of acrylic as a cover material. I've tried a few and they feel like... acrylic ;) As far as synthetic materials are concerned, I much prefer the feel of delrin or the various types of micarta. Acrylics are a good alternative to celluloid since they are stable. Colorful knife covers have been part of traditional knives for a long time and it's good that there's a modern material that comes close. And there are folks who do like acrylic. It's good that there's options. It does seem like the acrylic covers go less fast than other cover materials... it's all relative though since most GEC knives go pretty fast. The acrylic knives just seem to sell out last.
 
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Someone commented recently that there hasn't been a lot of variety in handle material from GEC lately. No horn etc. it would be good to see some new stuff
 
Camillus said:
Someone commented recently that there hasn't been a lot of variety in handle material from GEC lately. No horn etc. it would be good to see some new stuff
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My impression is that the buffalo horn is also one that usually sells out last. Not sure if it's always true. Just what I've seen.

Txjohn said:
I like to see some rams horn , although I have no experience with it .
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I'm in the same boat. Both interested and not having experience with it.

In the past GEC did use ram's horn. Iirc, Trand and Jeff have some nice examples in their collections.
 
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