Lets talk GEC!

I'm posting in this thread for two reasons. First, the bulk of my collection is from GEC and second, there has been a lot of talk about how hard it is to find a particular knife and then whether to use it or not.

Outside of one or two GEC's bought new, I always found it hard to put the first scratch on it. Since so many knives are only available on the exchange that's where I find my knives. For those of you who hesitate to buy secondhand here is a recent example that I hope changes your mind. The first photo is a 73 stag that I just received and the second is after five minutes of flitz, soap and water, and a coating of mineral oil.

Mods....if this is not enough about the knife itself, please move it accordingly.

image.jpeg
image.jpeg
 
Thanks Jeff, they always do. The quality of the knives and the care that most people take means that I only need to do minor clean up &/or maintenance.
 
joeradza said:
I'm posting in this thread for two reasons. First, the bulk of my collection is from GEC and second, there has been a lot of talk about how hard it is to find a particular knife and then whether to use it or not.

Outside of one or two GEC's bought new, I always found it hard to put the first scratch on it. Since so many knives are only available on the exchange that's where I find my knives. For those of you who hesitate to buy secondhand here is a recent example that I hope changes your mind. The first photo is a 73 stag that I just received and the second is after five minutes of flitz, soap and water, and a coating of mineral oil.

Mods....if this is not enough about the knife itself, please move it accordingly.

View attachment 744100
View attachment 744101
Click to expand...
Very nice Stag on that Alan and the fact that it is a 73 is a huge bonus . Great catch my friend !!!!!!

Harry
 
Txjohn said:
The pemberton is my favorite under 3" gec knife so for. It's a lot of knife for the size . I'd also like to see a 3.375" gec coke bottle jack sometime soon .
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and a 5 1/4". The most impractical, must have, make excuses to carry traditional in my eyes.:)
 
cbr1000 said:
I've been holding out hope for a Grand Daddy Barlow from GEC. We have a Tidioute and Northfield barlow....we need a giant GEC stainless barlow.
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Yes we do, we really do.

Lots of good ideas being thrown out, love the little coke bottle idea, that would make for a swell 2-blade jack.
 
But GEC doesn't have plans to create new patterns at this point……
Or I wanna see a Swayback Jack.
(Viper is a little big for me and I would love to see a pen blade on jack knives.)
 
Rambler said:
But GEC doesn't have plans to create new patterns at this point……
Or I wanna see a Swayback Jack.
(Viper is a little big for me and I would love to see a pen blade on jack knives.)
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There are currently a couple upcoming patterns previewed on their website. Their catalog of patterns has increased a lot but I think we'll see more new stuff from them.

The Hayn' Helper has a pen blade on the 47 handle. The Viper and Hayn' Helper are curved jacks. The 47 pattern is too large to be a sway-back jack.

473216-Nifebrite-Acrylic.jpg


If they do make a smaller Swayback jack, I'd like to see them do a rebirth of one of the 100 year old knives rather than copy the one made by Case from Tony Bose's pattern. Tony's pattern is beefed up compared to the old swayback jack knives--the beefed up pattern better suits modern tastes. It's more of a scaled down in size curved jack. The swayback jacks were slender knives (see page 180 of Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values).

Many of the people who learned the term "swayback jack" learned it from Case. I love Tony's pattern but it's Tony's. Knives are "rebirthed" from old catalogs and old knives, not by reproducing Tony's work or Case's work. GEC should go back to the old catalogs and rebirth the long slender Sway-back as shown in Levine's Guide on page 180. Nobody else is making them. Would be very cool! Here's an oldie.

Dr4v58c.jpg
 
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Good point Alan, a lot of knives clean up nicely and make a grand companion/user. I often feel there's too much obsession with 'mint' and like new in the tube from some people. Provided it's not been damaged, cracked handles, badly dented bolster and rust...a well looked after knife is a big draw for me.

Regards, Will

PS GEC Need to make a decent sized Norfolk and a Small Serp Pen:cool:
 
Jfowler said:
I would like to see gec make a sowbelly as well !
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In case GEC sees this discussion ! Here are some photos of old knives for patterning !

Except for some chips the blades are full on this knife...
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This one is used and worn but shows a 2-blade double end jack that uses the same parts as a sowbelly. Would be AWESOME with a sheepfoot in place of the spey blade.
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supratentorial said:
What makes you say they "GEC doesn't have plans to create new patterns at this point"? There are currently a couple upcoming patterns previewed on their website. Their catalog of patterns has increased a lot but I think we'll see more new stuff from them.

The Hayn' Helper has a pen blade on the 47 handle. The Viper and Hayn' Helper are curved jacks. The 47 pattern is too large to be a sway-back jack.

473216-Nifebrite-Acrylic.jpg


If they do make a smaller Swayback jack, I'd like to see them do a rebirth of one of the 100 year old knives rather than copy the one made by Case from Tony Bose's pattern. Tony's pattern is beefed up compared to the old swayback jack knives--the beefed up pattern better suits modern tastes. It's more of a scaled down in size curved jack. The swayback jacks were slender knives (see page 180 of Levine's Guide to Knives and Their Values).

Many of the people who learned the term "swayback jack" learned it from Case. I love Tony's pattern but it's Tony's. Knives are "rebirthed" from old catalogs and old knives, not by reproducing Tony's work or Case's work. GEC should go back to the old catalogs and rebirth the long slender Sway-back as shown in Levine's Guide on page 180. Nobody else is making them. Would be very cool! Here's an oldie.

Dr4v58c.jpg
Click to expand...

Sir,"The pattern" I meant before refers to a "New Frame".Of course they have brought something new to us recently,pretty nice,like #35 Churchill and #81 BullMoose.
But they are all based on the frames which were created years ago,and they are still in the same handle shape and same size.The disadvantage is apparent,the main element will be limited except blades.(I don't blame on GEC,it'll cost themselves a lot of time and funds to create a new frame.)

Therefore,it'll be quite odd to produce a Swayback Jack in #47 Viper pattern due to the limited closed size and the limited frame shape,especially when I would love to see a smaller size personally.

Then what should we do to solve this embarrassing problem?The only way is letting GEC release an another new frame for SBJ.But I can't remember when they released a new frame last time,#98 Camp Knife?I am not sure,but it seems like they stop making new frame for a while when they see #100 on their catalog forward.If dealers determine to order a new frame from GEC as SFO by themselves,Chris told me they planned to stop doing it for quite some time as well.
(I am even not sure whether the creation of #98 frame was promoted by Charlie or not.If so,#99 frame might be the real last new frame because #98 should be thought as a new frame for SFO,and I said before a new frame for SFO is no longer available at this point.)
 
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Rambler said:
Sir,"The pattern" I meant before refers to a "New Frame".Of course they have brought something new to us recently,pretty nice,like #35 Churchill and #81 BullMoose.
But they are all based on the frames which were created years ago,and they are still in the same handle shape and same size....,Chris told me they planned to stop doing it for quite some time as well.
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I see. The book definition of pattern usually includes handle and blades. I misunderstood. I think the 35 handle die was first used on last years forum knife so it's about a year old. Not very long ago but not recent either. I hope there will be more new handle dies. And I hope they go back to old catalogs and knives rather than copy other manufacturer's current work.

Rambler said:
Therefore,if I wanna see a swayback jack,it'll be quite odd to produce them in #47 Viper pattern,especially when I would love to see a smaller size personally.
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The viper and hayn' helper are "curved jacks". A lot of folks learn "swayback jack" from Case and apply it incorrectly to any knife that is similar. Levine's Guide is a good reference book. It has definitions of "curved jack" and "sway-back jack". If GEC makes a "swayback jack", I hope they "rebirth" the old knives instead of copying Case and Tony. GEC should make their own way.
 
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