Lets talk GEC!

L.H.S said:
I thought that that referred to the looking glass Abalone, not the lvs Abalone.
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Here’s Bob’s post in full from 2010 on the first LVS release-


55BDA617-024D-4644-8648-0EBFD6723C65.jpeg


“I would like your opinions of the New LVS Abalone Handle material released by Great Eastern Cutlery.I believe the first knives with this handle are the most recent #735210.

For those of you who may not be familiar with this handle material,it is a laminate,constucted of a layer of green Acrylic,a layer of Natural Abalone,and a layer of Clear Acrylic on top. This Laminate constuction serves at least two purposes.First,by using a thin layer of Abalone,GEC is able to keep cost down and still get the beauty of the natural material. Second,the layer of Clear Acrylic on top protects the abalone from chipping,scratching or breakage if the knife is carried or used.

So please post your thoughts on this new material. I'm interested to see what the collectors think of it.”

-Bob Andrews
 
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Will Power said:
I regret to hear you've felt short changed, but people should share their experiences good & bad for a forum to be useful.:thumbsup:

Personally, I don't think that the blade is much off centre, I've seen worse customs actually.... but if it annoys you it's bad, and the more so since you intended it as a present. Abalone is something I avoid, I've never seen it look good on any knife but our tastes are all different. I think you should've returned it immediately if you were that discontented and tried something else.

I'm very pleased with my 38. Once I cleaned it out the W&T seems really good and the wood's not too bad either;)

jJKBgzC.jpg
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The 38 pattern isn't my thing, but dang that bocote looks nice on that one.
 
I took out my 2017 Rendezvous knife, a #38 in LVS Abalone, due to the recent discussion and found what appears to be degradation of the covers :eek::( I can't believe it, but it looks like the acrylic is bubbling or separating. Of all my knives it is the second least carried and used. I have only carried it a handful of times, and never used it other than to test the edge and maybe open a letter. It's always carried alone in a pocket without anything to hit it. It definitely didn't have these spots before.

Just above the center pin and towards the inside mark side cover:
5krVunOh.jpg

guachoYh.jpg


Between the center and tail end pins on the pile side cover:
Dwy7693h.jpg

B6k8eQTh.jpg


These are bad pictures I took in a rush before going into work. There are visible spaces inside the acrylic and bubble or pitted spots.

What should I do? Is that normal or to be expected?
 
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StoneBeard said:
Here’s Bob’s post in full from 2010 on the first LVS release-

“I would like your opinions of the New LVS Abalone Handle material released by Great Eastern Cutlery.I believe the first knives with this handle are the most recent #735210.

For those of you who may not be familiar with this handle material,it is a laminate,constucted of a layer of green Acrylic,a layer of Natural Abalone,and a layer of Clear Acrylic on top. This Laminate constuction serves at least two purposes.First,by using a thin layer of Abalone,GEC is able to keep cost down and still get the beauty of the natural material. Second,the layer of Clear Acrylic on top protects the abalone from chipping,scratching or breakage if the knife is carried or used.

So please post your thoughts on this new material. I'm interested to see what the collectors think of it.”

-Bob Andrews
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Interesting. How does that differ from "looking glass?"
 
r8shell said:
Interesting. How does that differ from "looking glass?"
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I really think that that is a description of looking glass Abalone. There has been both red, Green, and maybe blue. LVS is many pieces of Abalone with acrylic injected around it. Not trying to argue, just my understanding.

Really looking for suggestions on my LVS Abalone #38
 
LVS is layered veneer which is laminated with epoxy. Looking Glass is GEC's name for ALVS a single slice of abalone encased in acrylic.

As to your problem it appears as if some water, sweat, or just air got under the top layer.
 
knifeswapper said:
LVS is layered veneer which is laminated with epoxy. Looking Glass is GEC's name for ALVS a single slice of abalone encased in acrylic.

As to your problem it appears as if some water, sweat, or just air got under the top layer.
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Is that something to be expected? It seems like it shouldn't happen. Is there any difference in care or storage I can do? Or anything to fix it?
 
L.H.S said:
Is that something to be expected? It seems like it shouldn't happen. Is there any difference in care or storage I can do? Or anything to fix it?
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I haven't seen it before - but then again I am too cheap to carry abalone.
 
L.H.S said:
I took out my 2017 Rendezvous knife, a #38 in LVS Abalone, due to the recent discussion and found what appears to be degradation of the covers :eek::( I can't believe it, but it looks like the acrylic is bubbling or separating. Of all my knives it is the second least carried and used. I have only carried it a handful of times, and never used it other than to test the edge and maybe open a letter. It's always carried alone in a pocket without anything to hit it. It definitely didn't have these spots before.

Just above the center pin and towards the inside mark side cover:
5krVunOh.jpg

guachoYh.jpg


Between the center and tail end pins on the pile side cover:
Dwy7693h.jpg

B6k8eQTh.jpg


These are bad pictures I took in a rush before going into work. There are visible spaces inside the acrylic and bubble or pitted spots.

What should I do? Is that normal or to be expected?
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear of the troubles with your #38. I personally have had multiple really good experiences with GEC’s customer service and I’d recommend reaching out to them to see if anything can be done.

On a few occasions ( I’ll see if I can dig up some old posts) They have repaired/replaced defective covers for members here and done some very unique ( and awesome) things in the name of customer satisfaction. I know it can take some time, and you may have to wait until #38’s are run again, but it’s worth exploring your options if the knife holds sentimental value.
 
knifeswapper said:
I haven't seen it before - but then again I am too cheap to carry abalone.
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I don't think it's from carry, I haven't carried it in weeks I don't think and it was cleaned and put away in wax paper. Interesting that you haven't seen it. I don't know what would have led to it.

StoneBeard said:
Sorry to hear of the troubles with your #38. I personally have had multiple really good experiences with GEC’s customer service and I’d recommend reaching out to them to see if anything can be done.

On a few occasions ( I’ll see if I can dig up some old posts) They have repaired/replaced defective covers for members here and done some very unique ( and awesome) things in the name of customer satisfaction. I know it can take some time, and you may have to wait until #38’s are run again, but it’s worth exploring your options if the knife holds sentimental value.
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I've had good experience with their service on non "S/Store/Second" knives also. I know from experiences people have posted it's not always followed to the letter or applied the same, often to the customer's/user's benefit, but their warranty says "GEC does not warrant natural handle materials after the use of the knife." I don't know if LVS Abalone is considered natural or not, considering it's mostly synthetic with natural materials layered in the synthetic veneer. I guess the best thing to do is contact them. I wanted to see if anyone had seen this before and if anyone had suggestions on what I could do differently to fix or stop the degradation, but it doesn't seem like anyone has seen this.

Thanks to both of you for your replies!
 
L.H.S said:
I don't think it's from carry, I haven't carried it in weeks I don't think and it was cleaned and put away in wax paper. Interesting that you haven't seen it. I don't know what would have led to it.



I've had good experience with their service on non "S/Store/Second" knives also. I know from experiences people have posted it's not always followed to the letter or applied the same, often to the customer's/user's benefit, but their warranty says "GEC does not warrant natural handle materials after the use of the knife." I don't know if LVS Abalone is considered natural or not, considering it's mostly synthetic with natural materials layered in the synthetic veneer. I guess the best thing to do is contact them. I wanted to see if anyone had seen this before and if anyone had suggestions on what I could do differently to fix or stop the degradation, but it doesn't seem like anyone has seen this.

Thanks to both of you for your replies!
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Hey Logan,
First of all, sorry this happened. Although I find myself in the "ambivalent" camp of 38 Special appreciation, that is still a beautiful and special knife.

Upon reading of your dilemma, I took out both my rendezvous knife, and my alvs standard release 38. The ALVS was fine, but I did notice a mark on my LVS rendezvous knife, and my heart sank. Upon further inspection though, I realized it was on the surface, and was likely buffing compound or something. It had to be there when I bought it, as I only had it out of the tube once to show my wife. Neither a cloth nor my thumbnail could remove it, so I gently scraped it with a blade, and got most of it removed. I know you know what you're talking about, but please check for this just in case.

Since they're probably bubbles though, I suspect there had been some trapped air within the abalone that carrying may have released. Some very cursory research suggests you may be able to lightly sand bit by bit until you reach the bubbles, clean the debris, then repour a bit of epoxy over the sanded area.

I am far from an expert though, and would definitely check with Chris before trying anything. I'm not sure they'll be able or willing to fix, but at least you'll know your options.

Good luck sir!
 
L.H.S said:
I took out my 2017 Rendezvous knife, a #38 in LVS Abalone, due to the recent discussion and found what appears to be degradation of the covers :eek::( I can't believe it, but it looks like the acrylic is bubbling or separating. Of all my knives it is the second least carried and used. I have only carried it a handful of times, and never used it other than to test the edge and maybe open a letter. It's always carried alone in a pocket without anything to hit it. It definitely didn't have these spots before.

Just above the center pin and towards the inside mark side cover:
5krVunOh.jpg

guachoYh.jpg


Between the center and tail end pins on the pile side cover:
Dwy7693h.jpg

B6k8eQTh.jpg


These are bad pictures I took in a rush before going into work. There are visible spaces inside the acrylic and bubble or pitted spots.

What should I do? Is that normal or to be expected?
Click to expand...

Call Chris at GEC is what you should do. She'll get it straightened out for you ;)
 
Sabercat said:
Hey Logan,
First of all, sorry this happened. Although I find myself in the "ambivalent" camp of 38 Special appreciation, that is still a beautiful and special knife.

Upon reading of your dilemma, I took out both my rendezvous knife, and my alvs standard release 38. The ALVS was fine, but I did notice a mark on my LVS rendezvous knife, and my heart sank. Upon further inspection though, I realized it was on the surface, and was likely buffing compound or something. It had to be there when I bought it, as I only had it out of the tube once to show my wife. Neither a cloth nor my thumbnail could remove it, so I gently scraped it with a blade, and got most of it removed. I know you know what you're talking about, but please check for this just in case.

Since they're probably bubbles though, I suspect there had been some trapped air within the abalone that carrying may have released. Some very cursory research suggests you may be able to lightly sand bit by bit until you reach the bubbles, clean the debris, then repour a bit of epoxy over the sanded area.

I am far from an expert though, and would definitely check with Chris before trying anything. I'm not sure they'll be able or willing to fix, but at least you'll know your options.

Good luck sir!
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Great suggestion! I wondered at first if it was on the surface, but I tried removing it but rubbing and some of it is definitely fully below the surface. I think that's the most likely case, that it's some kind of release from the Abalone pieces. I'm just amazed it's on both the mark and pile sides. I realize I can over react to the things, so I'm gonna take another look.

traumkommode said:
Call Chris at GEC is what you should do. She'll get it straightened out for you ;)
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I called yesterday and they asked that I send pictures. They were very nice and helpful over the phone as always. I'm gonna wait till they get back to me to do anything.
 
I think you need to take better pix...I can't make out what's wrong there?

Maybe air bubbles got into the process at the time and you've not noticed before? Can brass pins or liners react with the material?
 
I agree, looks like air underneath one of the lamination layers. I doubt that it would ever be an issue, probably just some air trapped in the material that expanded when it warmed up in your pocket. Acrylic ought to be about the strongest cover material that GEC uses, probably even stronger than Micarta. So if you're already carrying the knife and it isn't a trophy piece, I'd say unless they continue to get bigger, you're fine.
 
TheFactor said:
^^^Looks looks like air pockets in there
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traumkommode said:
I agree, looks like air underneath one of the lamination layers. I doubt that it would ever be an issue, probably just some air trapped in the material that expanded when it warmed up in your pocket. Acrylic ought to be about the strongest cover material that GEC uses, probably even stronger than Micarta. So if you're already carrying the knife and it isn't a trophy piece, I'd say unless they continue to get bigger, you're fine.
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That's what I thought also. There are two things that concern me. 1) they already seen to have gotten wider and 2) the areas that look pitted open to the surface, as in it has created holes on the surface that I can feel with a finger nail

I sent the pictures to Chris and she said they'll get back to me once Bill has a chance to look at them. Glad they are so helpful.
 
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