Lets talk GEC!

Agreed, Will! The 440C they offer is plain awesome and their appearence is just great. The shield and etching is tasteful, indeed and quite classy as well as the tangstamps. I just own my #73, 2-blades and it is such an awesome knife.

I´d like see more of this great steel and the F&F is GEC typically awesome.
 
As popular as the #15 Boy's Knife is, I'd think it would be a good pattern to offer in 440C.
 
Halfneck said:
As popular as the #15 Boy's Knife is, I'd think it would be a good pattern to offer in 440C.
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Oh man... the #15 Scout in 440C with an acorn shield would be amazing :)

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I also find myself clicking the "GEC Brand" or "Stainless Knives" tabs on dealer sites and wishing they weren't so empty. I agree, the 73 and 15 would be great. But I think it'd work on most patterns.
 
I think you stainless steel fans are being greedy. There are enough companies out there making just about all of their knives in stainless steel. Let us 1095 fans have one company that focuses on carbon knives. If you want stainless you can go to Queen, Canal Street, Case, Victorinex or Buck, all of which have extensive catalogs of stainless steel blades for you to peruse. GEC seems to be the one company that's really focusing on carbon. Let us have just that one.

Disclaimer: I know that Queen has a lot of D2, but that's close enough to stainless that I'm not putting it in either camp and everything they offer that's not D2 is stainless. They do SFOs in carbon, but relatively few options are offered. I also know that Case has their CV line, but according to their website they currently have 5 of their "knife families" being produced in CV vs. 62 in stainless. I know that there are also companies out there that do both, like Opinel, but they don't focus on carbon like other companies focus on stainless.

I'm sure there's other exceptions out there, but the fact remains that there is a whole wide world of stainless knives, whereas carbon is a niche product. Let us have our niche.
 
Cory Hess said:
I think you stainless steel fans are being greedy. There are enough companies out there making just about all of their knives in stainless steel. Let us 1095 fans have one company that focuses on carbon knives. If you want stainless you can go to Queen, Canal Street, Case, Victorinex or Buck, all of which have extensive catalogs of stainless steel blades for you to peruse. GEC seems to be the one company that's really focusing on carbon. Let us have just that one.

Disclaimer: I know that Queen has a lot of D2, but that's close enough to stainless that I'm not putting it in either camp and everything they offer that's not D2 is stainless. They do SFOs in carbon, but relatively few options are offered. I also know that Case has their CV line, but according to their website they currently have 5 of their "knife families" being produced in CV vs. 62 in stainless. I know that there are also companies out there that do both, like Opinel, but they don't focus on carbon like other companies focus on stainless.

I'm sure there's other exceptions out there, but the fact remains that there is a whole wide world of stainless knives, whereas carbon is a niche product. Let us have our niche.
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I don't think stainless fans are being greedy in wanting GEC to also make some of their more popular knives in 440C. Unlike those other companies, all of GEC's 440C models have been available in 1095 first and usually in larger numbers. That said, I don't expect GEC to do any major shifts to 440C. Sure, they've released the #47 recently and doing another run of #42s now but there are still 440C knives on dealers shelves from 2012, 2011, and even one I saw from 2010. If people don't buy them from the dealers, the dealers aren't going to ask GEC to make more... I do think a run in #15s would likely sell out and wouldn't be surprised if they do so within the next year.

Here's a thread started a while back asking for more GEC 440C
www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1085788-GEC-Please-Make-More-Patterns-Available-To-Us-in-440C-yea-or-nea?
 
To be fair, I see 1095 knives sitting around from years ago as well. The #23 I bought a month ago is a 2012 model, and the dealer I bought from had 23s going back to 2009 still sitting on his shelf. I don't know if the 440c that they make sells better or worse than the 1095, I just know that I feel pretty limited in my options when looking for carbon knives. I'd really like to try Canal Street or get a Queen #9 or railsplitter, but I know I wouldn't carry them because of the steels they're using. To see people pushing for GEC to start leaning in that direction more raises my hackles a bit. Either way, it's their call and they have to decide what's going to be better for their business. All I can do is buy as many Northfields and Tidioutes as I can afford in an attempt to keep their profits high in those lines. I hope you understand that both of these posts have been meant to be read in a lighthearted tone. I don't begrudge anybody for lobbying a company to make more products that they find appealing. I will however begrudge them if GEC actually starts listening. I will begrudge them so hard. :p
 
True there are are still knives from 2007, maybe even 2006 if you know where to look ;) GEC has made many more 1095 knives then 440C and I don't expect that to change. I believe that helped GEC gain a following among traditionalists and I really don't expect that to change. In the thread I linked dealers have commented on the "demand for 440C vs 440C sales" and how they don't match up in favor of sales.

Personally, I do like GEC's 440C knives and have gotten more than I needed when they were available because they seldom are available. But I really like my GEC 1095 too. I think my GEC collection is roughly half stainless and half carbon but I have many more users in carbon.
 
I have yet to buy a GEC in stainless because their 1095 has yet to displease me and I enjoy a natural patina.
 
Cory Hess said:
I think you stainless steel fans are being greedy. There are enough companies out there making just about all of their knives in stainless steel. Let us 1095 fans have one company that focuses on carbon knives. If you want stainless you can go to Queen, Canal Street, Case, Victorinex or Buck, all of which have extensive catalogs of stainless steel blades for you to peruse. GEC seems to be the one company that's really focusing on carbon. Let us have just that one.
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►Queen is having some quality issues on the current production. They also offer carbon blades as well as D2.
►Canal Street only has a few models. They also make carbon steel models.
►Case only uses 420HC and they run it soft. They also make knives in non-stainless.
►Buck only makes a couple of traditionl pocket knife patterns. And while their 420HC is good for what it is, it is not 440C.
►Victorinox makes...SAKs. Handy, but not what a lot of us are looking for. And they run their 420HC steel soft.

In point of fact, for a reasonably wide selection of traditional pocket knives with high performance stainless blades, there is only Queen. And their fit and finish these days is iffy.

There is a lack of finely made pocket knives having blades with a stainless steel with good edge retention.
 
I believe that production facilities may have a lot to do with GEC's choices of blade steel. I'm not really sure of all the processes involved but I do know that GEC has only one production "line", if that is the correct term. And that production is set up for 1095 Carbon Steel. Obviously they can change over, for a limited run of 440C. But, I think, to be continuously changing back and forth, would be problematic, at best, for a small company. And then there is the difference between requests for stainless bladed knives and actual SALES of stainless bladed knives. And make no mistake, that difference is real. These are only my own opinions on the subject and you may or may not agree.
 
rma100 said:
I believe that production facilities may have a lot to do with GEC's choices of blade steel. I'm not really sure of all the processes involved but I do know that GEC has only one production "line", if that is the correct term. And that production is set up for 1095 Carbon Steel. Obviously they can change over, for a limited run of 440C. But, I think, to be continuously changing back and forth, would be problematic, at best, for a small company. And then there is the difference between requests for stainless bladed knives and actual SALES of stainless bladed knives. And make no mistake, that difference is real. These are only my own opinions on the subject and you may or may not agree.
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I agree with that. I don't actually expect to see an increase of offerings in 440C from GEC, for pretty much those reasons. I do take exception to folks who think there are plenty of other alternatives.
 
knarfeng said:
►Queen is having some quality issues on the current production. They also offer carbon blades as well as D2.
►Canal Street only has a few models. They also make carbon steel models.
►Case only uses 420HC and they run it soft. They also make knives in non-stainless.
►Buck only makes a couple of traditionl pocket knife patterns. And while their 420HC is good for what it is, it is not 440C.
►Victorinox makes...SAKs. Handy, but not what a lot of us are looking for. And they run their 420HC steel soft.

In point of fact, for a reasonably wide selection of traditional pocket knives with high performance stainless blades, there is only Queen. And their fit and finish these days is iffy.

There is a lack of finely made pocket knives having blades with a stainless steel with good edge retention.
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Well said.
 
knarfeng said:
►Queen is having some quality issues on the current production. They also offer carbon blades as well as D2.
►Canal Street only has a few models. They also make carbon steel models.
►Case only uses 420HC and they run it soft. They also make knives in non-stainless.
►Buck only makes a couple of traditionl pocket knife patterns. And while their 420HC is good for what it is, it is not 440C.
►Victorinox makes...SAKs. Handy, but not what a lot of us are looking for. And they run their 420HC steel soft.

In point of fact, for a reasonably wide selection of traditional pocket knives with high performance stainless blades, there is only Queen. And their fit and finish these days is iffy.

There is a lack of finely made pocket knives having blades with a stainless steel with good edge retention.
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I'd agree that choices of manufacturers for decent production traditionals in general is pretty slim pickings. (without getting into a conversation of what "decent" means, I'm talking about companies that are at least on par with a Buck or Case) What I said is that there's only one that focuses on "carbon" blades. Nothing that you posted even challenges that assertion. I said in my original posts that these other companies have offerings in carbon, but they focus on stainless. I've never seen a CSC, other than an SFO, in carbon and I'd be really interested in hearing more about that in a PM. I don't look for or at stainless, so I can't really speak to the quality of one stainless over another. Doesn't really matter. It's not that big of a deal to me either way, as nothing I'm going to say is going to change the knifemaking landscape. However, if you're hoping to convince me that more companies out there are making carbon blades than stainless your barking up the wrong tree. Compared to carbon, there's plenty of other choices for stainless. Asking the one company that's focusing on carbon to move towards the stainless side is greedy. And I say that in the same way I'd call myself greedy when I go for a second slice of pie. It's not meant to be derogatory at all. Obviously we're all going to be greedy in that we're always going to want more things made to our liking instead of less.
 
I really don't see what's wrong with wanting some more choices from GEC in stainless. Nobody is saying they want them to switch over completely. If someone doesn't want stainless, then don't buy them and simply focus on buying their majority carbon. Anyway, I was of the assumption, from reading their site online, that GEC was the division that had stainless offerings.

I love Victorinox's steel, and am okay with Buck's. But as knarfeng said, they aren't 440C. I would like to have a quality traditional pocketknife in a pattern I like in 440C. I really don't see how that can interfere with someone else's enjoyment of carbon blades. I'm fully aware that, even though GEC says they offer stainless, it will always be in the minority of their lineup. I'm not planning on collecting GECs. I only want one really good one that appeals to me in 440C, personally.

Jim
 
Just forget I said anything. I really wasn't meaning to start an argument. It was more meant as a "Hey, stainless fans have it pretty good. Don't focus on the one company that doesn't primarily make stainless, instead look at all these other companies that you can enjoy. As a stainless fan you can support their decision to manufacture stainless products and it's a win/win." Obviously I failed in that message, because instead of choosing to focus on the positives you decided to nitpick the companies that are attempting to fulfill your wishes. It really doesn't affect me one little bit. GEC can switch over to almost all stainless and it wouldn't affect me. I can only afford one or two of their knives a year as it is, so I'll be fine either way. I'm sorry that I attempted to point out that there's no reason to get down because one company decided to focus on carbon. I can see now that that was wrong. You should definitely be sad about GEC not making more stainless blades.
 
No argument here. Just sharing thoughts. :)
Personally, I think that some GEC models (and scales materials) sell better than others, be it 1095 or 440C.
I agree that there are very few options for those who prefer slipjoints in a higher quality stainless steel (and no, I'm not a steel snob, but saying Case's SS is equal to CSC 14-4 is pretty unfair).
I bet that the stainless Viper's, for example, will sell pretty good.
Anyway, as much as I'd wish for it, I don't see GEC changing their 1095/440c ratio anytime soon...so I save my wishes for more SS patterns from Buck and CSC, and a consistent F&F on Queen's D2 slipjoints :)

Fausto
:cool:
 
Cory Hess said:
You should definitely be sad about GEC not making more stainless blades.
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We are. :(
(Unfortunately, there is no standard emoticon for "crying". "Frowning is as close as I could get.)
 
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