Lets talk GEC!

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John’s point is well taken, JohnDF JohnDF , but this sow looks pretty good to me! I would be thrilled if GEC could produce jigging like you see on this current production Case sowbelly on a regular basis.

On rare occasions, GEC comes close, but they just do not seem to have the right jig. Case has problems with their dyes, but they have apparently kept their old jig patterns and machinery, or at least replicated them fairly well. Current Case knives are not as good as the old ones, but they can still create a good one every once in a while.
 
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Since I have been critical of GEC’s jigging, let me praise their sawcut bone. I believe it is far superior to what Case is currently turning out. GEC always uses what appears to be a 45 degree angle in the saw cut. Case seems to do more of a 90 degree cut. To me, that small detail makes all the difference in the world. And the pattern left by the GEC saw cut is much more precise and interesting. I guess Bill Howard’s penchant for precision pays off on the GEC sawcut bone while it detracts from their jigging.

E Elgatodeacero , I have no idea what causes it, I was just pointing out that you can see the saw cuts on a GEC knife are always around 45 degrees from edge to edge. Case saw cuts usually just run straight across from edge to edge and are not nearly as precise. I am sure there are exceptions. This is just my personal observation. I would also like to hear from someone within the company about their jigging machinery. I am sure they could do nice random scoop jigging, many other companies do. They just don’t seem to want to. Maybe it is as simple that Bill Howard does not like chaotic random scoop jigging?
 
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I don’t think the saw cut pattern is related to the angle of the cut, more likely it is the coarseness of the blade doing the saw cut (larger teeth equal rougher pattern).

GEC just doesn’t use the scoop type jigging found on some Case knives and the Culpepper style bone. I keep hoping GEC will start using a more scoop type jig pattern, but maybe it is a limit of their machinery? Would be fascinating to hear more on this from someone on the inside.
 
I think Leslie was referring to the fact that lines of the saw cut bone covers are running at 45° angle to the line of the handle, whereas the lines on the case are more of a 90°

Picture of Case saw cut for demonstration purposes.
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BTW, I agree that this detail makes a world of the difference, esthetically that is.

Also, not too long ago I noticed something, that may be very obvious to the more knowledgeable members of the porch, but to me it was a revelation.

I only have these four sawcut bone/delrin/crappy plastic imitation handle knives, by three different makers. But on all of them the right side of the grooves is always the upper one. It goes down the hill from right to left, if you get what I mean. (Excuse the quality of the pictures, it is pitch dark already in Scandinavia.)
IMG-20191010-224933-2.jpg


Flip the knives, same thing.
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I was amazed by the consistency across the makers.

The same is true for beer scout above and I am reasonably sure, that if Leslie Tomville Leslie Tomville showed us the pile side of the knife, it would not be exception to the rule.
 
Some of the "sawcut" handles are milled to give the pattern...….. The milling serves 2 purposes; (1) mill the handle to a uniform thickness & (2) produce a faux saw cut...… An indexable insert face mill with poorly set inserts will produce any number of pattern variations...….. You can get depth of tooth variation; feed rate variations; angular changes along the handle length axis, etc, etc...…. All you need is an old face milling cutter, a small production or knee mill and a little imagination.....
 
HEMI 49 said:
Some of the "sawcut" handles are milled to give the pattern...….. The milling serves 2 purposes; (1) mill the handle to a uniform thickness & (2) produce a faux saw cut...… An indexable insert face mill with poorly set inserts will produce any number of pattern variations...….. You can get depth of tooth variation; feed rate variations; angular changes along the handle length axis, etc, etc...…. All you need is an old face milling cutter, a small production or knee mill and a little imagination.....
Click to expand...

I figured that they were all done that way. So some are actually cut with a saw?
 
The sawcut lines that I see on my old Barlows and the ones of GEC's that I own, all have lines with a radius of (totally guessing here!) about 6". Vinyl LP edge used as visual gauge. :p

Edited my radius/diameter goof
 
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