The GEC does Burnt Stag very well. I have the 2 blade clip point in all steel (steel bolsters, and liners), and absolutely love it!
I bought one of the Tideoute in Mexican Bocotte and with the spear point blade for my dad. It is a soft open, and pinchable main.
This one may be considered a "jack" because it has the end caps, and smaller bolsters, but it looks like a stellar combo for me.
I also love my big barlows. Single and double.
(the bad pics are my real camera, and the better ones are my cell phone if I remember correctly)
I have gone through the 12 pages of that thread a couple of times. It has some great looking pictures. It has some great stories. It just doesnt say a whole lot about build qualities. It's mainly the "it's a great little knife" or "I like the scales on that one", or "the pen blade is hard to open". Maybe I have just skimmed over it to fast and missed a lot which is definitely possible. As a matter of fact, I think I will go through it again,,,,,
Build quality. The little GEC's have been the best of mine (Limited experience).
The S&M File and wire is pretty, and probably one of my favorites. That said, I had to fix it when new. Lots of gaps, and large and small blade wiggle. It was an easy fix for me (leather padded vice, then peen the pins, then sand the bolsters). Since doing the work on it, the gaps are pretty much gone, the wiggle is completely gone, and the thing is solid. I love it. I almost bought another (sold with a wiggle and gap), just to fix, and put away until my son was older (My dad want's mine too).
The Queen (orange bone) is a Burke/Queen collab. It has a very strong spring, and snap. It does have liner gaps, but no wiggle at all. The edge was dull, with a thick grind on the primary. I convexed it to hair popping sharp, but it is still a thicker grind and does not slice as well as the S&M (which had a decent edge, but more importantly, Excellent primary grind on both blades).
The GEC have all been tight, no gaps, lovely pulls (the one I bought for my Father was softer than I like, but would make most on here very happy).
The pull on my all steel with the burnt stag is excellent for me. About a 7 on the main, and 4 on the pen).
Grind is excellent on every single GEC I have held or owned. Great edge geometry, fit and finish all stellar (especially when considering the cost).
Hope this helps a bit.
I hope that GEC comes out with a larger barlow pattern, (maybe with a warncliff secondary blade), and a Grandaddy barlow as well!
