Looking Straight Ahead - wharncliffe/ sheepsfoot

[Stropping Young Lad]

You both misunderstood my response. I don't think that the knives are overpriced for what you get. It's just that the features you get with GEC are not what drives me when choosing most of my knives.

GEC gives you incredible fit and finish and fantastic, exotic covers. Jigged bone that is drop dead gorgeous. Exotic woods and fantastic burly stag. They also give well designed blades and smooth operation. And I think they charge a fair price for that.

But most of those features are are not what I am looking for when I buy a knife. And while the prices are fair for that level of perfection, they are more than I like to spend on a knife.

1095 carbon steel doesn't do it for me. And fancy covers are nice, but expensive. I'd rather have stainless steel with carbides than fancy covers, perfectly centered blades, and rivets that are set just so.

This puts me in the minority in this forum. It also puts me outside the target demographic for GEC. No worries. They don't have to make what I am looking for. I just mostly look elsewhere for my knives.

Thanks for clarifying. Different strokes and all that.

 

[traumkommode]

Is it the looks or the function of the spearpoint that doesn't do it for you? I LOVE my 66 moose... Though I usually don't do much with the clip. The point in to high for me. I feel like I have to point the knife down at a 45 degree angle to get the full use in draw cuts and in piercing.


Please, do share your impressions about the half congress, there's not a lot of verbiage about them, but they seem to be liked by someone.

I don't really like sharpening spearpoints, is what it is. The grind on those, and on clip points for that matter, seems to be the most inconsistent, and I don't like the way the distal taper doesn't account for the tip's height up the blade on these traditional designs. Most modern folders have a distal taper that leaves the tip with nearly the same thickness behind the edge as the rest of the edge.

HOWEVER, I do make the exception for clip point blades because of all that belly and piercing ability. I really like the look of GEC's spearpoints, though, and when they come on a knife that I like enough, then I make the concession. Drop points like the sodbusters seem to get it the most right.

So I guess the utter ease of sharpening is one of the reasons I like the straight edge blades.