Mystery GAW/Challenge

[K33ncutter]

Just waiting for any mail to open or strings to cut.

 

[cigarrodog]

I’ve enjoyed the week carrying this 1-XL. Nestles in the bottom of the pocket, easily. It’s a well built, old school charm, and colorful. Perfect EDC companion. Thanks Mike.

 

[Duckdog]

I awoke this morning with a sciatica flare-up, so neither my GAW carry nor I are doing much heavy lifting, but we aren't sedentary (yet). I actually found a culinary use for the small clip blade:

I'm glad they reminded me that a fruit and grain product was "plant based". I, also, needed to open a box of new Gibson strings for an older Gibson LG-1 (that left Kalamazoo in 1958) that I am using to teach myself how to play a guitar. The sheepfoot sings at box opening.

A slim congress, like this one, is a great pocket carry.
- Stuart

 

[JohnDF]

Turns out that the GEC #71 is a FANTASTIC peanut butter spreader.

 

[pjsjr]

an older Gibson LG-1 (that left Kalamazoo in 1958) that I am using to teach myself how to play a guitar.

That's an extra special instrument there

 

[Dschal]

The rain is over, but the brook is a bit high to fish.

 

[r8shell]

Still going strong.

 

[Hibou Canne]

mail call GEC 14 boys knife blade hq SFO. HAGD

 

[mqqn]

As the week comes to a "business" end - I had coffee with the BF 19 -

And for a special Friday the 13th afternoon snack....SPAM!!!

Fried up and ready to snack (didn't eat a lunch...)

Checking to make sure we have enough toilet tissue to get us through the current world emergency....

and finally - backto work breaking down boxes - sometimes it comes down to work.

I loved carrying this knife all week and thank you Crazy Canuck for the fun thread and week of great pictures.

This week especially needed a fun thread like this.

very best regards -

mqqn

 

[Wild Willie]

Guess I was able to update, my mail call today included an extra Barlow (left hand side) doing some polishing and sharpening...

 

[CelloDan]

When I started this challenge I though that finding a name for my chosen knife would be a fun way to start the journey
As I had bought the knife in person at the Grohmann factory in Nova Scotia I named it "Bluenose" , a common nickname for Nova Scotians as I came to find out.
Further reading educated me more as to the history behind the fishing and racing schooner from Nova Scotia named "Bluenose" which is depicted in the Canadian 10 cent coin.
This schooner was undefeated in races for almost 20 years.

 

[JonMcD]

Great week with the ‘76 Case 6235 1/2. Gave me a great opportunity to shine up the ole boy. Both blades were in for a thorough workout - especially the main which slaughtered chickens and did way more food prep than I had ever envisioned. I found that I am simply spoiled by clip point shapes like the 86. It just feels manlier. I also learned that the usefulness of my pocket knife is 90% fidget toy, 10% cuttin stuff. Thanks to Crazy Canuck for the challenge. It was a fun week of spying into the lives of other knife nuts.

 

[btb01]

This is as culinary as my use of my folders gets - cut the foil cap from the bottle. The Queen 31 did cut some polishing rags from old t-shirts. Most cutting today was with a hatchet in the kindling pile.

- Stuart

Excellent beverage choice there, Stuart! I’d gladly take that bonded Old Grand-dad over some of the pricier, harder to find bourbons I’ve tried.

Had a dead camera battery last night when I used the cap lifter to open my root beer...so here it is this morning...better posed too!

Another fine beverage! My grandparents used to buy my brother and I IBC root beer when we were kids. Although we enjoyed the root beer itself, I think we liked drinking it from the brown glass bottles even more, because we could pretend it was a bottle of actual beer.

Turns out that the GEC #71 is a FANTASTIC peanut butter spreader.

I’m not opposed to using my pocket knife for food, but usually only do so out of necessity, i.e. outside the house/kitchen when there’s not a knife better suited to the task available. I’ve never had the desire to dip my pocket knife into a jar of peanut butter (or jelly for that matter), mostly because I don’t think I’ve ever made a PB&J in a location where a plain ol’ butter knife wasn’t within reach. (I will commend your choice in peanut butter, though; crunchy is the only way to go!)

My little #14 is looking about the same as it did at the beginning of this week, as I haven’t had any patina-forming cutting tasks for it to perform (though I have been using it, and it’s the only knife I’ve carried since Sunday).

 

[JohnDF]

I’m not opposed to using my pocket knife for food, but usually only do so out of necessity, i.e. outside the house/kitchen when there’s not a knife better suited to the task available. I’ve never had the desire to dip my pocket knife into a jar of peanut butter (or jelly for that matter), mostly because I don’t think I’ve ever made a PB&J in a location where a plain ol’ butter knife wasn’t within reach. (I will commend your choice in peanut butter, though; crunchy is the only way to go!)

I went all-in for this challenge. The GEC Bullnose is the ONLY knife I used all week.

 

[seas165]

I didnt get a chance to take any pics at work today. I did cut some cardboard to make a template and stripped wire and cut heat shrink tube. This has not beed to difficult for me since i usually carry a knife for a week or two the. Swap out, however only using a single blade was an adjustment i like a stockman or barlow or jack, something with a smaller blade and a longer one. But i got through just fine with this little guy. Thanks everyone for all the fun this week. Have a good weekend !!

 

[Whetstone39]

Day 6, still going strong. I’ve touched up the edge once, it probably really didn’t need it but I like learning how a new knife responds to stones and stropping.

 

[jnaught]

Turns out that the GEC #71 is a FANTASTIC peanut butter spreader.

Just be careful not to carve the jar while scrapping some out!! Plastic shavings in the sandwich probably don’t count as an improvement.

The trapper saw very little use today, but here it is with some trimmings made by a much larger, more expensive cutter:

 

[JohnDF]

Plastic shavings in the sandwich probably don’t count as an improvement.

I thought they were just extra crunchy peanuts.

 

[Crazy Canuck]

A toast to the last day of the challenge. Well done everyone!

Looking back on the week, I realized I went pretty easy on myself. While I had never carried this knife before, it was one I've wanted for a while. In that sense, it was a success. I used, and quite enjoyed using a knife I was unfamiliar with.

I have to give this knife a passing grade, and it won't be moving on. As mentioned earlier, I only had two real negatives with the Texas Jack, those being the wish for a slightly longer main blade and the square-ish bolsters. Still, they weren't major negatives, and for the most part I learned to live with them.

Things I really liked... That tribal spear-ish secondary! Such an awesome little blade, that worked great for utility cutting - package opening, coffee cup travel lid perforation, etc. I also have to admit that even with the square bolster on the back end, it is still very comfortable to hold and use. The bolsters didn't really bother me as much as I let on, and were not an issue in actual use, just preference. Lastly, the amber bone on this guy is much better than my last experience with this cover choice. I had a medium stockman (was prize in my previous GAW a while ago) in the same covers, and I was not a fan of them then. It was a couple years ago, so maybe my tastes have evolved a bit...

Some of you who carried it's older big brothers this past week are partly at fault that a '73 Texas Jack is en route and should be here in a week or so. That'll solve the longer main blade, but not the boxy ends

We'll end this off with a before and after for the week. Not much change except some nice patina forming on the main due to apple consumption and other food prep activities.

Last Friday afternoon

And this morning before heading out for the day

Thanks again to everyone who joined in this week, and best of luck for Sunday's draw. There will be three winners. Prizes are picked out, but you'll have to wait until we wrap up to see what you're winning. Can't end the mystery quite yet

 

[Wild Willie]

Most excellent Mike! I for one had a splendid time with this, hope everyone else enjoyed themselves as much as I did!