Pins and their depth on traditional knives

I wonder what you guys think of the hand peened pins on 100 year old knives. Lots of skilled labor done by hand on high quality oldies... though the pins were not always well struck... even on very well made knives.
 
I feel the same as knifeswapper, undamaged scales and clean holes are more important to me than pins being flush.

Its also not fair to show delrin or micarta covered knives v stag or some other natural material with bumps and grooves.
 
Those sunken pins on GEC don’t ruin the aesthetics of the covers? Opine me another... ( meanwhile I will re-examine the visible sharp proud brass liners on one of my GEC)
 
Last edited:
Dean51 said:
GEC makes production knives, good production knives....... I think some people are holding them to a standard that never existed.
Click to expand...
I agree only partly because what can be done on 3 pins can easily be done on the fourth. I appreciate GEC knives, but unless this is openly claimed as a kind of trademark ;), I will keep on choosing handle materials with flush pins, unless very special pattern..
 
To be honest, I am tickled that the decision to assemble with set length pins in some situations is what we have to discuss.

It hasn't been that long ago that I had to send back EVERY Queen knife ordered in a multi-thousand dollar order because of pin cracks, blades getting hung on the liners, etc. And the shipment before that I had to grade individually because they were so inconsistent and only about 10% should have passed QC. And another large dealer had to give away (with some purchase requirement) his SFO from Queen because it was so bad. And I loved Queen knives; I was buying everything Queen/Schatt I could get in the 2000's.

Only a couple years prior to that experience I had to send EVERY Canal Street back from an order because they were not something I would send a customer. Don't actually remember the issue, but seems like it was no action whatsoever in the blades. And I loved Canal Street knives; Wally made me some of the finest sfo's I have handled.

So, "I don't like sunk pins" or "I don't mind sunk pins", seems like a great conversation to be at the top of the stack....
 
Looks ugly to me. None of my knives have that, even stag knives from GEC. It would have reduced my likelihood to buy one if it did, particularly at the price point of GEC knives (which is to me a premium price, even if to others who are wealthier than I am, it is a pittance). I don't know if it would have been a deal breaker, but as I said, none of my knives (including the dozen+ GEC knives that I own) look like that, so it never entered into my decision making.

My relationship with knife makers was purely transactional. If they made a product that I wanted to own more than I wanted to keep the money in my wallet, I bought it. If not, I did not. How they choose to make products or run their business, is none of MY business. How I spend my money is. That makes life simpler for me. It was a binary choice - buy or don't buy.

If a company makes products that I don't care for but they sell all they choose to make, then my lack of demand is of no consequence to them. If I am part of their target customer base, and they are trying to increase sales, then I suppose my preferences are, in aggregate, something they would care about and might want to cater to.
 
knifeswapper said:
...

So, "I don't like sunk pins" or "I don't mind sunk pins", seems like a great conversation to be at the top of the stack....
Click to expand...
No, just tough love :)
There are other more importants problems that may happen, but I can assure you that 100% of people seing one for the first time, and with a sunken pin, is surprised.
 
brownshoe said:
I like the expression "Don't buy no ugly knife." The first thing one sees before a knife is opened are those ugly pins. To me that trumps USA hand made...makes me "look at that package differently." Queen, Canal Street, Schrade and Camillus did not fail due to flush vs. sunken pins.
Click to expand...
I'm sure it's a coincidence that none of the makers you mention are still making knives.
knifeswapper said:
To be honest, I am tickled that the decision to assemble with set length pins in some situations is what we have to discuss.

It hasn't been that long ago that I had to send back EVERY Queen knife ordered in a multi-thousand dollar order because of pin cracks, blades getting hung on the liners, etc. And the shipment before that I had to grade individually because they were so inconsistent and only about 10% should have passed QC. And another large dealer had to give away (with some purchase requirement) his SFO from Queen because it was so bad. And I loved Queen knives; I was buying everything Queen/Schatt I could get in the 2000's.

Only a couple years prior to that experience I had to send EVERY Canal Street back from an order because they were not something I would send a customer. Don't actually remember the issue, but seems like it was no action whatsoever in the blades. And I loved Canal Street knives; Wally made me some of the finest sfo's I have handled.

So, "I don't like sunk pins" or "I don't mind sunk pins", seems like a great conversation to be at the top of the stack....
Click to expand...
:thumbsup: I don't care for sunk pins, but it's not a deal breaker.
 
Seconds and hyped mediocrity at premium prices and the privilege of prepaying for ridiculous wait times and the still have the knife sold out from under you. Ooooooh sweet knife, buy several to flip. High priced baseball card-like!
 
Jolipapa said:
There are other more importants problems that may happen, but I can assure you that 100% of people seing one for the first time, and with a sunken pin, is surprised.
Click to expand...

Maybe.. but not limited to GEC. I had a customer call me a decade ago and tell me that his fat stag Case Saddlehorn had lost a pin. I told him to shine a light down in the hole - he said "oh, there it is"...
 
jakemex said:
Seconds and hyped mediocrity at premium prices and the privilege of prepaying for ridiculous wait times and the still have the knife sold out from under you. Ooooooh sweet knife, buy several to flip.
Click to expand...

Is this a subliminal message in hopes of catching on ....."hyped mediocrity"..... "look into Felix's eyes, hyped mediocrity" .... "pay no attention to your own opinion; hyped mediocrity". Reminds me of Homer Simpson, "beer"... :D
 
Ad hominem gets you a long way, pal. Sunken pins and damaged scale material not so much. Loose pivot pins are a different subject, however, they affect my opinion on the sunken pins on the scales.
 
jakemex said:
Ad hominem gets you a long way, pal. Sunken pins and damaged scale material not so much. Loose pivot pins are a different subject, however, they affect my opinion on the sunken pins on the scales.
Click to expand...

There was no attack, all in good fun my friend. I just couldn't figure out why the same phrase kept showing up - thought maybe we were being hypnotized or something :D

Everyone gets to pick what is acceptable to them and what is not.

This forum is for friends to discuss "stuff". Please don't ever assume anybody is attacking, especially me. Just a twisted sense of humor I guess - my apologies. ( :D this means I thought I said something funny - but we don't even have to agree on that )
 
knifeswapper said:
There was no attack, all in good fun my friend. I just couldn't figure out why the same phrase kept showing up - thought maybe we were being hypnotized or something :D

Everyone gets to pick what is acceptable to them and what is not.

This forum is for friends to discuss "stuff". Please don't ever assume anybody is attacking, especially me. Just a twisted sense of humor I guess.
Click to expand...

Maybe your own pins are a little too sunk.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top