Possibility of a GEC Whittling/Woodcarving knife?

LaunchPad

LaunchPad

Joined
Jul 1, 2013
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Hello All, Long time lurker here, decided to finally sign up. I believe I've read here that GEC will be releasing a sheepsfoot barlow soon, and this got me to wondering. There's a fair amount of discussion of whittling on this forum, is there any possibility that GEC could release a specialized folder for whittling (like queen does with the Oar Carver)? While looking over a vendors site I noticed a possibility. The boys knife frame appears nearly identical to the Schrade Warren Whittler (these were made in the early 80's I think as a limited run, a google search should find photos, don't think I'm allowed to link any of them). Couldn't GEC take the boys knife and add a short ~ 2 inch wharncliffe blade that's ground thin? What do you guys and gals think?

Rick
 
I would SO buy more than one! Seriously, I'd be all over a dedicated folding carver.

If anyone from GEC reads this, I have many, many thoughts on this.

A knife (even without locks) done in the spirit of an Oar, but with proper ground 1095 blades? I know a few people that would be interested.

Great question! :thumbup:

Btw, we talk about this frequently here: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1046919 ;)
 
Well dang, since we are seeing a vote of raised hands here, I'll raise mine too. Does that make 4 of us and counting...?

Blessings,

Omar
 
I've been looking for a good edc that could also double as a whittler. Put in a 15 frame and I'm sold!
 
Launchpad, I think you are referring to this?

awarren1Small.jpg


I like it a lot. I think there are a lot of different ways that they could go about it, either as a jack knife or like the Oar.

If it were up to me, I'd see two blades in a Cuban pattern (I'm still learning so I may be wrong, but a basic oval) with a 1 1/2" wharncliffe at one end and a 1" blade like I see described as a "General Carver" on many of the handmade (fixed blade) carvers that I see. A small drop point on the end would be great for detail work.

The third one from the bottom is a good example in this pic.

IMAG0997_zpsc1e4a54d.jpg


It has enough belly for doing concave cutting on a flat surface, or cutting waste wood in a hard to reach area without having the tip dig into work that you don't want disturbed. The "bars" on a ball in cage are one example.

With such short blades it would be tempting to put them in a small frame, but if it was really going to work (from an ergonomic standpoint) the handle should be at least 3 1/2" long or even 4".

A canoe frame would probably be excellent too. For a jackknife, the Boys knife or Barlow would be awesome with the short blades.

Oh, and round the spines! This isn't for looks (although it looks very nice too), the rounded spines are critical for long sessions. I'm still debating rounding the wharncliffe on my #57 halfwhitt.

All of the spines on all of my carving knives are rounded. And knives that I might use for carving (like my Opinel) have been rounded by me. It's a critical detail that should be done at the factory, not by the end user. :)
 
I have some Warrens by Schrade, like yours Striga.
They are pretty well thought out, and are at least 1/4" longer than the #15 pattern GEC.
1/4" doesn't seem like much, but it is an important extension.
I wonder how the Cuban would work, at 4 1/4" or so. A single spring with a short blade at each end might be good!
 
waynorth said:
I wonder how the Cuban would work, at 4 1/4" or so. A single spring with a short blade at each end might be good!
Click to expand...

That sounds great for a "home" model, but maybe (while we're wishing, an' all ;) ) we could also have the "travel edition" -
maybe based on the #15 or #68? - that would be nice and pocket friendly :)
Charlie, can you pull some strings or something at GEC to make this happen? :D
 
waynorth said:
I have some Warrens by Schrade, like yours Striga.
They are pretty well thought out, and are at least 1/4" longer than the #15 pattern GEC.
1/4" doesn't seem like much, but it is an important extension.
I wonder how the Cuban would work, at 4 1/4" or so. A single spring with a short blade at each end might be good!
Click to expand...

Ha! I wish that were my knife. :)

I'm totally in on 4.25" I've got large mitts and that would fit perfectly.





jwren said:
That sounds great for a "home" model, but maybe (while we're wishing, an' all ;) ) we could also have the "travel edition" -
maybe based on the #15 or #68? - that would be nice and pocket friendly :)
Charlie, can you pull some strings or something at GEC to make this happen? :D
Click to expand...

I'd take the "Home" knife with me anywhere, but I'm fine with a bigger knife. The #15 is around 4"? If so that'd work too.

Charlie, if you have any strings to pull (and I know you do :p ), get pulling! There are a number of us carvers (you included) that have ideas beyond the available whittling knives. ;)

GEC would be the perfect company to get one done too.
 
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Strigamort yes that would be the one. I only recently came across a photo of that knife, and when I saw it I immediately thought of the #15. The idea of using a larger frame like the Muskrat/Cuban(53?) would probably be a better option though now that I think about it. Not only a longer handle, but a more rounded shape, especially with the bolsters (I do like the barrel shape of the frosts). As far as my fixed blade carvers, flexcut, frosts, and 1 custom they're all 4"+ so a 3.5" #15 might not be too comfortable for longer carving sessions, especially for those with larger mitts. A 53 frame, with either wharncliffe and sheepsfoot, or wharncliffe and drop point in ebony, oh that would be sharp... ;)
 
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