Queen or GEC?

I really like Queen's D2. My favorite steel available in a production traditional knife. You will have to sharpen it to your liking, but that's no big deal (unless you're a soft whiny kid, or something... ;) ).
GEC's 1095 is great, too, and is my second favorite current production steel. Really, you can't go wrong there either... but they tend to be a little more expensive. Fit & finish also can sometimes be a little nicer, but there's not a huge difference.
My favorite, for a reliable user, would be a Queen in D2.



Also... I don't understand some people's gripe with D2. It's not that hard to sharpen (and I only sharpen freehand, no sharpmongers or edgeblo for me).
 
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puukkoman said:
Also... I don't understand some people's gripe with D2. It's not that hard to sharpen (and I only sharpen freehand, no sharpmongers or edgeblo for me).
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Try to sharpen thick piece of Queen D2 from factory edge of 25 degree's per side to 20 degree per side using regular stones. Then you will understand. I spend over 26 hours working my Queen Dan Burke small Barlow's edges to 20 degree per side from original. 26 hours on regular stones during 1,5 week time period... Yes, I learned my lesson and will get soon some diamonds on my lansky... However after that 26 hours, Dan Burke is one of the sharpest folder's I have now, rivalling even my sharpest Spyderco's that I literally can whittle a hair and that is alot from thick piece of flat ground D2 that Dan Burke Barlow has...
 
I have a Queen teardrop that is a very nice knife, after it went back to Queen for a fix for side blade play. It came back fine,
but it did have a tiny nick on the blade edge. I used my 1X30" belt sander to grind this out and went through 3 belts.
Perhaps I shouldn't have used a 400 grit belt, but that is what I normally use for sharpening. The blade is now sharp,
but I find D2 and 154cm very wear resistant. That is good for keeping an edge on the blade, but not so good for sharpening.
That doesn't keep me away from knives in these steels.
 
I use a sheet of 2400 grit micromesh to establish a convex, and then 4000 to polish her up

Works on everything so far including Queen's lovely D2

I think there is on GEC I'd like to buy - a #56 and that is the end of it with me and GEC and 1095 :) Just got too many now :lol:
 
I haven't encountered a modern Queen that could hold a candle to a GEC for my tastes, but my experience with Queen is limited. Queen produces a somewhat deeper mirror polish than GEC's Northfield finish, but other than that, I find GECs to be smoother and far more tightly, solidly and consistently built, with no gaps or wobble and far less variation from knife to knife. With GEC, aside from preferred scale aesthetics, I never have to worry about getting a 'good' one.

My most recent experience with Queen was the purchase of three Humpback lockback whittlers and all of them had fairly serious problems: one was a terrible thumb-buster when attempting to unlock the master blade; one main blade was grotesquely twisted on its axis (in other words, crinked completely outta whack), and one had a ridiculous amount of wobble in the locked position. All three had huge pin-revealing gaps between the springs and the liners. In fact, I've seen better fit (if not finish) on Rough Riders, and these were $100 knives. Needless to say they're all history.

Contrast that experience with several dozen GECs, not one of which had a single issue worth mentioning.

Here's a couple of the Humpbacks in question. They're handsome knives until you actually handle 'em and get a close look. Granted, this is a difficult pattern to build, but the fact that my samples made it out of the factory at all isn't exactly a winning testament to Queen's quality control. :grumpy:

SMLockbackWhittler001.jpg


SMLockbackWhittler08.jpg
 
thejamppa said:
Try to sharpen thick piece of Queen D2 from factory edge of 25 degree's per side to 20 degree per side using regular stones. Then you will understand. I spend over 26 hours working my Queen Dan Burke small Barlow's edges to 20 degree per side from original. 26 hours on regular stones during 1,5 week time period... Yes, I learned my lesson and will get soon some diamonds on my lansky... However after that 26 hours, Dan Burke is one of the sharpest folder's I have now, rivalling even my sharpest Spyderco's that I literally can whittle a hair and that is alot from thick piece of flat ground D2 that Dan Burke Barlow has...
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Jampa,

May I suggest?

A DMT Aligner jig with 3 diamond stones (course to E. fine) costs less than $50 and another $15 for an extra course

It takes me 15 to 25 minutes (depending on the blade size) per blade to rebevel it
A new multiblade knife takes a good hour, most of it with the Extra Course stone, and the results are constantly good
 
I gave away the three (3) GEC's I had...including a Northfield. Each was pretty, but dull as heck. I couldn't get them sharp on my Sharpmaker. Very disappointed. An earlier poster said that Queen is the same. I have less expensive knives from Case and Buck that are sharp out of the box. They useful knives to me. Spyderco's are wickedly sharp from the factory. So, what is it with any knife manufacturer....at this price point....that routinely sells dull knives? Knives are meant to cut things. They know that. I would not buy a rifle that wouldn't shoot straight without lots of work. What is the solution? Don't they hear us. Or do we keep buying anyway and they know it? Are we our own worst enemy so to speak?

Thank you
 
I recently bought 2 GEC knives-a #65 in burnt stag and a #25 in blue bone. F&F is as good as everyone says but neither were
particularly sharp out of the box. Both responded nicely to the sharpmaker
 
dan oliver said:
I gave away the three (3) GEC's I had...including a Northfield. Each was pretty, but dull as heck. I couldn't get them sharp on my Sharpmaker. Very disappointed. An earlier poster said that Queen is the same. I have less expensive knives from Case and Buck that are sharp out of the box. They useful knives to me. Spyderco's are wickedly sharp from the factory. So, what is it with any knife manufacturer....at this price point....that routinely sells dull knives? Knives are meant to cut things. They know that. I would not buy a rifle that wouldn't shoot straight without lots of work. What is the solution? Don't they hear us. Or do we keep buying anyway and they know it? Are we our own worst enemy so to speak?

Thank you
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I am sad to hear that you gave up on those knives. From what I can tell GEC has listened to the feedback. The knives are coming much sharper now.

When I read about people complaining about knives not being sharp out of the box I go both ways. I feel sorry for the person because I want them to enjoy their knife. At the same time I feel like learning to sharpen a knife is more important then the knife you own. I think people that do not know how to sharpen well (don't really understand what they are doing) should spend less time knife shopping and more time in the maintenance forum. I say that nicely.

I say that as someone who learned so much about sharpening from this forum. Looking back I really was clueless. Buying a quality knife that is sharp out of the box is very fulfilling. Yet being able to buy any quality knife and sharpen it yourself is WAY MORE fulfilling IMO. I wish all knives came sharp out of the box. It would mean a useable knife right from the start and less work for me. I taught a 23 year old girl to sharpen on a sharpmaker in a week. Not just easy knives that already work with the angles, but any knife. If she can learn, anyone can. She never complained, just learned.

My brother...I just sharpen his knives for him and shake my head at how a guy with a masters degree can't grasp knife sharpening....

I mean this in the most respectful way, and as someone that was once there...in the same spot as you...and is now so much happier where I am. I hope you figure out how to sharpen for your own happiness.
 
thejamppa said:
Try to sharpen thick piece of Queen D2 from factory edge of 25 degree's per side to 20 degree per side using regular stones. Then you will understand. I spend over 26 hours working my Queen Dan Burke small Barlow's edges to 20 degree per side from original. 26 hours on regular stones during 1,5 week time period... Yes, I learned my lesson and will get soon some diamonds on my lansky... However after that 26 hours, Dan Burke is one of the sharpest folder's I have now, rivalling even my sharpest Spyderco's that I literally can whittle a hair and that is alot from thick piece of flat ground D2 that Dan Burke Barlow has...
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I think you misunderstood me. I have several Queen knives in D2, and have not had trouble sharpening or even reprofiling them. It certainly did not take me anywhere near 26 hours....... Maybe 2 hours for a Copperhead, and 2 or 3 hours for a Mountain Man, to get the obtuse factory edges reprofiled to a useful ~20 degree edge... by hand. No diamonds, no sharpening systems. Maybe my stones are magical?? ;)
 
I also bought three split spring lock back whittlers. The only issue was that one did have a stiff lock release function. The fit and finish were up to the expected Schatt & Morgan highs standards we have seen the last twenty years, exceptional. All master blades have no wobble in the open position. Light can not be seen between the liners and the springs but is seen, as expected, between the taper of the liners and the lock release button. I don’t think it could be built otherwise. This had to be a difficult knife to build; Remington must have discovered that also since they discontinued it after a very short time. If I could afford it I would but another dozen, their value will only increase.
 
My experiences mirror Rick's.

Not liked all of my GEC knives but I've never had one with build/finish issues. The same cannot be said of Queen/Schatt&Morgan, I regret to say. Quality control fat too variable in my experience: considerable blade play, very visible gaps, badly placed nail nicks. The stainless Schatts are particularly bad, yes they look nice and polished, the scales are attractive but the raised springs and the other issues I mention do not endear me to the knives. This is such a pity, because when Queen does make a good knife they are very fine knives, trouble is, it doesn't happen often enough.
 
I should add that as far as my 2 GEC products are concerned, the nail buster stuff is 100% true. My #25 is a little easier than the Ben Hogan; damn well need 2 hands and a vise
to get that one to the half stop, which isn't one of my favorite features either. Too bad, as it ruins an otherwise first class knife.
 
puukkoman said:
I think you misunderstood me. I have several Queen knives in D2, and have not had trouble sharpening or even reprofiling them. It certainly did not take me anywhere near 26 hours....... Maybe 2 hours for a Copperhead, and 2 or 3 hours for a Mountain Man, to get the obtuse factory edges reprofiled to a useful ~20 degree edge... by hand. No diamonds, no sharpening systems. Maybe my stones are magical?? ;)
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I have four Queen knives in D2, and they weren't hard to sharpen nor was one hard to reprofile. Sadly, all arrived with the famous Queen "cuts warm butter like nothing" edge, but that's the nature of the beast these days. All were initially sharpened and on reprofiled with a Lansky with their stock stones. Plenty of oil to keep the surfaces clean while sharpening and the edges were ready to go in no time. Maybe we have the same magic stones!! :D

The only knife I have that took 2 1/2 - 3 hours using the stones on the Lansky was my Kershaw Shallot in S110V. That was the hardest steel I have ever tackled.

For the life of me I can't figure out the voodoo around D2 as I have a few Kershaws that also have the same steel. All of them came extremely sharp, but that just doesn't seem to be Queen's concern when making knives. It certainly hasn't deterred me from purchase in any way, but I think it would be great to get them sharp and ready to go out of the box.

Robert
 
I seem to have a hard time justifying spending any of my knife funds on anything other than GEC these days. It's a shame too there have been some nice Case's that I've passed up. I won't risk ordering Queen knives unseen.
 
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Jug Johnson said:
I seem to have a hard time justifying spending any of my knife funds on anything other than GEC these days. It's a shame too there have been some nice Case's that I've passed up. I won't risk ordering Queen knives unseen.
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I love the Queen knives I have, but I feel the same way as you based on my experience with the Queen knives I no longer have. If I have to buy "in the dark", GEC will get my business hands down.
 
FLymon said:
I love the Queen knives I have, but I feel the same way as you based on my experience with the Queen knives I no longer have. If I have to buy "in the dark", GEC will get my business hands down.
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And I will go thirds on that. Looking at the knives I have bought and the knives I have kept, I made the decision to only buy GEC unseen and unheld.
 
So I have in my sweaty mitts a GEC Northfield Yellow Rose.

A fine gentleman that I have never met, or heck, even talked to donated the GEC to me to get me on board!

First off I would like to thank this nameless gentleman (cough.... Flymon....cough cough).

It has been in my pocket for two days now. I will be posting my thoughts and some pics a bit later in another thread.

Just to say, I don't think this will be my last GEC.
 
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