Attention Select Your Favorite Brown Tone for Sawcut Bone!!

[mb>]

The front runner race has tightened with Hemlock now leading by 16. The gap has been about 20-25 the past couple days.

66 less voters so far in this poll vs the last one. The “swing” votes total (other choices) is down from 60 to 56. So a lot of votes could be pending to decide this one.

And that’s your morning update! Once this is over we’ll need something else to do. Let’s start a pizza poll for happy hour Friday.

 

[Leslie Tomville]

The top photograph of my Black Plum 47 might help illustrate the point of how an extremely dark knife shows. That 47 has beautiful purple color in there somewhere. The problem is you cannot see it. The photo was taken outside in my usual location. I tried to make it as large as possible for better viewing. The knife just looks black, and it is even blacker indoors.

Some are saying that Hemlock is full of nuanced subtle color somewhere deep in the darkness. That may or may not be the case, but color that cannot be seen is irrelevant. We might have to call this the Emperor’s New Knife and constantly keep reassuring each other how beautiful the subtle colors really are, at least until someone points out that it just looks blackish brown.

We often seem to get caught up in the frenzied chase for something shiny and new while ignoring the reality in front of our faces. All that matters is how the knife looks, not how often GEC has used this or that color.

 

[JohnDF]

pop.

"Cha-Ching"

POPIN'

Cha-Chingin'"

These production totals have likely more to do with it

Good point.

I’ve never heard/read anything but positive thoughts on these knives - until now, of course.

Except the anemic pulls, right?
The color really was a nice Dark Brown.

 

[Sacto]

Wouldn't some fine sandpaper be an easy way to get some contrast going?

Potentially, as long as there is some contrasting color underneath to expose. I’d rather not have to sand on a brand new knife though.

 

[JOELSM]

I believe the color pop on the Hemlock will be even more pronounced on a Barlow pattern than what we see with the jigged versions…

 

[JohnDF]

pop

"Cha-Ching"

 

[cbr1000]

Copperhead seems too busy for this fancy bolstered big Barlow. I think the darker hemlock with subtle shades will blend better with the size and design.

 

[Sabercat]

Here's my Hemlock 66 next to a few others. A plum 47, red 89, and the blackwood 86. Photo taken by me, 10 minutes ago.

 

[Jsega51]

True, but... Copperhead is the safer bet.

Safer sounds like mediocrity to me! Like Leslie said, it’s our ONE chance this year lol. Go big buddy, throw caution to the wind!

 

[Jsega51]

Copperhead seems too busy for this fancy bolstered big Barlow. I think the darker hemlock with subtle shades will blend better with the size and design.

I just cleaned my motorcycle after a quick 1300 mile road trip and that looks exactly like the front of my bike did from smashing all those VA cicadas.

 

[Mass1632]

Remember when Hemlock was "too red" and now supposedly it's too brown? Weird.

Here's my Hemlock 66 next to a few others. A plum 47, red 89, and the blackwood 86. Photo taken by me, 10 minutes ago.

Because a copperhead is a “snake in the grass”, theyll say whatever to sway the vote count.

(this is all in good fun, hope none to take it personal)

 

[JohnDF]

I voted Copperhead right off the bat.
Especially after seeing the low numbers for Antique Yellow... Copperhead was the next closest.
My mind keeps flip-flopping between Copperhead and Hemlock, I think they will both be good... but I'll stick to Copperhead for now.

 

[Sabercat]

I voted Copperhead right off the bat.
Especially after seeing the low numbers for Antique Yellow... Copperhead was the next closest.
My mind keeps flip-flopping between Copperhead and Hemlock, I think they will both be good... but I'll stick to Copperhead for now.

They both will be good for sure. It's definitely a tough choice among several of these. (Except there's one I really don't prefer, and it seems pretty safe to say it won't win)

 

[Leslie Tomville]

Sabercat , I sure wish Hemlock would be red, because I would love to join you. I just see black with brown bits.

You won the lottery on your purple 47. I had hoped to get one like yours. Another great thing about Sawcut Copperhead is that there are no winners or losers. Each one will look great.

cbr1000 , it is very difficult to compare Sawcut with Jigged Bone. They require completely different processes. By its very nature, Sawcut takes up more dye and shows darker. A Jigged Bone knife will show lighter than a Sawcut Bone of the same color. That is what Bill Howard was trying to warn us about in selecting Hemlock. It is going to be Blackish Brown.

JohnDF , I did the same as you. I thought Antique/Chestnut was the best, but Copperhead almost immediately became the only one with a chance. At least Copperhead is in the same family as Antique/Chestnut, Tan, and Sepia. The good thing about Copperhead is that it has more color.

 

[traumkommode]

View attachment 1588409View attachment 1588410

The top photograph of my Black Plum 47 might help illustrate the point of how an extremely dark knife shows. That 47 has beautiful purple color in there somewhere. The problem is you cannot see it. The photo was taken outside in my usual location. The knife just looks black, and it is even blacker indoors.

Some are saying that Hemlock is full of nuanced subtle color somewhere deep in the darkness. That may or may not be the case, but color that cannot be seen is irrelevant. We might have to call this the Emperor’s New Knife and constantly keep reassuring each other how beautiful the subtle colors really are, at least until someone points out that it just looks blackish brown.

We often seem to get caught up in the frenzied chase for something shiny and new while ignoring the reality in front of our faces. All that matters is how the knife looks, not how often GEC has used this or that color.

Here's my Hemlock 66 next to a few others. A plum 47, red 89, and the blackwood 86. Photo taken by me, 10 minutes ago.

Both of these photos illustrate how dark Hemlock typically turns out and how much brown we don't actually get to see. We'll see more color with less pronounced sawcuts. Or we'll see more color with a different dye.

 

[Sabercat]

Sabercat , I sure wish Hemlock would be red, because I would love go join you. I just see black with brown bits.

You won the lottery on your purple 47. I had hoped to get one like yours. Another great thing about Sawcut Copperhead is that there are no winners or losers. Each one will look great.

I did (thankfully) get one of the lighter 47s. I didn't do anything to it, but I bet there's a way to lighten yours a bit. Perhaps just pocket wear. I don’t mess with my handles, so I can't tell you how to do it...but I bet there's a way.

 

[r8shell]

...
Silly people might think we're making an awful fuss about brown vs brown.

Well, yeah. That's what we do here.

I'm gradually feeling more and more positive about the Hemlock. Worst case scenario, it looks black. Probably black indoors and then revealing some color in bright outdoor light. I think that's kinda cool.

I had a copperhead NF Barlow and traded it for one in ironwood because I wanted a two bladed version. It was very nice looking, if a bit reminiscent of Old Timer Delrin.

 

[Old Engineer]

Well, yeah. That's what we do here.

I'm gradually feeling more and more positive about the Hemlock. Worst case scenario, it looks black. Probably black indoors and then revealing some color in bright outdoor light. I think that's kinda cool.

I had a copperhead NF Barlow and traded it for one in ironwood because I wanted a two bladed version. It was very nice looking, if a bit reminiscent of Old Timer Delrin.

That is exactly what my Copperhead 77 Barlow looks like . NEW DELRIN !!!!!! Which was fine way back then IMO , but not now . But it is all about everyone gets to vote for their choice .

Harry

 

[Chief]

Late to the party but I would vote for sawcut soupbone if it were an option. Antique amber looks great IMO, but didn't get many votes Rust red is nice if you like red like I do.

 

[mbkr]

I want to like hemlock, but from most of the pics posted of it, it looks black with some brown around the edges. It also reminds me of delrin. I'm sure it looks better in person. OTOH I think sawcut copperhead looks great. As far as being adventurous, meh. If we wanted to be adventurous we should have voted appaloosa bone in. I'd been all in on rolling the dice on that one. Blackish brown not so much.