Should I or Shouldn't I? 2012 GEC BF Knife

22-rimfire

22-rimfire

Joined
Nov 20, 2005
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Tried to sharpen up my new 2012 Forum knife the other day and got the larger blade shaving sharp by stropping, but the wharncliffe blade went no where... It's needs to be re-profiled.

Should I send it back to GEC or just do it myself. Have not used the knife yet and I know I'll scratch up the side of the blade reprofiling it if I do it. How's GEC's customer service? Should I send it back to them? I really don't want the knife to look anything but as-new for the time being.... What's your advice?
 
My advice would be sharpen it yourself. With a little bit of care, you should be able to avoid scratching up the blade, but if you're going to use it, it will get scratched anyway. If all you want to do is look at it, it doesn't need to be sharp.
 
I'm with yablanowitz...since it's not a warranty issue and simply a case were you like a different angle on the blade sharpen it yourself or there's plenty of individuals whom offer service that could do it for you....
 
Oh, but I do view it as a warranty issue. That blade tears paper, versus cutting it.

Have not decided if I am going to use it or not. As it is, it would not warrant a place in my pocket. Whether or not I use it has nothing to do with it in terms of the blade being properly sharpened at the factory. It seemed that they used a paper wheel to sharpen one side of the other blade only. Not really very pleased about this. I may have to re-evaluate the value of GEC knives.

Added: I realize I am being picky, but this is a $100+ knife, not some $12 Frost cutlery folder.
 
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Like the others said I would do it myself. I don't understand why you think you will scratch up the blade re-profiling?, if you think you will not be able to keep a steady angle, you could put blue tape ( painters tape ) on the blade & leave a 1/8" or little less exposed to protect the rest of the blade. If you don't feel confident enough you could use it as a learning experience, maybe by a knife cheap second hand and re-profile it or a two or three blade Rough Rider and re-profile the blades to different angles.
 
If I were you, I would send it to RichardJ and have him put a good edge on it. His edge will be great and you will certainly be proud to carry it.
Every so often a knife leaves the factory with a not so great edge. It happens. I wouldn't look at GEC badly because of one edge. The ones I have been around have been great knives.
 
I have 4 or 5 GEC folders now. I like their knives, this one just surprised me and maybe I have given them more credit in the past than they deserve. I would have thought they would have paid special attention to the BF knife. Frankly I thought they did until I tried to touch up the blades.

But, yeah, I can re-profile it. I just don't want to. I usually hand sharpen knives versus using using things like sharpmarker. I'll start out with a coarse grit and work down if I do it.

I may do the painters tape approach. Never really cared enough in the past to bother. I sometimes do have angle lapses (attention) when I am sharpening a knife. Just been my personal experience.

I have learned to accept this from Queen at least prior to the Daniels family buying them.
 
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As I recall, some of the 2012 BF knives left GEC with the Wharncliffe blade unsharpened. It was an oversight on their part. That being the case, it does qualify as a warranty issue but I would be hesitant to send it back for what should be a short-term project. I know you said you just didn't want to sharpen it but it really isn't that hard a task. I don't think you need to reprofile the blade to get it sharp - just sharpen the blade at about a 20º angle.

The reason I'd hesitate sending it back is that it is a 2012 BF knife and is not replaceable should it get lost in the mail. Hey!! Things do get lost in the mail.
 
It is a warranty issue in this case, so if you want to send it back to them, go ahead. However, if it were mine and I was wanting to carry and use it, I'd just sharpen it up and move on. If you are just going to keep it as a collector piece, then just put it away as is or send it back and let GEC sharpen it, then put it away. Either way it is a nice knife. I think you may be being a bit harsh in your judgement of GEC based on this one edge of this one knife. But you are correct, it should have come at least reasonably sharp from the factory.

Ed J
 
I may be a little harsh. I do have high expectations from their knives and I was surprised that it wasn't hair popping sharp when I got done with it a couple days ago. Will have to decide if I want to go to the trouble of contacting them or just do the work myself. I am not going to send it to somebody other than GEC to sharpen it.

I will say that if I buy one online from one of the regular distributors of their knives in the future, I will ask them to check the actual knife they send me when I wouldn't have considered that before. It has been somewhat of an educational experience. I'm generally not that picky, but I have high expectations from GEC or they're just about as good as Case.... meaning I probably won't pay the extra $$ for the GEC in a pattern I like.

I'm going to let this drop here.
 
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My view may differ from yours 22. When I think of a high quality slip joint, the quality of the handles, the lack of gaps in the liners and springs, the snap and feel of the walk and talk, and the blade GRIND, all have a priority over the final edge on the blade. The edge is the thing that can be suited to the individual more than any other feature of the knife. The way GEC leaves the edge, the end user is able to profile it to the degree they like without losing any blade steel. If the edge were too acute in the eyes of the end user, they would have to remove edge and lose blade steel. I understand it's easy to want it all in a knife that runs 100 bucks, but I believe that for the price GEC is doing it better than any other traditional maker right now. I'd much rather only have to worry about refining the cutting edge than to feel that the blade needed a regrind, or that I had to start peening the bolsters to reduce gaps and bladeplay. Just my 2 cents, hope you can come to enjoy the BF '12 as it's a great knife!
 
I hate to say this but I've owned almost 20 GECs and ever single one needed a reprofile. Not a big deal for me since I use my Edge Pro and can even up a funky bevel in not too much time but this is rather typical. The rest of the GEC quality is great though but if the edge profile really is bad then think about sending it back or, as suggested, sen it to Richard for some paper wheel love.
 
I wish they sent me my knife unsharpened lol I sharpen out of the box...don't send it back, if you're worried about scratches put some 3M tape on the blade while sharpening. GEC in my opinion tear CASE apart quality wise, Case send out knives with tumble rolled blades that look like they were over buffed, not to mention every one I have owned had side x side blade play. GEC's grinds are crisp with sharp clean lines and corners rather than rounded off. If you a really that concerned by it, send it in and they will sharpen it...but even top shelf knives over $200 I have, the edge was nothing special and DEFINITELY not hair popping sharp.

You're expecting too much out of $120. :)
 
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I think the 2012 BF knife approaches the perfect slip joint for me. I really like the design and everything about the knife except for the grind. Re-profile may have been a bit strong, but I didn't expect to have to really work at a new GEC knife to get it as sharp as I like. I like them very sharp!

I appreciate the responses. I didn't really want to come off as being exceptionally picky. Finedges and tomsch you make good points.
 
The grind is pretty thin on the BF knife, and so has the potential to be a great slicer. A thin grind takes much less time to "profile" if you must.
I did my two blades freehand on a bench hone, and didn't scratch anything, all in between 8-10 minutes. Either blade will cut or slice anything!!

I wonder if there is a misunderstanding here about what re-profiling is??
 
The last time I was satisfied with a factory edge was when I got my Spyderco Nilakka. Of course, that edge lasted all of thirty seconds in use, but man was it sharp for those seconds. I expect to sharpen any knife I get before I'm happy with it. I sharpen utility knife blades before I use them. Depending on what I'm doing, I sometimes sharpen single-edge razor blades before I use them. And (sorry, Ken) I sharpened $400 customs before I was happy with them. Send a knife back because it isn't sharp enough? Get real. I'd have spent more on postage than on knives.
 
It wasn't really a question of not being sharp enough, it was a question about the grind or lack of a consistant grind because it should have sharpened right up with the effort expended. The factory edge is just a measure of their production effort.

I feel sure I can sharpen it freehand without scratching up the sides of the blade if I pay attention, :)
 
Finedges said:
When I think of a high quality slip joint, the quality of the handles, the lack of gaps in the liners and springs, the snap and feel of the walk and talk, and the blade GRIND, all have a priority over the final edge on the blade. The edge is the thing that can be suited to the individual more than any other feature of the knife.
Click to expand...

I'm with you.

- Christian
 
This is a personal choice
My personal call it that pickness and the price of the knife are closely related

If you feel that it is a warranty issue that a $120 knife came with a poor factory grind
Then send it back
If the factory thinks it is not a warranty issue, then they will tell you
And then you will work that one out

Your call and the cost of the postage
 
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