The Quintessential Coke Bottle Thread (The Patterns, The History, The Experiences)

[el gigantor]

Interesting and well-written insights and absolutely gorgeous photos. I've been considering the exact 97 you're carrying, and so I'll be watching this thread closely over the coming days. Very nice!

 

[Quiet]

Happy Anniversary Dylan, hope it was an awesome evening!

 

[Pàdruig]

Happy Anniversary, to you and your Mate, Dylan!! @Padruig
Thanks for this thread!! I have wondered what it would be like to carry a large Coke Bottle!!?!! I have always shied away from them, old and new, because I think of them as hunting and "deep woods" knives, I guess. And I usually seem to settle on Lambfoot to Barlow sizes for my pocket, especially as I age a bit!!
I can see how a flat grind would suit much better than the Sabers for food applications!!
I have gathered up some Safe Queens, but have never carried one! I admit to preferring hard pulls also, like the few old ones I still have hanging around, but these GECs are beauties!!
Thanks for sharing your experience using one, Dylan!!View attachment 1403546 View attachment 1403547 View attachment 1403548

Thank you, Charlie! What a lineup you have, three of the best right there - very nice! And yes, I do think the 97 is a bit large for the average pocket - it hasn't presented an annoyance for me yet but we still have all sorts of time.

This thread has inspired me to drop the 97 in the pocket today. I usually just use it at home for food prep but now my 23 might be taking over that responsibility so I might look to give the 97 some pocket time once in a while.

I am definitely interested in reading your thoughts after you've had a chance to carry it some.

I really hate to admit it but I found recently that I too have the same elderberry #82 in my little box of knives - I really like it - particularly after seeing your photo of it in this post! (the cigar looks real good too)

That #82 is such a dandy - I think it's become one of my favorite stockman knives.

Interesting and well-written insights and absolutely gorgeous photos. I've been considering the exact 97 you're carrying, and so I'll be watching this thread closely over the coming days. Very nice!

Thank you, my friend, it has been an enjoyable exercise so far. I would certainly recommend this one - it is the best of the Tidioute versions, in my opinion.

 

[Pàdruig]

Happy Anniversary Dylan, hope it was an awesome evening!

Thank you, Forrest! Evening is still about an hour and a half away - I could murder a good steak right now... All in good time though.

 

[CVamberbonehead]

Happy anniversary! I might have look into this version of the knife. I hate the looks of the double nail nicks. This one is gorgeous though, especially with a patina.

 

[Quiet]

Thank you, Forrest! Evening is still about an hour and a half away - I could murder a good steak right now... All in good time though.

Absolutely. This thread has me wanting to pick up one of the #97s in Ebony.

 

[Trvr]

I had skipped reading this thread the past few times that it's been near the top of the pile, mostly because I don't own any gec knives, and I prefer to look at the 86s and 44s. I'm glad I checked it out today though. I'm doing a similar experiment with my forge de laguiole. The big difference being that I really liked my lag to begin with, and I have no complaints about the pull. I hadn't carried the lag because it felt a bit big in my pocket and for using around non knife people. I'm happy that I started giving it some pocket time and I hope you're feeling the same way about your gec. I look forward to reading through the old posts and following along with your journey. Cheers!

 

[Pàdruig]

Happy anniversary! I might have look into this version of the knife. I hate the looks of the double nail nicks. This one is gorgeous though, especially with a patina.

Thank you, my friend. I can understand the aversion to the double nail nicks - I've found it off-putting as well but it is starting to grow on me a bit.

Absolutely. This thread has me wanting to pick up one of the #97s in Ebony.

I plan on doing the same. It's a shame that I let my first one go, it had exceptional Ebony on it.

 

[Pàdruig]

Day #5:

The day isn't over yet but I likely won't be able to chime in again until tomorrow as I am getting ready to go out for the evening. I just finished putting a fresh edge on this one. Unfortunately, I found that the bevel is somewhat uneven and it's going to require a bit more work to get everything evened out and the tip thinned a bit more. That said, it is shaving sharp and will be plenty suitable for my steak and sushi needs this evening.

 

[Quiet]

I actually just repolished the caps and bolsters on mine, and now it actually makes a nice offset to the patina mine developed. I'll have to shoot a pic tomorrow in some good light, the sun's gone home for the day here.

 

[Old Engineer]

This is a Day 4 post (meant for yesterday).

The 97 continues to be a joy to carry, fondle, and use throughout the day. I took it with me out to my garden, accompanied by a lambsfoot as well, to inspect the produce. My blackberry berm has been a good producer so far and my tomatoes and zucchini are doing awesome (hard to mess those up...). The yellow raspberries are coming along ok - not a lot of fruit yet but I did only plant them this last spring. My apple trees (also planted this spring) - a honeycrisp and a mutsu - have a bunch of apples on them too. I didn't think I would have any on these saplings so soon after planting. I picked a few off of my Honeycrisp to lessen the strain on the branches and had one with my breakfast - I can't wait for these trees to mature in the coming years.

Later in the evening, I hung out with a good friend of mine like we do every Thursday and enjoyed a couple of bottles of wine and enjoyed a few movies. He had never seen the Ip Man movies so we watched 1-3 and will watch the most recent 4th one next week. The 97 did a great job at removing the capsules from the wine bottles - having a nice point on a relatively large blade makes for a pretty versatile tool when finer work is required.

In any case, my resolve hasn't wavered yet with regards to my exercise and I am looking forward to what each day brings me. Today is my 16th wedding anniversary so my wife and I will be going out to a Japanese Steakhouse for steak and sushi - I think I will bring the 97 along.

Happy Anniversary my friend . I wish you and yours as good life as my wife and I have had and I hope it starts with a GREAT STEAK TONIGHT .

Harry

 

[JohnDF]

Happy Anniversary.

 

[WhittlinAway]

Day #5:

The day isn't over yet but I likely won't be able to chime in again until tomorrow as I am getting ready to go out for the evening. I just finished putting a fresh edge on this one. Unfortunately, I found that the bevel is somewhat uneven and it's going to require a bit more work to get everything evened out and the tip thinned a bit more. That said, it is shaving sharp and will be plenty suitable for my steak and sushi needs this evening.

Looking sharp!

I’ll be interested to see whether your usage of the knife picks up over the next few days. New edges have a way of wanting to prove their capabilities.

Belated happy anniversary to you and your wife! I hope you had a wonderful evening.

 

[22-rimfire]

Beautiful knife and I hope you enjoy the challenge. For myself, I punted on a Allegheny as I saw that I don't carry my 23's and this is larger. When I first started on the GEC journey, 23's were the berries to me.

 

[GeofS]

Absolutely. This thread has me wanting to pick up one of the #97s in Ebony.

This thread is all win and I told you guys you inspired me...

This knife is bigger than I thought it would be. I like that its pull isn’t a nail destroyer. I’m curious about the double nail nicks though, I find them to be strange. At first, I thought it was a mistake.

Most importantly, Pàdruig , I hope you had a nice anniversary.

 

[Pàdruig]

Thank you, fellas, for the kind anniversary wishes. We had a very pleasant evening.

Unfortunately, I don't have much to add to my Day #5 report for yesterday. I had forgotten that the Hibachi Chef cuts everything up for you! The 97 saw no further use yesterday but it did sit rather comfortably in my pocket while I enjoyed Filet Mignon, Lobster, Shrimp, and Scallops - it was an excellent dinner.

WhittlinAway Greg, I've thought the same with regards to potential increased use. Often, when I am fidgeting with a knife, I find myself "testing" the edge with my thumb - it's almost a subconscious action. I have noted that I have done it with more frequency since tuning up the edge a bit more. I do have some chores throughout the day so the knife will ideally be brought to bear more than a few times.

GeofS , congrats on that beauty! I should have an ebony on the way as well - I hope it turns out as nice as my very first one did. With regards to the double pulls - I would agree that they look strange and take some getting used to. That said, it is a very traditional feature on this style of blade so it is a nice detail in terms of its historical significance - even if it isn't particularly useful.

 

[Pàdruig]

Day #6:

Surprisingly, despite a bit of a chorin' day, I didn't use a knife a whole lot. The 97 was close by all the same - it serves me well with opening packages, spreading butter on my French toast, and cutting up a couple of apples.

I'm still having a lot of fun with this blade - it's proving to be quite capable. I realized today that my exercise is going to be carrying me into archery elk season. As these are big hunter style knives, it will be interesting to see if I'll get the opportunity to use this for one of its intended uses.

 

[btb01]

Dylan, I just read through the thread so far, and really enjoyed it! The #97 didn’t really appeal to me when it was released (and still doesn’t, to be honest), but that one that you have is a good looking knife.

I’ve spent the last (almost) month carrying a Woodland Micarta #23 Liner Lock. I picked it up along with the Beaver Tail, and liked the Micarta less, so I figured I’d make it a user.

One of the things that turned me off about the #97 was what appeared (and was later confirmed by others) to be a slight recurve in the blade. While I know that blade shape serves it purpose, it doesn’t appeal to me because I lack the sharpening tools to sharpen them properly. I noticed that your sharpening apparatus uses flat plates; do you think the slight (and it does appear very slight, almost unnoticeable) recurve in the blade could be the source of your uneven bevel? Just a thought.

Happy belated anniversary, by the way!

 

[JohnDF]

it will be interesting to see if I'll get the opportunity to use this for one of its intended uses.

Fingers crossed... That would make this experiment epic.

 

[Pàdruig]

Dylan, I just read through the thread so far, and really enjoyed it! The #97 didn’t really appeal to me when it was released (and still doesn’t, to be honest), but that one that you have is a good looking knife.

I’ve spent the last (almost) month carrying a Woodland Micarta #23 Liner Lock. I picked it up along with the Beaver Tail, and liked the Micarta less, so I figured I’d make it a user.

One of the things that turned me off about the #97 was what appeared (and was later confirmed by others) to be a slight recurve in the blade. While I know that blade shape serves it purpose, it doesn’t appeal to me because I lack the sharpening tools to sharpen them properly. I noticed that your sharpening apparatus uses flat plates; do you think the slight (and it does appear very slight, almost unnoticeable) recurve in the blade could be the source of your uneven bevel? Just a thought.

Happy belated anniversary, by the way!

Thank you, Barrett.

You bring up some good points regarding the 97. If I remember correctly, there was some concern with the recurve on these as well as the 86s when they were produced. The recurve on the 97, though slight, is far more noticeable than on the 86 clips. I also remember it being mentioned that the 97 blades are the same ones that were used on the 98 Camp Knives (that surely puts it into perspective on how big those 98s are, a piece that I haven't had the pleasure of experiencing).

Recurve blades are not my cup of tea, at least not on folders. I do think they are terrific on a large fixed blade that is used for chopping and such - on a folder though, I fail to see how useful it it is. The recurve on the 97s though, is so very slight that it doesn't rankle my nose like the recurves you see on a lot of modern folders, where I think they follow more of a form over function sort of design path.

In terms of sharpening though, I learned how to sharpen a recurve on a flat stone quite some time ago - it certainly can be done. I had a modern folder with S30V steel with a rather pronounced recurve. The only sharpening equipment I had at the time was a flat coarse stone - nothing special. It takes a lot of patience to sharpen S30V on a regular stone but it also helped me learn the techniques needed for hitting the full length of that recurve.

The uneven bevel actually came from the factory, which is something I have noticed more than once on GEC knives. It is very easy to correct as they have very short bevels due to the thinness of their grinds. Is the uneven grind exacerbated by the slight recurve? It is possible, as I think that it is going to require a bit more work on my part to get everything right where I want it but I don't believe that it will cause any further trouble in the future.