Thin area on stag handle - is it something to be concerned about?

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BlockPsycho

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Mar 12, 2016
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Recently recieved my mustang in american elk, it's by far the best GEC I've handled to date. I've never owned stag/elk before, although I'm aware the thickness can vary pretty wildly. My mustang's elk tapers to be just a tad thicker than the knife's brass liner in one area. The rest of the edges are several times thicker than the liner. I'm worried this thin spot might crack or something. The rest of the elk is very well matched, it's just about 30% of the shield side that is running thin. Am I being paranoid?

(I can't seem to get a good picture that shows how thin it is.)

Edit: this is the fourth GEC I've purchased and now the second in which the blade has a flat spot due to it hitting the backspring. Pretty disappointed now.
 
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With elk (or stag) bought in large quantities for production knives, not every piece will be ideal. The thin area could be more susceptible to damage. Even if the elk was thicker, it could still crack if the knife is dropped.

If you are snapping the blade shut, it may be over traveling. You might see if closing the blade slowly avoids the problem. It may also go away with sharpening since the depth of the blade will be reduced a little.
 
supratentorial said:
With elk (or stag) bought in large quantities for production knives, not every piece will be ideal. The thin area could be more susceptible to damage. Even if the elk was thicker, it could still crack if the knife is dropped.

If you are snapping the blade shut, it may be over traveling. You might see if closing the blade slowly avoids the problem. It may also go away with sharpening since the depth of the blade will be reduced a little.
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I was snapping it. It's unfortunate, because I find the snappy walk and talk very enjoyable. It doesn't seem as bad as my last one, I'm going to try to reprofile the blade to 15 dps and see if that takes off enough material.
 
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If it is only hitting the spring when you snap it closed, then one good sharpening should bring the blade to a level that will not hit the spring. Just make sure you sharpen until the flat spot is gone and you will be good to go:thumbup:
As for the thin area, unfortunality that happens with natural materials. I know this doesn't help in this case, but in the future maybe buy used with good pictures or from a vendor that will send pictures of the actual knife you are buying.
 
I learned on BF that the dinking of the blade is called "rapping". It happened to me on a GEC knife too. This is very disappointing on a knife that is relatively expensive and supposed to be of high quality. One should not have to baby the blade closed to prevent hitting the spring. A good dealer might get you an exchange if you are unhappy. It's worth a try.
 
I have a Queen made Winchester with India stag. It is very thin on one side at one end. I use the knife for everything, even kitchen duty. Had it for a year, no problems with thin area. I wouldn't worry about it. About the blade bottoming out, that's a defect and if you don't want to fix it yourself, the dealer or the manufacturer should take care of it for you.
 
BlockPsycho said:
this is the fourth GEC I've purchased and now the second in which the blade has a flat spot due to it hitting the backspring. Pretty disappointed now.
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The frequency at which this occurs seems to be unique to GEC. I have maybe 20 GEC's now, and almost half of them have either hit the backspring on closing, or the main blade's tip sat proud. I attribute this to GEC trying to pack as much blade as they possibly can into the available frame. I have no problemss with filing down kicks or sharpening out flat spots, so it's no big issue to me. But for people who are unused to dealing with slipjoints, I can see these problems as being a disappointment.
 
I have a number of stag handled knives that have some very thin stag spots. Hafting stag is an art, and trying to keep a thin profile sometimes leads to what you're seeing. I've never had a problem with any of my stag handled knives, many of them are custom made.

Here's one from Hiroaki Ohta that has some very thin stag along the liner. It's been carried and used and no worse for the wear.
P1010295.jpg
 
Thin spots in the stag near the frame is a very common occurrence and bothers some, but many of my best stag pieces exhibit this trait, and I've never had an issue with it. My 2014 BF sfo is a perfect example:

Why would I part with this beauty?


Certainly not because of this!


Still, I've had folks return knives with this "non-issue" so I suppose the old adage 'beauty is in the eye of the beholder' holds true in this case.
 
gunstockjack said:
Thin spots in the stag near the frame is a very common occurrence and bothers some, but many of my best stag pieces exhibit this trait, and I've never had an issue with it. My 2014 BF sfo is a perfect example:

Why would I part with this beauty?....
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Gotta agree with Barry on this! The great of appeal of stag for me, is the irregularity of the finish. I just got this one for Fathers Day (look familiar, Barry?) and the stag on it drop-dead gorgeous!



Viewed top-down, you can see how nicely matched the overall thickness of the stag covers are:



But, there is a spot on the bottom near along the liner where the stag is quite thin:



Doesn't bother me a bit - just the beauty of the material (and no, it's not coming back, Barry :D ).
 
Buzzbait said:
The frequency at which this occurs seems to be unique to GEC. I have maybe 20 GEC's now, and almost half of them have either hit the backspring on closing, or the main blade's tip sat proud. I attribute this to GEC trying to pack as much blade as they possibly can into the available frame. I have no problemss with filing down kicks or sharpening out flat spots, so it's no big issue to me. But for people who are unused to dealing with slipjoints, I can see these problems as being a disappointment.
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Yeah, it's not too big a deal, but GEC is supposed to be a step up in quality from case, yet I've never seen or ever heard of a case knife hitting the backspring. I'm hoping they pick up on this issue and resolve it. I also wish they would set their edges at 15 dps. Every case and GEC I've gotten has been over 20 dps. This is a non issue if you have have an edge pro or something, but this is a pretty big pain for a sharpmaker user.
 
BlockPsycho said:
Yeah, it's not too big a deal, but GEC is supposed to be a step up in quality from case, yet I've never seen or ever heard of a case knife hitting the backspring. I'm hoping they pick up on this issue and resolve it. I also wish they would set their edges at 15 dps. Every case and GEC I've gotten has been over 20 dps. This is a non issue if you have have an edge pro or something, but this is a pretty big pain for a sharpmaker user.
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I used to go with 20dps, but found most factory edges are set at about 25 dps and I got tired of removing metal unnecessarily. I find no big difference in cutting ability other than the more obtuse angle being a little more durable. 15 dps makes for a thinnnnn edge prone to chipping. A straight razor is about 11 dps and is extremely fragile. I mean really fragile, in that if you touch anything with it other than hair or skin, you are likely to damage the edge.

JMHO

On the blade rapping issue: yes, some GEC patterns have stout enough springs to really send the blade home hard - hard enough to ding the edge on the hump in the spring, and even crack the bone handles at the spring pivot in some cases. I highly recommend that you not let the blade slam home with force when it is so simple to ease the blade back into the frame with a little finger pressure. I know it sounds and feels cool to let the blade close freely, and that's what I usually do, but in some cases it can come with the risk of damage.

OK, I'm done. :)
 
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gunstockjack said:
I used to go with 20dps, but found most factory edges are set at about 25 dps and I got tired of removing metal unnecessarily. I find no big difference in cutting ability other than the more obtuse angle being a little more durable. 15 dps makes for a thinnnnn edge prone to chipping. A straight razor is about 11 dps and is extremely fragile. I mean really fragile, in that if you touch anything with it other than hair or skin, you are likely to damage the edge

JMHO

On the blade rapping issue: yes, some GEC patterns have stout enough springs to really send the blade home hard - hard enough to ding the edge on the hump in the spring, and even crack the bone handles at the spring pivot in some cases. I highly recommend that you not let the blade slam home with force when it is so simple to ease the blade back into the frame with a little finger pressure. I know it sounds and feels cool to let the blade close freely, and that's what I usually do, but in some cases it can come with the risk of damage.

OK, I'm done. :)
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I recently switched to 25 dps and it has made sharpening faster and easier:thumbup: I do really like the sharp maker but also have found that initially on new knives it takes some time to re profile. I took out an old lanskey (edge pro?) that I bought ten years ago and have been happy with the speed of sharpening and edge retention. I don't have to many knives maybe 10 across a variety of brands and the only rapping I've had out of the box was a queen. I followed the advice echoed here of closing gently until I had sharpened to the point of it becoming a non issue.
 
Not much of a user slipjoint if ya can't close it one handed on your pant leg w/o harming the edge. It's easy to fix, both in the factory and at home.
 
I had a Queen barlow that hit the back spring, I thought about sending it back but decided instead to just sharpen it.

I would close it gently but in about 3 days I'd forget, then I'd just sharpen the dent out again. After the third sharpening the problem was solved.
I don't know if the kick was a little to low or if the blade wasn't ground enough. Unless it real bad, try to sharpen it out.
 
Just a question about GEC assembly - do they glue & pin the covers on, or just pin? A layer of epoxy would really stabilise a thin area.
Having said that, I like a sleek fit, & am irritated by by covers that are not contoured to the knife.
 
This subject has been debated previously but I'm not sure that it's GEC's responsibility to make knives that can be slammed shut. I've even gotten Benchmade's axis lock folders with warnings that slamming the knife open/shut will void the warranty.

I got my 74 yesterday and (as posted in the GEC topic), there's quite a bit of room inside the well. GENTLY push down on the spine of the main blade and you'll see. If the blade is rapping the spring, it must be closing with considerable force and overtraveling a lot.

The knife has a half stop and for those who like closing the knife against your pant leg, you might close it to half stop first and then the rest of the way. I just tried it three times and no problems. It's still closing one handed. It's just not slamming shut. Don't hit your femoral artery! ;)
 
supratentorial said:
This subject has been debated previously but I'm not sure that it's GEC's responsibility to make knives that can be slammed shut. I've even gotten Benchmade's axis lock folders with warnings that slamming the knife open/shut will void the warranty.

I got my 74 yesterday and (as posted in the GEC topic), there's quite a bit of room inside the well. GENTLY push down on the spine of the main blade and you'll see. If the blade is rapping the spring, it must be closing with considerable force and overtraveling a lot.

The knife has a half stop and for those who like closing the knife against your pant leg, you might close it to half stop first and then the rest of the way. I just tried it three times and no problems. It's still closing one handed. It's just not slamming shut. Don't hit your femoral artery! ;)
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Your 74 probably has much more length to the kick. Mine rests just a hair above the backspring and the tip is sunken several mm below the surface. In my opinion, you shouldn't have to worry about how you close a knife, GEC should put a groove into the backspring or start the kicks a bit longer then grind them just enough so the tip is inside the frame.
 
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The way that I described closing the knife is actually normal for me. People will have different opinions. Slamming a knife shut is not safe knife handling in my honest opinion. It also has no purpose. Flicking a knife open and closed to make a sound without any intention of using the knife also has not real purpose. Some folks seem to enjoy it though.

My point is NOT to tell you how to use your knife. I offered the suggestion of closing the blade in a more controlled manner as one possible way to avoid problems. You can chose whatever you prefer. Just trying to help.

My point is that it's not necessarily GEC's responsibility to worry about people slamming the blades shut.

I'll take a photo of my knife later for comparison. Making the kick longer would have other undesirable consequences.... either the knife would be under bladed or the tip would be exposed. This is a bigger problem on drop point blades since there's little curve to the spine of the blade. I wouldn't want a groove in the spring either. They could give the kick a more pronounced square shape so there's greater resistance to over traveling.
 
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