Thoughts on GEC knives.

I'm comfortable with what GEC is doing and have been consistently satisfied with rare exceptions. The Whaler has been an exception in terms of availability. But I read that there were a lot of returns or knives that didn't pass the final inspection before shipping out to dealers.
 
I've only owned 4 GECs. Gave away 3 of them, not because they were bad knives, but because the patterns did not suit me, which would have been the case regardless of the maker. GEC makes excellent knives. No reason not to consider them users.
 
Norcaldude said:
Queen, Canal Street Cutlery, lots of older traditional knife companies all out of business.

GEC going strong.

I think they should keep doing what they are doing. Those of you that want knives that are easier to get can go buy a Case.
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It's not like GEC 'outlasted' any of those companies, tho. I doubt they will, either. Hey, they found a spot in the market and can fill it fairly well. More power to them. I wish someone from Latrobe or Crucible would stop by their place with a catalog and sell them some tonnage of something other than 1095.
 
AndreLinoge said:
I wish someone from Latrobe or Crucible would stop by their place with a catalog and sell them some tonnage of something other than 1095.
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Like a similar carbon steel? Otherwise, it won’t change much at all. Reason is, GEC is making their knives using 100 year old equipment that was sourced from other closed down factories. The tooling can’t handle “modern” steels, much less any “super” steels.
 
AndreLinoge said:
It's not like GEC 'outlasted' any of those companies, tho. I doubt they will, either. Hey, they found a spot in the market and can fill it fairly well. More power to them.
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Well, with various knife brands being owned by different entities over the years you'd have to define what you mean by 'outlasted'.

Queen got new owners in 2011. GEC outlasted them.

The point is, in current market conditions, GEC is doing well while at least two other companies that were making a product that occupied a similar niche market have closed up shop recently.
 
AndreLinoge said:
It's not like GEC 'outlasted' any of those companies, tho. I doubt they will, either. Hey, they found a spot in the market and can fill it fairly well. More power to them. I wish someone from Latrobe or Crucible would stop by their place with a catalog and sell them some tonnage of something other than 1095.
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The use of 1095 carbon steel is the main reason I buy GEC's :)

Quality fit & finish just happens to be an added bonus ;):p:D
 
"The point is, in current market conditions, GEC is doing well while at least two other companies that were making a product that occupied a similar niche market have closed up shop recently."

Exactly. And at least one of them was using modern steels. Let GEC do what GEC does best with the steel they choose to use. Yeah it is hard to get some models but most are fairly easy. If they just produce more of the sellouts or SFO models to make some happy then there would be less time to make the more unusual patterns many of us would love to see.
 
I have owned several GEC knives. They were all very well made, but I have found that I prefer Case so I sold most of the GECs. An unexpected bonus has been saving a lot of time not reading any GEC-related posts and sale threads.
 
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