Two New Fall Colors

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black mamba

black mamba

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I just received a couple new GECs last week and wanted to display them for the Traditional family.
These are both among the best F&F and W&T of any folders I own, although not without slight negatives.

First up is #721110 Northfield Mini-Lockback in Burnt Orange Bone. As I intend this to be a user, no serial #.

IMG_9992.jpg


The bone is gorgeous, with dark flecks and patches, giving it an antique look I very much like.
It has all the UN-X-LD special touches: evenly cut swedges, long pull, threaded bolster, etc.

A slight negative is the continued under-blading, even on a square bolstered pattern like the Scout.
It is however very slight, half the width of the long pull as seen in the photo.

IMG_9994.jpg


Blade fit and action is terrific. Lays centered, opens smoothly to a 4-5 pull, and has a satisfying "tink" when the lock snaps to.
Also notice the beautifully even edge bevel, as seen from the point. 2-3 minutes on a stone made it shaving sharp.

IMG_9996.jpg


Length is 3-13/16" and weight is 2.8 oz., perfect for pocket carry.
. . . __________________________________________ . . .

Next up is a #531410 Northfield Cattle Baron in Jigged Yellow Rose Bone. Fortunate to get serial #03.

IMG_0003.jpg


The workmanship on this knife is near custom quality, with no gaps, rubs or inconsistencies anywhere.
The pulls are smooth and firm, a 7-8, with NO half-stops (my preference) and all blades would shave (barely).
Still the problem of under-blading, though not so noticeable on this round bolstered pattern.

IMG_0005.jpg


This beauty will be a safe queen, even though it is still pocketable at 4-1/8" and 4.4 oz. Jigged yellow bone is nice.
 
Lovely pair of knives there - I have fancied both from afar :)

I wonder if you could say something about the lock - any slight vertical play?

Mentions of this on the forum stopped me dead in my tracks from ordering a nice red bone one a few weeks ago.
 
Bingo! That remark just cost me 100USD! :lol:

Thanks a lot Black Mamba - very reassuring :)
 
Those are very nice looking! I like the Yellow Rose bone allot.
 
beautiful pair of GECs, black mamba. both are patterns i'd personally love to get a hold of as well. thanks for sharing pics.
 
Very nice. I appreciate you taking the time to put up those pictures. I've always looked at those yellow rose bone knives. It's your pictures however that really show the detail and speckles in the pattern. Good stuff.
 
good knives & pics mamba. i have several of the lockers--real smooth & no play in blades at all . i really like the jigged orange & as mamba mentioned --- perfect for pocket
dennis
 
Looks like a great pair! Congrats!


On a related note, to the OP: do you have a Queen #3 (Mountain Man lockback) to compare the Northfield lockback to? Just wondering how they stack up in terms of F&F. I haven't handled one of these GECs yet, but Queen managed to mate the tang & lock/spring perfectly at the bolster. Any other differences you can note?
 
Hey Jeff, it's my opinion that the lockback blade and spring should be flush in the locked position. How many other lockbacks do you see that have steps from the spring to blade? Only round-ended knives like your Cattle Baron (a cool knife btw) should have some acceptable "underblading". I think the Cattle Baron is a bit off from what I would call acceptable.

Anywho...cool knives from GEC. If they did a little bit better on those issues mentioned they would be awesome knives.
 
Yeah, there's simply no good excuse for a squarish bolstered knife to have a step at the spring/blade junction -- and not really an excuse for a round bolstered knife to have the end face of the spring showing like that - a rounded junction at the spring/blade contact is fine, but that's kinda sloppy. The amount of underblading showing on both patterns is not really a fit and finish issue - that's a pattern design issue.
 
Hi Jeff, once again you please us with eye candy...hey!..can I ask something?..
The underblading...I do see what you mean, and I have that on some of my knives as well...why do people not like this?..is it purely aesthetic wise?...but most of my knives are like this-even some absolute stunners...is this a custom knife maker that concentrates more to rectify this ?
Duncan
 
It's not solely an issue of aesthetics, but that is certainly part of it to me. If the OP had not said the action was good and the lock had a nice snap then that amount of offset between the blade and lockbar would give me concerns that the fit/seating on the lock was bad. That, in turn, would make me worry about the security of the lock.


-- Nate
 
both looks very nice!

I have a question, IF you open the clip blade only, does anything stick out from the handle? like any nail pull, that may disturb? I have a rancher and the sheepfoot does disturb a bit

thanks
Maxx
 
jujigatame said:
It's not solely an issue of aesthetics, but that is certainly part of it to me. If the OP had not said the action was good and the lock had a nice snap then that amount of offset between the blade and lockbar would give me concerns that the fit/seating on the lock was bad. That, in turn, would make me worry about the security of the lock.


-- Nate
Click to expand...

Thank you for that Nate...yes I did take notice of what Jeff said about the snap, and the knives I have that are (slightly ) underbladed also have tremendous snap-so the lock and security of the knife is good :thumbup:
Thank you for helping me out!
Duncan
 
Thanks for all the comments, gents.

Kerry, I agree 100% with what you say about the underblading, but I am blessed with being "not too picky" about small details, so am still able to enjoy these knives. At 100-130 dollars, these knives are very near custom quality in every other area I have compared them, so that I feel they are still a very good value at roughly 30% what a custom would cost (very subjective figure here, but pretty close I think).

Dwight, I also agree with your assessment. It's clearly a design issue, and probably done so that they don't have to try and line up the spine precisely with the backspring. Definitely a cost saving measure.

Duncan, as this underblading does not bother me as much as some people, I can only speculate, but it's most likely a lack of adherence to form as much as just a quality control issue.

Maxx, I haven't carried the Cattle Baron, but any multi-blade knife with a sheepfoot tends to protrude a little when using another blade. When gripping with the main clip open, my forefinger falls right in front of the closed sheepfoot, acting somewhat like a choil for a very secure feeling in hand. If the sheepfoot were at the same end as the main clip blade, it would not feel as good.
 
I have sn#02 of that burnt orange lockback and it does have some horizontal bladel play, when the blade is grabbed and moved side to side.

I also have a no serial version of the burnt orange and it does not have any blade play.

The #02 is for the collection or I'd tighten the horizontal play a little.

I am also carrying a no serial # yellow Baron today in my back pocket. It is great. All the blades are where they would be if I had specified them. All the blades can be opened right handed, but the spey, which is the way I prefer. You do need some tough nails to get the punch blade out :).
 
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