[/IMG]I've been lurking more in the Traditional's area of late, and the bug to buy stuff has been creeping in more and more. I got a couple new Case, and a couple Rough Rider's to bide the time. I was totally blown away by the quality of he RR's. The finish was almost on par with the Case, and the fit blew the Case out of the water. Both the new Case stockmen had some significant rub due to lips on the spine of the sheepsfoot blades (nothing a nice go on a stone didn't cure, just a tad disappointing when you pull it out of the paper the first time). The bug wasn't sated....
So I bought my first GEC and I don't think I should have...
It's a 54 stockman with sapphire acrylic covers. I believe dubbed a whittler, but I'm not sure if I agree with that title for it. This thing is a tank! It feels much larger in the hand than I was expecting. Even the pen blade is almost the size of a Vic blade.
I think this pattern was produced several years ago, and the blades were wicked sharp at some points, and pretty much completely dull at others, with a pretty nasty recurve and an obtuse grind on the clip blade. I had to spend a good hour with the stones getting everything evened out and ready and it's still a pretty raw scratch pattern on the blades, but that will go away with some stropping. I think I read somewhere that some of the production years were like that with the sharpening. Guess that just jump starts the process of making a knife yours.
Well worth both the time and the money. I even ordered the pocket slip the day this thing came in. I'm going out of my way to make sure the covers stay nice for a while on this one, even though it has already been put to work on boxes, fruit, and some plastic packaging. It will be making a trip into the garden with me tomorrow, too. The snap is luxurious. The recurve is gone and my rough edge is only going to refine on the strop.
I think I may have shot myself in the foot jumping in on this end of the pool. I'll probably end up with at least one more Great Eastern before the end of the week. ;-)
Sorry. Long meandering post for what could have just been a photo.
it was a pawn shop find...$30 or something like that when I was in grade 9 (so like 1997).
