GEC #77 Medium Barlow Impressions

SteveC · Sep 17, 2019

My guess would be preferred long time customers .

SteveC · Sep 17, 2019

Augie said:
Received my no snake snakewood today, absolutely stunning Barlow in all ways, besides the wood the blade has classic traditional beauty with the matchstrike pull and the great swedges. Thank you Mike, much appreciated.

Lovely, congrats !

Buzzbait · Sep 17, 2019

Augie said:
Received my no snake snakewood today, absolutely stunning Barlow in all ways, besides the wood the blade has classic traditional beauty with the matchstrike pull and the great swedges. Thank you Mike, much appreciated.

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That is an stunning looking knife. Absolutely gorgeous.

But GEC gets no forgiveness from me for forcing these awful looking blade etches on us. Kudos to Mike for at least hiding that hideous monstrosity on the pile side of the main blade.

GE Jr · Sep 17, 2019

Augie said:
Received my no snake snakewood today, absolutely stunning Barlow in all ways, besides the wood the blade has classic traditional beauty with the matchstrike pull and the great swedges. Thank you Mike, much appreciated.

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A beauty!

GE Jr · Sep 17, 2019

mb> said:
Congrats! (I spy an etch. A tasteful one.)

Kinda had a feelin' it was gonna be the c< thing.

B.F.U · Sep 17, 2019

Augie said:
Received my no snake snakewood today, absolutely stunning Barlow in all ways, besides the wood the blade has classic traditional beauty with the matchstrike pull and the great swedges. Thank you Mike, much appreciated.

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I gave snakewood as my second preference after blackwood, because Mike said the snakewood didn't have much character, but seeing yours makes me wonder if that was the right choice! Blackwood will be great also though.

VERY well done on the etch

knifeswapper very minimal and out of the way, but good looking

SnailOffTheTrail · Sep 17, 2019

Buzzbait said:
That is an stunning looking knife. Absolutely gorgeous.

But GEC gets no forgiveness from me for forcing these awful looking blade etches on us. Kudos to Mike for at least hiding that hideous monstrosity on the pile side of the main blade.

Agreed! The etch is not great (shame on GEC), not terrible (thanks to Mr. Latham).

Matt_WY · Sep 17, 2019

GEC should really give the dealers the option of opting out of the blade etch. My preference would be for no etch. There are times - talking to you Boker and Bulldog when the etch is just overboard and an ugly distraction.

Augie · Sep 17, 2019

jsdistin said:
How did people end up with those if you don’t mind my asking?

Thank you all for the comments appreciated. Jsdistin, I don't know the decision process Mike used to offer these to customers, maybe he will chime in, I was happy to be offered one though and it freed up a Blackwood for someone else, I can't imagine how difficult it was for Mike to distribute 515 knives one at a time, Thanks again Mike for your efforts.

Boxer .45 · Sep 17, 2019

I'ma bout to drive over to Oklahoma to pick mine up. I can't wait anymore. See y'all there.

LOL

SnailOffTheTrail · Sep 17, 2019

GEC - Ghastly Etch Company

Anyways, I am really looking forward to your pictures of 'regular' production 77 barlows popping up. It will take some weeks before mine makes it over the pond.

jsdistin · Sep 17, 2019

Augie said:
Thank you all for the comments appreciated. Jsdistin, I don't know the decision process Mike used to offer these to customers, maybe he will chime in, I was happy to be offered one though and it freed up a Blackwood for someone else, I can't imagine how difficult it was for Mike to distribute 515 knives one at a time, Thanks again Mike for your efforts.

Thanks, it’s a beautiful knife. That’s all the answer I was looking for really, I just wasn’t sure if it was part of the original emails that went out and they just got snatched up fast or if people requested them or if he was contacting folks to offer them. I’m not really concerned with how he selected those he offered it to.

CelloDan · Sep 17, 2019

Augie said:
Thank you all for the comments appreciated. Jsdistin, I don't know the decision process Mike used to offer these to customers, maybe he will chime in, I was happy to be offered one though and it freed up a Blackwood for someone else, I can't imagine how difficult it was for Mike to distribute 515 knives one at a time, Thanks again Mike for your efforts.

It may very well have been me the one that got the chance :thumbsup:

. I was on standby and was not expecting to get one when I got the email from Mike

I'd like to also thank Mike for his efforts :thumbsup:

Augie · Sep 17, 2019

CelloDan said:
It may very well have been me the one that got the chance . I was on standby and was not expecting to get one when I got the email from Mike
I'd like to also thank Mike for his efforts

Thats good to know Dan, glad you got one.

Norcaldude · Sep 17, 2019

So long at the etches are easy to remove they don't bother me too much. If GEC went to those etches that you see on Bulldog brand knives, that would be annoying.

tstaut · Sep 17, 2019

If it's destined to be a user, then flitzing off the etch is no problem. But for those of us who also collect knives, it becomes a big problem - either the knife is now not original, or it is original with an ugly etch. A lot of the excitement around SFO's is that they are highly collectible so to me this is a really poor decision on GEC's part.

Remember, if we didn't collect in some way shape or form, all of us might only buy 1-2 knives a year, if that. Think about what that would do to the both primary and secondary markets.

BigKurtHaze · Sep 17, 2019

Norcaldude said:
So long at the etches are easy to remove they don't bother me too much.

3 minutes with some flitz and a microfiber cloth. And yet so much angst about it.

akaMatt · Sep 17, 2019

tstaut said:
If it's destined to be a user, then flitzing off the etch is no problem. But for those of us who also collect knives, it becomes a big problem - either the knife is now not original, or it is original with an ugly etch. A lot of the excitement around SFO's is that they are highly collectible so to me this is a really poor decision on GEC's part.

Remember, if we didn't collect in some way shape or form, all of us might only buy 1-2 knives a year, if that. Think about what that would do to the both primary and secondary markets.

If it only comes with an etch, then how is it less collectible? There's still the same limited number produced, and same unlimited number of people who want them. The value shouldn't be less just because it has an etch, because that is the original condition.

SnailOffTheTrail · Sep 17, 2019

tstaut said:
... so to me this is a really poor decision on GEC's part.

Of course it is a poor decision. How could forcing your customers (dealers) to do something they might not want because their customers (us) don't want it, be a good decision for a company earning money from customers?

On the other hand, imagine GEC withdrawing this rule due to dislike from next year. That would probably mean that 2019 run of #77 barlows would be the only one with etch. Now talk about collectability.

Augie · Sep 17, 2019

Maybe because my main interest is collecting vintage knives etch's don't bother me at all, as a matter of fact I love them. If you don't like them they will wear off as the vast majority of vintage knives show. They add considerable value and desirability to a vintage knife so to me they also add value to a GEC.

But as others have said if you don't like em, Flitz them off, it will make my GEC's more valuable 30 years from now if I'm still kicking

100 year old knife with it's etch.