Lets talk GEC!

[Pàdruig]

I don't know for sure, but somebody mentioned it included knives made under other brands.

I thought I remember reading that too, though I don't recall the GEC statement specifically saying that. I'm also not privy to the discussions on other platforms like Facebook and such - the conversations there seem to be more current.

 

[r8shell]

Here's a few different flavors of stag bone GEC have done in the past (2007-'08).

From the left: green mountain, brimstone, burnt carved, river blue, carved pumpkin

Hmm... I like stag and bone stag. I like blue jigged bone. But blue stag looks wrong to my eyes.

 

[5K Qs]

...
I kid, of course, I completely understand the misgivings that Stag can produce. Part of me likes the surprise - buying blind, that is - usually, I am not disappointed but sometimes I have gotten a real lemon (it's happened only once or twice). If I line up all of my Stag (it's starting to become quite the lineup, albeit small), I marvel at all the differences on display - it is really rather remarkable and is what endears the material to me.
...

Admirable assemblage of antler, Dylan!!

Those are marvelous, Jeff! I like them all but the second and third from the left are really amazing.

I "voted" for the same pair from Jeff's stag bone quintet.
It's so enjoyable to follow a discussion on The Porch, and suddenly have Jeff black mamba humbly post something relevant from his monumental collection!

- GT

 

[black mamba]

Aw, shucks, G, you make me blush!

But blue stag looks wrong to my eyes.

For sure, there is nothing natural about it . . . it does look kind of "foreign," doesn't it?
Still, the jigging is deep and gnarly, which I like very much.

 

[r8shell]

Aw, shucks, G, you make me blush!



For sure, there is nothing natural about it . . . it does look kind of "foreign," doesn't it?
Still, the jigging is deep and gnarly, which I like very much.

View attachment 1453060

Looking at it from that angle, it's growing on me.

 

[sitflyer]

Aw, shucks, G, you make me blush!



For sure, there is nothing natural about it . . . it does look kind of "foreign," doesn't it?
Still, the jigging is deep and gnarly, which I like very much.

View attachment 1453060

That one makes me think of the movie Avatar!

 

[waynorth]

At last these bullets reached my house!
Bill's respect for the old Remington ethic has presented itself well here!!
Firm springs, flush and square joints, good finishing, these are nice knives, if a bit massive for my city ways. Good safe queens, but no EDCs for this elderly citizen!! Once again, GEC; well made knives without equal in the present cutlery sphere!!
-once again, scratches on the scanner glass!

 

[EngrSorenson]

Good safe queens, but no EDCs for this elderly citizen!!

I'm a firm believer that "elderly" is a state of mind. Cheers Charlie

 

[Quiet]

At last these bullets reached my house!
Bill's respect for the old Remington ethic has presented itself well here!!
Firm springs, flush and square joints, good finishing, these are nice knives, if a bit massive for my city ways. Good safe queens, but no EDCs for this elderly citizen!! Once again, GEC; well made knives without equal in the present cutlery sphere!!View attachment 1453199
-once again, scratches on the scanner glass!

A beautiful pair of winners there, Charlie!

 

[Pàdruig]

I saw something mentioned in a different thread that gives me a bit of concern. I want to avoid derailing that particular thread so I will ask it here: It has been stated that GEC dyes their Ebony to achieve the uniform black appearance that has been appreciated on the last few runs where Ebony has been an option - with reports of dye bleeding during the course of use and carry.

Can this be confirmed as true? If so, this is incredibly disappointing for me and makes me view the numerous GECs I have in Ebony through a different lens, and not a particularly great one. I'd rather have a natural brown Ebony than an artificially contrived color of wood.

 

[mbkr]

I saw something mentioned in a different thread that gives me a bit of concern. I want to avoid derailing that particular thread so I will ask it here: It has been stated that GEC dyes their Ebony to achieve the uniform black appearance that has been appreciated on the last few ones where Ebony has been an option - with reports of dye bleeding during the course of use and carry.

Can this be confirmed as true? If so, this is incredibly disappointing for me and makes me view the numerous GECs I have in Ebony through a different lens, and not a particularly great one. I'd rather have a natural brown Ebony than an artificially contrived color of wood.

I don't know if GEC dyes their ebony or not. If they do, they either don't do all of them or they don't do a very good job at it, since the one GEC ebony I have has brown streaks in it, i.e., its not uniformly black. I don't think this 15 is dyed:

 

[Pàdruig]

I don't know if GEC dyes their ebony or not. If they do, they either don't do all of them or they don't do a very good job at it, since the one GEC ebony I have has brown streaks in it, i.e., its not uniformly black. I don't think this 15 is dyed:

View attachment 1454609 View attachment 1454610

I have many examples of Ebony and they run the gambit from tan to inky black. The statement I read seemed to allude to it being a recent thing that GEC has started doing.

 

[sitflyer]

I have many examples of Ebony and they run the gambit from tan to inky black. The statement I read seemed to allude to it being a recent thing that GEC has started doing.

I would rather they let the wood show its natural character, hope that this isn't true.

 

[knifeswapper]

I saw something mentioned in a different thread that gives me a bit of concern. I want to avoid derailing that particular thread so I will ask it here: It has been stated that GEC dyes their Ebony to achieve the uniform black appearance that has been appreciated on the last few ones where Ebony has been an option - with reports of dye bleeding during the course of use and carry.

Can you link to the comment?

 

[JohnDF]

One guy saying it doesn't make it true. I'd want to hear more evidence.

 

[Pàdruig]

Can you link to the comment?

Here it is: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads...scussion-thread.1557814/page-31#post-20131924

And just for the record, LastRodeo - I'm not calling you out, I just wanted to discuss this further in the GEC thread.

One guy saying it doesn't make it true. I'd want to hear more evidence.

Absolutely - hence why I brought it up here, I didn't want to derail the Case/Bose thread with that discussion.

 

[LastRodeo]

Can you link to the comment?

You will certainly know more than I on this topic and I will be the first to admit my memory might be faulty, but from what I recall, prior to somewhere around the #44 Jack, there would always be quite a bit of discussion around runs that included ebony knives. People would comment on whether they got a good dark black one or if it was brown or streaked. GEC used to specify if the ebony was Macassar or Gabon. Folks would discuss from what continent and genus was true ebony, etc.

Right around that time of the #44 Jack, it seems like every ebony knife was more uniformly jet black and GEC started to refer to it as “ebony”, rather than Gabon or Macassar.

 

[Pàdruig]

GEC used to specify if the ebony was Macassar or Gabon.

It is interesting that you mention this - I was just thinking the other day that I had not recalled seeing GEC differentiate between the two. That said, I just looked at the release from this year and last year that involved Ebony and they do list them as Gabon.

 

[aji1]

I'm a firm believer that "elderly" is a state of mind. Cheers Charlie

That's a lot easier to believe at 34 than it is at twenty (or more) years older. Age is, to some extent, in the mind, but it is also to some extent in the joints and organs and whatnot.

 

[Fixall]

I saw something mentioned in a different thread that gives me a bit of concern. I want to avoid derailing that particular thread so I will ask it here: It has been stated that GEC dyes their Ebony to achieve the uniform black appearance that has been appreciated on the last few runs where Ebony has been an option - with reports of dye bleeding during the course of use and carry.

Can this be confirmed as true? If so, this is incredibly disappointing for me and makes me view the numerous GECs I have in Ebony through a different lens, and not a particularly great one. I'd rather have a natural brown Ebony than an artificially contrived color of wood.

Personally I’d like to know the answer to this too. I’d much rather have variations in color rather than have a dyed piece of wood.

On a “premium” knife (say above $300 or so) I do prefer a nice uniform, black ebony though. You can get ebony on knives at almost any budget these days. By using uniform, black ebony on more expensive knives, it makes me feel like I’m getting a more high end product. Jet black ebony is more rare, so it takes someone hand selecting the wood to ensure a uniform product. That just screams higher end to me I guess. There are some exceptions in my opinion though. Some high-end knives purposely use blonde or streaked ebony, but those too are usually hand chosen pieces with great coloration and/or figure... Rather than just being whichever piece of ebony the cutler happened to grab.