Lets talk GEC!

Wilted Kilt said:
Moose! Simple as that, it's just what they are. Some people love them, other people modify the spear to a sheepsfoot, lol.

I agree with your point, though. That's why I'm more excited about the #35 Churchill.
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I agree, the Churchill is more appealing at this juncture.

Nature Boy said:
Can't complete your Nessmuk trio without a proper moose knife...
Trappers have also been quite popular in American history, despite utilizing two full sized blades.
Sometimes it's nice to have two big ones, but I agree, for regular, day to day use, I prefer the secondary to be a small pen or coping blade.
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You make a good point. For whatever reason I simply did not think about the fact that Trapper patterns are pretty popular and they do indeed utilize two full size blades with neither of them being a straight edge usually.
I just remembered that about the Nessmuk trio, I appreciate you recalling that bit of history for me, it has been awhile.
 
The Eagle Has Landed! BF Knife is coming! Just got my shipping Notification. These are ahead of schedule!
 
Dr-Mabuse said:
Yeah I have it from some reliable sources that stainless 81s just ain't gonna happen. Which is pretty irritating. That would have been the GEC Knife Of The Year.
They put it on the rug because a Northfield or Tidioute would have been too confusing to visitors, many of whom aren't knife people and just are touring the area.
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Boo
 
Pàdruig said:
I agree, the Churchill is more appealing at this juncture.



You make a good point. For whatever reason I simply did not think about the fact that Trapper patterns are pretty popular and they do indeed utilize two full size blades with neither of them being a straight edge usually.
I just remembered that about the Nessmuk trio, I appreciate you recalling that bit of history for me, it has been awhile.
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There's a reason they call the trappers with a wharncliff blade "improved". ;)
 
Dr-Mabuse said:
Yeah I have it from some reliable sources that stainless 81s just ain't gonna happen. Which is pretty irritating. That would have been the GEC Knife Of The Year.
They put it on the rug because a Northfield or Tidioute would have been too confusing to visitors, many of whom aren't knife people and just are touring the area.
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I guess that makes sense. Bill's tour was pretty informative. Most of the stainless manufacturing issues seemed clear to me, being that I work in a manufacturing environment, but some of the issues that they run into with stainless are ones I never thought of.
 
I have not been collecting traditionals for long and haven't seen any stainless runs, I don't think, what steel do they use for stainless?
 
Wilted Kilt said:
I guess that makes sense. Bill's tour was pretty informative. Most of the stainless manufacturing issues seemed clear to me, being that I work in a manufacturing environment, but some of the issues that they run into with stainless are ones I never thought of.
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Hello, new member here, pretty much signed up just to talk about the upcoming 81 Bull Moose, about which I'm very excited.

I'm very curious about the above comment, what were some of the issues working stainless that you didn't expect? All I know is it's supposed to be more difficult to grind on their carbon specific equipment.
 
Welcome Matt. Oh that doesn't sound right. :D How about welcome to the site Matt. o_O:D:D
I think essentially what it boils down to is the tooling of all the machinery to process the different steel. It's time consuming to make the change overs and it cuts into production time. I think what they probably do is wait until there is significant demand for the stainless in a few various patterns in order to run them all at the same time.
 
Pàdruig said:
I do not quite understand the configuration of the upcoming #81 run and I am curious if anyone here has any insight as to the reasoning behind it. I know the clip and the spear are two different blade types but having the two of them, both full sized, in the same frame seems rather redundant. It would have made better sense to do a spear or a clip and a sheepfoot or wharncliffe, in my opinion. (Blade with some belly coupled with straight edge)

So with that said, I am tip-toeing around this one and am not sure if I will bother scooping one up. If it had been a Stockman, I would have been all over it, but this just seems a little strange.
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I'm super excited about it. I've been looking for a large moose with these two blade shapes for awhile now, without a lot of good options, even on ebay. There's a Bill Howard Case Classic that would functionally work but looks off to me, some really old Case knives that sell upward of $500 for anything like new, and the 54 moose pattern, which from what I hear would bend my thin, flexible nails back like envelope flaps. Enter the Bull Moose.

Long enough to span a sandwich or a muffin. Ergonomically suitable for wood work. A clip for food and paper, a spear for outdoor tasks. Built on a frame whose shape very much resembles my favorite Schrade Stockman. AND, GEC has been really good recently about their big knives having lighter pulls. Good news for my nails. No one does big spear blades like GEC. That alone is worth the price of admission to me.

I wish it was stainless, but I'll love it nonetheless, I think.
 
BigBiscuit said:
Welcome Matt. Oh that doesn't sound right. :D How about welcome to the site Matt. o_O:D:D
I think essentially what it boils down to is the tooling of all the machinery to process the different steel. It's time consuming to make the change overs and it cuts into production time. I think what they probably do is wait until there is significant demand for the stainless in a few various patterns in order to run them all at the same time.
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Thanks for the reply, and the welcome. Maybe having that rug sitting there, people coming in and always commenting on it, will drive them over the edge one day.
 
Matt Bernier said:
Hello, new member here, pretty much signed up just to talk about the upcoming 81 Bull Moose, about which I'm very excited.

I'm very curious about the above comment, what were some of the issues working stainless that you didn't expect? All I know is it's supposed to be more difficult to grind on their carbon specific equipment.
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I'll add to Bob's reply.

First of all, welcome!

Secondly, the tooling changes are very costly for making stainless. A larger company would probably have dedicated machines for stainless vs carbon, but GEC is a very small operation.

The part I didn't think about is that stainless blanks can't be stamped out like carbon blanks are, so GEC would have to waterjet them out. That's not hard to do, but it adds time and money to the process. Bill said they can account for that in the price of the knives, but at some point it stops making sense for them, since their carbon steel knives are doing just fine.
 
A big welcome to Matt, and thank you to Colin for that enlightening response!

I knew last year that I should have bought all the stainless I could get my hands on...(15s and 74s, I'm looking at you!) I got a few, but should have hunted extras.

Very curious to see the upcoming shields for the Bull Mooses! I hope they are Calf Roper cool!
 
Wilted Kilt said:
I'll add to Bob's reply.

First of all, welcome!

Secondly, the tooling changes are very costly for making stainless. A larger company would probably have dedicated machines for stainless vs carbon, but GEC is a very small operation.

The part I didn't think about is that stainless blanks can't be stamped out like carbon blanks are, so GEC would have to waterjet them out. That's not hard to do, but it adds time and money to the process. Bill said they can account for that in the price of the knives, but at some point it stops making sense for them, since their carbon steel knives are doing just fine.
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Victorinox stamps about 10,000 blades plus other parts every day: all SS. Watch the factory video on Youtube
 
I have an older 54 moose from 2014 and an M&G Moose like yours and the pull on the 2017 is much lighter. The funny thing is that on both of them the pull is lighter on the spear as opposed to the clip blade. It also appears that the 2014 Moose is a tad bit, but noticeably, thinner. Looking down the back of the knife it looks like the liners are thinner on the '14. Has anyone seen that, is that normal to use different thickness liner materials. They both have brass liners and I guess it isn't out of the ordinary but I have grown to really like '14 and then bought the M&G and I was really surprised at the difference in feel in the hand. I hope that they use the thinner brass liners as the '14 feels both stout and svelte a the same time if that is possible.
 
blademan 13 said:
Matt,

GEC did a nice run of a #54 Moose this year and I do not think the pull is too stout, 6 or 7 at very most. Like the knife a lot but will most likely pick up an #81 in stag if I can grab a nice one.
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I did hear from multiple people that the Maher and Grosch knives were a lot lighter, but OYYYYYYY that blade etch!

Also, my true love is the Tidioute style drawn swedge on their spear blades. It reminds me of the way Schrade used to do their swedges.

That sure is a pretty photo though. I assume that one's yours?
 
oldtymer said:
Victorinox stamps about 10,000 blades plus other parts every day: all SS. Watch the factory video on Youtube
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I believe it would also have to do with the stamps themselves. Victorinox uses almost exclusively stainless, so everything is tooled for stainless. If you have to have a special set of tooling... well...
 
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