Lets talk GEC!

[EngrSorenson]

I think of SFO’s in two classes; a basic blade etch/new scale cover change SFO and then the #77/Northwoods/Waynorth SFO. Obviously the latter is going to be missed, but I have a question... if, in a parallel dimension, GEC produced the same cover choices under their brand names (instead of being SFOs), would that affect the collectors?

it is entirely plausible we will see exciting options coming out without the “SFO” driver. Fascinating discussion: I’ve been catching up.

Perhaps the new Schatt and Morgan?

there’s a new S&M? Huh?! *googles*.

Has to change, or go down as the worst decision to come out of GEC...

I think this comment really just shows how little I understand about knife collections. This seems to sum up how a significant population of collectors feel.

As long as they stay in business and continue to make quality knives, I'm ok with it.

this +1; I would gladly make concessions on cover material selections to keep the quality knives coming in the mail.

Just did the math and a full 96% of the GECs I own would no longer be made by them.

That’s really not a good sign, huh?. ~1/24 is a standard GEC. On the flip side, by mere coincidence of my aesthetic tastes, I happened to buy 9 GECs which weren’t SFO’s. I wonder if there’s a correlation between GEC buyer and likelihood of that knife being an SFO.

Knives, like watches, are totally no use today . The majority of the world lives perfectly without it .
So if we have a watch or carry a knife it's for other reasons .

...I use and I sell Waynorth knives because there is something more .

I know what you’re saying, but my personal battle in this life is showing people how a reliable, sharp pocket knife is essential; not for the times you can substitute for a knife, but the times you can’t .

To your second point, truly, Charlie’s input in the process will be missed.

 

[Jiki]

Mr. Howard surely isn’t sitting in his office chair late at night losing sleep because there’s just not enough time to give the people the variety of knives that they need.

Maybe he is.

 

[Norcaldude]

Nobody matches GEC quality for traditional knives. Then the virus hit and politicians panicked like the trash that most of them are and they shut everything down. GEC should have never been shut down. Let's help them and encourage them with their recovery. This is a group of only 33 people who do things nobody else can do as a team. I thank Bill Howard for the risk he took to start this company and his constant drive for quality. I am the same age as he is. Never quit. Never surrender. Be the best. Treat people with respect. Mostly we all want the same things. This is America. In hard times we rebuild and help others. That's who we are. As least, that is the way I was raised. God Bless.

I imagine losing trained workers to the virus wouldn't have been good for GEC either.

 

[imhuntn]

Nobody matches GEC quality for traditional knives. Then the virus hit and politicians panicked like the trash that most of them are and they shut everything down. GEC should have never been shut down. Let's help them and encourage them with their recovery. This is a group of only 33 people who do things nobody else can do as a team. I thank Bill Howard for the risk he took to start this company and his constant drive for quality. I am the same age as he is. Never quit. Never surrender. Be the best. Treat people with respect. Mostly we all want the same things. This is America. In hard times we rebuild and help others. That's who we are. As least, that is the way I was raised. God Bless.

Amen William!!

 

[EngrSorenson]

With respect to the upcoming #33 conductor run:

Cursory searches have indicated its a single spring pen knife configuration. My beloved #35 Churchill has asymmetric grinds to fit the blades along side each other, which I love. I’m less enthusiastic about krinked blades.

anyone have a good top down shot of the previous conductor? I’m interested to know how they manage the blade well.

I know it’s not likely, but I’d buy three 2020 #33 whittlers in the clip/pen/coping configuration.

 

[mbkr]

I know it’s not likely, but I’d buy three 2020 #33 whittlers in the clip/pen/coping configuration.

I think I'd have to have one of those too

 

[hose56]

I am behind GEC 100% on this one. Bill Howard knows what he is doing. We might end up with better, not more choices. SFO dealers hog the best bone color and wood choices. We might see more better patterns ,saw cuts , better woods ,and better bone colors on the regular knives. I believe in Bill Howard ! Bill Howard is the best production blade-smith in cutlery history. "Business is War !" , and he aint going down with out of fight. I will buy every GEC that I really like in the future. Our smaller GEC dealers really took a hit this year. GEC does not need to make too many knives in one color/pattern. Every small GEC dealer need to sell them out in weeks after the release, not collect knives over a year before the sale. I refuse to buy any evil-bay GEC knife and pay state taxes too ! "SUCKERS !" We must support GEC and the GEC dealers , now more that ever. I just spread out all of my GEC knives together. Man , I got some killer knives and I am truly thankful to GEC. Things are getting tough , we need to stand behind Bill Howard 100%.

This change is not something that just happened. It was being considered long before the virus hit. The Dealers do not hog anything. Their thought and imagination has added much to the menu. As a long time collector I do not see any upside to this.

 

[waynorth]

Nobody matches GEC quality for traditional knives. Then the virus hit and politicians panicked like the trash that most of them are and they shut everything down. GEC should have never been shut down. Let's help them and encourage them with their recovery. This is a group of only 33 people who do things nobody else can do as a team. I thank Bill Howard for the risk he took to start this company and his constant drive for quality. I am the same age as he is. Never quit. Never surrender. Be the best. Treat people with respect. Mostly we all want the same things. This is America. In hard times we rebuild and help others. That's who we are. As least, that is the way I was raised. God Bless.

With respect, shutting down was the only option!! Imagine a person with no symptoms going into the GEC store, and spreading the virus unknowingly to the whole place!! From this shut-down, even the unknowing have learned the value of a face mask (hopefully!) to help prevent a repeat of the Spanish (also mis-named!) Flu!!
Learning about it all, by having it hit your community, and killing a bunch of your local people is a heck of a way to learn what stops it!!

 

[Fox79]

For the porch members that are planning to attend the Rendezvous it would be great if you could keep the rest of up to date on what you hear about GEC and the future of SFOs. I’m sure this will be a huge topic there.

I really do hope the company is ok and hasn’t been impacted too much by the shutdown.

I’ve only been collecting GEC for 3 years, but I really enjoy that Bill Howard has brought back to life small pieces of history with his Cutlery.

Happy 4th of July to all on the porch!

 

[rdave]

 

[rdave]

So you want an SFO? OK. Stand on your head. Arms out. Legs out. Good, now get on your knees - now one knee, sorry these SFOs are for my preferred customers but we may have a drawing for the "S" knife I got. You want in? Stand on your head...

 

[hose56]

With respect, shutting down was the only option!! Imagine a person with no symptoms going into the GEC store, and spreading the virus unknowingly to the whole place!! From this shut-down, even the unknowing have learned the value of a face mask (hopefully!) to help prevent a repeat of the Spanish (also mis-named!) Flu!!
Learning about it all, by having it hit your community, and killing a bunch of your local people is a heck of a way to learn what stops it!!

Respectfully I disagree. In a county with a population of 84,600 people there were only 3 CV cases when they were shut down. In my opinion the closings should have been based on population density and the number of cases reported. As of today there have only been 49 cases reported and no deaths. GEC could have elected to close the store without it being mandated by the Government. All water under the bridge now. I wish them well and will miss the SFO's, especially yours.
I'm sending you an email with a question. Take care

 

[Pàdruig]

I have a lot of admiration for folks that commit to buying an entire lineup - SFOs and all. I usually only buy cover materials and varieties that I favor.

The changes in GEC's SFO policy affect me in the following ways:

1. Charlie has initiated the production of some of the best patterns/variants that we've seen. His deep knowledge and contagious enthusiasm have blessed us with some exceptional knives. Some of my most cherished and used knives are SFOs of his - not experiencing a future with them is going to hurt.
2. In all honesty, I favor (above all others) four different cover materials - Black wood (Ebony), Stag, Red Sawcut Bone, and Smooth White Bone. I can get three out of the four in regular production runs with GEC. Even if GEC doesn't use red Sawcut in general production, I will still have access to knives with covers that please me.

The lack of SFOs does indeed diminish some of the sparkle from a collector's standpoint - there is no denying this. With that said, if less or no SFOs means greater runs of knives in GEC's current trim variants and standard cover materials, I don't see that as a bad thing really. The knives are still going to be awesome and the fact that their business plan is always evolving or subject to change, then we can remain hopeful that SFOs will be accepted again in the future.

 

[cbr1000]

I think of SFO’s in two classes; a basic blade etch/new scale cover change SFO and then the #77/Northwoods/Waynorth SFO. Obviously the latter is going to be missed, but I have a question... if, in a parallel dimension, GEC produced the same cover choices under their brand names (instead of being SFOs), would that affect the collectors?

it is entirely plausible we will see exciting options coming out without the “SFO” driver. Fascinating discussion: I’ve been catching up.



there’s a new S&M? Huh?! *googles*.



I think this comment really just shows how little I understand about knife collections. This seems to sum up how a significant population of collectors feel.



this +1; I would gladly make concessions on cover material selections to keep the quality knives coming in the mail.



That’s really not a good sign, huh?. ~1/24 is a standard GEC. On the flip side, by mere coincidence of my aesthetic tastes, I happened to buy 9 GECs which weren’t SFO’s. I wonder if there’s a correlation between GEC buyer and likelihood of that knife being an SFO.



I know what you’re saying, but my personal battle in this life is showing people how a reliable, sharp pocket knife is essential; not for the times you can substitute for a knife, but the times you can’t .

To your second point, truly, Charlie’s input in the process will be missed.

I think it's less to do with collections, and more of a loss related to discontinuing the very successful lines from Charlie, Northwoods, Collector Knives.

 

[rdave]

I am betting we will see SFOs in the near future and also betting Charlie will continue to contribute to GECs' success even without an SFO in his pocket...How about something to get really get fired up about, like living a world without starvation in it...

 

[hose56]

I am betting we will see SFOs in the near future and also betting Charlie will continue to contribute to GECs' success even without an SFO in his pocket...How about something to get really get fired up about, like living a world without starvation in it...

I think Bill is doing a bit of restructuring. In my opinion there are perhaps too many dealers to satisfy and it has burdened production. I'm hoping in 6 to 10 months some of the long term dealers that do SFO's will return. The Barlows, Lambfoot, and a few others set the the collecting world on fire.

 

[rdave]

I think Bill is doing a bit of restructuring. In my opinion there are perhaps too many dealers to satisfy and it has burdened production. I'm hoping in 6 to 10 months some of the long term dealers that do SFO's will return. The Barlows, Lambfoot, and a few others set the the collecting world on fire.

Good thought - we have seen GEC make many changes under Bill Howard's tutelage - these 14 years have been an interesting journey at GEC with surely more to come... I see this disruption as simply a minor event, with more great things to come. Not as a huge disappointment. The barlow pattern, among others, seems to be a standard in the traditional line up, why would Howard would kick it to the curb? Looking forward to the future...

 

[Scott J.]

Good thought - we have seen GEC make many changes under Bill Howard's tutelage - these 14 years have been an interesting journey at GEC with surely more to come... I see this disruption as simply a minor event, with more great things to come. Not as a huge disappointment. The barlow pattern, among others, seems to be a standard in the traditional line up, why would Howard would kick it to the curb? Looking forward to the future...

Why can't he make a nice Barlow and put nice covers on it and call it....I don't know?? Maybe a Northfield?

 

[Spaten]

Why can't he make a nice Barlow and put nice covers on it and call it....I don't know?? Maybe a Northfield?

I believe the #77 NF barlows are NorthField.

 

[Jiki]

I don't know, go back through the 62s, 86s, 92s, 29s, 93s and 12s. There has been 3 different acrylics, 3 camel bones, snake wood, blood wood, osage, Cocobolo, smooth bone, jigged bone, stag, and several micartas all on factory runs. GEC makes beautiful, functional knives.

On another note, do you mean to tell me that if they made a run of 77 Jacks with no Barlows they wouldn't sell out immediately? I know I would be first in line.