The Quintessential Coke Bottle Thread (The Patterns, The History, The Experiences)

Mike Robuck said:
Some real beauties Dylan, Un-Chained and Lambertiana. I really like that Sword with the etch and the Empries. This Challenge is 5 3/8 closed and belonged to Tony Bose. It has the Daniel Boone etch. He was kind of enough to send me a bunch of pictures, which were taken by Kerry Hamptons, for my book.
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That is a very fine looking knife, Mike. I am quite fond of the shield and that blade shape is quite pleasing and a bit unique, comparatively speaking.

Quiet said:
Managed to snap up another odd-ball run!

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Still a little too light out to capture this African Blackwood properly, there are some beautiful brown streaks down “in” the darker wood. Saw this and couldn’t pass it up for the collection!! Only complaint is that I’d put the pull at around a 4, although still with decent snap in closing.
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Another nice score, Forrest. I've updated my production totals - the run of 7 Northfields in AB didn't have the shield choice documented.
 
In late February I received my GEC 97 Allegheny in Autumn Gold Jigged Bone. I'm not bothering with pictures because there are already better ones than I can take in this thread. Having used it most days in the last few months, I thought I'd add a few notes, sorted by the categories that I find useful when I think about EDCing a knife.

Pocketability - This is a big knife! Or is it? It feels big, but mostly because every other slipjoint I've ever owned is a lot smaller than this. But I've owned and carried modern knives this size. I no longer have any of those, but I think this 97 is probably heavier than they were - those solid nickel silver bolsters add a lot of weight. In spite of all that, this isn't too bad to carry in a pocket by itself. Working from home, most days I don't have all of my stuff in my pocket (I don't usually grab my wallet if I'm going to be home all day, for example), so it's easy to carry this in a pocket by itself. While I originally intended to just carry it and let it get banged up with use, it's just way too pretty to put into a pocket with my keys, so I end up not carrying it when I leave my house. I probably need to get a pocket slip, but that ends it becoming it's own disincentive to carry - I dislike having to deal with a pocket slip when I pull my knife out to do something. So, it's size isn't really an impediment to carrying it, but I'm too worried about chipping the jigged bone to carry it much.

Openability - This is probably the easiest-to-open slipjoint I've owned. I can open most medium-pull pinchable knives one-handed, and this is the easiest of the lot. (Being big actually makes the one-handed opening easier.) I know that some were concerned about the pull being too weak, but it's fine with me - it has enough snap to keep the blade open or closed as appropriate. Although, that was not true until it was thoroughly cleaned - out of the box it was so mushy that it felt more like a friction folder than a slipjoint - it had just a mushy action, with almost no discernable halfstop. After really cleaning it well, it's actually a pretty decent action.

Ergonomics - This is a very comfortable knife to use. I've used it for quite a bit of food prep, several long sessions of cutting up cardboard, etc. No hotspots with this. There were reasons why this design was once so popular, and this is at least one part of it - it's just a great handle shape for doing a lot of cutting. I've handled and used plenty of jigged bone knives before, but never owned one - it just never caught my fancy before. It provides an excellent grip, even when wet, without being sharp or uncomfortable on the hands.

Cutting - This cuts really well - the full flat grind leads to things being pretty thin behind the edge. Similarly to the action, I should note that this wasn't true right out of the tube - the wire edge was still on it, making it feel a little dull. After I stropped it, it was pretty good, though. I've sharpened it several times, and it's pretty easy to get a great edge on this knife.

Fidget factor - for me, this is more like handling a worry stone, and less like playing with a modern flipper knife on bearings. This is a very fidget-worthy knife - the jigging is great for this. In addition to being pretty to look at it, the tactile feel of this is fantastic.

Aesthetics / Fit and Finish - Well, this is where this knife just knocks me out. I think it's the prettiest knife I've ever owned. The fit and finish is top tier, and the color and jigging of the bone is actually better in person than it even looks in pictures. I originally bought this to carry, and expected that the scales would get kind of dinged up in my pocket, but I just can't bring myself to do that, so as I mentioned above, this doesn't get carried in the same pocket as my keys. I really do need to get a slip for this.

Overall Impressions - Right out of the tube, it's impressive for how good looking it is. But the action and edge were pretty abysmal out of the tube, which is why I expect so many people were underwhelmed by these at first. A little cleaning (ok, a lot of cleaning - the internals of this knife were filthy), and a little stropping, and it's turned out to be a knife I love. Highly recommended.

Hope this is useful to someone.

-Tyson
 
It's good to read your thoughts, Tyson. I think it a knife that folks will regret being so dismissive of in the future - especially after the dwindling supply gets scarcer.

Tyson A Wright said:
This is a big knife! Or is it? It feels big, but mostly because every other slipjoint I've ever owned is a lot smaller than this.
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One of the things that I find most interesting about GEC's take on the large swell center Hunter is that it isn't a particularly traditional take on it. The 97 measures at 4 3/4" closed where most (not all) large "coke bottle" knives measured at 5 1/4" - a full half inch larger. Personally, I think GEC made the right call in that they made a traditional piece in a more pocket friendly size.

It's a knife that certainly carries less than its size belies.

Tyson A Wright said:
But the action and edge were pretty abysmal out of the tube, which is why I expect so many people were underwhelmed by these at first.
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I think most folks expected a large knife to have a stiffer pull. Having most of the variants in my collection, I can absolutely confirm that the range of pull weights is rather varied across the entirety of the run. I have ones that rate around a 3 and ones that rate around a strong 6. But, as I said up above, I think folks will regret getting in on these when the supply was still good.
 
Pàdruig said:
It's good to read your thoughts, Tyson. I think it a knife that folks will regret being so dismissive of in the future - especially after the dwindling supply gets scarcer.



One of the things that I find most interesting about GEC's take on the large swell center Hunter is that it isn't a particularly traditional take on it. The 97 measures at 4 3/4" closed where most (not all) large "coke bottle" knives measured at 5 1/4" - a full half inch larger. Personally, I think GEC made the right call in that they made a traditional piece in a more pocket friendly size.

It's a knife that certainly carries less than its size belies.



I think most folks expected a large knife to have a stiffer pull. Having most of the variants in my collection, I can absolutely confirm that the range of pull weights is rather varied across the entirety of the run. I have ones that rate around a 3 and ones that rate around a strong 6. But, as I said up above, I think folks will regret getting in on these when the supply was still good.
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Yes to all this. And definitely agreed on that last note, I'm already seeing climbing numbers now that there are virtually no dealers with them in stock anywhere. It took awhile, but they're finally all gone from retail.
 
Pàdruig said:
I think most folks expected a large knife to have a stiffer pull. Having most of the variants in my collection, I can absolutely confirm that the range of pull weights is rather varied across the entirety of the run. I have ones that rate around a 3 and ones that rate around a strong 6. But, as I said up above, I think folks will regret getting in on these when the supply was still good.
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I saw a few early reviews on these that uniformly bashed not just the lightness of the pull, but the lack of walk and talk. I remember somebody commenting that theirs didn't have a halfstop, it just had a half slowdown. If they'd just cleaned it out, it still might have been too light for them, but I still think their comments would have been very different.

Mine does have a pretty light pull, but the action is crisp, so I don't mind the lightness at all.

I do wonder, why was this knife so dirty from the factory? I've never had a brand-new knife that needed cleaning so much. Very odd.

-Tyson
 
Quiet said:
Yes to all this. And definitely agreed on that last note, I'm already seeing climbing numbers now that there are virtually no dealers with them in stock anywhere. It took awhile, but they're finally all gone from retail.
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If you're looking for one of these, a couple of days ago I went through every dealer that GEC links to (looking for something else) and I thought I saw somebody still had this particular model of the 97 still. (Althought I thought you already had one of these - if not, highly recommended!)

-Tyson
 
Tyson A Wright said:
I saw a few early reviews on these that uniformly bashed not just the lightness of the pull, but the lack of walk and talk. I remember somebody commenting that theirs didn't have a halfstop, it just had a half slowdown. If they'd just cleaned it out, it still might have been too light for them, but I still think their comments would have been very different.

Mine does have a pretty light pull, but the action is crisp, so I don't mind the lightness at all.

I do wonder, why was this knife so dirty from the factory? I've never had a brand-new knife that needed cleaning so much. Very odd.

-Tyson
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I've had some GECs that were full of crud and some that weren't - I can't really understand the inconsistency. Fortunately, a good flushing is rather easy to do and it improves most, if not all, of my knives.

Tyson A Wright said:
If you're looking for one of these, a couple of days ago I went through every dealer that GEC links to (looking for something else) and I thought I saw somebody still had this particular model of the 97 still. (Althought I thought you already had one of these - if not, highly recommended!)

-Tyson
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Forrest is likely one of the very few here who has more 97s than I do - I think he is good. :D
 
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