The unofficial, non binding, carries no weight, 2021 forum knife possibility discussion thread

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Pàdruig said:
I agree. I think I recall him mentioning that it did not make good sense for him to take on such a project. If I were a one man shop, making small batches of knives that get increasingly popular by the day, there is no way I'd take on such a large project. I think makers have done this to themselves in the past and it's created a lot of strife when the expectations didn't get met for one reason or another.
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Definitely. I have one of his knives, would really like another and would hate to see production get tied up in this type of project. He's doing it perfectly in my opinion.
 
Quiet said:
I don't know a way to sugarcoat it, so I'll just be characteristically blunt (LOL): I'd take this proposed GEC 86 that's designed without a shred of input from me before ANY Buck knife. That's just me.

Charlie and Bill have a long history of designing absolute knockout winners. I'm comfortable that whatever this design ultimately ends up being, it's something that I'll be glad to have in my pocket, that shows a years long appreciation for this community.
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No need to sugar coat it, since we’re all just talking at this point. The only reason I raised the Buck option was to invite folks who feel like there isn’t enough discussion to have something else to talk about besides the GEC 86. Every year there are folks who complain and folks who have fun. Let people have their say, I say.

As for me, I won’t complain about a GEC. I love GEC! Even if I don’t buy one I know folks who do will get a great knife.

Danke42 said:
So Charlie pulls a rabbit out of his hat and gets GEC to build a SFO for the site but that's not quite good enough for some people?

I'm not sure that if 99% of a member's posts are complaining about how the world has constantly let them down can count as a contribution.

I'm in with the other folks who'll buy a pig in a poke vs. looking a gift horse in the mouth.
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It’s a public forum. I don’t think it takes much for folks to see who just wants to vent their spleen and who wants to discuss. Sometimes the guy who is venting just needs to have his say and be done. Other times he may just want attention, and folks can just ignore it. But I don’t think it has to be taken as an insult to Charlie, Barry, or GEC to discuss other options in this thread, especially since the decisions aren’t finalized. What harm is it doing to talk about at this point?

Pàdruig said:
Agreed. I've stated it before and I'll say it again - I will purchase whatever is decided upon with regards to a forum knife. It's the process and community effort that I enjoy being a part of, despite the heat that gets generated at times. Though our options appear limited, I am sure we will end up with a fine knife.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, I would think that the quickest way to achieve burnout would be for Eric to commit to a forum knife. I admire those who might take on such a task but I certainly do not envy them - that goes for our other volunteers as well (mods, dealers, liaisons, etc.).
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Quiet said:
I have to confess, I really wish people would stop trying to volunteer Eric Albers. Eric is a one-man custom maker who makes batches of knives of very high quality and sells them, presumably so he can pay bills, eat a hot meal every night, and continue to have a warm, dry place to sleep every night. The guy is doing all he can do to make those batches he sells in intervals. If he was given an order for, say 500 knives, that would tie up his entire output for months, and further, would mean that he'd be going for all that time without being able to depend on knife sales for income. You'll notice that this has been mentioned several times and he's not responded once that I've seen, know why? He's trying to be polite about it, but come on already (vitriol not meant towards you personally).
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I think Eric can speak for himself and any knife maker who is as good as he is and on a public forum will have a fair share of requests (or demands!) he won’t want or can’t fulfill. It seems to be a compliment rather than an insult to ask, and I only brought it up because it was one of the other requests made before the GEC 86 materialized. As for compensation, I don’t think any reasonable person would expect him to make all those knives in advance of any payment since he isn’t in a position to do so. And if he couldn’t be compensated I’d say that would be an additional reason to exclude him from consideration. But wouldn’t that discussion be something folks who didn’t want a GEC might appreciate? I don’t see how discussing it does any harm to Eric.

Pàdruig said:
I agree. I think I recall him mentioning that it did not make good sense for him to take on such a project. If I were a one man shop, making small batches of knives that get increasingly popular by the day, there is no way I'd take on such a large project. I think makers have done this to themselves in the past and it's created a lot of strife when the expectations didn't get met for one reason or another.
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It certainly isn’t something that could be done in a rush, if at all. I don’t see how it could be done at the level BF forum knives are in demand at present, but it is fun to imagine, and it might be something he’d consider doing on a smaller scale, like a lambsfoot knife for the guardians, like Jack used to do with Wright & Sons.
 
waynorth said:
Judging from all of the "I'm ins", and a record number of "Likes" for this thread (over 150 while I slept!!), I'd say we must keep this ball rolling!!
I'm not sure when I will have more info, but I will always post here without delay!! Bill does not like nagging!! And I don't blame him!!
Please be patient, and we will put this all together, with any choices if possible.
At this point I can only see the handle choice as a variable, The blade and bolster are pretty well fixed options (oxymoron there!), and certainly respectable !! Thanks for all the enthusiasm!!
I will do my best to make sure every regular contributor to "Traditionals" has a chance to get one. Porch members are a priority!!
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Although I have a lot of fun putting together the forum knife mock ups...I can also appreciate not having to go through all the polls and related discussion :D You've made this very easy on us Charlie thank you! If you do need mock ups for whatever reason just let me know :thumbsup:
 
JTB_5 said:
No need to sugar coat it, since we’re all just talking at this point. The only reason I raised the Buck option was to invite folks who feel like there isn’t enough discussion to have something else to talk about besides the GEC 86. Every year there are folks who complain and folks who have fun. Let people have their say, I say.

As for me, I won’t complain about a GEC. I love GEC! Even if I don’t buy one I know folks who do will get a great knife.



It’s a public forum. I don’t think it takes much for folks to see who just wants to vent their spleen and who wants to discuss. Sometimes the guy who is venting just needs to have his say and be done. Other times he may just want attention, and folks can just ignore it. But I don’t think it has to be taken as an insult to Charlie, Barry, or GEC to discuss other options in this thread, especially since the decisions aren’t finalized. What harm is it doing to talk about at this point?





I think Eric can speak for himself and any knife maker who is as good as he is and on a public forum will have a fair share of requests (or demands!) he won’t want or can’t fulfill. It seems to be a compliment rather than an insult to ask, and I only brought it up because it was one of the other requests made before the GEC 86 materialized. As for compensation, I don’t think any reasonable person would expect him to make all those knives in advance of any payment since he isn’t in a position to do so. And if he couldn’t be compensated I’d say that would be an additional reason to exclude him from consideration. But wouldn’t that discussion be something folks who didn’t want a GEC might appreciate? I don’t see how discussing it does any harm to Eric.



It certainly isn’t something that could be done in a rush, if at all. I don’t see how it could be done at the level BF forum knives are in demand at present, but it is fun to imagine, and it might be something he’d consider doing on a smaller scale, like a lambsfoot knife for the guardians, like Jack used to do with Wright & Sons.
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I'd say anyone who feels rushed or they haven't had enough choice or input they should start on submissions for the 2022 edition.

That will get them enough time to get all the details right.
 
Danke42 said:
I'd say anyone who feels rushed or they haven't had enough choice or input they should start on submissions for the 2022 edition.

That will get them enough time to get all the details right.
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I bet there is already a thread on “what knife would you make if you could make whatever you wanted.”
 
Considering gec said last year they wasn’t doing sfo’s, I’d say this is a given. With COVID still affecting companies outputs, the fact that we can even get a forum knife done makes me happy. Charlie pulled one through with a generous GEC going against what they said they’d do. Sure, we’ve had more choices in the past, but it also means more people trying to influence and get their own dream knife made. They get one agreement and then feelings get hurt. Not sure a “get what you get” system isn’t better once a certain size order is reached anyway.

Either way, I’m glad and appreciate the work people like Charlie (and all others from years past) put into this.
 
JTB_5 said:
No need to sugar coat it, since we’re all just talking at this point. The only reason I raised the Buck option was to invite folks who feel like there isn’t enough discussion to have something else to talk about besides the GEC 86. Every year there are folks who complain and folks who have fun. Let people have their say, I say.

As for me, I won’t complain about a GEC. I love GEC! Even if I don’t buy one I know folks who do will get a great knife.



It’s a public forum. I don’t think it takes much for folks to see who just wants to vent their spleen and who wants to discuss. Sometimes the guy who is venting just needs to have his say and be done. Other times he may just want attention, and folks can just ignore it. But I don’t think it has to be taken as an insult to Charlie, Barry, or GEC to discuss other options in this thread, especially since the decisions aren’t finalized. What harm is it doing to talk about at this point?





I think Eric can speak for himself and any knife maker who is as good as he is and on a public forum will have a fair share of requests (or demands!) he won’t want or can’t fulfill. It seems to be a compliment rather than an insult to ask, and I only brought it up because it was one of the other requests made before the GEC 86 materialized. As for compensation, I don’t think any reasonable person would expect him to make all those knives in advance of any payment since he isn’t in a position to do so. And if he couldn’t be compensated I’d say that would be an additional reason to exclude him from consideration. But wouldn’t that discussion be something folks who didn’t want a GEC might appreciate? I don’t see how discussing it does any harm to Eric.



It certainly isn’t something that could be done in a rush, if at all. I don’t see how it could be done at the level BF forum knives are in demand at present, but it is fun to imagine, and it might be something he’d consider doing on a smaller scale, like a lambsfoot knife for the guardians, like Jack used to do with Wright & Sons.
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I guess it's just odd to me that you'd want to discuss other options when the main option has now been presented to us. This was much more pertinent back when we didn't know if GEC would be able to accommodate us, now that we know that they can, seems odd to me to discuss "Well what about other companies/makers, have we checked with them?" I mean...Why would we want to? Bill Howard showed Charlie a mockup of a possible BF knife for us, signifying a strong possibility that it's going to happen. When steak's on the menu, I'm not really looking at chicken tenders. Others may vary. If you're one of them, no judgement from me: but I'm super glad that it's a GEC. I'd have been happy with anything, but thankfully it's looking like we won't have to worry about that.

"I think Eric can speak for himself". I'm sure he could, however, knowing several custom makers myself, I am merely pointing out some rational reasons why he wouldn't take on such work. I'm sure he appreciates the compliment.
 
Quiet said:
I guess it's just odd to me that you'd want to discuss other options when the main option has now been presented to us. This was much more pertinent back when we didn't know if GEC would be able to accommodate us, now that we know that they can, seems odd to me to discuss "Well what about other companies/makers, have we checked with them?" I mean...Why would we want to? Bill Howard showed Charlie a mockup of a possible BF knife for us, signifying a strong possibility that it's going to happen. When steak's on the menu, I'm not really looking at chicken tenders. Others may vary. If you're one of them, no judgement from me: but I'm super glad that it's a GEC. I'd have been happy with anything, but thankfully it's looking like we won't have to worry about that.

"I think Eric can speak for himself". I'm sure he could, however, knowing several custom makers myself, I am merely pointing out some rational reasons why he wouldn't take on such work. I'm sure he appreciates the compliment.
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I just want people to have a say who aren’t on board with the GEC option. What does it harm?

I’m happy, excited even, about a GEC forum knife, but that doesn’t mean my excitement has to dominate others’ disappointment at not getting to discuss all the possibilities as has been done in the past. I’m not even talking about complaining, but just being able to say, “it’s too bad we don’t have the chance to choose.”

I thank you for your rational reasons for why a custom maker couldn’t do a forum knife. I think they are fine reasons. I just didn’t think it necessary to infer that talking about asking him was an insult, or a bother.
 
I'm sorry to jump in like this without much activity recently. It's just difficult for me to keep up with BladeForums and the Porch in general, let alone these threads on the forum knife, these days.

Could someone enlighten me on how these will be reserved and / or purchased? I heard it's through Barry but that's about it.
 
JTB_5 said:
I just want people to have a say who aren’t on board with the GEC option. What does it harm?

I’m happy, excited even, about a GEC forum knife, but that doesn’t mean my excitement has to dominate others’ disappointment at not getting to discuss all the possibilities as has been done in the past. I’m not even talking about complaining, but just being able to say, “it’s too bad we don’t have the chance to choose.”

I thank you for your rational reasons for why a custom maker couldn’t do a forum knife. I think they are fine reasons. I just didn’t think it necessary to infer that talking about asking him was an insult, or a bother.
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It doesn't harm anything at all. And you know what, you're right. Discussion is fine. Perhaps those folks that don't want a GEC for some reason will see their horse cross the finish line in first place next year.
 
L.H.S said:
I'm sorry to jump in like this without much activity recently. It's just difficult for me to keep up with BladeForums and the Porch in general, let alone these threads on the forum knife, these days.

Could someone enlighten me on how these will be reserved and / or purchased? I heard it's through Barry but that's about it.
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Hey Logan! So far all that has been noted is that Charlie has been our liaison with Bill Howard and Barry has agreed to fulfill the order if Spark approves.
 
Quiet said:
It doesn't harm anything at all. And you know what, you're right. Discussion is fine. Perhaps those folks that don't want a GEC for some reason will see their horse cross the finish line in first place next year.
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:thumbsup::thumbsup:

Some folks like betting on a long shot, right?
 
Corto_Malt said:
Hello,
If you accept a newcomer (French by the way) in the list, I would love a knife from the 2021 forum. :)
If not, it's not a big deal, I'll just look at your beautiful pictures as I already do for so many beautiful knives that I will never touch. ;)
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You have hundreds of posts in this section, and an account that's nearly a year old, I'd daresay you're good to go. Welcome back!
 
Corto_Malt said:
Hello,
If you accept a newcomer (French by the way) in the list, I would love a knife from the 2021 forum. :)
If not, it's not a big deal, I'll just look at your beautiful pictures as I already do for so many beautiful knives that I will never touch. ;)
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I think with your 402 posts in this sub forum, and 8 months membership it's likely you'll be fine. Just keep an eye on the forum and it'll be obvious when the time to sign up arrives.
 
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