Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Frank Evans on November 2, 2009 at 18:13

Buzz,

I am not a hard user now. I use to be and I bought cheep knives like light disposable lighters. When I did need a task done that took some knife guts, that large Stockman 6375 (excuse this misstake above) was up for the task. However as a day to day carry knife, I have found all Case knives to be "High Maintenance" knives to keep their good looks. This seems to be not the case with GEC Northfield I'm carrying now. I have not put it to the hard test but just esthetically it does not seem to show the pocket wear and tear that I use to have to polish off with the Case knives. I'm curious to know why the bolsters don’t scratch up like case, I know the polished springs rough up easier than the GEC brushed springs. But the GEC blades are polished and are less sensitive than Case. Queen knives are similar. 1095 steel, XX steel, 440 steel, time proven Damascus steel - it's all to me how much does it take to make them look good and stay sharp... This GEC Cigar Whittler triple spring is the finest I have carried. It's beefy and I'm sure will take the working-man's test and come out unblemished.


Frank

Permalink Reply by michael cassani on November 3, 2009 at 16:27

Hello Frank

Your experience with the Case and the Great Eastern are similar to my own. Case used to manufacture a great procuct. I'm sorry to say those days are over for the most part. Case still makes a high end product but only with some of their limited production, highly priced pieces. They simply make such a large quantity of knives these days that lots of the qualities that made them famous tend to fall through the cracks, as they say. Great Easterns are of much higher quality. I have had an opportunity to speak with the owners son at Great Eastern and was very impressed with what they are doing. I only hope they survive these difficult economic times because I want to keep adding to my collection. What is so admirable about the Great Eastern products is the quality offered and yet still very fairly priced.

Permalink Reply by Frank Evans on November 3, 2009 at 17:53

Michael,

Case does an excellent job as they have always done of pumping out a bunch of knives. I’m not one to invest up the grade, but Case is also pumping a lot of product into the market. Ie: Deadwood Knives had 200 +- listing at one time last week on eBay under “Case knives” most all were bid offering too. But some were going for $29 to $40. They were not excelling through the night – one could say! The money for investor I am sad to say is in the old Case vintage for I saw a 1920 Elephants Toe go for $2,700 +- Sunday night. I for one cannot play in that game now but I can buy for my son. Do I buy Case only for him? Or do I gamble a little on scarcity and go for a few Schatt&Mogan knifes, GEC, Bear & Sons???? I’ve got a lot of current Case patterns as well as a bunch of other “newbee” collectors. Will their value rise like the pre ’64 Case XX knives…???? Likely they will not be valueless but will they increase.

When you do not have the $ to buy true collectables where is your collection $ best spent. I do not know please tell me and I will. I’ve gambled on the quality of GEC lately. If they just reach the value of list price I’ll be happy!

But I’m afraid that there is only time that will tell if the traditional knife patterns will see the sustained value the current “collectable” Case knives do. Have I bet some money that it will change and some others will make the grade, yes I have? But if I could I would be focusing on the traditional – vintage – knives and spending the $300 to $3000 it take to buy them. Like some guns, they keep going up. I do not know what knife it was but one of the auctioneers on the NKCA website claimed to have sold a Case knife for $14,000. +-

No one can argue with that!

Frank

Permalink Reply by Joe Ball on November 7, 2009 at 15:54

I never really noticed that, but I see (or can not see) the difference in bolster blemishing. Another reason to love GEC.

Permalink Reply by C. F. Kemp on January 6, 2010 at 20:19

Frank, this is part of what I've been thinking about the quality of GEC ever since I began collecting them.

As for carrying my knives, I always carry my folding knife in the same pocket as my coin change. I've always used a small leather coin purse for the coins because I got tired of loosing coins when I wore slacks when sitting in a chair. The bonus is the leather protects the bolsters of my knives, not to mention the wood scales on knives that have them.

Permalink Reply by tom white on January 13, 2010 at 15:52

WELL BEEN CARRING A CASE KNIFE SINCE I WAS A YOUNGEN AND HAVE A COLLECTION OF CASE KNIVES BUT SINCE I'VE SEEN ONE AND HANDLED ONE ,AND LISTEN TO MY FRIEND IN FLA, HE TELLS ME THAT THEIR ALL AROUND BETTER KNIVES .SO AFTER THIS WEEKEND THEIR WILL BE A GEC IN MY POCKET..BUT I'LL STILL CARRY MY 1977 CASE SINGLE BLADE HUNTER..

Permalink Reply by C. F. Kemp on January 14, 2010 at 17:35

Hey Tom, no problem there. I carried a Case Prime Stag canoe for a while and loved it. I still collect Case because they're still really great knives. I also have a Queen tear drop liner lock in my EDC rotation.

I know you'll love your GEC after carrying it for just a short time. Can't blame you for sticking with the Case. Maybe think about a rotation every other day.

Permalink Reply by Jan Carter on February 23, 2010 at 18:58

"To me, the Case knives are too soft and dull quicker "
My husband carried a Case in his pocket for work for over 50 years. We have a collection of over 400 case classics. They are wonderful knives, I love the look aand the feel of the classics. As far as a work knife goes, the steel quality has become terrible. Workmanship is still great but the steel is horrible for everyday use. We bought our first GEC in november to see what it was all about. Donnie carried it and used it daily at work until 2 weeks ago when he got another on to carry. Put them side by side and there is no difference is the blade. Even after 4 months heavy use. The last case saddlehorn had to be put away after 4 month...not enough blade left to consider keeping it. Since November we have added a couple dozen to the Northfield, Tidioute collection. Ordered 2 more today.