This was posted elsewhere on IKC today.  Bruce is one of our own here at the GEC forum and I would like to generate as many thought and prayers for him and his family as possible...

For all of you that know Bruce Piehl here at iKC. His father is in very bad shape , and in the biggest fight of his life with some serious health issue's. I ask that all you guys here at iKC will pray for him and his family in this time of need, and ask god to bless him and give him strength to deal with the days to follow. Thanks to everyone and have a blessed day!

Ryan,

Thanks for joining and making yourself available to the good folks in here.  I know you will enjoy it.

Ryan,

Great to have you on board here at IKC. We all love GEC knives and the level of craftsmanship that you folks at GEC put into them. Additionally, for me personally it has been great to have access to your staff and look forward to our GEC groups interaction with you. I have spoken with Chris several times and Pat once (since Chris was tied up with another call) and I was floored to get to talk knives with him for a half an hour or so about different models, handle materials and my likes and things that I thought would improve certain models or things that I would like to see more of. I don't know of any other knife company where I could do this. You all are great! Keep up the great work!

Prayers our being sent here.

Hope all goes well for everyone.

Heads up my friends! Chris Tucker will be charging everyone's cards and depositing checks this Friday, June 10th, for our special factory order GEC Northfield UN-X-LD #36 Buffalo Horn Sunfish!!! That means they'll be ready to ship!!! Yahoo!!!

We all owe Chris a big thanks and a hug for making this possible, and all of the great people at GEC from top to bottom as well! There's lots of love out there for this great company and it's their personal touch that sparks it, well, and also the impeccable knives they make...

Thank you Luca, and thanks to Chris. This is much quicker than I expected. I know, coming from Great Eastern they will be every thing we hoped for. Thanks for all of your time and effort in getting this done.

Sound great here. Very fast I think. Thanks to all who kept this alive and moving.

GEC put up a Collect by Pattern Page, I thought that was pretty cool.

I don't collect a one certain pattern, so I just get to look at the pretty pictures.

First Natural Disaster Knife Auction Starts TODAY!!!

Several weeks ago Great Eastern Cutlery generously donated two highly collectible GEC knives to be auctioned off with the proceeds to be donated to the American Red Cross or Salvation Army.  All of you living in the southern half of the country are well aware of the seemingly, never ending chain of natural disasters this Spring.  So with a special thanks to GEC, we're going to kick off the first auction to try and help the recovery process.

Up for bid is a 563111 Ez Open with gorgeous Lace Wood handles.  The knife is etched "Factory Test" and the tube bears a COA label on the back stating that it is a Factory Test Production Run knife, Serial #02 of just 6





.

To place a bid, simply "reply" to this post with your Bid.  Bids will be accepted until 9:00 PM CST Tuesday, June 21, 2011.  100% of the proceeds from the auction will be donated to the American Red Cross or the Salvation Army, whichever organization the auction winner prefers.

Spread the word to the collectors you know.  This is a great cause and hopefully Great Eastern's generosity will help motivate more people to help out.  And a heads up for everyone, when this auction ends, there will be another auction for a match to this knife starting NEXT week!!!

Thank you Jan,

I was just comming here this morning to change my settings.

Bob,

Exciting news on the new blog.  I just took a look at it and you have done a fine job.  I hope you will also continue to share here with us.

Alan,

My pleasure...we wont be hearing the ad again

The Elk are out and they look great.

I'm hoping my reserve went through, because these are the bomb!!!!!!

It's official! Our special factory order GEC Northfield UN-X-LD #36 Buffalo Horn Sunfish are leaving the factory today! All orders will be shipped out via FedEx and international orders via USPS. Just received confirmation this morning from Chris.

We did it, all for one and one for all! GEC and Chris Tucker made this possible for us, and a huge thanks out to them. 

I think this project shows what we can do together as a group here at iKC, and I believe that the possibilities are truly limitless, especially when working in tandem with such an UN-X-LD company as Great Eastern Cutlery. GEC stands alone not only for the quality of their products but equally importantly for their commitment and receptiveness to their customers, a rare quality indeed.

So, now that we have proven ourselves capable with a special factory order #1, would anybody else like to step up to the plate and try for another sfo with our favorite company? Warning, it ain't easy and it sometimes feels like you're herding cats keeping tabs on everybody and keeping everybody on the same page...

Let's throw some ideas out there and see which one gains some traction! Maybe we'll even have a vote?

OK, I'll throw out the first pitch:

A Northfield #23L Single Blade Long Pull Linerlock w/Black Buffalo Horn or maybe even Snakewood?

OK, now it's your turn!

Well Luca....

Herding cats ? I thought they simply meow-andered........

But, here's an idea..a Northfield #53 Single Blade,Pinched and Lined Bolsters ,though slightly taper the end as in a Sleeveboard...and for the bottom bolster  a teardrop style......

Well, maybe a very sober elegant tool like this one :

??? ;=)

But yes, a Northfield #23L Single Blade Long Pull Linerlock with Black Buffalo Horn could be nice (too)...

Thanks a lot, Luca !

Jean-Francois,

Is there anything that little gem is missing?

JJ thanks for posting the pictures! I haven't received mine yet and I'm already drooling over yours!

To all of you who have so kindly thanked me for really getting this done, you are all very welcome, it couldn't have happened without all of you (us) here, so thanks to you all too!

Stephen, I hope you dont mind I moved this here so we could get more help in answering your questions...Thanks to everyone for showing or telling us about yours...can't wait      

 Reply by stephen tungate yesterday

Max, thanks for doing the research in the back pages of this thread to answer Stephen's questions.

Stephen, this knife was not an "official" iKC sanctioned knife, but rather a knife commissioned privately by me with the participation of like minded individual members of iKC who desired a knife of these specifications. Through iKC we as knife  collectors have "strength in numbers" and through our group effort we were able to muster up enough interested people to actually have GEC produce this special factory ordered knife, which would never have existed otherwise.

As for this knife being a limited edition, it is that, but from the very beginning I decided not to have the knives serialized because that would have been an added cost to each knife produced, as it costs money to have the knives engraved on the bolster or acid stamped on the blades. Additionally, some people, perhaps those that may be numerologically inclined, like certain numbers and not others, for example the negative associations for the number 13 or the positive associations for numbers with 8's in them, and so I decided to eliminate that possible complication and expense.

Finally, as Max said, all of the GEC 36's are tight due to the size and heft of their backspring, it takes some getting used to and definitely a bit of oil and working that blade open and closed over time to loosen up a bit.

I do hope that you do and will enjoy your knife, it's a beautiful pattern expertly crafted with the finest materials in a limited quantity. I'm sitting here waiting for mine to arrive and can't wait to get it!

Great to hear guys, I wasn't really around much when this whole thing went down, and I know I couldn't afford one. But these are some beautiful knives my friends, looks like they'd be a great addition to any collection.

Job well done.

Rusty, nice picture! Real photo studio set up and all! 

I'm happy we're all sharing the beauty, joy, and satisfaction of this new knife simultaneously!