Derek....

Well all States allow these two knives. Many States now allow automatic knives as well. Great looking patterns. Good to hear from down under.

I can see why you'd be happy to get your paws on those two knives, Derek! I would be pleased as punch to have either one of those beauties! I especially like that Tidioute Barlow with the embossed bolsters! But I like stag, too! And there ain't nothin' shabby about that Northfield, either! Great score, mate!

I don't suppose that anyone has a 25 with Snakewood that they would sell?

Favourite combo of pattern and scale material and I would really love to get my hands on one. 

Thanks!

I see the GEC #18 Beagle is available in Oil Sucker Rod Wood , sounds different !

I took the 'Bait' John having never heard of Oils Sucker Rod Wood 

I thought Rod Wood was a guitarist with the Rolling Stones but no that's Ronnie. Now having Googled it I now know why it is called "Sucker Rod" wood. 

Now can you expand my knowledge please? Is the wood used on the knives actually from used Sucker Rods and perhaps infused with oil? And what is the actual wood?  

A sucker rod is what connects the downhole pump with the pumpjack on an oil well.Prior to about 1890 or so, sucker rods were made of wood. I'm assuming GEC got ahold of some old wooden rods from old wells in the area.

Andrew you are correct!  GEC got ahold of some old wooden rods from old wells in the area

From what I understand, the first oil field in America was in Titusville, PA.  GEC got their hands on some of the old oil sucker rods and used the wood on their Rendezvous knives in 2014 as a tribute to this history.  I believe that Titusville was holding an Oil Festival the same weekend that GEC had their Rendezvous that year.  As far as I know, that wood hasn't been used since.  Somebody reported that Chris at GEC thought that the wood was ash, but that's not certain.

I didn't know what this wood was either when I first heard of it last year . Someone on iKC educated me though I can't remember exactly what type of wood these rods are made of though it looks a little like ash on the photo below that I found on the web .

I suspect you are correct John with that olive-brown on the knife pictured it looks like Ash to me. Plus as a Timber it would have been very suitable to use in those Sucker Rods where they would have needed a tough durable wood.

I do like the look of this new #98 from GEC,

http://greateasterncutlery.net/blog/information/preview-of-98s/

Especially the Texas cattle knife ,

Or then again the Camp Knife is nice ,

But I don't have a Whittler ,

I would be really excited about all of those patterns if they knocked an inch off of the frame.  That knife is just too big for me to carry.  My 23 is the limit on how much my pants can hold up. :)

It looks like a beautiful knife, though.  I'm sure that many people will snap one up to keep in their collection.  I'm interested to see how many see actual use.

I guess things are bigger in Texas !!

"Sort of" with you Cory at 4.8 its about 3/10 of an inch longer than the #23 which itself is a BIG handful! But I guess (like my #23) if I had one it would be carried in a pouch on my belt. I carry my #23 on my belt that way lots around the farm and it is no problem - hardly notice it unless I am climbing through a wire fence. 

Cory,

I am with you.  The 23 is a fantastic knife but it is at the limit in size for me.   I have a backpocket sheath that mine fits in but I carry it seldom due to the size

Here's my '08 Northfield #23...

It was originally a banana yellow but it's original owner had kept it submerged in motor oil for a couple of years before he auctioned it off on eBay. I was the winner of that auction and have owned it for the last 5 years. 

The size doesn't bother me as much as how hard it is to open. I bust a nail everytime I try to open that sucker! That's the main reason it sits in a drawer collecting dust.

That's a shot of my 23 watching a SoCal sunset!

Here's a beautiful 23 with Frontier Bone covers. It's 1 of only 6 that were made.

Wow! That's a real beauty, Jim! Love that "Frontier Bone"!

Thank you Ron. Here's a couple more 23's that I own. I have 18 total.

Great looking knives, fellas.

My 23 is a 2012 Tidioute with Pioneer Bone.  It's been the knife that's seen the most pocket time since I got it.

I have a number of GECs, but this is one of my favorites.

.Here are serial #10 & #11 liner locks with cocobolo covers.

A 2011 look at some of the primitives.  The collection grew over time to every pattern that has been done in primitive.  More shots of them are in my photos, the early pages

Nice! Great knives.

Jan, excellent collection of prim bone!

One of my favorite handle scales every used by GEC. I have a pre loved #73 with Prim bone on the way!

Some lovely Knives popping up here in the past week or so ... Cannot say I have seen the primitive bone before - But there are so many different handle materials it is hard to keep up. A couple of mine an early (2007) #23 in Smooth Bone beaut knife but needs a 4WD and a tow rope to open it.... and a 2010 #72 in Frontier Bone.

I am rebuilding my collection and will soon have an original #73 scout from 2006 in Herring bone, also a #73 scout Great Eastern Cutlery brand knife with Green Tea bones scales from 2007.

Still waiting on my Prim #73. All knives will probably end up in the pocket, haha I can't keep them shiny!!!

Still waiting on my other #73s to arrive... impatiently I should add.

In the meantime I ordered a 2006 #73 scout from Greg Holmes at TSA knives. It's been shipped and on it's way as of today, so I have something else to be impatient about. It's truly a great pattern and one that is as much apart of GEC's beginning as the tubes themselves.

Derek,

Those old 23's have the toughest backspring I have ever seen.  I have a few I cannot open with out my knife pic.  But when they are open, they are certainly not going to accidentally close on you either  

Johnny,

Greg has an amazing amount of the older GEC's in his store.  Herring bone and Green tea, goodness you are finding some of the rarer beauties.  The 73 was the first pattern we bought from GEC, that same one remains a user for Donnie today, 9 years later.

Jan, do you have a picture of that user Donnie carries?
I love seeing them with a little less blade and some bumps and bruises!

Tracking shows I will have the Green Tea and Herring bone tomorrow. Also I've got a couple more #73s headed my way.

A Green River bone scout and a smooth oil bone Beavertail! 

Both knives from '07. The Green River bone has been a favorite of mine since I first saw it. 

Until it arrives I'll be listening to CCR's Green River!!!

I'm sure that you will enjoy the River Valley Green 73. I'll send the tracking number to you when it ships.

Johnny,

I will get a pic of it when the weather clears, and I can get a pic of another user I think you will recognise

I look forward to it Jan!

Just got my other two #73s!!! I'll get a write up done soon!

Does anyone know what scales were first completed in house by GEC?

Thanks

Johnny,

My memory is not what it used to be but it seems to me it was the Beaver Pond bone in 2007

Thanks Jan!!!

I'd like to find out a definite on which scales were the very first? I think the original ones were dressed with bone from Culpepper's. 

I would say call Ms Chris, she will know and I am positive she would love to hear from you

I'm a newbie and just thought I'd start sharing some of my collection. I started collecting traditionals ONLY and even then just the main 4: Case, Queen, Boker and GEC in an effort to try to keep everything US made. I loved the fit and finish of GEC, but ended up trading out a lot of my slip joints because they were too difficult to open. I had a couple 73's, a 72, the Schrade/GEC Fire and Ice collab (in the 23 pattern), and a couple others that all ended up on the trading room floor. This is what I have left and all have manageable pulls.

A very nice round up of knives Richard. A good range of patterns and blade styles (I have the exact same white bone Beaver Tail #23) 

Thank you! I nearly traded it...Actually I DID trade it (for a ZT 0350) and felt really bad doing so, but luckily the ZT owner thought the 23 was too big for him, so I exchanged it for a 72 spearpoint lockback in ebony, which was still a nice knife, but if I had to choose, I'm taking the 23 every time. It had a very difficult pull at first, but I sent it back to GEC and it came home much improved, from a 9 down to a 6 or 7, still stiff but manageable. The Ben Hogan is a dream, I'd love to get a blue camel version. I'm still looking out for a 63 templar in green kirinite...

Richard.  I live the pictures. You taste in knives is about the same as mine. Be careful of the Boker knives as many are not made in Germany. I found this on their web site:

• Boker knives: Solingen, Germany
• Boker Arbolito knives: Argentina
• Boker Plus knives: Taiwan and China
• Cinch knives by Boker: Solingen, Germany
• Magnum knives: Taiwan and China

Yeah, I found that out the hard way. Most of the Bokers I have are the Boker Tree brand trapperlocks which are German, but I made the mistake of getting a few Boker Magnums and MAN, what a difference in the fit and finish - very rough, loose fittings, bad tolerances (handle material stopped 1/8" from the bolster). BUT they were cheap, so at least I didn't lose my shirt on them. I tighten and smooth what I can and superglue the rest.

There are some great GEC deals being offered here

http://iknifecollector.com/forum/topics/queen-schatt-morgan-benchma...

GEC Tidioute Huckleberry Boys Knife Rust Red Jig Bone 1-Arm 2-Blade #15A214SL     $70

GEC Tidioute Huckleberry Boys Knife Rust Red Jig Bone 2 Blade # 153215     $70

GEC Farm & Field Farmer Lock Black Delrin #992114LB  $50 

GEC Farm & Field Farmer Lock Orange Delrin #715113   $50

and more

   I was recently introduced to Great Eastern and I picked up a Stag Sunfish at Village Cutlery in the Pennsylvania Dutch country. My collection has other stags and bone handled knives and an occasional Ebony by other manufacturers, many aged.

    Some well known manufacturers do not offer much in wood handled knives.  The collector value seemed to be less in value. Today wood is gaining an audience...it is less likely to crack if dropped and looks good.  Great Eastern has a large line of wood handled knives. I was told that there are 80,000 kinds of wood. It was told to me that ebony is difficult to come by in large pieces-small pieces could be smuggled and hand  carried.

Paul,

Some Ebony is easier to come by that others.  

Gaboon is a cites listed wood but Madagascar is not.  Most of what we see in recent years is Madagascar

I am a wood handle fanatic!  I love it and I collect them.

http://www.rarewoodsusa.com/

Rare Woods USA is an extremely large importer of rare woods in Mexico, Maine (town in Maine USA) that stocks three kinds of Ebony (all are available in stock):

Ebony Macassar-Having a variegated stripy figure, this wood is highly sought after for decorative purposes. Good for turnery, knife handles, and musical instrument fingerboards. Extremely rare.

EbonyAfrican-This timber has very high bending and crushing strength, with high stiffness and resistance to shock loads. This is a very hard wood to work with hand or machine tools, with severe blunting effect on cutting edges. Gluing is good, and it can be polished to an excellent finish. Uses-Tool, cutlery and knife handles, piano and organ keys

Ebony Indian-Extremely dense and heavy which makes it difficult to work, but beautiful to turn. Almost pitch black, this is the wood formerly used for piano keys. Turns and carves well with sharp tools. Used for decorative purposes, knife handles and musical  instrument fingerboards.

Rare Woods USA has any wood a knife maker could imagine. They have 500,000 bd ft of exotic hardwoods.  They have specialty areas such as a music room that supplies wood used in music. I have been there.  

    The info supplied is from The Rare woods web site.