How to Buy Great Eastern Cutlery (GEC) Knives in 2020 (and BEYOND)

[@Baruch-Hashem]

The cost of increasing volume is the loss of the traditional manufacturing. You would end up being Case knife and there is no point in being in direct competition with them. It would in the end be self destruvtive to ramp up production for both companies and both of their collectors. I have many traditionals and appreciate GEC as they are.

[@fossilimprint2954]

You sir are a master in finding the elusive GEC knives, thank you for sharing your experience.

[@KnifeThoughts]

Thank you for watching!

[@matthewharris7373]

Thank you for sharing this. It has become extremely frustrating to get recent GEC releases, so a discussion like this was definitely needed. Very informative and well presented. Thank you for doing what you do for the GEC/traditional knife community and the knife community as a whole. Thanks. 👍🤘

[@jameskerlin6081]

Just came from KSF's announced drop of Northwoods Indian River Jack. Jumped on the first mammoth I could find in stock. Before I could complete the process it was snatched out of my cart. When I checked the other handle options, they were all gone already. So mad right now I can barely type.

[@knightowl7]

Omg the same thing just happened to me...timed it to the second..picked the first mammoth that I liked...my first mistake..should of picked the first one I saw.. it was snatched from my basket. Went back for a green camel bone, same thing snatched from my basket. I console myself , at least I saved some money...they cost even more for me with shipping to the U.K. and the import tax.. Oh well until the next drop fingers crossed 🤞.

[@timbo4374]

Same here, except I figured the better cover options would be hardest, so I went for micarta. Sniped out of my cart before paypal could complete the purchase.

[@MrZOOBLAST]

Same

[@jasondoebrich3133]

Same issue. If its in your cart it should be removed from inventory.

[@doctoruttley]

What a shit show. Should be safe in your cart for at least 15-20 min. I don’t think I’ll be ordering with that kind of experience. I’ll stick with my Lionsteel barlows. 😎🤘🏻

[@koryzakeri5990]

Last GEC bought was in 2020 it is a shame. So I moved on other knives out there. I’m just not willing to spend 3x the price on eBay or others sites.

[@christopherrowley7506]

What knives are you looking at now? I don't care too much about collectability, I was just attracted to the fact that they made large traditional knives with 1095

[@ssunfish]

YES. Scalpers are bastard middleman, producing nothing and making money while making it hard for someone that wants one while they buy two or three and the one they keep is the best and is free/ profit for them! Dirty dealers

[@Eliel7230]

Wow ! I just got educated on something I did not know. I was wondering why GEC knives seemed so elusive out here on the west coast, although I have seen them shown on youtube and very few on ebay. So, I will save this for future reference. Thank you for sharing this.

[@bersz321]

I have a Beer Scout Knife in Golden Ale Jigged bone, as well as a Yellow Rose #74 Stallion and I can't believe how difficult they are to get your hands on. I just lucked out when I impulsively purchased them all those years ago

[@joetaylor5514]

I have bought 4 GEC knives over the years, but now done. My favorite is a stag Calf Roper, great little stockman. I've carried it a lot. My least favorite is the Bullnose. I am not a collector, just love to carry a good knife.

[@KnifeThoughts]

Me too!

[@dillondavenport1206]

Please do a video about the Rendezvous. Like what happens during the event, when and where it is, can anyone attend?, is it an official GEC event or an unofficial gathering of collectors?

[@KnifeThoughts]

I think I’ve done one, and I have done a couple articles on it. It’s an official event held by GEC at the factory. Anyone can come!

[@dillondavenport1206]

@@KnifeThoughts Awesome, I'll check them out. Great content by the way!

[@Argonaut80]

I went to collector knives, and can’t find an option to make an account. There is only an option to sign in.

[@billyspahr808]

Great video. I’m not well versed in the GEC world let alone traditional knives, but I’m starting to get into them. However I don’t want hunt them down from multiple sites. I usually look on ApostleP’s knife sale and if I can get one, great but if not that’s fine too. Just purchased my first, an 86 oil field jack

[@jackfarley1348]

Anyone reading these comments, the GEC 19 little rattler is in stock at blade hq rn. Just bought one to accompany my 97

[@ryejack]

I noticed that as well. They've been up on BladeHQ the entire day. Plenty of time for someone to grab one, and they aren't badly priced.

[@jackfarley1348]

@@ryejack just got mine in. I knew they were small but I guess I didn’t realize how small but it’s still amazing. Super useful bladeshape

[@ryejack]

@@jackfarley1348 Nice! I didn't expect them to be so thin either, but yeah, they're surprisingly useful little knives.

[@thomaschainey3230]

Great video thanks. Thanks for all the tip and tricks. Love GEC. I gave my email to be notified of a GEC knife & I got the email notification for the GEC Northfield UN-X-LD. But there were only 2 left. Thought it would be better to sign in before making the order. I was thinking that because they had my email I had already given my info to but I had not. I should of put one in my cart and bought it but I tried to sign in first which did not work and then went back and they were both sold out of stock. I was like dam but then I figured I would try again and turned out one was available again so I paid real fast with PayPal. I got lucky but also did not give up.

[@KnifeThoughts]

I’m glad you got one!

[@MmmGrayons]

At this point I’m surprised they haven’t had a Chinese company decide to start making knock off or almost identical quality/style knives to meet the huge gap in demand they leave. If and when it happens they’ll have nobody to blame but themselves for refusing to come back around to their most popular styles and producing more with varied materials. The way things are currently the only people benefiting from the way they do business are people who snipe them as soon at they come on sale and price gouge the secondary market.

[@KnifeThoughts]

Or, you know, people who buy them to enjoy them? Haha but yeah I’m surprised there haven’t been clones, but I think there are barriers to it

[@MmmGrayons]

Knife Thoughts I understand people buy them for conventional reasons, but if the secondary market weren’t such a factor I wouldn’t I wouldn’t see it littered with models for 3-4 times their original price. And Chinese companies care little about patent or copyright laws. They could make clones or GEC knives and never face any consequences due to the protectionism practiced in Chinese courts.

[@Abrazo835]

I think Rough Ryder Reserves are an attempt by Smoky Mountain Knife Works to address that demand. Never handled a GEC, but I’ve been impressed with the Chinese made Rough Ryder Reserves: D2 steel, washers on the pivots, micarta handles... worth a gander.

[@pzkpfw917]

GEC knives are amazing. If you have opportunity buy any knife from GEC, catch it. I so love GEC knives.

[@brucedunn938]

Excellent post. Needed this information. Thanks.

[@formationit5039]

This was a great video I learned alot. You did not say how exactly we could buy one on the Northwood knife drops. There is no Northwoods website that I could find. Is there another site that does the Northwoods drops? And the GEC drops?

[@KnifeThoughts]

Northwoods is a brand owned by KnivesShipFree

[@formationit5039]

@@KnifeThoughts thanks

[@KnifeThoughts]

No problem!

[@MPerry-ox9qb]

Christ no wonder I can’t get email reserves from Blue Creek anymore. You’re telling the whole world. I’ve been buying there for years and keep missing out on reserves.

[@KnifeThoughts]

Sorry to hear that. I’ve missed a couple.

[@sd3gunner]

did you get any of the Northwoods the released today the 11th? ;)

[@KnifeThoughts]

I had a couple in my cart that went out of stock before I could check out, Apple Pay wasn’t working, but I did end up getting a camel bone.

[@NGMountains]

Bill Howard is a knife maker first and foremost. He learned his business knowledge from Queen Cutlery who also made the Shatt & Morgan, Robeson and contract knives for WR Case and Schrade etc. He's seen those companies in good and bad times and why they eventually flailed or were bought by global companies who made those once great knives in China. The long and short of it all is that producing just enough knives keeps the buyers, buying. The MAIN reason is also that if you have a lot of employees you always get those knuckleheads that bring discontent and disloyalty and then want a UNION. Bill Howard watched every single cutlery company where the employees created a Union eventually have to go either out of business by selling out or most of the time go into bankruptcy. The ONLY proven solution to that problem is to keep your productions low and your employees lower so they can't Unionize. Best and most recent proof of this and Bill Howard watched this happen first hand is Camillus, Schrade and even Queen. Now there is also other contributing factors like with Queens poor management with the Daniels Family. There's nothing you can do about having someone stupid in charge except to do what Bill Howard did and leave and start his own cutlery company.

[@SubUrbanNinja-EDC]

How do these "knife retailers" like Northwood make money? Do they sell other brands?

[@KnifeThoughts]

Northwoods is a brand owned by the retailer Knives Ship Free. KSF sells other brands.

[@PeaceCountryBoy]

Hahahaha yep this is a good video. Try being a GEC collector in Canada. You haven't got a prayer half the time in snagging a GEC unless you go secondary market. Even then, the prices are ridiculous most of the time and just today I went to buy a 74 and I was told " The shipper you are buying from does not accept payment from paypal accounts outside the USA. " I appreciate a great American made product but honestly it's becoming a real hassle. I was kind of shocked to see the response but I found another seller and bought from them instead.

[@KnifeThoughts]

That sounds frustrating! I hope you’re able to get the GECs you want 👍

[@Gman6542]

Great video! Thanks for all you do Brother!!!

[@KnifeThoughts]

Thanks for watching!

[@GP-nn9to]

All I ever heard after a drop in case QC was... buy GEC. Well I certainly did a number of them. Guess what ? Same hit and miss as case. Same buyers as well. No matter the quality, they sell again and again. Two of five are almost perfect. The others have gaps, blade play, and one even has a loose scale. The best knives you'll ever buy is from an in hand experience, if possible. If not, get ready for a roller coaster ride. Returns and warranties are the norm today. Great clip as always though !

[@KnifeThoughts]

Thanks for watching sorry for your experiences

[@tibet1976]

Fact is, GEC might have one bad egg out of 100 knives. Your sacrifice of the three has ensured at least 297 other fantastic pieces! With Case, 95 of 100 will be junk.

[@AnneluvsKatz]

They have 34 total employees currently

[@Zen_Ali_123]

So, every single knife of certain patterns sells out in minutes but they're not intentionally limiting the number? I know this little buddy, you can't swing a cat these days without hitting an alternative reality.

[@KnifeThoughts]

Yep. The reality is that they’re not intentionally making fewer knives than they could in a conspiracy to up the secondary price / demand. I understand that it can be frustrating, but frustration doesn’t dictate reality.

[@tibet1976]

That’s how small businesses work my man. They can either take a whole lot longer to produce way more, expand manpower and equipment (that equipment isn’t available) or lower the quality of what they’re producing. None of these options make any sense. If you were to ever meet Bill or any of the movers and shakers at GEC, you’d realize that the whole game of fake hype, limited release to keep interest and all the other games these modern day Instagram hipster companies do, just ain’t there thing. They’re just a small company with a small town mindset. Quality over quantity. The thing is, GEC popularity has probably tripled in the last few years and the factory is doing its very best to keep up without sacrifice. I know it’s frustrating, but this company definitely is t at the level of paranoia and conspiracy. Hey Logan...another great video man, keep it up buddy!

[@Zen_Ali_123]

Didn't say anything about a conspiracy. Don't pretend to understand the reasoning behind limiting production numbers. Just reporting the math. That's the beauty of the 21st Century. People get to believe whatever they want to. I hope you believe me when I say I love your videos. I really do, especially the good ones.

[@KnifeThoughts]

I know, no negativity from me here! I appreciate you always following along. I’m just saying that I think that the reality is that they’re not intentionally making fewer knives than they could to drive demand. Or at least any more so than is good business practice (ie it wouldn’t make sense to make a year long run of 10,000 knives in one pattern).

[@Warthogg1]

@@tibet1976 I wholeheartedly disagree, If GEC were to increase their production runs to 500 pieces (per handle material) rather than the seemingly standard 125, it wouldn't be much of a burden. The constant "changing over" & set up are the most time consuming processes. Once a pattern is "set up" to run, the production from that point isn't a serious time killer, nor would you need to hire more people. The only difference would be, instead of coming out with 4 patterns per year - you come out with 3. You would have more loyal customers that could actually buy a GEC knife at retail. People like Zen aren't asking for 10,000 piece runs, just enough to kill the second hand scalper market so true knife enthusiasts can enjoy a quality knife at a fair price.

[@Dmhlcmb]

I love the knives and I hate the company. I have one Northwoods despite trying to buy every knife they release for 2 years. I really believe they intentionally skimp the market to raise value.

[@ssunfish]

Love/ hate relationship. I love the Spyderco's models I have, but not super jazzed on the quality, way of doing business and that it contributes to Eric Glessners prosperity. I'm moving to making my own to escape all the marketing and business dealings which are cringe worthy

[@chrisandsneaky2453]

@@ssunfish What's wrong with Spyderco's way of doing business, and why don't you like Eric Glesser?

[@slkknifelover]

I love their knives..... other than they cannot ship them out with a good edge. Worse edges of any company in my experience

[@KnifeThoughts]

Not the worst in my experience, but not as good as they should be.

[@willcollins892]

They used to be way worse.

[@janetowens7288]

People have an impossible time getting gec knives. But certain youtubers show up with fistfulls. This video make you sound like a pr man for the company. I just don't care anymore. Say what you want about case but I will stick with them. At least I can actually buy the knife I want.

[@KnifeThoughts]

Frankly, I shouldn’t feel like I need to apologize for buying knives that I genuinely love. You and others direct your anger at me, when there are many many other people who buy 1) more GEC knives than me 2) GEC knives that they have no interest in. Do you think that I make back the money that I spend on knives through KZbin? Not even a fraction. Do you think that it doesn’t take a lot of time to be involved and research to get these knives and spread the knowledge surrounding them? It does. I’ve been involved for years and I do my best to research the knives and related topics and share that knowledge with those who are interested. I haven’t had great luck with Case, but I plan to get their 2021 Vault knife.

[@janetowens7288]

@@KnifeThoughts i am not accusing YOU of anything. Just making an observation. If you took my remarks the wrong way I can't help that.

[@KnifeThoughts]

I apologize for coming at you hard, but you can see why I thought you meant me, right? It’s a comment on my video that is obviously critical of me; “This video makes you sound like a pr man for the company”. So I don’t really buy that your comment wasn’t about me. You just didn’t expect me to reply. Thanks for watching, have a good one.

[@richardkut3976]

Your logic is fuzzy. Extend the production run.

[@KnifeThoughts]

Yeah it’s a 4 year old video, I don’t remember what I said but I’m sure it was fuzzy lol

[@richardkut3976]

@@KnifeThoughts You put together a nice channel, thanks.

[@mattwuttke]

Just to summarize dont buy GEC your wallet will thank you. If your like me and actually use knives buy from company's that actually build knives to be used. GEC has the worst business practice of all knife company's.

[@KnifeThoughts]

What companies do you buy from?

[@mattwuttke]

I have bokers otters fredrick hartkopfs lots of solingen brands. I actually just ordered my first fighting rooster. I have a handful of GEC's and dont get me wrong I love them. But alot of people are gonna give up on the brand if they continue the way they do. It's not worth the headache when there are other brands to buy from.

[@mattwuttke]

Check out brother knives. For the price there a great value and VG-10 D2 are good working steels to boot.

[@mattwuttke]

@@Bear-cp9yx also check out otter messer and solingen made Robert klaus. There exceptional knives and are in the same price range as gec's retail prices. Also boker has step there game up recently on fit and finish. My boker club knife is flawless.

[@spittle8]

Lists every unethical and selfish practice making it difficult for normal folks to land a GEC, defends every single one of them. Haha.

[@KnifeThoughts]

🤷🏼‍♂️

[@spittle8]

@@KnifeThoughts knife "collectors" are the reason I can't replace my Bull Buster working knife that saw years of hard use, but hey, it's a free market I guess. I am bitter. These are tools, not funko pops or Pokémon cards.

[@KnifeThoughts]

In my opinion, if you're looking for a knife purely as a tool there are endless better cheaper and more available options than a GEC. Every GEC bought is bought at least in part because of the aesthetics. Here's a USA made knife with a similar design that's available and much cheaper, if you're just looking for a similar tool: www.chicagoknifeworks.com/bear-son-large-farmhand-slip-joint/