I’m getting jealous. I’ve been hunting a GEC forever, but I always miss the drops and I’m not paying 3x the normal price on eBay. I should have never sold mine.
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If you’re on Facebook there are two GEC groups that are really great. I’ve bought all my GEC through there. The only new GEC I’ve bought was a Northwoods Heritage Jack. Great Eastern Cutlery Club and The Slipjoint Exchange. The Pocket Carvers pop up pretty regularly. And whenever I’ve posted an ISO post, I usually have the knife on the way within a couple days. There are a lot of great people there that aren’t looking to mark things up drastically.
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And you want to know what’s worse than selling them? I remember when GEC & Northwoods first started. They were almost always in stock. I wanted a stag 61 (or 62, the 4 blade congress), and a moose antler 61 that had a Bullwinkle shield. They sat on the site for over a year. Then somehow word got out and from then on it got tough to get them 
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Tough is an understatement. Thats insane! A year in stock! That hurts the soul.
I’m gonna check out that group! Might be a nice way get a good GEC back in the pocket.
Yeah, you’ll definitely get one if you join the group. There is a weekly BST and ISO thread. And if you don’t mind a user, then you can get them fairly cheap. There are $75-125 users on there pretty regularly. Sometimes cheaper. Could probably get a Pocket Carver for $125ish
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I had to stake out the IG leading up to a drop and immediately buy one. I may attempt that again.
I am blaming you guys! (Not Really). Just ordered a Flexcut Detail Jack to dip my toes into this carving/whittling thing.
Knowing me, this isn’t going to end well. May miss some yoyo drops if this becomes a thing.
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I got one of the flexcut pocket carvers, I can’t remember which model. The blades were ground terribly. I’ve had good luck with their regular carving knives. I’ve got a pretty big collection of those that all got regular use. I’d just carry one or two of those if I wanted to carve on the move. The pocket carver never really got any use though. I hope your experience differs.
I guess like any knife guy, I am prepared for that.
If I can keep things like this sharp for shaving my face…
I am sure I can reset any bevel. Also with these being utilitarian, I could stop at 3k on the stones. I dont see a need for taking them all the way to 12k and Micron polishing.
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Yeah you’ll have it sorted in no time, I’m sure. If you’re thinking of going down the caricature carving path, I highly recommend Doug linker on YouTube for getting started. It looks like that’s who charlie started with too if I had to guess lol
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Thanks for the recommendation. Step one: Buy a new knife - Complete.
Step two: Do something with it - To be determined.
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I only go to 8000 myself. Guys with 20000 grit got too much time on their hands.
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Ball in cage. Easy.
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Right? That’s insanity. (Stares nervously at the 600 grit stone I refuse to upgrade but know I can just buy a finer set of).
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Hahaha totally! I completely forgot about his videos but now I’m going back down the rabbit hole.
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Dude I’ve really been wanting to learn to whittle crankbaits for spotties. I think the old ones were made with balsa.
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I stopped at 8k for a while. But 10k and 12k make a huge comfort difference on the skin. I also find that stropping maintains the edge better. Longer time streches between stone visits finishing on 12k vs. 8k.
Anything over 12k is ridiculous other than saying your dumb enough to keep going. I know guys with 30k+ Stones.
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Ill ask my Captain friend. Going on a 3 day Spottie hunt in 2 weeks. Mission Bay, San Diego.
I bought dalstrong. They are really nice oversized water stones with a base. I’ve used them throughout my culinary career.
Since we’ve moved I now need a sink bridge.
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