If I’m being honest, I saw it coming; Pennsylvania has extended the state of emergency, safety measures that had been relaxed have been reinstated, and the Titusville Oil Festival (with which the GEC Rendezvous was always concurrently held) was canceled. Still, I’m sure it was a hard decision for Bill and everyone at GEC to make, and I’m very crestfallen.
I collect the Rendezvous Special knives, which you can only get at the Rendezvous. Check out this link and this link for videos on those knives. Still, worse than not having the opportunity to obtain this year’s piece of that collection is the missed discussions with other enthusiasts (and many collectors with much more knowledge than me, from whom I’ve learned a lot at past Rendezvous). However, it would have been difficult to maintain the current safety protocols and enjoy the Rendezvous as it has been in the past. Hopefully GEC has something else fun up their sleeve, and hopefully this isn’t too much of a blow to them.
This article will provide a short overview of the Great Eastern Cutlery #97 Kifer Cutlery Classics Special Factory Order Northfield Allegheny. I received this knife from Gary Kifer of CutleryClassics.com at the 2019 Rendezvous to have, test, and review. I was happy to get a user #97, as I thought it would make a great larger slipjoint carry.
I had some experience with the #97 Allegheny pattern through the Allegheny Mountain Knife Collectors Association 2019 club knife (you can find my article about that knife at this link). I really liked the knife from an aesthetic perspective, but because it is a club knife I reserved it as a collection piece. So I was excited, and looking forward to putting it through its paces, when Gary gave me this one.
The 2019 Allegheny Mountain Collectors Association club knife
To give you the run down on what the knife is; it’s a 4.75″ closed slipjoint with a saber ground clip point blade and coke bottle frame. You can learn more about the coke bottle pattern in my article on the #06 Pemberton at this link. The blade has a double pull, meaning it has both a long pull and a nail nick. The handles are Amber Jigged Bone. It has Cutlery Classics’ trademark shield. The bolster is engraved “23” out of a run of 99. All of these characteristics brought together make it a great reproduction of a vintage large coke bottle hunter.
GEC made several versions of the Allegheny pattern in this first run, with a bunch of handle materials and two different blade grinds, and I think this is one of the best of them.
Not everyone likes a saber grind or the double pull, but I really like its look and the fact that it hearkens back to vintage coke bottle hunters. Although the saber grind can sometimes slice less smoothly through dense materials than a full flat grind or high hollow grind, it has performed well on all kinds of tasks (from breaking down cardboard to gutting fish). I also like the practicality of having both the nail nick and long pull. The nail nick being at the end of the blade provides more leverage, while the long pull will remain above the frame (allowing the blade to be opened) long after the nail nick drops below the frame from sharpening and filing the kick. Of course, most people won’t sharpen the knife enough times for this to be relevant, but as these are heirloom quality knives it’s good to know it could be passed on and continued to be used for years to come.
I was also pleasantly surprised by how much I like the bone color and jigging pattern. The color is a nice malty wheat color, and I think it will continue to mellow and improve with age. I also really like the jigging, as it’s not as uniform as some of GEC’s jigging patterns and it actually provides some grippiness in the hand. Some people found the pull on these #97s to be lighter than they expected on such a big knife, and mine is light for a GEC at about a 4, but the action is very smooth and snappy with great walk and talk. On a user, I think there’s a balance between a pull being too strong to be convenient to open and too weak to keep the blade fully open in use. This knife falls nicely between.
Basically, it’s another well built and classic looking Great Eastern Cutlery that’s equally suited as a user or a collection piece.
I have used this knife a lot since getting it, and I’m enjoying it more and more. It’s certainly a big knife for a slipjoint, but I’ve found it easy to carry and it’s always nice to have that extra blade length. The #97 Northfield Kifer Cutlery Classics Special Factory Order is another top notch knife from Great Eastern Cutlery. If you’d like to get one for yourself, there are still some available on the Cutlery Classics site at this link. Thanks again to Gary for providing this one!
Here’s a video of the knives I got at the 2019 Rendezvous, starting where I talk about the #97
TL;DR? Here’s my video review. Sorry the sound is kind of muffled, not sure why. I was incorrect on one point; Mike has not done more than one run of #77 Barlows per year.
The #77 Northfield Yankee Barlow is one of GEC’s most perennially popular patterns, for good reason. The #77 Northfield Barlow is done exclusively, through a gentleman’s agreement, as a Special Factory Order for Mike Latham of CollectorKnives.net (although GEC does make other knives on the #77 frame). The first #77 Barlows were made in 2014 and simply called the “Northfield Barlow” but on this run the nomenclature has been updated to the “Yankee Barlow”. No matter the name, the #77 Barlow is a classic and highly sought after knife, and in this article I’ll tell you why!
The #77 Yankee Barlow in African Blackwood next to my #15 TC Barlow in black dyed Smooth Ivory Bone
So, what is this knife anyway? It is a swell end shaped jack barlow, meaning it is wider and rounded at the butt end and squared at the blade end with straight sides. Being a barlow, it has an elongated bolster. Like many traditional barlows, the bolster is stamped with an identifying mark. On this knife it is a script “NF” for NorthField. It has a classic long straight spear point blade with cut swedges after a match strike long pull. As a GEC made knife, it is a slipjoint with pin construction. Mine has African Blackwood handles, but this run also had handles in Amber Sawcut Bone, Red Sawcut Bone (which Mike often includes on his SFOs), Natural Linen Micarta, and just a few in Snakewood. All the knives in this run were the same spear point blade shape as mine, and each handle material is reported to have been produced at about 125 knives (except the Snakewood with only ~15). So although it is not as rare as the early runs, it is still a low production run considering GEC’s current output. That, along with the consistent appeal of barlows, make it a highly sought after knife.
The Buck 119 and Yankee Barlow make a handsome and useful duo
So, how does one purchase a CollectorKnives GEC #77 Yankee Barlow? Well, unfortunately, if you haven’t already purchased one of this run directly from CollectorKnives, you’ll have to find one on the secondary market. Mike uses an early reserve system, which you can find at this link, rather than a “drop” system where the knives are posted for sale on his site all at once at a specified date and time. Over the last year or two Mike has put a lot of work into finding the right system to notify people of when knives go up for reserve. As of now, he has landed on using an app called Telegram, which you can find at this link. On that app you’ll need to follow CollectorKnives and allow notifications, so that you know when he posts knives for reserve. This run of Yankee Barlows actually went up for reserve in July of this year I believe, at a time when I wasn’t buying knives, so I missed the reserves. However, Mike had a few knives available and gave some interested people the option to request either African Blackwood, Linen Micarta, or Snakewood. He said that the Snakewood had little character, so although Snakewood was the rarest of the bunch I put African Blackwood as my top pick, and that’s what I got! I really appreciated the opportunity to get one, despite missing the reserves. However, if you missed the reserves that doesn’t mean you will necessarily have to buy one at the much inflated eBay pricing. I suggest checking out the BladeForums Exchange, where people tend to sell at more reasonable prices than on ebay (and are sometimes open to trades), linked here. Secondarily, you could check FaceBook groups like Great Eastern Cutlery, Great Eastern Cutlery Club, etc. You might still have to pay a bit of a premium, over the dealer price of ~$125, but if you keep your eyes peeled I’m sure you can find one at a good value… the Yankee Barlow is worth it!
Case Trapper, Yankee Barlow, Victorinox Alox Farmer
Ontario Rat 1, Yankee Barlow, Spyderco Native 5
So what makes the Yankee Barlow special? Well, naturally, it is built with the attention to detail and high quality that has skyrocketed GEC to popularity. It has great fit and finish (mine did have a very small patina spot on the pile side bolster), with flush transitions, no gaps, a perfectly centered blade, and great grinds. The action is extremely satisfying with about a 5.5 out of 10 pull, smooth and snappy with great walk and talk and a half stop, even with no blade play. The edge came more thinly ground than most I’ve gotten from GEC, although like many it was thicker at the belly, so I did re-apex it. One thing that seems to bother some is the “CK” CollectorKnives etch. This addition is not something that Mike wanted or requested; Great Eastern Cutlery recently instituted a policy that all SFOs must have an etch identifying the ordering dealer. It’s a perplexing policy that doesn’t seem to help anyone, but I don’t want to say too much one way or the other until I know the reasoning behind the policy. I did call GEC, but Joan Mae (their new sales manager) didn’t know the reason for the policy. I then emailed Bill directly, but I haven’t heard back from him as of this writing. Mike made the good call of having the etch put on the pile side, and used a very minimalist version of his logo. The only downside of it to me is that the knife that makes the “K” in the logo is a modern knife, but that is a tiny very petty nitpick, and the etch will eventually wear off with use and polishing.
The CollectorKnives “CK” etch as required by GEC’s new policy
However, any negatives with the etch are far outshined by the classic beauty and practicality of the knife. It just looks great. The stamped elongated bolsters and dark African Blackwood scales, with some streaks of brown and nice chatoyance underneath, give it the look of a classy refined barlow. The long straight spear point would fit in great next to the vintage knives it is based upon, especially with the matchstrike pull and cut swedges. Beyond its good looks, the Yankee Barlow will also make a great user. Because it’s a little larger than the GEC #15 frame, it’s easier to get a full four finger grip and bear down in use. You also get about 3″ of blade, which is a solid length for an easily carryable pocket knife. The spear point offers a generous amount of straight edge, but enough belly to be useful and a tip that should work for most piercing tasks. Although it’s not a cheap knife, it will make a great user, and it will sure look handsome while in use!
Overall, as you have probably inferred, I am very happy to have gotten this Great Eastern Cutlery made Northfield #77 CollectorKnives Yankee Barlow in African Blackwood. Not only is it a great knife, but I received it upon coming home from a Meniscectomy, so it was quite a good cheer me up! Don’t forget to subscribe here via email for updates when I post new articles, check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel, like my FaceBook page, and follow my instagram feed.
Great Eastern Cutlery is wont to run by their own rules. Quirkiness is one of their most characteristic attributes, and both the boon and bane of collectors depending on the situation. One example of their unusual approach to knifemaking can be seen in their “parts” aka “special factory assembly” knives. This article will explain what these knives are, how they are purchased, and how they fit into the collector market.
My haul from the 2019 GEC Rendezvous
These knives are built using leftover parts from previous runs of knives. Sometimes they are made from recent runs within the same year, and sometimes they’re made with parts from frames that haven’t been used for several years (like this year’s #65s). They often feature different handle materials, shields, and sometimes even different blade or handle shapes than previous runs (from which they drew their parts). For example, at this year’s Rendezvous (2019) GEC had lots of knives built with parts left over from previous runs: #65 Ben Hogans, #85s in different configurations than the normal runs, #97s with the Tango guitar shield (which they haven’t used in a while), and even some stainless #74 Mustangs (I was lucky enough to snag one!). Due to being made in previously unused configurations with old stock parts, you never know what these knives are going to show up as!
The Special Factory Assembly aka parts knives for 2019
GEC first referred to these knives in question as “parts knives” but has transitioned into calling them the more official sounding “special factory assembly” knives. This change in nomenclature has happened over the past two or so years, in conjunction with a change in how they are sold. These knives are only available for purchase at the factory store. They are made for the annual Rendezvous (if you’d like to learn more about why the Rendezvous is worth attending, read my article linked here). Originally, up until 2017 or 2018, there was no restriction on the number of these knives that one could purchase at a time. However, recently GEC has restricted each person to one “SFA” knife per transaction / time through the line at the Rendezvous / day at the Rendezvous. This rule makes it more difficult for a large number of these knives to be concentrated in one person’s collection, therefore making them even rarer and more sought after on the secondary market.
Not technically a Special Factory Assembly, but definitely a parts knife. #93 Lambfoot for Charlie Campagna, 1 of 27
These “special factory assembly” knives are sought after for several reasons. First, they tend to be made in low numbers. GEC has moved generally toward larger runs, so the fact that these parts knives are still made in runs of 4-40 knives makes them quite rare relative to other recent runs. On top of this, many of this year’s SFA knives were “S” models (I’ll be doing an article on what this means also, so make sure you subscribe via email for updates) which are less desirable due to their lack of warranty and supposed lower aesthetic quality. Beyond their rarity, the sheer fact that the SFA knives can only be purchased at the factory store makes them more difficult to purchase, and therefore more valuable. The “special factory assembly” knives tend to be highly sought after, especially just after the Rendezvous.
2019 Special Factory Assembly GEC #74 Mustang
I personally enjoy the “parts” aka “special factory assembly” knives because they’re just plain unique and interesting. I also enjoy that they’re a hallmark of and a keepsake from each Rendezvous. If you ever get a chance to pick one up, I highly suggest you do!
T(oo)L(ong);D(idn’t)R(ead)? Here’s the accompanying video review.
The WarHorse is a modern slipjoint made by LionSteel for CollectorKnives. It’s one that I’ve been looking forward to trying for a while, as CollectorKnives announced it on their Early Reserve page early this year. I had previously tried the CollectorKnives Shuffler, which is the single clip blade version, and liked it other than the handle material. The main reason I decided to get this knife is a bit convoluted; Mike at CollectorKnives had an SFO made by Great Eastern Cutlery in 2014 of a #77 NorthField barlow with clip point and wharncliffe full sized blades. I decided not to get one and wish I had. When I saw Mike was doing one of his modern barlows with the same blade combination I decided to check one out.
Two big full blades, clip and wharncliffe
The WarHorse is an interesting mix of modern and traditional. First and foremost, it is a slipjoint. It is non-locking, and uses a backspring to stay open and stay closed. It also has the hallmarks of a traditional barlow; an elongated bolster on a jack frame. Additionally, it’s a two hand opening knife that uses long pulls. Finally, on the traditional side, the clip point and wharncliffe blades are traditionally shaped. However, that’s where the traditionality ends. Rather than being pinned, the WarHorse is held together with torx screws. It also has a pin that the blade kicks fall upon when closed, eliminating the risk of blade rap. Finally, rather than the blades pivoting directly against the liners like on a traditionally built knife, the WarHorse has phosphor-bronze washers between the blades and liners.
The grip is comfortable enough with either blade open due to the width of the handle
The grip is slightly more ergonomic with the Wharncliffe open
LionSteel did a great job making this knife. It came with nice action; great walk and talk, healthy snap, and a nice 5.5ish pull (just a little stronger than a Victorinox Swiss Army Knife). The blades are nice and tight, with no play or wobble, and they’re both centered dead down the barrel. The fit is different than on a traditionally made knife. Since the knife is held together with screws, the transitions between handle cover and bolster and liners and springs can’t be polished flat. Instead, all of the edges are nicely rounded so that they come together smoothly. The washers help to provide extremely smooth action without any blade play right out of the box, but they also create small gaps between the blades/springs. The blades seem to be ground quite thin, for good slicing capabilities, and evenly. The long pulls (which, unlike on the vast majority of traditional slipjoints, are on both sides of the blade) are a little more rounded than I’d prefer. A traditional long pull has a square / angled inside upper edge which allows the fingernail to catch securely, whereas the WarHorse long pulls are radiused. This radius can sometimes lead to my fingernail slipping off the blade, especially on the pile side wharncliffe blade. Although the WarHorse is not traditionally built, it is certainly built well.
Back springs with no spacer
Stop pin that eliminates blade rap
Brass washers for smooth action
Perfect centering and full blades
Really nice carbon fiber goes well with the titanium bolster
Collector Knives etch
One of the WarHorse’s biggest drawing points is its high end materials. It comes in several different handle materials including olive wood, ram horn, ebony wood, and carbon fiber. I went with the carbon fiber, because I think it really fits with the traditional meets modern aesthetic. Knives have been handled in synthetic materials for around a hundred years, like micarta and celluloid, but carbon fiber is a new age material and I felt that it represented the mix of modern and traditional in the overall WarHorse. It is handsome carbon fiber, with no noticeable voids and a nice even weave. The blades are M390 steel. M390 is a recent super steel that is well liked for its high performance across all categories: edge holding, toughness, corrosion resistance, and sharpenability. Finally, the liners and bolsters are a nice tumbled titanium, for strength and lightness. The materials on the WarHorse are high end, but I do believe (if the WarHorse was made with pin construction) the materials do not exclude it from being a traditional knife. I really appreciate the high end materials that make up the WarHorse, especially considering super steels are so rare on production slipjoints.
Ready to put in lots of work
Overall, I think the WarHorse is a knife that the slipjoint market needs. It brings to the market a knife with high end materials and newer build technology while retaining a respect for and homage to the traditional knives from which it draws inspiration. I don’t think it has the same spirit and soul as a traditionally made barlow, if I’m being honest, but it offers more muscle and utility to even things out. The WarHorse builds a bridge between the modern and traditional knife segments, and hopefully will continue the trend of production knife companies making knives with traditional designs.
Compared to some recent GEC patterns, the #29 and #97
Thickness compared to the single blade #97 and 3 blade/spring #29
Compared to the Spyderco Domino and Spyderco Native
The WarHorse is a CollectorKnives exclusive. You can get one for yourself from CollectorKnives.net (they are in stock as of 8/20/19). You can find all of the different versions for between $162 and $172 at this link. Tell Mike you heard about the WarHorse on Knife Thoughts!
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