Code word: sharp

Having done my own SFO with GEC, I can tell you that the target production number and the actual number produced have no relationship with factory seconds and “store only” knives. BTW, store only are better than seconds, but must be sold only in the GEC store. Theoretically, they have slight defects which they can disclose to purchasers. But here’s my best guess as to how factory seconds come to their owners with no discernible defects. Bill Howard is a sneaky old fart. He likes to do this so people will spend hours inspecting his knives, talking about his knives, making videos about his knives, ending with everyone baffled about how good GEC’s factory seconds are. … and Bill laughs all the way to the bank. When I bought my Ebony 78 at the Rendezvous a few years ago, I handed it to Bill and asked him to show me the “defect” that made it a “store only” knife. He looked at it for about 5 seconds, handed it back to me and walked away grinning. You be the judge…

I use to have 2 of those

Randy have you hard knife mfg farmers

I have purchased many benchmades. Every time, I can't believe what I've spent, swear I'll never do it again. I never regret the knife, I'm head over heals for their knives. Just a little sore

You might have a point because I just got a store model Viper, and I can’t find anything wrong with it.

I've had a factory second pocket Carver with a messed up pivot in the rear with the two blades. One tiny blade was wobbly

Definitely a possibility with the numbers. I’ve never heard of something like that but the stragglers “seconds” is a totally mysterious thing with GEC.

Dude you lucked out huge on the covers! This thing is beautiful 🤩

Looks great. Only thing I can see is perhaps the pin that the blade rotates around is off center.

Nice one. Any chance the "lock rock" is the issue? Maybe it's more that they deem acceptable

Who knows but as long as you enjoy it as a great knife

Good stuff good result

Eric guesser said that the serrations on zdp189 were susceptible to breaking off. Michael Christy has a good video on serration sharpening. Ruby ceramic rods are available for cheap on ebay. I got the set but the 5mm and 2mm will probably get the big and small serrations.

Watched all of it! You gotta do some resto videos. That’d be SHARP 🤘🏼

Always harp

Thanks for the video

Had to come back and see the ol collection. You’ve got nothing but straight fire dude 🔥🔥🔥

Are you going to do a tutorial how you do this?

Catching up on my watch later list while fighting some s110v, not sure i like sharpening this stuff. Gotta be sharp. My fomo was beat by my wallets rather small size when it comes to hobbies. I got a Sebenza after a while and it's great but I also don't carry it because it's kinda middling at the same time. I've got other knives that work better for what I do but it has a story behind it, it was also a grail knife I saved up to get for a long time. It's my fancy going out knife along side one of the few gecs I've managed to get. To me those aren't worth the effort anymore. They are amazing knives but the price has been slowly creeping outside of what I'm willing to spend, the effort it takes to get some of the more desired patterns just doesn't match the joy I get from having and using it. I don't buy knives for my Instagram account or for those reddit upvotes. I try to buy based off of utility. Whether that's edc or a specific use case. To me the whole fomo thing is kinda silly but I get why it'd there and why others buy what they buy. Trying to get knife after knife when I lived at my parents with almost no bills almost burned me out of the hobby. But it also showed me what I don't like and what i don't use. Now I can pretty much look at a site listing and almost form a final opinion based upon certain factors I've got experience with already. Such as I don't care for wharncliffe, or flippers front or back, I don't really like titanium frame locks etc.. without that original experience I wouldn't have a driven collection that I do today. I think in the end it is healthy as long as you learn from it. You should get sucked into steel types and shapes and locks and everything. Buy everything you can safely afford that you like. Form your own ideas and opinions, then scale back reassess your collection and start back up with a purpose this time. For me it's like yours, utility and stories. It's gotten have meaning to it or be useful to me. Simply having it because I don't have magnacut yet isn't enough. Though my next purchase will probably be a magnacut native 5 lw. I want to add a native to my collection. Seems like a great edc everyone likes it and it comes in magnacut and I can dye the salt yellow scales orange to match my delica and endura which are 2 of my favorites and still see the most carry after almost a decade.

Needed to hear that Randy. Good to see you sharp again today. Always a pleasure. Take care brother.

Sharp video.

Nice video man! I enjoyed it. SHARP

In most cases, the newer stuff has better materials, in terms of corrosion resistance and edge retention, but lacks in machining or hand tuning. SHARP

Totally agree. FOMO drops are a major turn off. If you want to make money, as a knife company, why not make enough for everyone who wants one? I don't enjoy the hype, and it contributes to the ridiculous secondary market prices. It caters to knife flippers (not flipper knives...lol), not hobbyists and users.

Great video. I think a lot of people are stuck in this cycle. 😊

I got a spyderco ultra fine yesterday and that thing makes my knives SHARP!

the best way to defeat this whole impulse buying shit is to raise a family. As soon as you have your first kid prioritise will change and you'll be much more savvy in the way you spend. This is the very same reason why the modern consumerist society discourages family as, paradoxically, isolated individuals spend more than large families (this is my thought).

If we're going full existential here then its not another knife I want afterall but joy. And peace. Spot on message Randy 😉

Stay Sharp brother! Couldn't agree more with everything you said 👏

Keep em sharp Randy!

I buy 2 of what I like, I save up and work hard for them.. but I'll never put myself in a position where I regret or in a tougher situation. =]

Great video! I came to the same realization a couple of years into the hobby. Before you gain experience and learn your own preferences it’s easy to get sucked in by the cool, limited and fidgety stuff. After a while it became obvious that what I actually used was almost exclusively Spyderco FRN backlocks. Practicality and utility beats cool and fancy. To consider a new knife these days it has to solve a problem not (entirely) solved by my existing knives or improve upon and replace something I already have. I still have enough knives to feel some consumerism shame, but new knives are further and further apart, and continuously tightening the criteria for what to keep. I rarely buy something that isn’t regular production, by the same “replacement logic” you touched on. To fully enjoy a knife I have to be able to easily replace it. Monetarily and logistically. In the end knives are just tools, if we spend more time and energy chasing them than they save us through their utility - then we ourselves are the tools (of consumerism).

I pride myself being a knife nut and only having 6 knives at the moment, at one point I was buying too much and it became a real problem. From my experience magnacut doesn't really hold an edge any longer than Spydercos S30v

Hey Randy,,,great vid & topic,,,your always "SHARP" to the point on each topic of your videos,,,your concern & honesty can be felt specialy on this one...thanks

🤘🏼

Good perspective and something I’ve found to be true over the years as well. Stay sharp!

Ya it took me a while to get over that. Once I had a collection and found the knives I like, I slowed down heavily. I get a knife once or twice a year now.

Always sharp

Sharp man!

Sharp and engaged. Beat a lot or those knife buying urges, this just makes you strong and nowadays feeling pretty content with what I have already.

Benchmade and spyderco is where I started when getting into knives and love them. Now I'm into knives costing $500-1000k!.....the hobby sucks you in quick! Just snagged a couple striders $$$....

Agree! Sharp!

Sharp! I also struggled with figuring out what I was wanting out of this hobby as of late. I significantly cut back my collection and gifted a lot of knives to friends, I still have too many knives but I only ever find myself carrying a military, pm2, dragonfly, or small sebenza regularly. Something that helped a bunch with tempering the feeling of always needing to keep up with new releases was simply unfollowing a majority influencers and dealers from social media. Try to focus on the enjoyment of carrying, using, and sharpening the knives in my collection instead of chasing handle colors and steel combos. I also previously was in a trade where a knife was used regularly and now I sit at my desk all day so my daily carry is almost always overkill anyway.

Luckily for me, i have little to no desire to collect. I only want to own knives i'll carry and use regularly, and i also like having a genuine every single day carry. I bond with the knife, flashligjt, pen etc if the same tool is on me everyday. I'll rotate my carry knife every couple months between the 4 i have. I've sold more knives than i own 😂 I do still like watching people talk about and reviewing all the new knives coming out

I think people buy knives they can’t afford and this is why they won’t use them. They need to keep it new looking for when they need to sell it. Just a matter of time before they need the money back.

I’ve been on a similar journey to yours. I’ve bought many different knives in many different styles to see what I like best, and then sold the rest. As far as modern folders, I’ve settled on the PM3 as my very favorite. At some point I had every single iteration of that knife, but then realized I would never use all of them. So I sold most of them and kept my favorites. Even so, I still have too many.

In Sweden Spyderco k390 is about $250…and Benchmade is…The world is greed.

Absolutely the right attitude! Gotta go watch Jon’s’ now. Always SHARP!

Fantastic video brother! Sharp is the word! This is OnTheEdge72 btw on my work computer. The longer I have been in the knife game, the more i want to keep my collection small and really appreciate and carry the knives that I have. It's cool to have a big collection, but you don't build relationships with knives that just sit in a safe. And I love what you said #cantbuypatina