All About Pocket Knives

My 82 Possum Skinner came today. I am excited about this Elderberry Bone. It looks great on this and the stockman. Here are all 4 of the 82’s that I purchased.
SSk

Looks like you're hooked Mark!

gsmith7158 wrote:Looks like you're hooked Mark!

I am Greg. I just combined all my GEC knives in one display case and it’s getting full quickly. My wife asked why I had left some room, my answer of course was that it is for future purchases. I have a lot of early reserves at CK, so I think I can fill it soon. And man do those knives look great all together like that.
SSk

Here is my just arrived stag Dixie. I very much like the not typical blade profiles: a Wharncliffe-like blade beside the master, and a drop point at the other end. No sheepsfoot or spey blades makes this a unique stockman knife. Great design GEC !
kj

A plus stag on that one Roland! Very nice.

My Possum Skinner came today.

Thanks Greg. After paying for it, the pictures disappeared on KSF and i could not remember what the stag looked like. However they did send me one with almost bolster to bolster exterior stag. However i think it is the blade profiles on this stockman that make it a special knife and one that has a 'blade for most occasions', i.e. excellent 'forever' EDC.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Here is my just arrived stag Dixie. I very much like the not typical blade profiles: a Wharncliffe-like blade beside the master, and a drop point at the other end. No sheepsfoot or spey blades makes this a unique stockman knife. Great design GEC !
kj

Roland, You did pick a nice one. That’s the nicest stag on one of these I have seen. Nice going.
SSk

Thank you Ssk. I am a bit fussy about stag handles and there are many that do not appeal to me. KSF had 2 pages of stag Dixie's and i had a quick scan of them all and was surprised that this one was still there when i went back to it, as it had the least amount of 'white' showing.
I also just received a very nice stag 78 "American Jack" that i posted in the #78 thread.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Here is my just arrived stag Dixie. I very much like the not typical blade profiles: a Wharncliffe-like blade beside the master, and a drop point at the other end. No sheepsfoot or spey blades makes this a unique stockman knife. Great design GEC !
kj

You sure picked a nice one Roland, great stag!

Here is the GEC #82 Dixie Stockman compared to a 4" "Forged/U.S.A." Slender Stockman which was made by Camillus for Sears in the 1930's-'40's.
The GEC is 1/8" longer and a bit thicker, but i think this is the stag not the frame. Blade stock looks to be of the same thickness.
The Camillus is a bit more serpentine (curvy).
The master blades are similar. The GEC stretches out the curve of spine to edge on it's 'sheepsfoot' making it more of a Wharncliffe. This drops the spine of this blade when closed so that the grip is more comfortable. And in stead of a spey blade GEC has inserted a very slight drop point which i think is the most useful blade of the lot. Never seen this in a stockman before and i think it is a great idea, worth buying the knife just for this blade.
Just thought you might find the comparison with a 70-80 year old USA knife to be interesting. I do.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Here is the GEC #82 Dixie Stockman compared to a 4" "Forged/U.S.A." Slender Stockman which was made by Camillus for Sears in the 1930's-'40's.
The GEC is 1/8" longer and a bit thicker, but i think this is the stag not the frame. Blade stock looks to be of the same thickness.
The Camillus is a bit more serpentine (curvy).
The master blades are similar. The GEC stretches out the curve of spine to edge on it's 'sheepsfoot' making it more of a Wharncliffe. This drops the spine of this blade when closed so that the grip is more comfortable. And in stead of a spey blade GEC has inserted a very slight drop point which i think is the most useful blade of the lot. Never seen this in a stockman before and i think it is a great idea, worth buying the knife just for this blade.
Just thought you might find the comparison with a 70-80 year old USA knife to be interesting. I do.
kj

Very interesting comparison. GEC is really resurrecting these old patterns well.
SSk

Wow, really liking all the pics I'm seeing. To answer the original question to this post, I wasn't crazy about this knife when I first saw it but then I realized that the muskrat clip is very similar to the blade on the leatherman of which I use extensively. So... I picked up the natural canvas micarta and.... I love this knife. I'm coming to understand what I like more in my knives now that I'm gaining a more sizable collection and I really enjoy a handle that stretches out across my palm. I feel that the blades on this knife are perfect for a lot of everyday tasks. Definitely recommend this knife now and I'm really glad that it's not a super crazy popular pattern or it would've been gone by the time I came around to it. Cheers guys

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:

gsmith7158 wrote:Looks like you're hooked Mark!

I am Greg. I just combined all my GEC knives in one display case and it’s getting full quickly. My wife asked why I had left some room, my answer of course was that it is for future purchases. I have a lot of early reserves at CK, so I think I can fill it soon. And man do those knives look great all together like that.
SSk

SSk,
Sure would love to see your display!

boykinlp wrote:

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:

gsmith7158 wrote:Looks like you're hooked Mark!

I am Greg. I just combined all my GEC knives in one display case and it’s getting full quickly. My wife asked why I had left some room, my answer of course was that it is for future purchases. I have a lot of early reserves at CK, so I think I can fill it soon. And man do those knives look great all together like that.
SSk

SSk,
Sure would love to see your display!

Here you go. I am not happy with the way this looks, I need to spread them out and start a second display case. Fortunately my wife got me 3 extra display cases for Christmas. Just hope I don’t fill them all this year.
SSk

Nice knives fellas, you can’t go wrong with a GEC knife.

Roland you got a nice stag example. Mark you’re bitten, great collection.

John I see where your knife budget went.

I ended up with two of the 82's this run, an elderberry and a copperhead. Really nice stockman pattern that I like much better than I expected. I am now seeking out the older slant bolster ones as they look really nice. I'll get a micarta 82 as a user as the two I have now are just for looking. The 82 is too good of a knife with unique and useful blades to not have a user.

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:Here you go. I am not happy with the way this looks, I need to spread them out and start a second display case. Fortunately my wife got me 3 extra display cases for Christmas. Just hope I don’t fill them all this year.
SSk

Mark,
You got a nice collection and isn't it awesome to be able to easily look at it whenever you want to?
Larry

Anyone who can easily do so please post a picture of an 82 Dixie Stockman beside a 53 Stockman. I'd like to see how much broader the 53's handle and blades are.

Modern Slip Joints wrote:Anyone who can easily do so please post a picture of an 82 Dixie Stockman beside a 53 Stockman. I'd like to see how much broader the 53's handle and blades are.

I can do that for you once I get home, if nobody beats me to it.

Even though they aren't lined up perfectly you can see the 82 is longer in handle and blades, but it's more slim and trim than the 53. The 82 is a pretty big knife but it's proportioned well and the slim profile makes it seem not so big. The 82 really is a pretty sweet knife, I like it better than this version of the 53 with slim blades.

Thank-you knifeSlinger! Those are great comparison pictures. I expected the 53 to have a broader master blade than an 82 but they are nearly identical in shape. The Dixie's drop point has as much cure as the 53's spey combined with a useful point. The 82 pattern certainly is more artistic than the 53.

I've had a 53 Stockman in the back of my mind for a long time but instead bought less expensive large stockmans from other manufacturers. There are a lot of good ones. The 82 Dixie's unique selection of neatly tucked in blades and to a lesser extent its classy shape gave me excuses to buy a GEC stockman. I bought two stag Dixies through the AAPK store, one thin for a pants pocket and one plump for a belt pouch.

There is another, more scarce 53 called the cattle rancher with standard shaped blades as found on most cattle knives. I really like the 53 cuban but the blades look a little small for the frame in my opinion; however it does make it a little more comfortable to hold since the blades don't stick out much.

An interesting side thing to note in my pictures is the difference in mirror finish of the stainless 53 and the carbon 82. The carbon blades clearly have the better finish, but the 53 is also a much earlier knife and perhaps gec was not as good at polishing then.