All About Pocket Knives

Hi MichaelScott, Welcome to AAPK. Good first post. I look forward to reading more posts from you.
kj

There are still micarta and copper head jigged bone 82's available at many dealers. I see that the GEC website shows the Northfield stag 82 as just finished on their website. I would say these will ship and start showing up at dealers this weekend or early next week. I suspect it will be a hot ticket.

Got my Dixie stockman today. I love this. It’s much bigger than I realized. The color on the jigged bone is perfect.
The only thing that is a slight negative is the snap, it’s not as strong as other GEC knives that I have. The wharncliffe blade has a weaker snap than the other blades. Seems a little odd that this would be the case. WIll be anxious to see if others notice this or not.
And I do like the clip blade for the main blade, wasn’t sure at first, but I think it’s the right choice.
SSk

Three blade stock knives do have a softer snap than a 1 or 2 blade jack. Check a few vintage stockman or cattle knives and see how they compare with your Dixie.
A blade spring serves 2 functions: keep the blade in the closed position so that blade cannot fall open on it's own; and to hold the blade in the fully open position with enough tension that a minor bump on the spine will not move the blade off fully open position.
Any spring strength beyond what is needed for these 2 functions is a matter of personal preference.
I used to prefer stiffer springs thinking they were 'better', but now i enjoy the ease of opening that comes with slightly softer springs.
kj

kootenay joe wrote:Three blade stock knives do have a softer snap than a 1 or 2 blade jack. Check a few vintage stockman or cattle knives and see how they compare with your Dixie.
A blade spring serves 2 functions: keep the blade in the closed position so that blade cannot fall open on it's own; and to hold the blade in the fully open position with enough tension that a minor bump on the spine will not move the blade off fully open position.
Any spring strength beyond what is needed for these 2 functions is a matter of personal preference.
I used to prefer stiffer springs thinking they were 'better', but now i enjoy the ease of opening that comes with slightly softer springs.
kj

Good to know. I prefer a softer open and close, but so much emphasis on snap from so many makes you think that there is might be something wrong.
It doesn’t bother me, just thinking down the road when someone else gets this knife. I am curious if others say the same thing about this knife when they get theirs.
Thanks Roland.

The Schrade 861 or 61OT is a similar knife to the Dixie. If you have one of these i would be interested to know how snaps compare, assuming the vintage knives have good snap.
kj

Very pleased with the fit & finish on this one. Pulls are good. A larger knive than what I would normally carry, but feels fine in the pocket. The inside of the blade well is finished very nice, and beyond what I’m used to from GEC. This one is going to get a lot of pocket time.

I've been trolling the usual suspect websites for The Dixie stag that GEC posted they were shipping out. Cutlery Classics just posted a half dozen of them and personally I was not impressed. The time it's taken for them to drop has allowed me to evaluate if I wanted the Dixie size and try though I might to convince myself that I did I just couldn't do it, I have carried a 6375 quite a bit but find myself reaching for one of my 6318 most of the time. I know that the rounded bolsters would have helped but I just think it would be to long for comfortable EDC as I spend a lot of time sitting at work. I did order one of the Calf Roper stag and intend to make it an EDC.

I too looked at the stag Dixie Stockman available now at Cutlery Classics. They still have quite a few despite having been posted for about 24 hrs. This is not usual for a GEC stag offering other than the #81 Moose.
Is it the pattern or is the 'GEC Frenzy' cooling off a little ?
I agree with Rotten that the stag is nothing special, too much underlying white is exposed at both ends of every handle piece. Perhaps this is slowing sales ? Same seller has a few stag #66 'Calf Roper' stock knives and the stag on these is better than the 82's but still not the quality that has you buying it right away.
I see 'good' stag as having exterior surface bolster to bolster and being fairly thin so knife is not bulky. Is good stag hard to obtain ?
kj

Several other dealers have some and I haven't seen what I would call outstanding yet.

Traditionalpocketknives had some nice ones imo. As I am not a stockman collector I will sit this pattern out. Maybe get my cc caught up!

The stag 82’s are in at CK and KSF, for now.
SSk

Well I found one that looked pretty good I think at CK so we'll see in a few days.

gsmith7158 wrote:Well I found one that looked pretty good I think at CK so we'll see in a few days.

Just checked to see if they sold out yet and yes KSF shows out of stock already. CK only has these on there for people who signed up for early reserve.
This one is hot!
SSk

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:

gsmith7158 wrote:Well I found one that looked pretty good I think at CK so we'll see in a few days.

Just checked to see if they sold out yet and yes KSF shows out of stock already. CK only has these on there for people who signed up for early reserve.
This one is hot!
SSk

So CK has given out their allotment of theirs to the early reserve folks already?

boykinlp wrote:

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:

gsmith7158 wrote:Well I found one that looked pretty good I think at CK so we'll see in a few days.

Just checked to see if they sold out yet and yes KSF shows out of stock already. CK only has these on there for people who signed up for early reserve.
This one is hot!
SSk

So CK has given out their allotment of theirs to the early reserve folks already?

As of 6:19am Wednesday morning Ck still has 10 knives in their protected category if none of the notified people take them by this afternoon I guess they will be available to the next 10 standbys.

Well I said earlier that the Dixie wasn't for me but I was looking through the stag that were available at a few of the distributors and ran across one I couldn't live without. So It's headed this way. I have become highly addicted to stockman of all varieties, plus who knows when the next run would be.

Most of the dealers I checked have several stag still in stock and there are imo a few jewels among them but you have to wade through alot to find one.

Rotten wrote:Well I said earlier that the Dixie wasn't for me but I was looking through the stag that were available at a few of the distributors and ran across one I couldn't live without. So It's headed this way. I have become highly addicted to stockman of all varieties, plus who knows when the next run would be.

Most of the dealers I checked have several stag still in stock and there are imo a few jewels among them but you have to wade through alot to find one.

Trace, I had a feeling you would come around. There are some stag handles on these that are not very attractive, but there are some real beauties in there too, well worth having. I share your enthusiasm for stockmans. Sowbellies are my favorite.
SSk

Well I got my stag 82 today and I am so glad I got the stag too. As you can see from the last photo, the bone is pretty nice too and together they make a pretty picture.
SSk

Sharpnshinyknives wrote:Well I got my stag 82 today and I am so glad I got the stag too. As you can see from the last photo, the bone is pretty nice too and together they make a pretty picture.
SSk

That stag is very nice and well matched. I am so ready for mine to get here.

Have picked up 3 so far, micarta, bone and stag, quality of all 3 is excellent, no blade rub on any of them and finished to a high level of quality. I'm another one who wishes they would put shields back on the stag knives.

Nice Stag being shown.

I must say I'm pretty happy with this one that landed this evening!

Greg, that is a good looking knife, even without the shield
kj

gsmith7158 wrote:I must say I'm pretty happy with this one that landed this evening!

Greg, You sure picked a nice one. That stag is great. Trade ya.
SSk