GEC Tidioute Lumberjack; SAKs beware!

[dks]

The mighty GEC Lumberjack! The SAKs latest arch enemy.



241 grams of Micarta and 1095 Carbon Steel with the coolest shield ever.




11cm long, 1.8cm thick, 0.5cm lanyard hole, 0.4cm thick blade.




The blade is also 8cm long and 3.5cm wide.

The Saw locks (liner lock) and is 8cm long, 0.2mm thick and 2cm wide.



At the end it has a flat screwdriver, 0.8cm wide and 0.1cm thick.



The blade and Saw both have half stops.



The finish is good with decent alignment and nicely finished Micarta. The only complaint is that some of the pins are flush with the Micarta scales whereas some are not; I do not know if that was intentional or not.




The knife feels quite gritty and needs a good clean, though the blade and saw open reasonably easy, for a GEC.
The blade can be used easily as the handle feels nice, but if you try to use the saw you can feel the blade sticking out of the body of the knife, making the grip difficult.
This model is also available with bone and with just the blade but I wanted the Micarta version because of its “industrial” look.




It is made under the Tidioute brand, GECs “user” brand.

The blade came reasonably sharp and though it has a thick spine because of its large width it manages to go down to a reasonably fine edge.
The blade is similar to an “elephant toenail” pattern blade, like the Rough rider shown here with it.




Apparently these blades are good for cutting rope.

The saw is mainly ornamental as the thick teeth are all lined up the one behind the other, whereas in a traditional saw blade one tooth is bend to the left, the next to the right, the one after to the left and so on, enabling the saw to cut whilst allowing saw dust to flow through the teeth and not bog down the saw.




For those who remember these saws, every so often the teeth would line up one after the other after a lot of use and you had to bend them back, away from each other in order to regain the original cutting performance. I think the teeth of the GEC lumberjack have a slight tilt (one side of each tooth thicker than the other) but it is the same for all thus having no effect. Instead of cutting wood they just shred it as shown in the picture. The GEC did the cut on the left, before it got stuck and could not be pulled further. The cut on the right was made by a SAK style Tool Logic Saw.



I am sure they will do some work in an emergency but they will be easily outperformed by even the cheapest no name multitool saw.

The screwdriver should work, though having no idea about the actual hardening and tempering of the blade and taking into account the length of the saw I would not dare to actually use it, unless I was really desperate for a flat screwdriver.




Pros:
Unusual
Sexy shield
Good built

Cons:
Useless Saw and possibly screwdriver
Heavy
Expensive for what it actually offers to the user.


For the comparison shots I used a LM wave, a RR elephants toenail, and two victorinox SAKs a Huntsman and a Tinker.

[jzmtl]

I seem to recall reading about those type of blades, they are meant to be hammered though ropes with whatever you have on hand. Not sure how much I like that look though.

And geez that's a fat knife, over half a pound! 

[AimlessWanderer]

Yeah, the Sunfish or Elephants Toenail were traditionally used for batoning through rope. Why that might be appropriate to a Lumberjack knife, I'm not sure. I have a Marbles Sunfish, and to be honest for such a large knife I find it rather limited in use compared to other blade styles

Nice review dks, and nice pics too  It's certainly an interesting item for your collection  but you've certainly convinced me it's not something I need to save up for 

[Syph007]

Ive never seen anything like that before.  I was sure your pictures were distorted and surely no knife is that fat!  Then when comparted to the other saks I was surprised that was real.  I can see how it would be good for batoning.  Thanks for the pics and review.

[Jmora]

thanks for the review and photos. that is a strange looking knife. Apparently they are selling out practically instantly when they go on sale. More of a collector's thing. It would be nice if GEC made the saw a bit more functional, or maybe there is some 'traditional' reason that the saw is like it is?

[nuphoria]

AH, my question is answered here - not the most useful saw!

I still think it's a nice looking design. Shame about the pins being a bit random though

[dks]

It is mainly a collectors item as it is hard to justify carrying that much weight when only half the knife is of any use.

To put it into perspective, according to my own measurements on my scale:
It is:
Twice as heavy as a LM Juice S2
40 grams heavier than a standard Buck 110 (not bad really)
The same weight as a LM Wave!!!! (still lighter than the surge, but then what isn't  )
46 grams lighter than the Swisstool and the ST300

I have now oiled and cleaned mine so it is less gritty.

There are some still available at least here: http://oldhundredcollectibles.com/45-lumberjack_c48.htm

[edcgear]

 

That's a beast!!

[django.cj]

Interesting knife for sure.  I like GEC's offerings, and they make a hell of a well built knife.  BUT, I'm disappointed that the saw is so worthless.  That's the distinctive feature of this knife, it should be excellent.