Ok you might be wondering how I got here…
Back up- let me start earlier.
Ok… nope that’s too far.
Well- no that’s not right.
Because I just shot that part a couple days ago- and that other part was months ago.
Shit- it’s hard to juggle multiple timelines on the same knife.
Wait no no no… gross that’s a totally different knife and video.
Ok- let’s start over.
How about now.
Ok now is great.
Today’s review is for the Great Eastern Cutlery Bull Buster old guy knife.
Old guy knives often don’t have locks, don’t use stainless steel blades or have pocket
clips,- however do include such features as lectures on tradition, stores about when men
were men, demonstrations on better ways to use your knives and hearing loss.
But before we go any further let’s look at the dimensions with real measurements and
also the metric system starting with the overall length and weight.
Sorry that was rude, this knife occasionally makes me say things like that.
And with the dp steel and leatherwork clip slip.
A heretical option of course.
The blade and cutting edge.
Comes nice and dull from the factory just like they did back in the day.
Handle size and grip area.
However that was intentional so you can practice your free handing sharpening.
Spine thickness and handle thickness.
I didn’t mean practice, you’re already better at it than everyone else.
Tallness.
And I appreciate your pointers in the comments, which are truly the less inspiring Ted Talks
of freehand sharpening tips on the youtube commenting sections of knife reviews.
So Great Eastern Cutlery is one of the few makers of USA made Old guy style knives left.
I think there’s Case, and Bear and Sons, and MTech.
I don’t know if Buck makes their slip joints in the USA…
But that’s for you to research a little further and explain in the comments below.
GEC has a lot of models, but the one I like the most in the Sodbuster pattern seen here.
Let’s start with the blade, a drop point flat grind, made from good ol rusty if you
let it 1095 carbon steel.
As I mentioned earlier, it wasn’t super sharp out of the box… but about 10 minutes
on the sharp maker starting with the diamond stones gave it a decent enough for edge.
Occasionally people ask how do I know when it’s sharp… my unscientific method is
the feeling of a micro cut on the top layer of my fingers skin.
The blade is a good size, and is a fairly easy pull…
I dunno 5-6?
I don’t usually use the thumb nick, just the pointer finger and thumb.
It’s a two handed open and close.
As an aside… because I occasionally get this comment…
When you press the blade against your leg or another object to close it…
I don’t consider that one handed.
Also not one handed if it’s incredibly awkward, and unsafe to close one handed because you’re
being a smartass.
It’s a two stage open, there’s a click at 90 degrees and then fully open.
The blade doesn’t lock but the backspring is fairly strong, like the smell of butterscotch
and mothballs.
Handles on larger sod buster patterns like this are nice and neutral with not much of
a front finger guard, however there’s room for larger more tactical hands than mine.
As a bonus a there’s wonderful brass lanyard hole in the back that’s sleeved, for your
sculpture art.
The handle is smooth and comfortable pretty much every where, maybe not a ton of grip
in the wet, but just grip tighter and man up.
The micarta is polished and I found when wiping off the handle some of the micarta green starts
to fade.
I never noticed dye in my hand, but it’s something to think about- if you’re one
of those people who thinks a lot about things they shouldn’t much.
There isn’t a pocket clip, because one of unspoken pleasures of owning a traditional
knife is having 4 inches sitting sideways in the bottom of your pocket with your change
and peppermint candies.
I get it, but I like my knives sitting at the top of my pocket- like most people nowadays.
Slightly easier to access, and less likely to be confused with an erection.
So there’s nice leather clip slips available from DP leatherworks… of whom I’ve linked
in the description the store and his Instagram.
This cost me about $60 shipped from Germany, and they’re handmade to order in a lot of
different colors.
This is the larger of the two sizes and a lot of people use this for the Buck 110, so
bless their heart.
Comparisons.
First up the Bull Buster.
A great knife right after you give it a nice sharp edge, that costs about $60.
I know it doesn’t lock, but there are a lot of things you can still do safely with
a slip joint… because you know locking pocket knives weren’t really popular until the
1980s.
What about the Buck 110.
Well here it is… you know there’s nothing really wrong with this knife, other than it
being twice as heavy as the similar sized Sodbuster.
It’s a very popular knife that people post on Reddit… “found this in my Grandpas
attic… my mom said he carried it in the jungles of Normandy.”
But since a lot of 110s have symbols on the blade denoting the age- someone comes along-
“that actually a 1995 110.”
Which your grandpa bought to play a mean trick on you in the age of posting every bit of
your life on social media.
And by the time this sentence is done someone has posted below that 110s aren’t WWII era
knives.
Now the Case Sodbuster.
This one costs about half as much as the GEC, but it’s very similar in quality.
Both came kinda dull, as the lord intended, and have similar fit and finish and hand feels.
The Bull Buster looks a bit nicer, and it’s still a pretty fair price.
I prefer both of these over the 110 as well.
Now the Spyderco Para Military 2.
A good modern reference knife.
This is about the perfect pocket knife in terms of functionality, size, weight, and
good materials.
It’s a bit pricy at $120-$190 depending on options, like they do almost every year.
I mean something has to subsidize those $500 production knives.
I guess higher prices and sprint runs- there’s always sprint runs.
Good if you could just have one gateway knife.
Now a modern slip joint the Boker Slack… this one of the hardest pulls and closes of
my slip joints.
I prefer something a bit easier and safe like the Bull Buster.
Still it’s a nice well made life but about $100.
One last knife… a good budget the K55K mercator.
It locks, is thin in the pocket, and has a carbon steel blade too.
About $30 and has unique looks.
Nothing wrong with this knife.
There is a clipped version available.
Ok let’s continue our story, and by that I mean end it.
Ok it’s not smart to baton with slip joints, but it sure fills some space in a video.
I should ask this guy if it counts as testing.
I just want to make him as happy as he is when drinking Miracle Mineral Solution.
I said it in a video recently, but the most common points of failure on any of my knives,
other than the reviews themselves, have been the metal parts and never FRN handles.
Sometimes it’s aluminum handles, other it’s brass pins, occasionally it’s the edge of
the blade, or a small metal screw, but always because I hit those parts with a piece of
wood.
So this reinforces an existing opinion I had- smacking knives with pieces of wood repeatedly
is good.
However I sent it back to GEC and they replaced the brass pin the spring pivots on.
A lot of this review has been filmed after I got it back from warranty.
And I promise never to baton with this slip joint again.
In summation, for people that need it… the GEC Bull Buster is a favorite knife of mine.
This and the Lionsteel CK01 are my two favorite slip joints, and I carry them often.
I would not hesitate to recommend the Bull Buster to your grandpa, or your grandma, or
maybe an old uncle- or a young guy with sleeves and an ironic mustache- although I am not
any of those things and I still like it.
If you like this sort of review please subscribe, buy my t-shirts below the video, check out
my links below- follow me on Instagram… comment give this video a thumbs up in case
I gave you all a little something that we knew you lacked.
Thanks for watching.