Like with Bark River, GEC has an extensive catalog, not all of which is in production at the same time. And so if you want a particular model not being made, you wait. Sometimes it is a long wait. In this case, I was waiting and watching for over three years. But the Toothpick came into production and I snagged one.

It all started when a work friend told me that her husband loved knives. He was younger than I was and didn’t strike me as a “I carried since I was 7” type, so I was very interested to see what he pocketed on a daily basis. One day he came in and picked her up from work and we ran into each other. I was expecting a Kershaw or a ZT, maybe even a Sebenza, but then imagine my shock when this new to knives person busted out a Case Texas Toothpick. He reasoning was spot on—“I need a knife to open packages and stuff, and this was small, had a good amount of curve to the blade, and it looked interesting.” Check, check, and check on the Case Texas Toothpick. Alas this placed an ember of desire deep in my gear consuming heart and I have wanted a high quality rendition of a toothpick pattern knife ever since.

As Nick said on the podcast “Case knives are for people that like collecting more than they like knives.” My experience with Case has been well, underwhelming, at least in their main line production stuff. The Tony Bose stuff is incredible, but for most Case knives you are sure to get a few things—retro look and feel, butter soft steel, and pig-trough levels of slop in the fit and finish. A genuine Case toothpick was, then, off the table. I checked around and noticed that GEC, darling of the traditional knife community, was making a Toothpick in the near future and so I waited. “Near future” turned out to be quite a wait, but I have one now and it is an interesting knife. This is the seventh or eight GEC I have owned and the third I have reviewed. I reviewed the splendid TC Barlow here and I reviewed the Small Jack here. With that experience and a few months of carry I feel confident I have my opinion on this knife pinned down.

Here is the product page. Here is a video review. Tere are no written reviews. Here is a link where you can buy the GEC Toothpick. Here is my review sample (purchased with my own money to keep):

Twitter Review Summary: As olde timey and strange as you can get—in other words a good GEC.

Design: 2

Is there a more idiosyncratic design than a Toothpick? Maybe a French Kate, but that’s it. There are very few pattern designs that are this weird. But weird is not necessarily bad. Here the curve of the hand makes the knife fall perfectly into the hand and across the fingers. Through a mindful approach to the curves of both the edge and the spine, the knife’s blade is actually not that small for the handle and its not anywhere near as weird as the handle itself. The large bolster at the bottom, usually a problem, is not here because the top bolster and the pivot counter balance the weight. Weird, but very well done and nicely suited to an animal with 10 digits, of which 2 are opposable thumbs.

You don’t buy a Toothpick because you are expecting a Spec Beast, but surprisingly the numbers are both above average. The B:H is .75, which is quite decent. The B:W is 1.18, which is actually quite good.

Fit and Finish: 1

GEC makes knives well. They aren’t in that top echelon of fit and finishers (Chris Reeve, Reate, Taichung Spyderco, and Al Mar), but they are quite good. For example, the backspring, the scales, and the covers are well matched and fingernail flush.

But they aren’t as consistent with other parts of the knife. In ever GEC I have owned the brass cover pins have been different levels of flush from not to completely. Here is an example of the pins issue:

The middle pivot is 100% flush, but the front and back are a bit pronounced, with the front pin being noticeable prouder than the rear pin. With companies like Al Mar and Reate everything is 100% smooth, clean, and flush. This unevenness is why I don’t hold them in the highest regard, but make no mistake these are well-made knives and none of the issues I have mentioned has any impact on performance.

Grip: 2

With its gleaming surfaces, nicely balanced bolsters, and a sinuous shape the Toothpick is an absolute dream in the hand. In many ways, this is like handle on a barong, locking your hand into place without the cheap ergonomic tricks finger scallops or an artificially overdone bird’s beak. Aside from the beauty of the design, this is the real reason to by something as unusual as a Toothpick.

Carry: 2

A very small exposed rear tang makes this one of my favorite traditionals in the pocket, but the slim size and weight also help. Of course, like all traditionals, this knife lacks a pocket clip and is pretty dense for what it is.

Steel: 1

1095 is a decent steel. I actually like it in a big chopper where the toughness comes in handy. But in a folder, with a thin blade, it is merely okay. Sure it cuts, but it requires an amount of maintenance that is unnecessary with modern steels. 1095 on a folder its just an unnecessary concession to some idealized version of the past. While aficionados make decry this—1095 is used here because it is cheap not because it is good. Sure, its good enough, but then again so are horses at making cross country trips. Its technical possible to ride coast to coast on a horse, but in today’s day and age, why would you want to? That’s GEC’s 1095.

Blade Shape: 2

Weird handle, pretty normal blade—its a nice trick of the Toothpick. I actually really like the extra long clip on the spine of the knife. It also lacks the sharp grind transition that some traditionals like a Lanny’s clip. As a result, it is a good grind with very little in the way of quirks.

Grind: 2

If there is any reason to go for a traditional, the grinds are univerisally that reason. The stock is thin and then taken down to a paper edge just behind the cutting bevel. The end result is that traditional knives just cut better than their modern counterparts. In our race for the new, we often forget that edge geometry is more important than steel chemistry (which is why traditionals aren’t perpetually limited by their normally blah steel choices). The grind here is absolutely great, slicey and keen.

Deployment Method: 1

Phew….this is a bit stiff, even for a traditional. The weird handle, the tiny exposed portion of the knife and the thin handle make it harder than normal to access the nail nick. The design just makes this problem unavoidable.

Retention Method: 2

With most traditionals, the right answer here is no clip. With something as thin and curvy as a Toothpick that is 100% the correct choice. I can’t really even imagine implementing a clip on this knife. That said, if I was a knife dictator, I would probably send a Toothpick to Jeremy Marsh and see if his insanely creative brain could make one work. Until then, no clip is 100% the right choice.

Lock/Blade Safety: 2

With a backspring as stiff as board, there is no sense that the blade will collapse during use. This is the safest slipjoint I have used, ever.

Other Considerations

Fidget Factor: Very Low

Slippies are low on the fidget factor. The lack of access to the nail nick is also pretty poor. And then there is the Mr. Olympia-strong backspring. You ain’t playin’ around with this thing other than maybe to turn its lustrous handle over and over in your hand.

Fett Effect: Very High

With 1095 and a lack of care you can have the blade looking like the hull of Slave 1 in a few days. Don’t force your patina, earn it. Wimps force patina.

Value: High

Steel aside, this is a very good knife for the money. Its obvious that there is hand finishing here and the materials, while not exotic, play well together. The brass, steel, and camel bone just pop, especially on the back of the knife. Like a good Al Mar, this is a knife that feels warm and worn in the hand and to have that at this price is pretty darn good.

Overall Score: 17 of 20

The GEC Toothpick is a fun knife, an interesting blade in a market crammed full of same same titanium framelock flippers. It is far from ordinary and far from boring. It is a good cutter and an excellent style-first blade choice. In that regard it is a success. But like with Bark River, a lot of GEC knives feel the same—seen one, seen ‘em all. This isn’t THAT different from the Small Jack or the TC Barlow. Its a good knife but not something earth shattering. I also think that GEC needs to consider carrying options when making knives. They don’t need a clip, but they probably do need a slip. Mine shipped with one because I bought it at Knives Ship Free, but if you don’t buy there you will get a pocket anchor that likes to go into the pocket mosh pit that includes your keys, your change, and your smartphone’s screen. Those things don’t play well together. This is a good knife, but not a great one.

Competition

If we are constraining the field to traditional production folders then yeah, there is no competition for GEC. Canal Street is basically gone, Case hasn’t made a good mainline folder since the Eisenhower administration, and the Italians are obsessed with making knives that seem like traditionals but really aren’t. Buck makes some decent knives, including a Toothpick, but they lack of the polish and materials that are used on GECs.

But if you open up the field to other nicer pocket beauties I think the Toothpick doesn’t lap the field. I actually like the James Brand Chapter Knife significantly more if I am going for a style-first blade, but there is probably nothing that is more the antithesis of the GEC Toothpick than the Chapter Knife. Then there is the Mnandi, which, if you haven’t picked up on, always beats the competition when I am writing. As a style-first knife, the Mnandi is just so beautiful and it has the performance and design prowess to match.

For the money, you do get quite a nice, if not idiosyncratic knife.

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Case Texas Toothpick