Indeed, the famous Fremont Jack is made on the GEC #79 frame. I also like the looks of the 35 Churchill, but I have a sad tale to tell. I'm relatively new to the GEC knife scene, and the 35 Churchill was my first GEC knife. Unfortunately I couldn't get over the thinness of the sheepsfoot blade; it was the same size, shape, thickness, and flexibility of a cheap Stanley utility blade that I keep in a wooden tool tote on my workbench. I ended up sending the Churchill back to the distributor because in my mind I couldn't justify spending $97 on a knife with a blade that thin. That was probably 9 months ago and sometimes I still find myself looking at 35 Churchills, thinking, "maybe that blade wasn't too thin after all..." The size, equal end frame, maroon micarta handle covers, and perfect clip/sheepsfoot blade configuration would otherwise make this the perfect pocketknife. However, it's just not meant to be for me...RalphAlsip wrote:My taste is similar to Rick Railsplitter's in that I like the equal end patterns and have several Churchill examples as well. This picture is a 2 blade #79 Montana Workhorse. The 79 is beefier than the 35. I like the combination of the big spear blade and the small sheepsfoot. It is a sleeve board frame so the bolsters are round but not equal. I believe the #79 frame is used on the Northwoods Fremont Jack.
But I do know that the perfect forever GEC is this one, which sadly, I don't own, and this is not even my picture: What I like: The plain clip blade, sleeveboard handle shape, the perfectly straight clip blade that doesn't droop downward, the elusively rare sawcut bone handles, the just-right medium size frame if you can only have one knife, and did I mention how perfect the clip blade is?
Lee