Are Emerson Knives as Good as they say

P

Pog

Joined
Apr 12, 2002
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5
I have just been on the Emerson web site and there is a lot of literature claiming they are the best knife manufacture. Is this just advertising or are their knives bloody damned good. And has anybody used their wave opening system, is it easy to use?
 
Aside from the marketing hype, I will say that Emerson knives ARE great knives. They're not fancy gent knives, but they're straight forward no-nonsense using knives. The "wave" feature functions as advertised and is easy to deploy. The best part is that Emerson Knives have a no questions asked warranty policy in the event your knife needs servicing. You can take the knives apart and order replacement parts with no hassle. With other production companies, you'll void the warranty if you take the knife apart.
 
I think you'll find Emerson to be competitive with, or better than, most knives in their price category. The two Commanders (full size and mini) I have are well manufactured, with quality materials and reliable mechanisms.

The wave is pretty revolutionary once you master it, done properly the knife is open as fast as you can get it out of your pocket.

A great choice for a production folder, but they are not without peer- see also Benchmade and Spyderco. Everbody's advertising makes wondrous claims, forums like this help to clear the air.

:cool:
 
I'm not a big Wave fan but the Emerson's are heavy duty, use top quality materials, are competitively priced and feel really comfortable in my hand. I don't use mine to it's full potential but it's nice to have that potential. There's been some discussion in the past regarding their quality control. I've only handled 1 Benchmade and 1 Emerson and they've both been perfect.
 
I am not an Emerson fan, mainly because the edge seems to "cut to the right." However, I have owned 4 Benchmades, 2 970SBT's and 2 970ST's and five Emersons, 4 CQC-7B's and a Commander. Every one arrived straight, tight screws, no dings. Not one loosened or failed to perform. All took a great edge (after I learned how) and I recovered all of my money when I sold them to my greedy friends.

There are darn few products I would buy sight-unseen. If a new Emerson came out that I needed or wanted, I would buy it immediately knowing it would be good quality for the money.

And like I said, I am not a fan.
 
Few Knives are as good as they say, it's rare when they live up to the hype. I am not sure if you are talking about Emerson Customs or Emerson Production, But these are my thoughts on production emersons.

Emerson Designs and Ergos are Fantastic.

Chisel Grinds suck.

The shapen on one side edge, is awesome, it may not do everything better, but for some jobs it's unbeatable.

Wave is cool but the hook needs to be bigger.

The Lock up on these knives is not that good.

The action is not that great.

They have a nice G10 finish, and hard chromeing is really cool.

They are too expensive.

Basically they have great designs but they would be better if they were still made by benchmade.
 
I am a big Emerson fan. I own 2 Commanders and 1 CQC7. However I do not believe any one knife manufacturer's product can really be considered "the best" or the "toughest". It depends on what you want a knife to do.

My oldest Commander is my EDC, in a quick deployment Emerson kydex sheath. This combinatin simply cannot be beat for deployment speed. Sharpening a Commander will take a lot of practice, but it can be done easily. The lockup is fine and has never failed me. However the lockup seems no better or stronger, for my usage, than my Benchmades, Al Mar SERE or Tops Mangum etc etc etc.

Also, you will find that the Commander is really very light weight. Do not confuse this with being cheaply made. Making a sizeable knife strong and lightweight must be very difficult but Emerson has accomplished it with their Commander.

Check around for prices before you buy. At $185.00 I think the Commander is overpriced. At $135 - $150, I think you will be very happy. The WAVE alone is worth the price of admission.

The Emerson line, for some reason has been the subject of much debate on these forums. Most of this is based on jealousy, due to Emerson's brilliant WAVE patent. Also many folks simply don't like one manufacturer being able to have such a large following of satisfied customers. Again: pure jealousy. Check prices and take the plunge. You will like the knives.
 
Great designs, awesome looks, easy assembly/disassembly, overpriced(definately). Quality is a crapshoot though. For the most part they are not too bad except lock up and liner thickness.
YMMV
 
I think that when used properly, the chisel ground is great. It's definately not a grind for fine work, but works well for cutting cardboard or chopping, etc.
Matt
 
No. They're OK if you like to fiddle with them and even better if you send them to someone to redo like Bandit. They're a no nonsense knife that screams out "don't mess with me!". But best hard use knife in the world? Not even close.
 
If you go by advertising propaganda alone, I think we'd all agree that Cold Steel makes the best stuff. :rolleyes:

Had a waved CQC7, but got rid of it. "The wave alone is worth the price of admission" ??? Uhhhh, not me. If I want to spend a hundred and a half to do the wave, I'll go to a Seahawks game, thanx. I was not impressed by the piece, but somebody else was, so they bought it off me.

Knives being as subjective as food and wine, you will find those that like Emerson stuff, and those who don't. I don't, but you just might.
 
I wanted a p-sark until I got to handle one, along with a Commander. Thin liners, scales aren't cut to the same profile, iffy pivot action, I HATE chisel grinds, not very impressive lines, way overpriced-how many linerlock G10 handled BM's and Spydie's are this price?, wave was very uncomfortable for me to use.
 
:( i just got my CQC7B a month ago. and I have some problems with the loosening pivot screw. what is "loctite" or "teflon tape"? is it a brand or generic term?

also, I dinged the tip of my blade when it hit a bathroom tile acceidentally - now it no longer feels super piercing sharp. and I suck at sharpening. :(

anor problem I have is the liner lock looks (when you turn the knife upside down) like it's migrating towards the right liner a bit too much. is it supposed to be like this? i've used the wave like about 50 times or so? or do i have a lemon?

but to be fair, the wave action is smooth on mine and I like it. the weight and ergonomics are good too.
 
while EKI is certainly in the top 5 imho, is itthe ultimate, if such a thing even exists?

no

i love my commander/CQC7/BM 975SBT/BM 970BT, excellent knives, but i dont know that they are much better than say a BM 710/axis AFCK/spydie lum tanto folder/MT LCC/etc

the spydie lum tanto has almost exactly the same lenght/width/thickness blade, w/a better grind (hamaguchi) and is lighter/thinner to boot....and this is the BM 975, bigger than a CQC7

EKI is great. but #1, well it depends on what ya want

must admit the wave is the bomb, undoubtably the fastest way to deploy a folder, followed very closely by the DDR maxx horns, and the BM axis

if ya dont think the wave rocks, try it, its hard to beat imho

i used to say the wave was a gimmick -- WRONG -- it is the $hit w/out a doubt, it works , and works fast

ya could do worse than a EKI imho

sifu
 
got to handle a commander at a knife show in marlboro mass a while ago, seemed like a solid knife, well made. i didn't really have time to play with the wave much but i'm sure i would get used to it. I don't really like chisel grinds but then again i haven't done much cutting with them either.

- Pete
 
Velitrius: Regarding the Wave. Perhaps what I should have said was "if you want the very very very fastest deployment knife, then the Wave is worth the price of admission". From the sound of it, you don't seem to care how fast you can take a folder from your pocket and have it open, ready to go. Your choice.

I, and most of the Commander supporters, seem to look at speed as the reason for the Wave existing in the first place.

If you want the Wave you will go to a Seahawks game??? Pretty funny. However, next time you need a fast opening knife, in an emergency, I don't think whipping out your Seahawks ticket is going to help much. However I have heard of a "paper cut" being hurtful.

spyken: Locktite is a brandname. Use only the blue color. Not the red. Teflon tape is a generic name for a tape which seals a theaded attachment. I think it is mainly used for plumbing situations. Any hardware store carries all of these. On the Emerson pivot screws I always use the tape. Allows you to make small adjustments if necessary.
 
jayharley,
thanks a lot! don't think we have loctite locally. but the "teflon tape" we have here is white in colour (doesn't really go with the black tactical scheme) but I'll try it anyways. the loosening pivot screw just drives me nuts!!!:eek:
 
And all this time I thought I was the only Knut who used Teflon tape! Does the trick, especially in a situation where there's concern about Loc-Tite leakage into the pivot area.

Professor.
 
spyken: Don't worry about the Teflon Tape being white. You will not see any of it since you will only wrap it around the theads of the pivot screw.

Just remove the pivot screw completely. Take the tape and wrap it 2-3 times around the treads only. You will have excess tape hanging off of the end of the screw which should be trimmed.

Next just rub your fingers around the treads to push the tape into the treads. Now simply screw the pivot screw back in place. The tape will hold the screw snug. However, if you need to adjust the screw, you can do it without a problem.

Emerson told me about this when I bought my first Commander a couple of years ago.
 
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