Are Emerson Knives as Good as they say

I personally don't think that the EKI's are the best hard use knives around by any stretch. I have owned 4 and the best of the bunch was I think the CQC7A. I owned the Mach1, CQC, Commander, and the LaGriffe. Gave the LaGriffe to my eldest son and traded or sold the other 3. Couldn't get a reasonable edge on any of them, at least not like my BM's or Spyderco's or CS knives. Not even close to getting them near what I consider sharp enough. Didn't have any QC problems with them really oustide of the Commander not centering between the scales and the pivot working loose on occasion. Fixed those problems but I will say that I do not like chisel grinds at all on any knife. Maybe the EKI's turned me off to this type of grind. I know some people swear by them.

I tried several different cutting tests and stabbing tests with the above mentioned knives and they in my opinion failed miserably. The results may still be in the archives. Who knows. What prompted the type of testing mentioned above is that I just out of habit tried to stick one of them into my cutting board. Low and behold it wouldn't stick! It may have been the commander. I then retrieved the others and same result. Would not stick. Closest to sticking was the CQC7. Also all 4 proved to a bitch to sharpen. Just couldn't attain the same degree of sharpness found in my other knives. Lots of tool marks on the pivot of the blades and the liners. Sorely disappointed in them to say the least.

I know others will disagree and maybe with good reason. Me I want a knife that is easy to sharpen, won't loosen up, is of stout design etc. etc. So I picked up a SERE 2K and haven't looked back yet. Have purchased several other knives since but none and I mean none come close to the quality of the SERE. Sharp, and easy to maintain the edge, fit and finish is custom quality and the liner is ultra reliable. Thumb studs suck but just put shrink tubing over them. I have used this knife to dig arrows out of rotten stumps and not so rotten stumps. This is twisting the blade and torquing it and banging on the spine and the back of the scales to take chips of wood out of the stumps to get my arrows. No ill effects yet! I am sold on the design and robustness of this knife like no other folder I own. Keep'em sharp
 
JayHarley, you are correct on a couple points there. Undeniably the wave works. Faster than an auto too I would say.

However, I wear either a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, or I'm wearing a pair of slacks. Neither of these apparel items is sufficient to activate the wave feature, hence it was useless to me. For somebody in a pair of jeans though, the thing works marvelously.

You are also correct in that I put absolutely no value on speed of deployment. Put that together with the fact that the chisel grind was not good for me as an EDC item, and it was 3 strikes and the CQC7 was out. Nothing against the quality of the piece, that was fine.

Keep in mind that when the Seahawks are in the Super Bowl this year, I can scalp those tickets for the price of a good custom. :D

Oh, you were also correct on the teflon tape issue. 2 wraps and loose threads disappear.
 
I have been interested in Emerson products but, so far, I only have their little fixed blade LaGriffe. I have been pleased with everything about this knife. While I like the Emerson designs, I have been reluctant to try one of their folders because of comments on the forums about poor quality control at Emerson.

Like Longbow, I have an AL Mar SERE 2000 and agree this knife is hard to beat when it comes to precision, ruggedness, etc.
 
Velitrius:

Yes my Commander is really faster than any auto in my collection. Speed is one of the main points that initially caught my attention with the Emerson line.

I have had great luck with the Wave working in Jeans, Dockers, most shorts, and nice dress slacks. It even works great when wearing sweat pants, with pockets. Granted I would not want to overdue the Wave routine in the nice slacks, for fear of wearing them out in the pocket area. Maybe the cut and design of the pocket is the reason I have no problems with the wave working. I also always wear my shirts tucked into my pants. A loose hanging shirt might make the Wave useless.

I also wear the kydex quick deployment sheath with the Commander, quite often, and wow, it really makes the knife a fast opener.

Funny how the "sharp" words seem really humerous when discussing knives: The wave (Sea Hawk's version and Emerson's version), "papercut", and now "scalp". Yiikes!
 
you can't go wrong with a commander. I got mine here about a year ago used on the exchange for 80 bucks :P

The sharpening takes a little while to get the hang of, but once you do, it can go from zero to hair popping quickly.



But I just wish it had a swing guard on there too.
 
jayharley, thanks again! wrapped the pivot screw with teflon tape (I like this "term") and so far, so good. Also, sharpened my CQC7BTS to a new 25degreee angle, using the EdgePro Apex. First time I'm using the EdgePro on a knife other than a junk kitchen cutter. It shaved yesterday, but not today.:( any ideas why it lost the shaving edge overnight? I checked for wire edges with my naked eyes, but didn't see any. I stropped on a cardboard but it is difficult to strop the chisel edge side. any suggestions?
 
In 2008 I was a dyed in the wool Spyderco/Benchmade customer of many years, but at a large knife show I discussed the merits of the Commander and the CQC-8 (a.k.a. the "Banana") for use with Kali techniques. I was cautiously thinking about switching over to Emerson.

During the conversation, Ernest Emerson suggested I enter my name in a drawing to win the opportunity buy one of his custom handmade knives as the event was in a few minutes. So I threw my hat into the ring.

Unbelievably I won and purchased a standard size Commander!

Beautiful knife and my only experience with a live Emerson.

To augment the Commander I bought one of his production training versions of the Commander knife. I trained with it for several sessions of Kali when the lock began to get temperamental about staying engaged. Then one of the screwed on the clip worked itself loose. I telephoned the Emerson factory and they offered to adjust the liner for me if I sent it back in and they also asked if I might have purchased a counterfeit Emerson from someone. As I bought the knife from Knifecenter.com I made it clear I was certain I had not.

After I hung up I felt as it someone had taken "the wind out of my sails" on Emerson knives. While I can find absolutely no fault with the custom Emerson, that blue handled training knife ruined me on the brand. While I understand that every company puts out a lemon from time to time, I have never had a bad Benchmade or Spyderco knife out of the many purchases I have made over the years. The other things that gave me pause was the difference in the construction of the handle and liner lock on the training knife versus the custom model. The custom model is much thicker and the handle is made of titanium whereas the training knife is mostly G10 with a much thinner liner. As the Emerson website claims that the training knives are made to the same level of quality as the sharp ones I have avoided adding anymore to my collection.

Today the Emerson training and custom Commanders live in my safe while one of my trusty Spyderco Military or Benchmade Skirmishes resides in my pocket.

Truly a shame as I can see where the Commander started and where it ended. Maybe my experience is unusual, but it is what it is.

- Anthony
 
Pog said:
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?
Click to expand...

I bought an Emerson Snubby, new from Knifeworks. After a month of not very hard usage its lock starting easily failing. After two trips back to EKI its lock still fails easily with only moderate pressure upon the spine. It now sits in my desk drawer. That's my story and why I won't buy another Emerson. If you truly want a waved knife then buy a Spyderco Endura or Delica with the wave feature.
 
I only ever had the Emerson CQC Super 7B-waved and the Super Karambit. Neither one ever actually used much. The chisel grind simply isn't good for utility, and the tip broke on both the Super 7's I had. While the handle is made of good materials, the 154CM steel seems a tad old. But again, it could just be the grind rather than the steel. I might like a waved commander, but I no longer see a reason to buy it given that the ZT 0300 series offers more for the same price(more titanium, framelock VS liner, S30V vs 154CM, DLC vs Black Oxide, assisted opening).
 
Wow, even my old screen name was up there.

Since that post I picked up 4 more EKIs (within the past 9 months) I love them.
 
wow 8 years :O but still, I have an Emerson Combat Karambit and I am very happy with it. Feels extremely solid in the hand, blade is razor sharp out of the box and the wave just makes the knife super fast coming out of your pocket.
 
Yes, Emerson knives are very good.
CQC7Vup.jpg
Pog said:
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?
Click to expand...
 
I have only five Emerson knives so far and none of them disappoint. All lockup on the first third of the tang and I haven't had to adjust anything. IMO, great knives, great build and great materials, top off the most comfortable knives I own. :thumbup:
 
Wow sort of a zombie thread here...

i like emersons, i love my cqc7 and will never get rid of it. I have handled/owned about 6 and am planning on owning more
 
dinozzo said:
Wow sort of a zombie thread here...

i like emersons, i love my cqc7 and will never get rid of it. I have handled/owned about 6 and am planning on owning more
Click to expand...

+1 on the zombie bit.

I'm sure there have been a few more threads since 2002 about Emerson quality.
 
Standard V grind on an Emerson waved anything, and I'll buy 10 of them. Chisel grind, I have one, it's OK. I use it around the house for tile and molding, but nothing else, chisel grind works for those applications. Chisel grind is OK for some things, but really poor for most things. Nice design, poor choice for the blade grind.
 
Wow is right. This is thread necromancy at it's finest. SHould have just started a new thread...
oh well:rolleyes:
My favorite Emersons so far as the CQC7 and the A100. The A100 is one of the best designs I've seen. The blade is solid, very good Fit and Finish on that model, the lock up is awesome, (thick Ti liner). As always the blade is super sharp. I just like the way it carries, it's a very discreet knife and it packs a lot of blade into a small space.
The Gentleman Jim is also an outstanding design, I really want to get my hands on one of those. It's a very original design. I might try and get one of these before they are all gone.
 
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