Are Emerson liner locks that bad ?

C

chipdouglas

Joined
Nov 26, 2009
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415
I keep hearing many on here heard of them failing, what's up with that ????
I mean, mine just aren't, and that shouldn't be happening at the price point.

Is it just hearsay or a reality ?
 
I own several Emersons and have never experienced any lock failures. Those who argue against Emerson liner locks also tend to dislike any liner lock .....no mater who the manufacturer is. I've learned that the liner lock vs. back lock vs. frame lock arguments are somewhat similar to this brand of motor oil vs. this other brand of motor oil, Republican vs. Democrat, and this religion vs. another religion. That's just the way the world works. We are all individuals with certain preferences, bias, and pre-conceived ideas.

You do hear of occasional liner locks on Emersons and other folders that have some premature wear or aren't quite right when the are new but that is not the norm and it doesn't just happen with Emersons. All manufacturers have knives that slip through their quality control process.

Buy an Emerson with confidence.......if it fails you then send it back and let them make it right with their excellent customer service.
 
I own and have owned many Emerson liner locks.
Failures? Not even close. Tight and reliable lockup.

Can liner locks fail? Of course. When they do, we hear about them here,
which is good. It lets us help the owner get the problem taken care of.
 
The level of whining around here about faulty knives sometimes gets so loud its hard to think.

Understand that for every one knife that is faulty, there are hundreds that are not.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that the poor sod who ends up with the bad one, will inevitably come here to share his pain with the rest of us lucky SOBs.
 
Out of all the Emersons I have owned I have only ever had 1 knife that the lock actually totally failed on. It was a Mach-1 and it failed in the best way possible :p in that the lock bar would skid over to the other liner and jam in where the second detent sits. Still a lock failure but you wouldn't lose any fingers at least.
 
I see both sides of the liner lock argument. Doing the kind of work I do I get to see a lot of the ones that are trouble for people but certainly not all of them. Having knives mailed to me for work the way I do has opened my eyes to some of the issues I used to just read about here. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure its probably just a small percentage I see compared to what is actually in the hands of end line users or heck even what is actually sent back to the manufacturers for their problems but I've seen enough to know that when a liner lock is prone to defeat most of the time the owners haven't a clue and find out the hard way. In many of the situations they carried it unsuspecting for years. I just saw one yesterday that was here for a beautiful folder with a lock the owner didn't trust. Once I got it out I saw why immediately. I didn't trust it either!

All it takes is once and as someone said it kind of blows up from that one negative regardless of all the positives stacked up for years before that. Its kind of sad that it happens that way in life with everything but its the case and we've all seen it. Toyota is going through that right now in the press. For many years they have had rock solid steady and positive performance. But now one bad batch of parts and the next thing you know all trust is gone. This happens across the board as we all know.
Most of the liner lock bad rep has come from cheap knock off third world country made crap! It is true that any can be problematic and it is true that the liner lock is the one most often seen to be this way but again, reasons being knock offs being mass produced by the millions and the fact that liner locks are a huge percentage of what is being offered to the public compared to all other lock types. With that said, all locks can defeat and all should be checked to be sure they are doing what they are supposed to do once you get a new one. Once that initial break in period if past and the grainy feeling or gritty feeling from the action has smoothed out you begin to really appreciate the Emerson knives. They do require a break in. Some of my older Emerson knives are so smooth now that they are custom knife smoothness or beyond at this point. They sure were nothing like that when new I can tell you that!



STR
 
Thanks for the generous response guys. It really helped cheer me back up about Emerson, cause I do like their design a heck of a lot, and the wave....the wave ! How effective ! No need for automatics.
 
I own at least 10 Emersons, and only once did I have an unreliable liner lock. EKI replaced it, no questions asked.
 
I've never been a fan of liner-locks myself and yes I have spoke out against them.. BUT! If they are done right you have no worries.. Emerson liner locks are second to none.. I love them.. Spyderco's are right up there to.. When considering liner lock knives, I think its important to consider quality, materials, and design of the product.. just my opinion..
 
hissatsu1 said:
I've never been a fan of liner-locks myself and yes I have spoke out against them.. BUT! If they are done right you have no worries.. Emerson liner locks are second to none.. I love them.. Spyderco's are right up there to.. When considering liner lock knives, I think its important to consider quality, materials, and design of the product.. just my opinion..
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+1:thumbup: I've only had/have about 5 Emersons & their linerlocks are the best I've ever come across.Tight lockup,smooth action,no play...etc....etc
 
I've just placed an order for two more Emerson knives at Warriors and Wonders :

A mini commander plain edge new stone washed finish
CQC-7 plain edge stone washed finish

I also got a La griffe as well, and a Spyderco Chinook.
 
chipdouglas said:
I've just placed an order for two more Emerson knives at Warriors and Wonders :

A mini commander plain edge new stone washed finish
CQC-7 plain edge stone washed finish

I also got a La griffe as well, and a Spyderco Chinook.
Click to expand...

That's quite a haul. At least you won't have to worry about the liner lock on that La Griffe :p:thumbup:

The Chinooks (All 3 models) are real nice knives too, they are one of my favorite Spydercos for sure.
 
chipdouglas said:
I've just placed an order for two more Emerson knives at Warriors and Wonders :

A mini commander plain edge new stone washed finish
CQC-7 plain edge stone washed finish

I also got a La griffe as well, and a Spyderco Chinook.
Click to expand...

I too just placed an order from them for a Mini-CQC7 and a La Griffe. You're going to love that stone washed finish when you get it.

And as far as liner locks go - the Emerson's I own seem to have the firmest lock-up of anything I've ever owned and handled.
 
i have had 2 emersons with liner lock issues, but only one was an EKI, 1st was a BM 975Sbt and then my '00 SOCFK, i got the 975 2nd hand and EDC'd the SOCFK for ~ a yr and inertia'd and waved it a lot, but i sent it in and they fixed it no problem, i also would like to add i have had a LOT of emersons i have been collecting/carrying them since '98 or so i would say thats not a bad track record, i have sent back more spydies and BM's with LL issues than EKI's FWIW,

i know i dont see nearly as many LL complaints concerning EKI's nowadays vs 5 yrs ago.

any LL, made by anyone, be it custom or production, can go outta adjustment, & imho waving and inertia'ing them can speed wear, but imho EKI's hold up as good as any.
 
I had a cqc-14 with a liner lock issue, but returned to dealer. I now have a mini-7 and horseman, they are both great, no issues.

When I purchase now, I ask the dealer to do a light spline test and confirm that the liner lock looks good. Probably a good thing to do with any substantial purchase.

I wouldn't hesitate to get another Emerson, just need more cash : )
 
chipdouglas said:
I keep hearing many on here heard of them failing, what's up with that ????
Click to expand...

I've always loved Emerson, but there are a few quirks to their knives. The locks are very "sticky" out of the box, which means that the lock bar engages the blade tang very firmly and can be difficult to disengage- sometimes enormously so. Add to that Emerson's notoriously aggressive lockbar serrations/jimping, and you get a knife that many users need two hands to unlock when new. Many a thumb has been worn sore trying to release brand-new Emerson linerlocks.

After a little use, the lockbar contact face wears in, lockup becomes smoother, and the lock gets easier to disengage. Here's the second quirk: depending on your usage patterns, Emerson lockbars can wear more quickly than you're used to. They're 100% titanium, not heat-treated, which makes them significantly softer than the 154CM blade tang. Good Emersons always start with early, super tight lockup, which is normal for a high-quality knife. On heavily-used knives, though, you will sometimes see the lockbar rapidly migrate across the blade tang towards the opposite liner, sometimes after just a few months. If you look at the lockbar of a user Emerson, you'll usually see a significant chunk taken out of the contact face where the blade tang has literally shaved away the titanium. This ensures Emerson's legendary tight, no-fail lockup, but I still don't like the way it looks.

My Mini 7 started at about 20% and after half a year moved past 60%. It's been holding steady since then, but that has always been a niggling concern in the back of my mind. My Mini Com has seen very little use and lockup is still about 20%, but we'll see if that changes once I start to use it more.

The good thing is that EKI and Ernie himself are fanatical about taking care of their customers. Plenty of people who have had minor and serious issues with their Emersons have sent their knives in, and I've yet to hear a single person say that EKI's service was unsatisfactory. If these knives came from a lesser maker, I might be inclined to say that this kind of wear is unacceptable. From a company of Emerson's caliber, I have no worries.
 
Gang I have to say that if you REALLY have concerns about lock failure, get a friction folder. YOU are the lock!
I know the limits of all knife locks and use caution always. When I use my friction folder, the only way I'll get cut, is by my failure with the knife.
 
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You can't delete your account here, or your posts... but deleting the content you contributed, well, that's easy to fix.

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