- Joined
- Feb 3, 1999
- Messages
- 3,180
Hey guys,
It was my great pleasure to meet EVERYONE!
As has been mentioned, Shawn couldn't make it to the show and Derek asked if I'd help out at the booth. It took me around .23 seconds to think about it. "Oh Hell Yea!!"
Unfortunately (and most of the guys will tell you) the show was pretty damn busy and I didn't have a bunch of spare time to take a huge amount of pictures.
Thursday night a bunch of us met up at "Ruby Tuesdays" for dinner. Don D (Sniper308), Joel & Maria Pirela, David Brunner (Bandityo), Oliver (Chindit) and Bob Doggett (Dogman). I left my knives in the Hotel, but Don brought a very small selection of his collection, including the Silver wrapped Ivory Pretac, the waved Eight (did I mention I was in lust) and a few others. Joel brought his CQC9 and a couple of his deigns that were a huge hit. David had Reese's scale release DA auto and just for the record, it's damn cool. Bob Doggett had his first folders, very nice stuff.
I met Kevin Robinson first thing Friday afternoon. Great guy. He was accompanied by Larry Chew (I must get a Chew "Covert")
I'm going to "out" Kevin. Kevin brought his first "ground up" folder to show and it's the "poop". Bolstered, Carbon Fiber scales and a recurved, almost Bolo-ish Satin blade. Instant wood! Guess who put in an instant order for one.
Now onto the EKI booth news. I'm still working on the pictures, but let's get the ball rolling.
There was a huge selection of knives for sale and display. Ravens, Specwars, Mach1s, Commanders, CQC7A&Bs, Waved CQC7Bs, SARKs, P-SARKs, SOCFKs, Tantos, La Griffes and the new "Blackbird". The Blackbird is essentially a Raven with a G10 and Ti body. It's available in both the Spearpoint "A" and the Tanto "B" variations. Very cool! I' always wanted an OD Raven, but never got one. I will own a Blackbird of two. Speaking of which, news is that if you want a Raven, get 'em while you can. The Blackbird will be replacing the Raven in the line up.
I had never place hands on one of the Tantos (I&I Tanto), but Jesus, what a knife! Four inch blade, half guard (ala Commander) and almost a Viper MV-1 butt. As I said in a post earlier this evening, one came home with me.
Tanto
The Mini Commander Prototypes and "Something else" were expected either Friday evening or Saturday morning. Of course they didn't show until Saturday afternoon, but they were well worth the wait!
The Mini Commander is trick! My first impression when I opened one of the boxes was that it's actually larger then I thought it would be. As the mini CQC7s have a 2.9 inch blade, I guess I expected the Mini Commander to be the same size.
Top to bottom, ES1-M, "CM-1" Commander Proto and Mini Commander Proto
The blade length of the Mini Commander is 3.4 inches. To put that into perspective, the waved CQC7B has a 3.5 inch blade. Overall length will be 8.00", blade thickness .125". The body has the new generation traction filework on top and bottom inside of the butt.
The Minis. Top to bottom Mini-C, Mini-B, Mini-A
The blade markings can be found here
Waving it open and folding it for a minute, I love it! It's the perfect size. It hit me at that point that many times I'll show my Commander and someone would say "It's too big, I'd want something smaller. Well here ya' go! I was playing with it and showing it for about an hour when someone asked "How much?" "Ahhhhhh . . . hang on . . . . Derek . . What's the Mini Commander going to retail at?" "$169" he says. "$169?! Are you sure?
Guys, I have mine on order (my first one). If your going to want one, get your order in now. You think a Mini CQC7 is hard to come across, wait till that Mini Commander comes out.
Next was the big surprise. The "Triton X-39". The first Emerson Auto. The Triton will actually be made in a manual version and a SA auto version.
The Triton has an Anodized two piece Aluminum body with traction grooves milled in. The blade is a 4" drop point. The Manual version has a thumb disk, the auto doesn't. The overall length will be 8.9", the blade thickness is .125".
The only thing I would change at all would be a bit beefier spring. But hey, it's only a proto.
Anyone wanting a small QT video of the Triton auto opening, email me and I'll send it out.
My hat's off to Ernie and all the EKI folks on the new models and variations. Job well done!
Let's not forget the "Emerson Challenge" guys. EKI is going to be picking up the "Captain's of Crunch" gripper line from Iron Mind. These are incredible training tools.
You could either do the #3 or the #4 grippers. If you managed to close the #3 gripper one handed, unassisted, you got your choice of any production knife (non Proto) in the EKI line. If you managed to close the #4 one handed, unassisted, you got your choice of any custom from Ernie!
"But wait" you say, "there must be a trick". This ain't your Momma's thigh master here! The #3 is 280lbs and the #4 is 365lbs! There are only like 25 people that have ever closed the #3 and one who has done the #4. On the first day a gentleman walked up and clamped down to within 1 - 1 1/2 mm of beating the #3. As it turns out, he just happened to be the guy that first beat the #3 and is listed on Iron Minds web site! All in all, no one walked out with a new knife, but many have their sites on the next show.
Matt (aka SNiPER) from DeltaZ bears mentioning here. This young man appears to be of average strength, but he managed to continuously smoke the #2 (That's 195lbs!). Sadly, I never did beat the #2, but Matt made sure to rub my nose in that fact quit often.
Matt, "Your mine next year Mister!!"
What a great weekend!
John
[This message has been edited by John Hollister (edited 06-12-2001).]
It was my great pleasure to meet EVERYONE!
As has been mentioned, Shawn couldn't make it to the show and Derek asked if I'd help out at the booth. It took me around .23 seconds to think about it. "Oh Hell Yea!!"
Unfortunately (and most of the guys will tell you) the show was pretty damn busy and I didn't have a bunch of spare time to take a huge amount of pictures.
Thursday night a bunch of us met up at "Ruby Tuesdays" for dinner. Don D (Sniper308), Joel & Maria Pirela, David Brunner (Bandityo), Oliver (Chindit) and Bob Doggett (Dogman). I left my knives in the Hotel, but Don brought a very small selection of his collection, including the Silver wrapped Ivory Pretac, the waved Eight (did I mention I was in lust) and a few others. Joel brought his CQC9 and a couple of his deigns that were a huge hit. David had Reese's scale release DA auto and just for the record, it's damn cool. Bob Doggett had his first folders, very nice stuff.
I met Kevin Robinson first thing Friday afternoon. Great guy. He was accompanied by Larry Chew (I must get a Chew "Covert")
Now onto the EKI booth news. I'm still working on the pictures, but let's get the ball rolling.
There was a huge selection of knives for sale and display. Ravens, Specwars, Mach1s, Commanders, CQC7A&Bs, Waved CQC7Bs, SARKs, P-SARKs, SOCFKs, Tantos, La Griffes and the new "Blackbird". The Blackbird is essentially a Raven with a G10 and Ti body. It's available in both the Spearpoint "A" and the Tanto "B" variations. Very cool! I' always wanted an OD Raven, but never got one. I will own a Blackbird of two. Speaking of which, news is that if you want a Raven, get 'em while you can. The Blackbird will be replacing the Raven in the line up.
I had never place hands on one of the Tantos (I&I Tanto), but Jesus, what a knife! Four inch blade, half guard (ala Commander) and almost a Viper MV-1 butt. As I said in a post earlier this evening, one came home with me.
Tanto
The Mini Commander Prototypes and "Something else" were expected either Friday evening or Saturday morning. Of course they didn't show until Saturday afternoon, but they were well worth the wait!
The Mini Commander is trick! My first impression when I opened one of the boxes was that it's actually larger then I thought it would be. As the mini CQC7s have a 2.9 inch blade, I guess I expected the Mini Commander to be the same size.
Top to bottom, ES1-M, "CM-1" Commander Proto and Mini Commander Proto
The blade length of the Mini Commander is 3.4 inches. To put that into perspective, the waved CQC7B has a 3.5 inch blade. Overall length will be 8.00", blade thickness .125". The body has the new generation traction filework on top and bottom inside of the butt.
The Minis. Top to bottom Mini-C, Mini-B, Mini-A
The blade markings can be found here
Waving it open and folding it for a minute, I love it! It's the perfect size. It hit me at that point that many times I'll show my Commander and someone would say "It's too big, I'd want something smaller. Well here ya' go! I was playing with it and showing it for about an hour when someone asked "How much?" "Ahhhhhh . . . hang on . . . . Derek . . What's the Mini Commander going to retail at?" "$169" he says. "$169?! Are you sure?
Guys, I have mine on order (my first one). If your going to want one, get your order in now. You think a Mini CQC7 is hard to come across, wait till that Mini Commander comes out.
Next was the big surprise. The "Triton X-39". The first Emerson Auto. The Triton will actually be made in a manual version and a SA auto version.
The Triton has an Anodized two piece Aluminum body with traction grooves milled in. The blade is a 4" drop point. The Manual version has a thumb disk, the auto doesn't. The overall length will be 8.9", the blade thickness is .125".
The only thing I would change at all would be a bit beefier spring. But hey, it's only a proto.
Anyone wanting a small QT video of the Triton auto opening, email me and I'll send it out.
My hat's off to Ernie and all the EKI folks on the new models and variations. Job well done!
Let's not forget the "Emerson Challenge" guys. EKI is going to be picking up the "Captain's of Crunch" gripper line from Iron Mind. These are incredible training tools.
You could either do the #3 or the #4 grippers. If you managed to close the #3 gripper one handed, unassisted, you got your choice of any production knife (non Proto) in the EKI line. If you managed to close the #4 one handed, unassisted, you got your choice of any custom from Ernie!
"But wait" you say, "there must be a trick". This ain't your Momma's thigh master here! The #3 is 280lbs and the #4 is 365lbs! There are only like 25 people that have ever closed the #3 and one who has done the #4. On the first day a gentleman walked up and clamped down to within 1 - 1 1/2 mm of beating the #3. As it turns out, he just happened to be the guy that first beat the #3 and is listed on Iron Minds web site! All in all, no one walked out with a new knife, but many have their sites on the next show.
Matt (aka SNiPER) from DeltaZ bears mentioning here. This young man appears to be of average strength, but he managed to continuously smoke the #2 (That's 195lbs!). Sadly, I never did beat the #2, but Matt made sure to rub my nose in that fact quit often.
Matt, "Your mine next year Mister!!"
What a great weekend!
John
[This message has been edited by John Hollister (edited 06-12-2001).]
