Collect All Commanders?

C

Chipster

Joined
Sep 21, 2000
Messages
20
How many production versions of the Commander exist? Are there special vintages? Any "first year of production" specials? Is it possible that one man could own all variants?
 
John Hollister is the High Excelsior of Commanderology. He will probably be happy to give you the unabridged version of the answer to your question.

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Usual Suspect
http://www.freeyellow.com/members8/arkhamdrifter/index.html
 
Hmmm... Lets see

Original with thick scales and thick liners
Commander with 2 detents

Black Commander blade
Silver commander blade
Green commander blade
damascus blade
black handles
green handles
waveless commander blade
thumbdiscless commander blade

you do the math...


 
The original commander w/ thicker scales that I had, was Serial Numbered and dated 98, only had one detent, and had a true, uncoated satin blade, not bead blasted.
 
In an old issue of TK, there's a pic of a Commander with the Spyderco opening hole...

--dan
 
That commander was a prototype. If I remember correctly it has a Spyderco type opening hole, no thumbdisc and no wave. The model was never manufactured, and I don't believe any were ever sold.

Should we count that?
 
'98 was the first year of production.

Wow, let's see:

Black Plain Blade Old Style
Black 50/50 Blade Old Style
Satin Plain Blade Old Style
Satin 50/50 Blade Old Style
Black Plain Blade New Style
Black 50/50 Blade New Style
Black Plain Lefty New Style
Black 50/50 Lefty New Style
Satin Plain Blade New Style
Satin 50/50 Blade New Style
CN 50/50 Blade New Style (Part of the CN sets)
Commander Trainer
Waveless New Style
Diskless New Style
Mil-Spec marked Green-T Old Style
Green-T Plain New Style
Green-T 50/50 New Style
Green bodied/Satin bladed New Style
Green bodied/Black-T bladed New Style
Damascus "C/P" 50/50 pre-production New Style (handground, but production marked)

That's all the production ones that immediately pop to mind. Once the "C/P" shop is up, skies the limit.

John

Notice I didn't mention the fabled Ti Commander?
smile.gif
I wonder if we'll ever see those?

[This message has been edited by John Hollister (edited 10-22-2000).]
 
John, your're scary. I can't even remember what I had for lunch & you remember all that.
smile.gif
 
Wow is right! I'd have to sell my '75 Volvo 164E to pay for all those Commanders.

Now, who's got the lowdown on the differences? Old style, new style, etc.? Thick scales, thin scales...what's the dimensional difference, etc. Maybe a few pix would be a good reference for this site.

Inquiring minds want to know!!!
 
John is truly the God (or at least High Priest) of the Commander. Soon there will be a few more to add to that list. Stay tuned Emerson fans.

Take care,
Derek

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Emersonknives.com

The #1 Hard Use Knives In The World
 
I am but a fan of the design.
smile.gif


Chipster, here is a clip from a posting I made some time ago, hope it helps:

http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum16/HTML/000511.html


  • * The blade grind is slightly different. The new style keeps the spine thickness further out toward the tip
    * The scales and liners are thinner, making for a thinner overall knife
    * The newer liners are serrated behind the thumb ramp. (same picture)
    * There is an internal change as well. If I recall correctly, it's the addition of a second detent on the right side.

I apologize about the quality of the pictures, but you should be able to get the idea. The newer Commander is on the top in each picture.
Click to expand...

John
 
John:
If you don't me asking, how many Commanders do you own?
Maybe some pictures of the collection?
 
I started out to get one of everything, but quickly learned that would be almost impossible. I currently own:

Two '98 Old Style serialized Black-T plain edge
One Satin 50/50 New Style
One CN 50/50 New Style serialized (with the matching CN CQC7B)
One New Style 50/50 Black-T
One New Style 50/50 Black-T with thick Black Micarta Scales
One C/P DT Ladder Pattern Damascus 50/50 Handground. Old style blade grind, new style body
One Satin ES1-M

Picture
Picture

[This message has been edited by John Hollister (edited 10-22-2000).]
 
Dear John,

In the picture of the two different blade styles shown above you say that the NEWER blade grind is the one at the TOP of the picture. What confuses me is that almost ALL of the 2000 marked Commander I have seen have the blade shape of the blade on the BOTTOM of the photograph but with the larger grind area on the tip as shown in the TOP blade... why is this? Did Emerson shange the grind geometry for the last stock they had of the older configuration Commander blades?

Second, are carbon fiber scales available for the Commander? Is so, what's the cost?

Thanks,

Ben
 
Ben, the larger tip grind shown on the top of the picture is the new style.

Carbon Fiber is not currently an option, but it would look great. I would not be at all surprised to see it offered in the C/P line. If it's not already planned, it should be.
smile.gif


rfrost, I reluctantly listed them at the bottom of the list. I say reluctantly because they never came to be (yet
smile.gif
) and they were not to be a production piece, which was the question. If I were to list the customs, I would say the as yet unreleased Ti model and the pre-production Specwar marked Commanders. I would probably add the ES1-Ms, ES1-Cs (without the wave), the Spyde holed ES1-C (without the wave) and the CM-1 (I believe it was called) which I hope to have a picture of soon (hint, hint - you know who you are).

John
 
John,

Have you also noticed that many of the 2000 dated Commander blades have the larger tip grind yet do NOT have the spine thickness carried farther out to the tip like the top blade in your photograph..IE: Many have the blade configuration shown on the BOTTOM example yet the tip grind of the top.

Thanks,

Ben
 
With the exception of the C/P Damascus handground, no. All have been basically the same. Thick out to the tip and the wide point grind.

I'll have to attempt a better picture I guess.

John
 
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