CQC-14 test drive

Joined
Nov 2, 2007
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653
So I had a job today that seemed to call for a bigger knife.Needed to strip back about 15 ft. of the outer plastic jacket and inner aluminum shield from a 100 pair direct burial telco cable. There probably is a tool to strip this stuff - but I don't do this often enough to want to even go looking for it.Cable has a pretty tough 1/8 to maybe 3/16 inch slippery and somewhat tough plastic outer jacket , under that is a aluminum shield and inside all that is a hundred pairs of separately insulated wires - this whole interior bundle is filled with silicone jelly. Idea is that the outer jacket is water proof -and if water does get in it basically floats on the heavier silicone.OK-so this is WAY more than you want to know about telephone wire.
What I ended up doing was basically using the CQC-14 as a pull knife - the chisel grind worked really well at sliding thru the plastic jacket and across the top of the aluminum shield and not cutting into the wire bundle.One of the joys of working with this stuff is that your hands get covered with nice slimy silicone.Emerson stayed in my hands even while they where liberally coated with this crap.Can't control a knife if you can't hang onto it. Excellent size and shape to the handle - scales are interesting - very gripy even while literally slimy. Scales are also comfortable - pretty good trick!
Chisel grind is really different - this is going to take a little getting used to.In 50 years of daily knife use I have very rarely cut myself with my own knife. Have in the last six months cut myself with two knives ( Lightfoot and this Emerson) - both chisel grinds - each time operator error was obviously the major problem - but after decades of conventional v-grind blades - you do have to think about how to use a chisel grind effectively (bloodlessly).My limited experience with these is that they are at least wickedly sharp.
And finally - gotta say - the Wave for my use sucks. YMMV - but I want to open a knife - not have it half open as it comes out of my pocket.Don't need the speed - do need the safety.
 
edge is still fine - very sharp. BTW- I am not the first user of this knife- bought it used . It was a little grity - so disassembled -cleaned and applied a very small amount of CRK grease ( BTW- great stuff) to the bushings and pivot. Put this up there with the Buck Alpha Hunter folder for being stupidly overbuilt - like that a lot. Will probably end up voiding the warranty for all time by doing a wavectemy.
 
Iv dewaved a few of my EKIs too.

The wave is great but on some knives it does get in the way a bit.
 
Forgive my naivete, but how exacctly does one "de-wave" a knife? I'd reallylike to see pics of the final result.

-Scott
 
Forgive my naivete, but how exacctly does one "de-wave" a knife? I'd reallylike to see pics of the final result.

-Scott

A de-waved CQC-12

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I'm guessing a Dremel tool is helpful, and just keep the blade cool as you grind the wave off so you don't have any heat treat issues (probably wouldn't anyway, but why ruin a $150 knife if you don't have to?).
 
The wave is actually soft enough to just file off by hand with a good quality file.
I just clean it up on the grinder so there is not really and danger of the heat treat being goosed.
 
Despite the excessive number of knives I own - I buy knives as tools to use.After just two days of use - i had grown to truly hate the wave.Tried front and back of right jeans pocket - was in the way every time I went to get the car keys or cash , tried my bottomless watch pocket - half open every time I went to use it, right rear jeans pocket - not bad - but my bony ass couldn't take it for very long in the car seat.
I have made it a habit to carry my folders in my watch pocket for the last ?? years. Thanks to clips they stay there and most importantly they make it very easy for me to return them to the same place everytime I'm done with 'em.This habit has dramatically cut down on the number of knives I've lost over the last few years.
Now with the waveless CQC-14 I'm back to my favorite carry option and can put some time on this excellent tool.
I ended up taking this knife apart twice - once for the initial clean and lube , the second time to remove the blade prior to removing the wave. I looked things over very carefully the second time around - couldn't see anything that wasn't just right - so decided to go ahead and fire up the Dremel tool in the full knowledge that I was SOL as far as future warranty service from Emerson.My opinion is that i will have to do something profoundly stupid to break this knife - it sure as hell ain't gonna fall apart.BTW- don't think Emerson's attitude on this is at all unreasonable - can't expect them to deal with products that have had chunks sawed off of 'em as warranty matters.
 
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