cqc 8 opinions

dissipator16

dissipator16

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Mar 2, 2008
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i am doing a trade this weekend, and might go for a cqc8. i love the 7's, but i hate that after a long time and being reground, the tip pokes out of the handle when closed.

anyways, the 8 seems to have a nice simple shape which would be easy to sharpen. how have your 8's held up? i like the way the 15 looks, but the blade style looks to be a hooker to sharpen.

thanks,
andrew
 
mine is relatively new, but i have been carrying it at work.

it is larger than i expected overall. but i really like the handle and blade shape, very comfortable to hold and use. with models like the 8 and 13, your hand will be further away from the blade than some other models, so real precise cuts may pose a bit of a problem.
 
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I really love mine. One of my favorites. It's big, strong but carries very well. Excellent design.
 
The 8 is a really good knife and one of my favorite EKIs, the sweeping blade with that nice belly to it is a great looker and a nice user too.

As far as "holding up" they are the same as any other Emerson, being the same steel and handle
material as all the rest but the blade shape and handle ergos do place it high on the list IMO.

:):thumbup:
 
i have always liked the '8 and have had several, custom and production, they arent any harder to sharpen than most any other EKI, if ya have the right stones, a diamond rod type stone works best imho, though i have sharpend my surefire '8 many times on just a norton india stone.
 
The 8 is the finest of the regular Emerson models IMO.

It is the perfect all round blade. The only downside is that it is big, depending on your work environment, etc.

Other than that, it really cannot be faulted.
 
it's hands down my favorite knife ever! i'm saving the pennys in my piggy bank to buy a commander next (we'll see if that takes the #1 spot for me)

you should go ahead and pick one up if you're thinking about it. it won't be too hard to sell if you decide it's not for you
 
the 8 is hard to beat . it has a beautiful history as well . sifu can ellaborate on its origins like no one else.
 
gutsy said:
the 8 is hard to beat . it has a beautiful history as well . sifu can ellaborate on its origins like no one else.
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Hi,hope Sifu does see this and posts about the cqc8 story.Would appreciate that very much,thanks.
 
Raj said:
Hi,hope Sifu does see this and posts about the cqc8 story.Would appreciate that very much,thanks.
Click to expand...

The 8 is a knife that has been about for a while and is associated with the SAS and similar special forces groups.

The SAS boys were apparently credited with giving the 8 its "banana knife" nick name as well.

I know a couple of ex SAS guys and one of them did use and still has a CQC-8 :):thumbup:
 
gutsy said:
the 8 is hard to beat . it has a beautiful history as well . sifu can ellaborate on its origins like no one else.
Click to expand...

thanks for the kind words,

in the mid or early '90s emerson designed the '8 after the bob taylor/al mar warrior & the bill moran ST9 (both fixed blades by the way) and designed it to be a fighting knife which is suitable in reverse grip or sabre grip knife fighting(though it always looked to me more for reverse), and it became popular in the spec ops world (ie SEAL's, SAS, etc) as a custom, & was one of the 1st emerson customs to go from custom to production in IIRC '00 or '01 when he came out with the surefire collaboration which included a production '8 and a surefire C2, both numbered the same, and the C2 was IIRC the 1st SF with black ano, they sold well so EKI came out with a regular production run which was non waved which fairly quickly evolved into a waved version we have today, along with most of the custom ones being waved now. the commander evolved from the '8 (commanders were originally designed for the SEAL's) as did the rhino too IIRC.
 
Wasnt the early commanders originally called the esm-1 or some such? Ive seen pics of early 8s and commanders and some look a bit odd . The 8 with the weird looking wire cutter was one of them.
 
gutsy said:
Wasnt the early commanders originally called the esm-1 or some such? Ive seen pics of early 8s and commanders and some look a bit odd . The 8 with the weird looking wire cutter was one of them.
Click to expand...

IIRC the original ones were the ESM1's and they were a bit larger vs todays commanders, not a lot mind ya just a bit, its been my experience that all the customs (ones i have seen anyway) were just a shade bigger than productions, for example my custom '13 is about 1/8" or so longer, and the blade is also a bit wider than my production '13, my custom '8 was also just a shade longer/wider vs a production '8.
 
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