emerson commander - intital impressions

heres some food for thought, the wave feature is awesome thats one thing that most everyone agrees on however like tallwingedgoat mentioned opening quickly with the wave puts a lot of stress on the liner lock it causes the locking bar to go all the way to the other side and wedge itself there and this wears down the bar quickly which will be a problem. even if the commander had an axis lock this the wave would be a problem becuase the axis bar gets driven up the ramp on the tang, anyone who flicks their axis knives open quickly will know what i mean. so therefore to fully utilize the wave feature i think ti would be better if the commander was a framelock, im not sure if a framelock will have the same problems but i guess it might, a lockback might also be a good alternative
 
I should add that in my case, I don't think the liner was actually the problem, it was the stopping bar.

If you take your Commander apart, you'll discover that the stopping bar is set into machined recesses of the liners and are held in place with the liners pressed against eachother. When you take the knife apart, the stopping bar falls right out. The Gerber Walker I have in front of me has the stopping bar screwed through the liners to the G-10 scales - a much more robust design, which you will find on a Sebenza, Buck Strider, etc. My Microtech LCC stopping bar is designed the same way as my Commander, not a smart design, but then the LCC do not experience the same sort of stress a "Waved" Commander would have to endure.

The "Wave" opening slaps the blade against the stopping bar with a lot of force and lossens the bar. In my case I think the bar also deformed slightly maybe because it was too soft. When the stopping bar is compromised, the liner has nowhere to go but all the way across.
 
i guess what you are saying is also part of the problem, the stopping bar is not exactly stopping the tang good enough therefore it flexes a little or moves a little so that the lock bar can go farther to the right. but even on an axis lock this happens when you flick the knife open hard,
 
Right, I don't think the Axis lock is a good match with the Wave.

This is something worth reading from A.T.Barr:

I use a heat treated (RC62) stop-pin, at least .094 in diameter. Some makers use a stop pin as small as .062 (1/16”). This pin is very important, it has a dual function. The most important function is the lock-up of the blade to the Titanium lock. That pin also stops the blade from hitting the spacer and dulling the edge when the blade is closed. Some also use a stop pin of 416 stainless that can only be heat treated to a maximum of RC42. That is too soft and will eventually cause your blade lock-up to become loose.
Click to expand...

I think the Commander could benefit from a massive, hardened stop pin that's screwed in place through the scales. That and thicker liner or a framelock would surely fix the problem.
 
Ok, I'll throw my .02's here too...

I own Commander.
Why did I buy it?

Wel, I got some extra money and wanted one of these "living classics".
Overpriced - maybe so. But so is my small Sebenza and I'm happy, very happy with it.

Will I use it as a utility knife in the woods? Obviously not. I prefer - much more - for example my Roselli Carpenter's knife.

Will I use it overall? Oh yes. It has performed well while cutting boxes etc. - no blade chipping (sorry to hear that happen). Chisel grind doesn't bother me. At least so much that I wouldn't use the knife because of it.

Wave feature - well, maybe it's great and/or cool, but I don't use it.

What's the point with all this? Well, nothing special. As said, I just wanted to share my thoughts...

Thank you for reading.
 
yah the stop pin on the emerson is the smallest i have ever seen, why it's so small i have no idea, and it's suppose to be a hard use knife, the stop pins on my small gentlements knives are bigger
 
I'll be going to visit my regular knife seller in a few weeks, and I'll take another look at the Commander, just to refresh my memory. I'm planning on getting a Becker 7 and looking at the new SOG Flash.
 
I'm planning on buying a satin hard chromed waved cqc7.

Will waving it cause the liner to move and create blade play?

Is the stop pin too thin/small?

What are the pros and cons of this knife?
 
My understanding of why the stop pin is so small is because it is completely solid, heat treated steel. Alof of other stop pins are larger in diameter, but only because they have to accomodate screws to hold the pin in place. I've owned 2 Commanders and I have enjoyed both of them. Personally I like the chisel grind and with some getting used to, the grind works very well. Plus, as mentioned, the wave just rocks:D I use my Commander and I trust it. I still want a SERE though just because of the great reviews.
Matt
 
"so therefore to fully utilize the wave feature I think ti would be better if the commander was a framelock, im not sure if a framelock will have the same problems but i guess it might, a lockback might also be a good alternative"

The framelock commander has NONE of those problems. I consider a tight lockup a feature, not a drawback.

I regularaly switch out the blades on my commander FL cause I like to. Never had a problem yet, and I'm on blade #3
 
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