Emerson Knife - Real or Fake?

JPD1998 thank you for all the help, I am familiar with ball detents as I encounter them quite often in gunsmithing. However in your photo there seems to be a large space between your blade and the liners. My knife is very close tolerences and with a good magnafying glass I can see the washers but no detents at all. Apparently this is an early model? When did this company start in buisness? Did early models have same features as later models. I hope I am not being a nuisence. And for all that have piped in Thank You
 
I live in China and my gut tells me that's a real EKI--I only see Combat Karambits faked out here (and badly, too). For $20 that's a steal!
 
I think it's a true custom. Not just a custom blade on a production handle, but also a handmade handle. The chamfered edges and the triple screwed scale is what tells me so. Liners aren't blasted though which almost all custom Emersons are whether it be bolstered, or just plain black G-10.
My guess is that it is a proto, and not all protos were marked as such.
I know who to ask, and I will. I'll borrow your photos.
 
Also, the lock cut out where you disengage the lock. That little valley on the non-locking liner that you can see on the 8th and 9th pic. That's what customs have and productions don't have.
 
The Emerson experts elsewhere have seen your pics and confirm this as a real Emerson from that time period and as a pretty rare find in that format and condition. A true satin 1998 Specwar A.
 
30-30remchester said:
JPD1998 thank you for all the help, I am familiar with ball detents as I encounter them quite often in gunsmithing. However in your photo there seems to be a large space between your blade and the liners. My knife is very close tolerences and with a good magnafying glass I can see the washers but no detents at all. Apparently this is an early model? When did this company start in buisness? Did early models have same features as later models. I hope I am not being a nuisence. And for all that have piped in Thank You
Click to expand...

The oldest Emerson I own is 2000 Blackbird, the tolerances are closer than the mini com I posted, but it still has a 2nd ball/detent built into the liner opposite the lock side ( the 1st ball is the liner-lock).

I think the production Emerson knives ( with the EKI name) started up around '96 so yours would be an early model ( '98).

I agree with some of the others , I think it's a semi custom Specwar and a good score for sure. :thumbup:
 
IIRC, emerson made some specwar semi customs back in the late '90s, i dont remember exactly what the deal was with them, but they had hand ground blades and production handles, satin finish, IIRC i was gonna buy one but decided to choke up a bit more and get a custom instead, IIRC anyway lol, its been a while.

edited to add: after looking at it again i dont think it would be one of those, IIRC they were not combo edge.

maybe someone satined the blade?

i dont think they came with satin finishes back then unless they were ECA knives, semi customs or customs.
 
The emblem looks off to me also...the emblem should have a tilt higher left than to the right....(?)
 
imho its not a custom, i have seen quite a few emerson customs thru the yrs and cant recall ever seeing one with a combo edge, in fact in all my days i can recall seeing exactly one (1) custom anything with a combo edge (that was a folder not a fixed), it was a mel pardue folder.

now fo course ya can add serrations to anything, but i mean from the 'smith w/a CE, ya dont see many of those.
 
As advised I posted the photos on GLOCKTALK and Ernie Emerson said it is definately real and either a limited or custom knife. My question now is, the Earnie Emerson that is on GLOCKTALK, is this the man that designed the knife?
 
30-30remchester said:
As advised I posted the photos on GLOCKTALK and Ernie Emerson said it is definately real and either a limited or custom knife. My question now is, the Earnie Emerson that is on GLOCKTALK, is this the man that designed the knife?
Click to expand...


Yes, that is the owner of the company you were talking to on that other forum.

The owner of that site Eric set that "Go Ask the Expert" section up so that only the OP and the moderators could post. Everyone can read it but it is an individual question and answer forum specifically designed for questions like yours.

Congratulations on the knife. Looks like you got a true diamond in the rough.

His bio on Glocktalk

http://www.glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1189602
 
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the g10 looks pretty "shiny" on the side....i am not sure if it will be like that after hard use. the emerson logo on the knife looks kinda sketchy too.....i think the only way to test it out is by using it....and compare it with other 154cm blades....if the blade performs very differently, then this might be a fake one =S
 
An update. I contacted Earnest Emerson from GlockTalk and he confired he did indeed build this knife and it was probably an early custom order.
 
I would like to thank everyone for the assistance. I feel a little embarassed that I knew nothing about such a well respected knife. My only excuse is my passion had been antique bone handled folders. Anyway thanks again.
 
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