Emerson Knives quality?

SkagSig40

SkagSig40

Joined
Feb 1, 2001
Messages
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I have never seen one in person. How is the quality of their factory knives? I'm thinking of buying a CQC7 to replace my old Benchmade CQC7 I sold to a buddy a few years back and I miss it....LOL. How does the Emerson's quality compair to the Benchmade and other quality factory knives like Spyderco? Thanks!
 
Depends on how you define "quality". Function-wise I've never had the knife fail on me yet. Though I suspect if it ever did I would not be able to type about it with missing fingers. The fact that the linerlock slides back and forth between the tang when I push against the spine is not a point in its favor.

Emerson himself says that fit and finish is not the focus of his knives. When you consider the difference between knives with similar materials(titanium, G10, blade steel), to me, the deal breaker is the fit and finish. If not that, then the steel at least should have a superior heat treatment(Strider knives with Bos S30V recipe heat treatment). Given the number of times that 154CM has chipped on me, I don't think that's going to be a good selling point.

General quality wise, Benchmade and Spyderco would be better. You might be happier with a Hogue EX-01 Tanto folder for the same price.
 
After reading Mr. Emerson's opening post in the above link, the interest i have had in buying one of his knives has been totally erased.
I have never read such an egotistical and aggressive rant by any knifemaker. I own many (150+) top notch custom knives and have found that the true Best makers are really quite humble about their work. Their knives speak for them. They have no need to go on about how tough they are and how many guys they have 'taken out'.
roland
 
I have to agree. I have had several emersons, including a cqc 13, a-100 and cqc 7b. It is a shame that for the price point you do not get good fit and finish or anything other than 154CM.. Not to say that Emerson knives are not good. They are quite robust. It's just they are far overpriced for what you get. I always think to myself why get an Emerson when you can get a ZT that is better all the way around. I would suggest looking elsewhere for a hard use knife, unless you just really want an enerson. They are stout hard use knives, but there are better value knives out there...
 
I don't get where fit and finish of a knife would not be a consideration. Don't know anything about the quality of Emerson knives so I won't comment further.
 
More rounds of 9mm are better than fewer .45 if you can't control the recoil of a .45. Shot placement is key.





What? Oh, sorry. Wrong rehashed-for-the-zillionth-time thread.
 
I own a number of EKI knives. Quit buying them due to poor F&F, and inconsistent, unreliable locks.
 
I don't have. I just don't like the way they look (with one exception, I think the Persian is niiice, preference, you may think they're amazing, to each his own)... I like pretty knives like CRK and BM.... but anyways... From what I gather some people compalin they have poor f/f and some say the f/f is fine.
Mr. Emerson himself has a post on here in which he discusses the fit and finish of his knives.

My take.

If you like them get one. I hear they are solid (most of the time?) knives and lots of people on this forum do indeed have many of them.
 
I feel the opposite way to Tim above, I have six Emerson folders and I like the way they look [ I agree that the Persian is the coolest] but I don't think the quality is outstanding. My CQC II has the most off-centre blade of any folder I own. I can't help but resent it, as that knife was far from cheap. Maybe Ernie himself was responsible for doing the quality control on that knife and was so involved in writing [ " how do you spell " liberal pinko" honey" ? ] another one of his hare-brained blogs that he wasn't paying attention?
 
SkagSig40 said:
I have never seen one in person. How is the quality of their factory knives? I'm thinking of buying a CQC7 to replace my old Benchmade CQC7 I sold to a buddy a few years back and I miss it....LOL. How does the Emerson's quality compair to the Benchmade and other quality factory knives like Spyderco? Thanks!
Click to expand...

The benchmade emersons were good. I own several of those now and one Emerson. Guess which one has the problems with fit finsih loose blade etc. That's right. The Emerson.
 
I agree with several others. For the money a ZT or Hogue EX-01 would be much better. I even have a Gerber 06 and some old Buck Striders that feel like much better knives in form, finish and function. I have had a newer Emerson cqc 7 and I was not impressed. I've never held one of the BM/Emerson cqc7's, though.
 
So if you get an Emerson knife and the lock fails or the blade is not centered in the closed posistion, how is their warranty? Will they make it right no questions asked? Very sad to hear Emerson does not care about the quality of his knives?
 
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I had some issues with mine...

[video=youtube;E9qsQ1_IgmM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9qsQ1_IgmM[/video]
 
Ya that rant was ridiculous. He sounds like kind of a douche. I had no idea. I had a CQC-7a, but it was overpriced in my opinion and I didn't use it. So I sold it. I liked it a lot though. It was a cool knife.
 
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