Emerson Liner Question.

G

Gunship Bruce

Joined
Jul 14, 2011
Messages
14
Hey all, I own a number of folders and an Emerson CQC-10 which I love to bits.

Some time last year, I heard that Emerson had changed the liners from double titanium to simply titanium on the locking side since 08, this didn't really bother me so I put it out of my mind. The other day however, I decided to check the Emerson website to see what's new, and discovered that the CQC-10 along with a number of knives like the Horseman did not have their lock material listed unlike others such as the CQC-15.

I wouldn't really mind if these models had switched to double steel liners since my CQC-10 locks up tighter than a bank vault, but I would still like to know what goes into my knives.
 
Last edited:
That's what I was thinking, but what got me wondering was why would they use titanium locking liners, but not list a material that expensive on the knife's description page. Maybe it's just an oversight on EKI's webmaster's part.
 
EKI has switched the non-locking liner to stainless steel long ago, before they switched from not-sure-how-thick locking liner to 0.06" standard liners. The locking liner has always been Ti.
 
I checked my mini Commander and CQC-8 with a magnet and it doesn't stick to the non locking liner on either. The mini I bought last month and the 8 back in March. Both liners look like the same material also. I'll double check when I get home.
 
The stainless non-locking side will be shiny and the locking side will be dull, typically. Also you can verify by doing the magnet test.
 
Yeah none of the liners on mine are magnetic so that isn't a reliable method to tell. That said, in pretty much every case I've seen the locking liner is thicker and still a good bit lighter than the non locking liner.
 
Someone first noticed this when trying to anodize their liners on their Emerson folder. As I recall it was something they had done with a past model and so they decided to do the same thing to their new one. When the non lock side did not change color as the lock side did they apparently contacted EKI and learned of the stainless side being added. This was the first that I recall hearing about it on the forums. The stainless selected by EKI will not attract a magnet so the magnet test will not work. Aside from trying to anodize it like you could if it were titanium the only way to really tell would be by being familiar with the amount of force required to adjust the tab detent in a titanium vs the amount needed in the new stainless ones. The stainless ones are far easier to manipulate the tab on and in my experience the tab can be adjusted with your thumb if its stainless and usually requires a little helper tool if its titanium. Other than this I have no way of knowing when it started with these SS non lock sides on EKI knives but it seems to me it was mentioned in other threads in the past as being circa 2007.

STR
 
Last time I took my 2010 super cqc-7 apart and held the liners the thicker locking liner seemed noticeably lighter for its size than the non locking liner. Apart from that non-scientific test Emerson's FAQ page states that their locking sides are ti and that their non-locking liners are stainless steel.
 
I want to know what models and years have the thicker titanium locking liners. I might be wrong but I thought I heard some models had
a little thicker ti lock.
 
STR is right, they switched to locking side Ti only around 2007. You can tell the 2 liners are different: one is more grey and dull looking while being very light--that's the Titanium.
 
I remember reading that the ti thickness depends on what they had available at the time.
 
Some of the bigger models do have thicker Ti locking liners, I'll look through my bookmarks for the link with thicknesses and edit it in.


Edit:
Link is from a USN forum member and I'd rather not cross-forum post.

But the highlights are that the older production had thicker locks (.065) , then went to thinner (about .050) and we're back at thicker (.060ish). Larger models have had thicker locking liners, for instance the cqc 10 had above average thickness liners for a while (most models were .050, and it had a .065 locking liner)
 
Last edited:
yes the anodizing is a good indicator, I had a maker anodize one of my emersons and to my surprise, he told me he could only anodize a single liner so I told him to just shave the anodized liner back to silver and return the knife to me.
 
genius5th said:
yes the anodizing is a good indicator, I had a maker anodize one of my emersons and to my surprise, he told me he could only anodize a single liner so I told him to just shave the anodized liner back to silver and return the knife to me.
Click to expand...

I wonder how a maker, who anodizes titanium, didn't immediately see the difference in hue between the two liners.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top