Emerson Mod - Call Me 'Wimpy', I Don't Care

[Niall88]

Ya, I know Emerson knives are made for hard use. Ya, I know guys use them in the military, on fishing boats, or for hunting and want those G10 scales "Emerson rough". Fine with me. But I am not going to allow this sadistic pocket shredder to cause me losing even a single pair of pants or shorts. I live in Hawaii part time. I like eating wild fruits. I pull my knife out of my pocket numerous times per day, cutting up coconut meat, papayas, finding avocados along the road, mangoes, cutting open packaged food from the health food store. I would shred pockets in one day like this. My answer?

I pulled the scales off, rubbed some Seal1 CLP on them just for some lube and no dust, and gently worked them over with 1500 grit wet/dry sand paper. Not too aggressive. I could not be happier with the result. Knife actually looks better to me, has a slight sheen and does not rip pockets up. Call me wimpy, I don't care. I think it looks and feels great. If I am on a fishing boat cutting up tuna some day and the knife slips out of my hand into the ocean, you can say: "I told you so." Let me know what you think?

 

[msierant]

Looks good and am sure it'll work good. I like the rougher G10 but know what you mean. Definitely will come out of the pocket easier. Nice job.

 

[Niall88]

Looks good and am sure it'll work good. I like the rougher G10 but know what you mean. Definitely will come out of the pocket easier. Nice job.

Thank you. I like the rougher G10 as well. But I also like my shorts and pants. So something had to give!

 

[TSR2]

Win/Win, in my book. You've made it fit your needs. Looks good too!

 

[pholder]

Nice work Wimpy

 

[LimpCroissant]

Textured g10 is basically always too rough for me for the same reason. I've just completely tore the pocket out of too many jeans over time. Plus, I think it looks better. Nice job! BTW, g10 is supposed to be very toxic as far as breathing the particles goes. Respirator up if you do more.

 

[DocJD]

Nice work Wimpy

Warning ! I think this is the guy that promises to "gladly pay tomorrow for a hamburger today" ...but never make good .

 

[Niall88]

Textured g10 is basically always too rough for me for the same reason. I've just completely tore the pocket out of too many jeans over time. Plus, I think it looks better. Nice job! BTW, g10 is supposed to be very toxic as far as breathing the particles goes. Respirator up if you do more.

Yes, I was aware of the G10 dust issue, that is why I used very fine 1500 grit and I slopped some CLP lube onto the scales and worked slowly. I did not see any dust at all. I would not try to sand the scales dry. My next experiment will be to finish it off with a little steel wool, but I dont want to shiny or slick.

 

[tony281sc2]

It came out great ! It looks factory, and reminds me of something my dad would do. He’s always messing around with polishing hardware, etc. If you like it better that’s all that matters.

 

[Niall88]

It came out great ! It looks factory, and reminds me of something my dad would do. He’s always messing around with polishing hardware, etc. If you like it better that’s all that matters.

Thank you. Yes, the nontoxic CLP lube and fine grit did the job. When I was in Colorado, I used to get gorgeous pieces of cedar and make walking sticks. Last part of the process was fine sand paper, then steel wool with oil. This G10 is kind of similar to polish up a bit.

 

[d762nato]

Careful with what you say about losing it in the water. I lost an old, pimped Emerson 10 lefty that Sal Manaro had done up in the old days with the hand checkered back spacer and awesome micarta scales and thick liner lock. I was throwing a net to catch herring for bait in the Mississippi river in 40 ft of swirling water when the net caught my pocket clip, and it went into the river. I didn't even know it was gone until later that day when I went to show my fishing buddy. I never did get to use it and just brought it along to show my buddy. I'll never do that again as it made me sick for a long time. I haven't seen one like it since. So, take care of the one which you really like and enjoy especially around the water. Nice work on your scales too, pimp it out how you prefer it.

 

[Rob47]

I think you made a good tool better

 

[POCEH KOCEB]

They look good. I actually never had issue with my CQC7 and my pockets, used to be one of my most carried knives .

 

[MadeOnABench]

From Ernest Emerson:

To me a knife is just like a good hammer. It is a tool. I just need it to work and work.

I would argue that by taking your knife and modifying it to better suit your functional needs, you are using it EXACTLY as the maker intended.

 

[HexY3co]

Someone beat me to it but I'll say it anyway. I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for an Emerson today.

 

[brancron]

I think it should be standard practice for any knife with grippy scales to have a smoothed out spot where the clip makes contact with the handle to prevent pocket shredding. The textured ProTech Malibu does it right:

It can even be more discreet that this. When I sent my Ontario Dozier Arrow to Way of Knife to remove the horrible billboard on the blade (with an acid/stone wash), I ask them to smooth out a small portion of the G10 directly underneath the clip. You can't even see it unless you lift the clip up, but the knife went from a total pocket shredder to smooth as butter in and out of the pocket:

 

[Niall88]

Careful with what you say about losing it in the water. I lost an old, pimped Emerson 10 lefty that Sal Manaro had done up in the old days with the hand checkered back spacer and awesome micarta scales and thick liner lock. I was throwing a net to catch herring for bait in the Mississippi river in 40 ft of swirling water when the net caught my pocket clip, and it went into the river. I didn't even know it was gone until later that day when I went to show my fishing buddy. I never did get to use it and just brought it along to show my buddy. I'll never do that again as it made me sick for a long time. I haven't seen one like it since. So, take care of the one which you really like and enjoy especially around the water. Nice work on your scales too, pimp it out how you prefer it.

Great story, and I am sorry to hear. Darn that must have hurt!

 

[Niall88]

I think it should be standard practice for any knife with grippy scales to have a smoothed out spot where the clip makes contact with the handle to prevent pocket shredding. The textured ProTech Malibu does it right:

It can even be more discreet that this. When I sent my Ontario Dozier Arrow to Way of Knife to remove the horrible billboard on the blade (with an acid/stone wash), I ask them to smooth out a small portion of the G10 directly underneath the clip. You can't even see it unless you lift the clip up, but the knife went from a total pocket shredder to smooth as butter in and out of the pocket:

Excellent, thanks for the photos. I put a strip of black gorilla tape under the clip at first to experiment with smoothing out the pocket deployment. Yes, it worked alright, when tape was placed right under the path of the clip. However, for me, I still noticed that the rest of the face of clip was still a bit 'shreddy' if you dont mind the stupid terminology. That is why I ended up smoothing the entire scale. Nice job on the knife. But from what I can tell by the photos, that scale terrain does not look quite as aggressive as the Emerson psycho pocket shredder G10.