Emerson Viper

Frank Kruse

Frank Kruse

Joined
Jan 21, 2019
Messages
43
Hi everyone,

I just picked up an Emerson Viper. The Knife appears to be authentic, however, what puzzles me is the pivot screw is not like all the pictures I've seen on the internet. ie, It doesn't have a slotted pivot screw so to speak. Every viper I see on the net has a screw as the pivot, which you can use a standard screwdriver to remove. Does anyone have any info on the early Emerson Vipers that would explain? I'm thinking it may be a custom.

Emerson photos
 
I haven't seen our resident Emerson expert here in a while but maybe J jbravo will see this. The Vipers were very nice, I had owned a few over the years.
 
I went looking around and what I think you have is a very early ‘pre-tac’ Viper, in the era of Ernie’s Half Moon marked knives.

His customs used a collar like that with a hex fastener before the slotted screw.

This is all supposition on my part but I think I’m pretty close…like Win said, Seth would know, but here are some example pics I stole from my buddy Jon Ukman aka BossHoss.
 

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So I don’t say this very often, but WOW!

That is a very early Viper 1. It’s a full tactical build, probably made in 1989 or early 1990, and represents one of the first knife models Ernie made when he decided to go all- in on making tactical knives. It has a Viper logo, which is extremely rare, and the double ground blade on it. The split pivot is common for that time period, and the straight sided clip is too. All his knives were custom handmade knives back then, made in his garage, and no two were exactly alike. That is a real piece of Emerson history!
 

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Last edited:
Frank Kruse said:
It says that I can't start a conversation with you for some reason.
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Registered users don’t have the ability to PM.

The way to communicate would be a profile post which is viewable by everyone or through email if you’re wanting privacy.
 
Boru13 said:
Registered users don’t have the ability to PM.

The way to communicate would be a profile post which is viewable by everyone or through email if you’re wanting privacy.
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isn't that a little backward? I'm not trying to start any argument, but it seems like you would want members to start a conversation with other members easily.
 
Frank Kruse said:
isn't that a little backward? I'm not trying to start any argument, but it seems like you would want members to start a conversation with other members easily.
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Speak to the Forum Owner, Kevin….gotta have that cash flow. ;)
 
Frank Kruse said:
isn't that a little backward? I'm not trying to start any argument, but it seems like you would want members to start a conversation with other members easily.
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A Basic membership is $10 a year.

Basic members have the ability to PM, it’s a small price to pay to help support the site.
 
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