Emerson's.....I love them but jeez!

K

knife chop

Joined
Feb 11, 2014
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816
I got a Vindicator a month ago and the lock face was late to the point that it's almost touching the other side of the liner. so I sent it back to the vendor for replacement and when I received it, the lock was just about right. Then I ordered a Rangemaster sheepdog bowie a few weeks ago and arrived with a late lockup (Again). So I sent it back for a replacement and noted to inspect the lock face before sending it out to me. I received it today with a better lock up. Now as a customer, it's kind of irritating having to experience the same issue twice.
 
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I agree, but I have 3 emerson and all of them cam with very early lockup. I'd chalk it up to bad luck.
 
Some manufacturers dont feel late lockup is an issue unless there is vertical play or the lock fails. Our personal preferences are not considered if the item is within spec. I dont like late lockup either but that doeasnt mean that company needs to make knives the way i want.
 
PURPLEDC said:
Some manufacturers dont feel late lockup is an issue unless there is vertical play or the lock fails. Our personal preferences are not considered if the item is within spec. I dont like late lockup either but that doeasnt mean that company needs to make knives the way i want.
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I know one company that's doing a pretty good job :p
 
Not trying to be rude... but don't buy them anymore or find a local shop where you can inspect them.

You may want to try the Emerson sub-forum too.
 
PURPLEDC said:
Some manufacturers dont feel late lockup is an issue unless there is vertical play or the lock fails. Our personal preferences are not considered if the item is within spec. I dont like late lockup either but that doeasnt mean that company needs to make knives the way i want.
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I don't mind if the lock face is right at the middle but it's just unacceptable to have a lock up that's almost touching the liner. i feel like this issue comes down to their quality personnel. It's not their design, tolerances or equipments. They should catch those things during QC inspection. I don't know if they do 100% inspection on each knives or their doing Lot AQL sampling. For those who doesn't know AQL, here's a link http://www.sofeast.com/aql-tables/
 
I believe that Chris Reeves now (intentionally) sends out ALL of his Sebbies at 80% lockup. AND, they STAY THERE.
Yup, they do. I've had a bunch of 'em.

Different manufacturers have different ideas.
Not surprising.:)
 
The Emersons I've bought in the last year or so all had very early lockup.

I had an Emerson in the past (5 years ago) whose lockbar was almost falling off of the blade tang. I didn't know that I was supposed to worry about it, so I didn't worry and just used the knife and never had a problem. I really wish I could go back to that, where insignificant things didn't bother me :o
 
Did they have any play? It's not uncommon once the lock settles that the lock bar goes back mid way about 60ish percent and stays there like forever.
 
I mind late lockup on a liner lock more than I do on a frame lock. If I was in your position I would have sent them back as well. My experiences with titanium liner locks, including Emersons, is that the liners do wear at a pretty gradual rate. Some "settle in" at a certain point, others do not, others seem to settle in but then continue to wear, there's no guarantee exactly how your lock will wear, no matter what brand or model it is.

I wish more companies offered an option of a steel linerlock.
 
I never had a EKI knife fail and if something is wrong, they will make it right. Every time.
rolf
 
Lycosa said:
I never had a EKI knife fail and if something is wrong, they will make it right. Every time.
rolf
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They should just make it right the first time so threads like this won't pop up from time to time.

marcinek said:
Nothing rude about telling the truth!
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Oh What's up John! Sadly i like Emerson enough that i don't care if i have to send a knife back 10x to the dealer or Emerson to get it right.
 
Sonnydaze said:
I believe that Chris Reeves now (intentionally) sends out ALL of his Sebbies at 80% lockup. AND, they STAY THERE.
Yup, they do. I've had a bunch of 'em.

Different manufacturers have different ideas.
Not surprising.:)
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CRK also takes measures to treat their locks differently, and that is why you will almost never get wear on a lockbar on a Sebenza 21.
Not only that, but with the design of their newer lock interface on the Uumnum and the Sebenza 25, the interface surface is not the lockbar, but actually the large ceramic detent ball. Since the ball touches the tang of the blade directly, the lockup looks later than it actually is. They may look to be around 60-80%, but they're really closer to 40-50%, which is ideal considering you will have no notable lock wear over the entire life of those knives due to the nature of that lock interface.

In my experience (which I will admit is somewhat limited on Emersons), Emerson knives will generally experience lock wear pretty quickly compared to some other brands, so finding one with late lockup would concern me. Though, to be honest, I don't buy Emerson knives for several other reasons than just the locks, even though I very much like the overall designs, so this isn't as much of an issue for me personally.
 
Reports like this are what keep stopping me from buying and Emerson, they have really unique designs but for the price they command it just seems like they have a lot of QC issues still. I know they have improved a lot but it just still holds me back from spending that kind of money given how common these types of totally avoidable issues seem to be. The ZT collaborations, by contrast, seem to have excellent QC. I realize that ZT is a much larger company that Emerson, but it's not like Emerson opened last year either.

I just wish they would come out with a liner lock ZT collaboration.
 
knife chop said:
They should just make it right the first time so threads like this won't pop up from time to time.

Sadly i like Emerson enough that i don't care if i have to send a knife back 10x to the dealer or Emerson to get it right.
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I have to say that, overall, this is my problem with Emerson knives in general. I usually hate the idea of having to send my knives out to anyone to have them worked on, with a very few exceptions for professional sharpening or re-profiling of steels I don't want to mess with...and when I am dealing with a Rockstead the needs to be sharpened, period.

That being said, I do like Emerson designs. SO, what I find happens is I buy ZT/Emerson knives for the same/less money than regular Emersons, have to sharpen them less, get better fit/finish in general, get better materials in general, and never have an issue with them at all...which seems like an issue for Emerson.
That, or I do what I have done once before and just buy a Southern Grind Bad Monkey...which is leaps and bounds above an Emerson for my use, and is a knife I wholeheartedly regret selling and want to get another of when the right moment presents itself. Of course, everyone will have differing opinions, and I know that the general "YMMV" rule is HEAVY when it comes to some specialty brands like Emerson, so this is just my experience, and I am putting it here to help some people who might have the same issue that I am having.
 
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