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The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is$300$250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
For some reason, Emerson has never appealed to me.
- Thread starter MrPres
- Start date
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- 849
If you look at some of my past posts, you will see I have both praised and criticized EKI. To me the knives are great; I have around 6 of them all bought straight from a dealer and when I first unpackaged each of them, I never noticed what others called 'bad FF'. Everything was in place and seemed to fit a 'CQC knife'. Overall these knives are great.
All that being said, I think these knives have value ONLY when you DON'T pay MSRP. Is $200 for a CQC7 too much? Yes, it is for me; and it should be on an absolute scale for everyone, but is $130 too much? I'd say no for what you are getting. So you have to play the waiting game and wait for dealers to stock them at the market price. For the older models they all hover around $130 brand new. I have had some on pre-order for almost a year now and are still waiting to be filled.
However with the introduction of the 'Prestige Line', Emerson has cut off normal dealers to the new model of knives and essentially done away with a 'market price'. It's ingenious in a short term business sense, but I'm not sure how it will fare in the long term. So for his new models, all prices are fixed at the MSRP and that's a bad deal. That's the reason I have yet to own a 'prestige' knife.
So in conclusion, if you can get a Emerson for around $130 new, go for it. You will like it. Otherwise, save yourself the buyer's remorse.
All that being said, I think these knives have value ONLY when you DON'T pay MSRP. Is $200 for a CQC7 too much? Yes, it is for me; and it should be on an absolute scale for everyone, but is $130 too much? I'd say no for what you are getting. So you have to play the waiting game and wait for dealers to stock them at the market price. For the older models they all hover around $130 brand new. I have had some on pre-order for almost a year now and are still waiting to be filled.
However with the introduction of the 'Prestige Line', Emerson has cut off normal dealers to the new model of knives and essentially done away with a 'market price'. It's ingenious in a short term business sense, but I'm not sure how it will fare in the long term. So for his new models, all prices are fixed at the MSRP and that's a bad deal. That's the reason I have yet to own a 'prestige' knife.
So in conclusion, if you can get a Emerson for around $130 new, go for it. You will like it. Otherwise, save yourself the buyer's remorse.
Though MAP/MSRP being too high is true for other brands as well. Back before Benchmade implemented its 2010 pricing policy for dealers, I wouldn't have paid the prices they were demanding for any of my Benchmades if they were sold at MAP.
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- Aug 21, 2009
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- 2,932
I agree about the prestige pricing. It would seem like there is quite a premium paid there.
Unfortunately, I am one of those consumers who was so taken by the Gentleman Jim design, that I was willing to pay about 220 to have it. I would have much rather paid a reasonable price around 140-175, but even at 220 I am satisfied. I like it just that much.
Sorry for screwing up the demand curve.
Unfortunately, I am one of those consumers who was so taken by the Gentleman Jim design, that I was willing to pay about 220 to have it. I would have much rather paid a reasonable price around 140-175, but even at 220 I am satisfied. I like it just that much.
Sorry for screwing up the demand curve.
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- Dec 31, 2010
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- 201
yes, customs -- bolster & micarta is usually how I see them...
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2007
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- 247
Those are Ernie's full customs, not semi-customs. The prices straight from Ernie is 650 (more for variants with different configurations)...it's the After-market prices that are 1k & up...that's due to supply & demand.
Cheers and Regards,
Nick
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My family is full of extreme righties, lefties, and everything in between, yet every three years we get everyone together to talk, play, eat, and just have a good old time.
There is one particular group in my extended family that has missed our last couple of reunions because they could not stand the idea of being around people with such extremely opposite beliefs.
Man, did they lose out! If they could just get over it, they would have had a blast.
I hope that translates well
agreed.
just because someone exercises their freedom of speech and says something you don't like, it doesn't make you a bad guy if you buy a knife from an opinionated person. what he says is HIS opinion not yours.
after all you're buying a knife not his beliefs.
lemmuhj
Gold Member
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- May 2, 2010
- Messages
- 3,058
This is a very good thread.
I'm somewhat of a newbie, and i really appreciate the discussion here.
I'm in the group of people who, at first, never liked the look of the Emersons. But for some reason, i'm starting to take a liking to them. The fit and finish problems do kinda scare me off a little, but i think i'm going to pull the trigger.
I'm somewhat of a newbie, and i really appreciate the discussion here.
I'm in the group of people who, at first, never liked the look of the Emersons. But for some reason, i'm starting to take a liking to them. The fit and finish problems do kinda scare me off a little, but i think i'm going to pull the trigger.
Greetings:
I've visited this forum previously, although I'm a brand new poster, having registered after Googling "Emerson knives poor quality" and being led to this thread. After reading these six pages, I now know that my surprise upon receiving my first Emerson in the mail Saturday (a 2011 CQC-15 SFS) is disappointingly typical, namely the crude finish (grinding marks of varying density and depth around the liner edges and inside the wave curve, a small-but-see-through gap between the G10 scale and liner on the non-locking side, grimy residue around the pivot, and an aggressive wrist snap required to deploy the knife with the thumb stud despite hosing the gunk off with WD-40). Worse is that the blade was not razor-sharp as I expected. It cut the standard sheet of copy paper OK, yet nowhere near as well as my Spydercos, 14C28N Kershaw, or even my CRKT M21-14SFG. Certainly the knife has obvious virtues, as it's rock solid and the wave feature works wonderfully, and certainly I'm not a knowledgeable knife connoisseur and collector as are many folks here. After spending two-hundred-and-five bucks on it, however, which is the most I've ever spent on a knife, I thought it would be my best knife in every way.
I've read Earnest Emerson's posts in this thread as well as many of his friendly and professional posts on GlockTalk. If you haven't already addressed this previously, Mr. Emerson, would you please explain why an impeccable finish is not a consistent part of your production process?
Gratefully,
Isaeus
I've visited this forum previously, although I'm a brand new poster, having registered after Googling "Emerson knives poor quality" and being led to this thread. After reading these six pages, I now know that my surprise upon receiving my first Emerson in the mail Saturday (a 2011 CQC-15 SFS) is disappointingly typical, namely the crude finish (grinding marks of varying density and depth around the liner edges and inside the wave curve, a small-but-see-through gap between the G10 scale and liner on the non-locking side, grimy residue around the pivot, and an aggressive wrist snap required to deploy the knife with the thumb stud despite hosing the gunk off with WD-40). Worse is that the blade was not razor-sharp as I expected. It cut the standard sheet of copy paper OK, yet nowhere near as well as my Spydercos, 14C28N Kershaw, or even my CRKT M21-14SFG. Certainly the knife has obvious virtues, as it's rock solid and the wave feature works wonderfully, and certainly I'm not a knowledgeable knife connoisseur and collector as are many folks here. After spending two-hundred-and-five bucks on it, however, which is the most I've ever spent on a knife, I thought it would be my best knife in every way.
I've read Earnest Emerson's posts in this thread as well as many of his friendly and professional posts on GlockTalk. If you haven't already addressed this previously, Mr. Emerson, would you please explain why an impeccable finish is not a consistent part of your production process?
Gratefully,
Isaeus
- Joined
- Dec 31, 2010
- Messages
- 201
Ok - so how are those in comparison? are those up to par of a true custom knife?
(I've never handled a custom Emerson - only the productions...)
- Joined
- Apr 5, 1999
- Messages
- 460
Dear Isaeus,
It's an interesting question that you have posed. I will answer it. Quite simply, the answer is this; The knives are what they are. They are the same as the day we produced the very first ones. As I have said before I do not build them for pretty, fancy or to be perfect and I will not do so. I knew what I would build when I started the company and will continue with that prerogative. Our business grows every month and we sell every knife that we make. No other knife company is in that position.
As I stated in a previous post, one of the companies that we are most often compared to does build pretty, highly fit and finished knives and are known for trying all types of super steels. Those same knives with such great fits and finish and super steels, self destructed and I mean broke in half - both blades and locks and were largely faulted with the deaths of those Marines and Navy Corpsman when they were used as "Rescue Knives" in that extreme environment. Perhaps they should have paid more attention to strength and performance and less attention to finish.
I'll tell you a story about the Emerson custom knives that may have relevance to this post. My custom knives are 220 grit belt ground with bead blasted hardware and generic green canvas micarta handles. They have scratches, nicks and dings on them as they leave my shop. They are built with the same nicks, dings and scratches that they had when I started building them that way in the mid 1980's.
However, my customs sell for prices that have gone as high as ten thousand dollars. With those same nicks, dings and scratches. Why? Because I set out to build a hard-use knife and I still build them as hard-use knives.
Emerson custom knives are the most sought after collected custom knives in the world with collector networks numbering in the tens of thousands. There is no other custom maker with such demand - not Loveless, not Walker, not Onion, not Moran. Yet the knives are not highly finished. And there are thousands, yes that is correct, custom handmade Emersons, that are used and carried daily by Operators, Law Enforcement, Military and average citizens. If you don't believe me come to a knife show some time and hang out. You will see dozens and dozens come up to show me their beat to hell custom knives. And I get several custom knives a week in to refurbish from all parts of the globe. Some have had the living hell beat out of them. They are made just the same as the ones that I've made for almost thirty years now.
In fact the demand for Emerson customs is so high that a virtual cottage industry has developed in "pimping" Emerson production knives to fill the need for "custom" Emersons.
Occasionally I will get a collector who will contact me with the following request; "I just got my first custom Emerson. I paid $XXXX for it and I noticed some fine scratches on the blade. For this price it should be perfect." After I explain to them that I was the one who put those scratches on the knife and that's the way it left my shop because that's the way I build them, most times they understand. And believe me the $3000.00 they paid for the knife is not what I sold it for. My customs go for $650.00 right off my table. In the 30 years of building them they have only gone from $475.00 to $650.00, on knives that I could easily sell for $1500.00 to $2000.00 a piece. And they are still hard-use knives. And I would not feel right charging more for a dinged, scratched, bead blasted hard-use knife.
So Isaeus, you can see that the knives are simply what they are. I don't build them to any other companies standards. I don't build them to the standards of customers who seek highly finished or "perfect" looks. I still build them to the standards of those who I have built them for since I started. And those customers know who I am and I know who they are. Hope this answers your question.
My Best Regards,
Ernest R. Emerson
It's an interesting question that you have posed. I will answer it. Quite simply, the answer is this; The knives are what they are. They are the same as the day we produced the very first ones. As I have said before I do not build them for pretty, fancy or to be perfect and I will not do so. I knew what I would build when I started the company and will continue with that prerogative. Our business grows every month and we sell every knife that we make. No other knife company is in that position.
As I stated in a previous post, one of the companies that we are most often compared to does build pretty, highly fit and finished knives and are known for trying all types of super steels. Those same knives with such great fits and finish and super steels, self destructed and I mean broke in half - both blades and locks and were largely faulted with the deaths of those Marines and Navy Corpsman when they were used as "Rescue Knives" in that extreme environment. Perhaps they should have paid more attention to strength and performance and less attention to finish.
I'll tell you a story about the Emerson custom knives that may have relevance to this post. My custom knives are 220 grit belt ground with bead blasted hardware and generic green canvas micarta handles. They have scratches, nicks and dings on them as they leave my shop. They are built with the same nicks, dings and scratches that they had when I started building them that way in the mid 1980's.
However, my customs sell for prices that have gone as high as ten thousand dollars. With those same nicks, dings and scratches. Why? Because I set out to build a hard-use knife and I still build them as hard-use knives.
Emerson custom knives are the most sought after collected custom knives in the world with collector networks numbering in the tens of thousands. There is no other custom maker with such demand - not Loveless, not Walker, not Onion, not Moran. Yet the knives are not highly finished. And there are thousands, yes that is correct, custom handmade Emersons, that are used and carried daily by Operators, Law Enforcement, Military and average citizens. If you don't believe me come to a knife show some time and hang out. You will see dozens and dozens come up to show me their beat to hell custom knives. And I get several custom knives a week in to refurbish from all parts of the globe. Some have had the living hell beat out of them. They are made just the same as the ones that I've made for almost thirty years now.
In fact the demand for Emerson customs is so high that a virtual cottage industry has developed in "pimping" Emerson production knives to fill the need for "custom" Emersons.
Occasionally I will get a collector who will contact me with the following request; "I just got my first custom Emerson. I paid $XXXX for it and I noticed some fine scratches on the blade. For this price it should be perfect." After I explain to them that I was the one who put those scratches on the knife and that's the way it left my shop because that's the way I build them, most times they understand. And believe me the $3000.00 they paid for the knife is not what I sold it for. My customs go for $650.00 right off my table. In the 30 years of building them they have only gone from $475.00 to $650.00, on knives that I could easily sell for $1500.00 to $2000.00 a piece. And they are still hard-use knives. And I would not feel right charging more for a dinged, scratched, bead blasted hard-use knife.
So Isaeus, you can see that the knives are simply what they are. I don't build them to any other companies standards. I don't build them to the standards of customers who seek highly finished or "perfect" looks. I still build them to the standards of those who I have built them for since I started. And those customers know who I am and I know who they are. Hope this answers your question.
My Best Regards,
Ernest R. Emerson
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- May 16, 2002
- Messages
- 475
Naaa...I don't want a "pretty" Emerson...I want an Emerson that I can charge into hell with in one hand and a quart of ice water in the other hand. If I'm too worried to use it or scratch it, I don't want it. My Mach 1 has done everything from clean horse hoofs to stripping wire and digging up sprinklers and peeling apples (before the horse hoofs)...it's a tool and that's what I use as.:thumbup:
)...it's a tool and that's what I use as.:thumbup:
toker
Basic Member
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- May 1, 2010
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- 4,914
- I like pretty Emersons... which is why I pimped both of mine.
stabman
Gold Member
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- Sep 17, 2007
- Messages
- 21,327
I prefer the scratches on my knives to come from use.
Doesn't matter how pretty it is, I'll scratch it up eventually.
I don't need others to put the scratches there for me.
Greetings, Mr. Emerson:
Thank you a whole lot for your candid and comprehensive response. And sorry for misspelling your first name in my previous post--dang, I hate it when I make errors like that. And fretting over attention to details like that is sort of my orientation to lots of things, which likely explains why I reacted to the cosmetic details of the CQC-15 SFS I received.
Certainly no one can argue with your success, and your comment that "those customers know who I am and I know who they are" is as pointed as the tip on this CQC-15. I get it; you're not making knives for me, at least not ostensibly. Indeed I'm not an LEO, a serviceman, nor any sort of professional or hobbyist with an occasion or inclination to use the knives you make to their full, hard-use capability. I'm not a tough guy like you or the image your company portrays. I'm a teacher who studies ancient Greeks--something I chuckle at myself!
Collecting knives is only a recent habit because a relative who really did use his KA-BAR explosively as a Marine in Vietnam just happened to pull out an aggressive folding knife from his pocket and generously gave it to me after noticing how cool I thought it was.
In general I like lots of things that are way over-engineered with respect to my needs and how I'll actually use them. My iPod can do things I'll never do with it but I appreciate its capabilities; I shoot paper targets with my Glocks but appreciate their hard-use capability; likewise, all I'll ever do with a knife likely could be done by some cheap flea-market knife but I like the capability of your knives as well as other knifemakers' impeccably finished knives. Just an idiosyncrasy, I suppose.
In the future I'll probably continue to gravitate more toward the cheaper versions of "pretty, highly fit and finished knives" given my uses and preferences and budget, although I must admit that so far they've stayed in the drawer since I got this CQC.
Cheers,
Isaeus
Thank you a whole lot for your candid and comprehensive response. And sorry for misspelling your first name in my previous post--dang, I hate it when I make errors like that. And fretting over attention to details like that is sort of my orientation to lots of things, which likely explains why I reacted to the cosmetic details of the CQC-15 SFS I received.
Certainly no one can argue with your success, and your comment that "those customers know who I am and I know who they are" is as pointed as the tip on this CQC-15. I get it; you're not making knives for me, at least not ostensibly. Indeed I'm not an LEO, a serviceman, nor any sort of professional or hobbyist with an occasion or inclination to use the knives you make to their full, hard-use capability. I'm not a tough guy like you or the image your company portrays. I'm a teacher who studies ancient Greeks--something I chuckle at myself!
Collecting knives is only a recent habit because a relative who really did use his KA-BAR explosively as a Marine in Vietnam just happened to pull out an aggressive folding knife from his pocket and generously gave it to me after noticing how cool I thought it was.
In general I like lots of things that are way over-engineered with respect to my needs and how I'll actually use them. My iPod can do things I'll never do with it but I appreciate its capabilities; I shoot paper targets with my Glocks but appreciate their hard-use capability; likewise, all I'll ever do with a knife likely could be done by some cheap flea-market knife but I like the capability of your knives as well as other knifemakers' impeccably finished knives. Just an idiosyncrasy, I suppose.
In the future I'll probably continue to gravitate more toward the cheaper versions of "pretty, highly fit and finished knives" given my uses and preferences and budget, although I must admit that so far they've stayed in the drawer since I got this CQC.
Cheers,
Isaeus
- Joined
- Sep 19, 2009
- Messages
- 1,430
Naaa...I don't want a "pretty" Emerson...I want an Emerson that I can charge into hell with in one hand and a quart of ice water in the other hand. If I'm too worried to use it or scratch it, I don't want it. My Mach 1 has done everything from clean horse hoofs to stripping wire and digging up sprinklers and peeling apples (before the horse hoofs
definitely thinking now that "used to clean horse hoofs" should be something that's explicitly stated in a for sale ad! must be one smelly knife!
- Joined
- May 16, 2002
- Messages
- 475
ehh...working knife is a working knife!
This Mach 1 isn't going anywhere!:thumbup: