Is an Emerson Combat Karambit $160 better than this copy?

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NO F-Bdy Bs

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My local shooting range was giving these out as prizes at last years christmas party. I had never seen a Karambit design, and the "wave" feature was just downright AWESOME to me. I won one of these and absoutly LOVE the design and the way it functions. The deployment speed is unmatched by everything but a fixed blade.

I searched the net to find if an american company made it originally. I found out that apparently, whatever company is putting these out, pretty much copied an Emerson to a T. What I was looking for, was the same design, but with beefier components, a better, and thicker locking tang, and just overall a better knife. The Emerson is about $170, depending on who you get it from. My range sells these for $20.
I have heard that Emerson suffer from a flimsy tang, and that they tend to "wear" quickly, and require that you send them back to Emerson from time to time for a "tune up"

Take a look at this knock off that I have and tell me if you think that the Emerson is $160 better than this one. I dont mind paying the extra price for the Emerson at all, if, im getting a far superior blade.
What I dont want, is to drop $170, and have the Emerson show up at my door looking almost identical to this copy.
Thoughts?

emerson11.jpg


emerson2.jpg


You can see in this pic, how thin the tang is
emerson1.jpg
 
Knockoffs are an insult. Get the real one. Btw, your posts have been somewhat dubious, get real why don't you.
 
PatriotDan said:
Knockoffs are an insult. Get the real one.
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As I said, I dont mind paying for the real one, if its worth the $$.
I have heard that Emersons suffer from some weak parts. I dont want to even bother with it if the Emerson is only marginally better.
 
Emersons are about the same thickness. But they are no doubt made of better materials in the USA, and are not guilty of design theft.
 
PatriotDan said:
Knockoffs are an insult. Get the real one. Btw, your posts have been somewhat dubious, get real why don't you.
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How are my posts dubious? DO a search for my name. I make very few posts in this section and spend the majority of my time in the Axe and Tomahawk forum, to which I have contributed quite a few "how to" threads.
 
The real emerson's use better blade steel 154cm.And liners are titanium.
Emerson will come sharper.The knockoff you show has a different blade shape, also I wouldn't trust my life with a china made knockoff sorry:thumbdn:
 
Emerson went to s.s. liners on one side last year and I belive are going to all s.s. liners at some point this year. Don't know why other manufacturer'ers aren't doing that but EKI is. keepem sharp
 
The Emerson is going to have better steel than surgical 440 whatever the hell that is. Steel is 154cm if I remember correctly and a real Emerson will have a better lock tang. If anything Emersons come a little tight new and you have to work it for a few hundred times before the tang gets to where it will center but this is good. The tangs on the lock side are titanium also not 420j2. Emerson combat Kbit is also a chisel grind and it comes wicked sharp.

Plus if that piece of crap breaks you're outa luck and I personally am not going to trust my fingers to a twenty dollar Kbit. With the Emersons you get a superior product made in the USA and the company stands 100% behind it's product.

Just because they look alike doesn't mean anything about quality.
 
I would not trust my fingers to the knockoff, let alone my life. The people who knock Emersons (or Spyderco,Kershaw,custom makers,etc,etc...) are contrarians who must find
fault or complaints with anything deemed of high quality.
Emerson builds knives here in the USA of quality material and would not have recieved the reputation and support they now have if product quality was not there.
If you "USE" a knife and not just play around opening your mail with a "tactical" knife to
annoy your co-workers, then you need an Emerson (or other quality knife) not a KSO (knife shaped object).

My $.02. YMMV
 
Perhaps I came across wrong.

I wasnt saying that I was planning on using this blade as a replacement for the Emerson.
The knife was a gift, and I liked the design, but wanted to replace it with an American version, or should I say, original.
Anyhow, my point was, if the Emerson isnt that much better, I was going to abandon the entire concept,including this knock-off. I had no intention of carrying this blade, as its very obvious that it is a poor quality blade, even if it wasnt a copy.
I didnt mean to imply that this Knock-off is just as good, or compares in any way.After some research, I had heard that Emersons had a somewhat thin/weak tang, and I was curious if the Emerson would be worth picking up since I like the design. I wasnt trying to say "Dont bother with the Emerson, when you can get a $20 blade that does the same thing" ect.
 
i have a combat kerambit, and love it. the wave is fantastic!

quality and fit/finish were exactly what i expected for 160.00. emerson customer service is also very good.

the only thing i would advise you be aware of is the pivot screw. they sometimes back out, resulting in blade play and possible lock failure. i like to find the "sweet spot" on my emersons, where opening is smooth and fast, and there is little to no blade play. then i loctite the pivot screw in place.
 
NO F-Bdy Bs,
Your post was clear, credible and concise.

Quite why it elicited the response it did remains unclear.

As a person new to Forums I have noticed that postings appear which contain little or no relevance to the original enquiry.

That apart, Emerson is not a brand I have experience of, sorry.
 
uh, that a cheap POS knock off isnt as good a knife as a $160 emerson shouldnt be a real big suprise to anyone who has anything more than a passing interest in cutlery lol, come on now lol.
 
SIFU1A said:
uh, that a cheap POS knock off isnt as good a knife as a $160 emerson shouldnt be a real big suprise to anyone who has anything more than a passing interest in cutlery lol, come on now lol.
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picard.jpg



I swear, reading comprehension is obviously NOT a requirement in this forum.

NO F-Bdy Bs said:
I didnt mean to imply that this Knock-off is just as good, or compares in any way.After some research, I had heard that Emersons had a somewhat thin/weak tang, and I was curious if the Emerson would be worth picking up since I like the design. I wasnt trying to say "Dont bother with the Emerson, when you can get a $20 blade that does the same thing" ect.
Click to expand...
 
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