Little things go a long way

I recently discovered Emerson knives, and have pretty much been buying Emerson's to the exclusion of any other brand. Not because I am a raving fanboy, but because I was not finding many models made by other manufacturers that piqued my interest.

One of my more recent purchases was a CQC T. I love this damn thing, and have handled it almost daily. As a result of the constant opening and closing of the sheath, one of the side release buckles began to break. Now, before anyone begins to soapbox about shoddy materials, these seem to be milspec buckles. These plastic buckles are what they are. I have had products that employed such buckles last years, others of equal quality broke after a few months. These are mass produced pieces of plastic, and I consider them disposable.

So, I took to the internet to find a replacement male portion of the buckle. The female portion is sewed on, so I just wanted to find the exact same model already used on the sheath to order. That way I would not have to resew in new female portions on both sides. I looked for a few hours, using Google image search as well as going to material suppliers' websites. The long and short of it is that I could not find an exact match for what used for the sheath.

Now, I have seen this exact type used in other products, so i know it is not a proprietary buckle. I just couldn't find it.

So, I shoot off an email to American Tomahawk, the company who manufactures this Emerson designed tomahawk. After a few days of no response, I email Emerson Knives, just to see if they have a manufacturer's model number for the piece I need. I figure this way I can order a couple.

An hour or so later, I get an email back from Emerson saying that they do not know, but will contact the manufacturer to see if they can find anything out. I tell Emerson customer service that I have tried to contact the manufacturer with no luck.

A few hours later, I get another email from Emerson, apologizing for the trouble that I am having, and saying that they will take care of getting the part I need themselves, and will mail it to me. A couple of days later, I get a few buckles in the mail, courtesy of Emerson.


I know that this is a long post, concerning a plastic part that only costs a few cents. However, having a company go out of their way for something as small as this tiny little piece of plastic, for a product that another company manufactures, speaks volumes to their philosophy of service. A company that can't get the little things right, can rarely get the big things right. I have had clip break with a Benchmade Rukus a few years ago. I contacted them to purchase a replacement, and never got an answer. I had a sheath break for a small Gerber fixed blade. I contacted them to purchase a replacement. Again, I never heard back. I am 41, and have been collecting knives since I was probably too young to be doing so. I have had three issues in that entire time when I have attempted to seek help from the manufacturer.

Emerson has been the only one to not only answer, but to take care of the problem. And in a very efficient manner. Any item that is manufactured in quantity runs the risk of having less than stellar examples escape the factory. It is how a company deals with those defects that decides as to whether or not I do business with them again. In this case, I showed my appreciation by ordering a CQC 13.

Again, sorry for the long post. It is just that I read a lot of posts that say that these knives are overpriced, or do not live up to the hype. I wanted to put out a positive personal experience.