Ive owned three EKI knives: New Super Karambit, Used Mini Commander, New CQC 11. This was over a period of time between 2007 and May 2010. Here's the lowdown:
Super Karambit:I believe I purchased this from Knife Center in Feb-Mar of 07. Found it to be an extremely cool knife, loved the wave. Was a little rough overall on F&F, BUT, that didnt bother me as this was such a cool knife. Stupid sharp, I'm talking razor blades could learn from this. I even made a review on youtube which has garnered over 25000 views and has most likely brough EKI some good business. Here's where the problems start: I carried this knife solely as a defensive knife, my user was a Delica 3. I could tell the blade was fragile, so I rarely used it, but that was to be expected. While cutting a medium strength fabric in an upward slicing motion (See flight suit sleeves), the last 1/4" or so of the blade literally disappeared. I was in shock. I didnt hit anything hard, nor did it cut through anything behind the blade. I am assuming there must have been some sort of hairline fracture in the blade from mfging, shipping, something. I called EKI and spoke to a female, who after making sure I hadnt been using it as a utility knife, told me I could send it in and buy a new blade if it could be sharpened out, which clearly it could not. I called again a day later and spoke to the same female who rudely told me I could pay for a new blade, shipping, and return shipping. I was dumbfounded, but not totally turned off. I was able to sell the knife on Ebay and recouped more than if I had paid for shipping and repairs.
Used Mini Commander: I bought this off of Ebay used for a steal of a price. It formed a patina quite often on the serrations, but a little oil took care of that. This was actually a really cool knife but I just didnt care for the blade shape (not EKIs fault). Fit and finish on this knife was good, so I really have nothing bad to say about it. If I could get another Emerson like this Mini Commander but with a drop-point blade of some sort I would actually be pleased.
CQC 11: Heres where I feel I was burned. I bought this knife new, cant recall the online store where I purchased it, but I paid a premium as it was hard to find at the time. Im a Marine, and in 07 was issued a Strider with which I was highly impressed. It was rough and ready for anything, and I never had problems for it
.until some ass stole it out of my can. To replace this, I bought the CQC 11. The F&F on this model was atrocious: rough edges everywhere, G10 felt like an emery board, liner stuck out further than the scales. The blade was sharp, as always though. I kept this knife even with the very poor attention to detail because it felt great in my hand and was simply a beast. While on a demo range, I was opening the wooden demo trainer round crates by simply cutting the tin band seals. These are extremely small tin seals which my Endura and Strider had cut through like butter. The Cqc 11 did just fine for about 15 boxes until I began to notice chips along the edge of the blade, first small chips that could be buffed out, but then they developed into large, blade damaging gouges. Now I had a knife with poor finish, a black finish on the blade that was wearing off with little use, and 2 large gouges in the blade where the recurve was. I made a thread in this very forum section about my experiences where no one from EKI responded. When I called about my issue after that, I again spoke to a female who let me know this could be fixed at my expense. I QUICKLY sold this at a loss and swore off Emerson.
I dont care if people think Im hating, lying, or whatever. I have NOTHING to gain here, I dont want a free knife from them, I dont even want a discount or an apology. I just want to let people know my honest-to-God experience here.
Mr. Emerson,
I dont hate you, I dont want to see you or your company fail. I would love to see better business practices from you guys. I really want an A-100, like really bad, but my experiences in the past have turned me off and so I choose not to buy from you guys. When the tip of my Millie broke, I called Spyderco and it was fixed for free, I just paid $5 for the return shipping. That to me speaks volumes about a company.
Please just accept what I have to say here and dont attempt to argue with me. You cant convince me that it happened any other way than I know it did. I spent over $600 on your products, so please dont insult a man that was a customer, I wont insult you.
My Karambit review on youtube continues to garner hits that I make no money off of. Its amateurish at best and I embarrass myself when I see it simply because I think my reviewing skills in 07 were pretty terrible. But, it still brings you business because people email me all the time asking about the Super Karambit. I tell them, the truth, that its a wicked knife, mine had an issue but that it may have been isolated, and that EKIs customer service is lacking in some areas. They report back on like the Karambit if they bought one. I wont take this review down because of my bad experience with your company simply because the facts in the video are true and it really was a cool blade.
If youd like to speak to me personally, email me at
soldiersblood@msn.com and I can provide you a phone number. I dont wish to fight or argue, Id rather have a beer.
Thanks for reading this,
Grant
. Definitely have set a bad example for me.