New knife/first Emerson

Pr3inar

Pr3inar

Gold Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2015
Messages
844
Hello!
I have used a Spyderco Paramilitary 2, Leatherman and Esee knives, and except for a Leatherman linerlock, the Paramilitary is the only"real" folder I have. I have always wanted an Emerson, but never pulled the trigger because:
- they are expensive (with taxes and shipping it costs alot to get it to Scandinavia)
- I have read a lot of places that they apparently have/have had some QC issues, and even if their customer service is supposed to be great it will cost me to ship it to the US if I get a lemon.. To be fair I have also read about alot of people who are happy with their knife, but unfortunately its the negative comments that stick..

Anyway: While drooling over a cqc 7 satin and a cqc 7v on some US sites, and dreaming of what could have been, I found a local website that had a black 2014 mini cqc 7, partially serrated. It wasn't satin, nor was it a V, but I didn't have to pay taxes or shipping so I just had to order it. Just got a e-mail, confirming that it had shipped from the store. Can't wait! What can I expect? Anyone else who has the same knife?

(Sorry, no real point of this story, other than that I am going to get my first Emerson, and my wife don't share or understand my entusiasm)
 
I had a recent Emerson and fit and finish was spot on. Your thumb will probably hurt alot for a few days after you get it if the lock needs broken in. After it's broken in though, in sure you'll love it.
 
Hahaha my wife doesn't share my enthusiasm for knives in general either, but congrats on your Emerson. It may not be "smooth" at first, just keep opening and closing it. You might have have read about breaking in, this is what I am referring too. These are built like tanks, not exactly perfect and show case pretty but it's hand made with a materials that will last.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Welcome and congratulations on scoring one.

Copy this for when you receive it:

Expect to have to break it in....say 1-2 weeks / 500-700 openings. It won't come out of the box a fast flicker. In fact, you may be underwhelmed, but don't lapse into remorse--any disappointment won't last long as you discover and play with the knife--it's very heavy duty and built to be a lifetime knife. Be patient with the break-in period as it will be the blink of an eye compared to its lifetime.

It will probably feel tight to open/close. It's normal. Don't mess with pivot adjustment yet.

It may feel gritty in the pivot. IMO, that's normal--it's the factory lube working into the washers for a long period of service. DON'T LUBE IT. Let it break in, any grittiness will gradually go away.

If you have some lock stick, be patient. It will continue a while then smooth out. Same with lockup. It may appear early---very early. Normal in many cases. It will travel over some then stabillize with use.

Unless there is an obvious defect [in which case it should be returned to the factory anyway], don't disassemble the knife during the break in period. You can do that after it's broken in if you have to tweak something. Let it break in under factory assembly. If you decide to take it apart in the future, remember it's the best it's ever going to fit together when factory assembled.

Did I say don't lube the knife? It should never need it and a lot of us never do. It will be fine without it. Let the washers be the lube, it's how it's designed.

It'll likely never be a super-fast-flicker, they aren't built for that.

Once it's fully broken in, tweak it as you want. Be sure and read the Emerson warranty too---they mean it.

You wanted some comments...those are the best I can give a first-timeEmerson owner. Patience with it when new!

Now read all the Stickies above and learn all you can about them here, especially the unique blade grinds and how and what to sharpen on an Emerson, before it arrives.
 
Thank you, guus, updates will follow!

Echoil - thank you, thats perfect! Now It's even harder to wait!
 
You mentioned that there was no real point to the story, come on, youre getting your first emerson. That's a great reason to post. Every time you get an emerson in the future always lets us know. You will never look at other knives the same. Emersons are soild kn every way. Good blade thickness, liners are not flimsy, g 10 is soild. Internet picture do these knives no justice. You need to hold it and you will understand.
 
You did the right thing by trying one for yourself. Now YOU can be the judge of how your first Emerson looks and works. That's the only way to really know how you feel about the brand in general and that knife in particular. I have a SF mini-7 and it's just perfect as a daily carry / use knife for my tasks at home and at work. It's a very solid smaller folder that feels very capable in hand. And it's easy to open / close with the thumb disk, unlike some other smaller folders that are hard to manipulate because everything's so close.

Since yours is a 2014, it'll probably have standoffs instead of a backspacer. I don't have a preference one way or the other. Half of my Emerson are older so they have backspacers. They work and feel just as solid as the standoff models.
 
I don't have a mini 7 but I have a mini 8 and it's awesome. Took a week or two to break in but it's very smooth now. Enjoy!
 
EChoil said:
Welcome and congratulations on scoring one.

Copy this for when you receive it:

Expect to have to break it in....say 1-2 weeks / 500-700 openings. It won't come out of the box a fast flicker. In fact, you may be underwhelmed, but don't lapse into remorse--any disappointment won't last long as you discover and play with the knife--it's very heavy duty and built to be a lifetime knife. Be patient with the break-in period as it will be the blink of an eye compared to its lifetime.

It will probably feel tight to open/close. It's normal. Don't mess with pivot adjustment yet.

It may feel gritty in the pivot. IMO, that's normal--it's the factory lube working into the washers for a long period of service. DON'T LUBE IT. Let it break in, any grittiness will gradually go away.

If you have some lock stick, be patient. It will continue a while then smooth out. Same with lockup. It may appear early---very early. Normal in many cases. It will travel over some then stabillize with use.

Unless there is an obvious defect [in which case it should be returned to the factory anyway], don't disassemble the knife during the break in period. You can do that after it's broken in if you have to tweak something. Let it break in under factory assembly. If you decide to take it apart in the future, remember it's the best it's ever going to fit together when factory assembled.

Did I say don't lube the knife? It should never need it and a lot of us never do. It will be fine without it. Let the washers be the lube, it's how it's designed.

It'll likely never be a super-fast-flicker, they aren't built for that.

Once it's fully broken in, tweak it as you want. Be sure and read the Emerson warranty too---they mean it.

You wanted some comments...those are the best I can give a first-timeEmerson owner. Patience with it when new!

Now read all the Stickies above and learn all you can about them here, especially the unique blade grinds and how and what to sharpen on an Emerson, before it arrives.
Click to expand...

Great post! I agree there are a few things first time emerson owners should be expecting with their knives so they don't feel like there's a problem with them. Couple of things I view differently than this post but overall great post .

First thing I do differently is I disassemble my emersons when I get them . I get the factory grease out and put my own in. I've heard people leaving in the factory grease and they swear once it settles in the knife is silky smooth. I just like mine smooth off the bat. For a first time emerson owner if you feel confident in your abilities (emersons are easy to take apart and put together ) then you could break it down and clean it .

If you don't break it down just be patient it'll get there. The cqc7 may not ever be a super fast flicker but other models with heavier blades will flick like a rocket when you get them broken in.

Your lockup is going to be very very early out of box, leave it alone . No need to test this lock to see if it will fail. Cycle the knife and allow the lock to settle in a bit. The same tricks for TI framelocks (pencil ,sharpie) will ease the lock stick IF it happens.

The chisel grind can be tricky . By this I mean it's hard to gauge just how sharp they are by feeling the edge like you would with some knives.

Out of box my emersons have consistently been the sharpest production knives I've received new. It may be hard to feel how sharp they are but they are ridiculously sharp. Don't be fooled thinking your knife is dull by the feeling of the edge it's not.

There's other tips and tricks to tweak your emerson how you want it . I'll hold off on posting them because as a new owner it may or may not be difficult for you to get your knife back to spec if you start tweaking with it.
 
Going to add this . Your knife may or may not have some tool marks on your liners , or other small stuff like that. It's normal and not a defect . I'm not one to take my knives under magnification so I couldnt tell you . I know some are a little rough around the edges . Part of the brand IMO. Just like high end guns etc. That first scratch on a 1500 pistol is always the hardest but after that the rest get easier .

Mr E. Makes a damn fine tool. They are tools though. They may not be as refined as other models but an emerson will last you a lifetime if you take care of it . Don't get caught up in tiny imperfections and my guess is you'll love it.
 
Spartan00 said:
Great post! I agree there are a few things first time emerson owners should be expecting with their knives so they don't feel like there's a problem with them. Couple of things I view differently than this post but overall great post.....There's other tips and tricks to tweak your emerson how you want it . I'll hold off on posting them because as a new owner it may or may not be difficult for you to get your knife back to spec if you start tweaking with it.
Click to expand...

Gotta preface this by giving attribution to Silvanus for his sticky here regarding Emerson ownership. It hasn't been updated in awhile but thank God he did it so at least some of the new owners have SOMETHING to refer to....that being said....

I'll tell ya the truth (and a few others here know this)....I'm sick for years of seeing newbie Emerson owners disappointed, remorseful or confused by the proclivities of a new Emerson (of which most of us long-time owners are aware), posting negatively about it here, then 100 non-owners read it and are down on Emersons. It tilts the reputation--already has for a long time. Lotta myth out there.

Having posted similar bits and pieces to new owners here (as many of us do) for so long, I decide 'screw it' and I've begun compiling the important points and just keeping them copied as a standard post for newbie questions similar to this thread.

I'll continually refine it, hopefully to arrive at something succinct yet thorough enough for new owners to take away a lot of the surprise and remorse some of them experience upon receiving their first one, having no previous familiarity with the brand.

Am I trying to show off? NO. I'm certainly no Emerson God and still have a lot to learn about them myself. Most of the people here know more than I do. My motive is selfish---seeing all of this continuously, it frustrates me mucho. Probably because I love the knives.

Sad part is most of it could be solved with a single piece of paper in every Emerson box that goes out, giving a bit of direction and knowledge to first-timers.

Your post (and supplementary tips) was a good one--let's use 'em! Hell, there are variations to everything and you make some good points... Main thing is easing some minds just now jumping on the wagon. :)
 
Exactly. Take it for what it is no snobbery here . Just helping out the new guys .

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 
dalefuller said:
....Since yours is a 2014, it'll probably have standoffs instead of a backspacer. I don't have a preference one way or the other. Half of my Emerson are older so they have backspacers. They work and feel just as solid as the standoff models.
Click to expand...

I agree. Only brand I own where I could care less if it's standoffs or spacer. Have several of both.
 
Still waiting, had a hope that it wolud come today, but that was a bit optimistic..

I enjoy reading how much you like your Emersons! I really, REALLY don´t care if there are toolmarks etc on the G-10 or liners or whatever. It will get scratched up anyway :) And I think I´m just going to break it in by using it, I´m guessing Emerson used the factory grease for a reason (not that I think it´s a bad thing if someone likes to clean it, but I don´t need it to flip open like my well-used Para 2 right away :) ).

To be continued!
 
Possible rant: There is something I have thought about when I have seen some of the reviews and complaints about Emersons, and this is part of the reason I wanted to try one for myself:

I have seen people complain about the liner lock: Spyderco also uses linerlocks. I rarely see complaints about them. Zero Tolerance also uses liner locks on some of their models, but I haven´t seen many complaints about that either.

And then there is the steel/materials Emerson use vs the cost of the knife. The thing that bugs me is that I don´t see nearly as much complaining about this with for example Esee or Kabar/Becker, that uses a cheaper steel (as far as I know) to make fixed blades, something that has to be cheaper than making a folder. They are also pricey considering "what you get", in terms of materials used, but people still buy them, without making negative reviews afterwards because of the steel or whatever.

The point I am trying to make is that I feel Emerson gets a lot of bashing for doing the same things as other brands, and I don´t understand why.

Just to be clear, this is not intended to be an attack on the brands mentioned, I own both Spyderco and Esee, and use and like them alot. Maybe I´m completely off the map for thinking this way, but it just seems strange to me (and a bit unfair againt Emersons).
 
^^^^^^ You'll find the liner lock to look like most others. It is titanium and good and strong. Shouldn't be any question about it... it works.

If you look extremely close under bright light you will notice the liners are not mirror polished, that's all. They are left pretty much as cut. They are very strong.

The knife is designed by Ernest Emerson. A good thing to do while you are awaiting your knife might be to read his entry in Wikipedia. Should eliminate any further doubts you may have about his knives. :)

Yes, Emersons get bashed a lot. IMO, for the reasons I stated above. Plus, they do have their own personality and aren't for everyone.

Post us when you get the knife.
 
I'll tell you a little secret about locks. Have a look at that thick TI framelock folder. Yea it's thick and I have a few myself. Look at that cutout to give the lock spring . See how thinit is at that cutout. Well your only as strong as your weakest point, weakest point is that thinner cutout on a framelock.

Now look at a linerlock like emerson or whoever compare the thickness of the linerlock ,compared to the thickness of that cutout on a TI framelock.

Which one is thicker ? Most of the time a linerlock will be thicker than a framelock at its thinnest point or at least equal to it .

When emersons are new the locks aren't as tight or as strong as they will be when they wear in. I have a few sitting about 20-30% lockup that lockup as tight as a strider .

EMerton stands behind his knives if you have a problem they will fix it . I bought a brand new cqc8 from a brick and mortar . It was heavily discounted because it was the display knife and had been waved or opened so much the lock was near 100% . I spoke with emerson before I bought it and they agreed to fix it ...Good as new and I got a brand new cqc8 for a steal!
 
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