Of all the Emerson folders available, which one is the strongest?

F

Folderguy

Joined
Jun 26, 2010
Messages
1,261
Of all the Emerson folders available, which one is the strongest?

This morning, I received my first Emerson: the Commander, with wave, and I have to say I really like it.

Very smooth opening action, attention to detail in every respect. Great blade shape, and I do like the serrations on this knife. One thing I did not expect was to find that the blade is basically sharpened only on one side, which obviously I can "improve" on by sharpening it, putting a convex edge on it. Is that something Emerson fans would approve of? Just wondering.

However, it doesn't really measure up, IMHO, to the toughness, perhaps tank-like quality, of my Zero Tolerance 0300. Two very different knives, to be sure.

Now that my taste for Emersons has been duly whetted, and since I've only seen a few of them, I wonder what their uber folder is, or might be.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.
 
certainly the HD7, which is a framelock CQC7, i think, would be stronger. their is another framelock emerson, i want to say its called comrade and is the CQC12, but im not certain.

the custom emersons ernie makes uses thicker ti, but are all at least a grand and more on the secondary market.

i love my emersons, but wish their was something more halfway between the productions and customs.
 
I find my Emersons hold up well. I have handled a few ZTs and own the 0200 and 0500. They are great knives but the Emersons carry much more easily, especially in warm weather with light clothes. I would compare them to a Spydie Military, big, strong, sharp -- and very convenient. :)

Yes, the CQC-12 Comrade is the other Emerson framelock.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I find my Emersons hold up well. I have handled a few ZTs and own the 0200 and 0500. They are great knives but the Emersons carry much more easily, especially in warm weather with light clothes. I would compare them to a Spydie Military, big, strong, sharp -- and very convenient. :)

Yes, the CQC-12 Comrade is the other Emerson framelock.
Click to expand...

Oh yes, the Emerson carries more easily than the ZT 0300. I also have the ZT 0400, and it carries more easily than the ZT 0300, for it is smaller and lighter.

For the kind of things I normally do, the Emerson Commander is fine. I just wanted to know about some heavier stuff.

Thanks.
 
I've heard of some serious issues with the Emerson liner locks. you might be better off going with ZT or the Spyderco Military (if ZT are too bulky) if you want something for hard use. plus you should get a better steel, as far as I know.
 
I'll never buy another Emerson. You don't need to spend $$$ for a quality knife. My Cold Steel American Lawman holds up better than my CQC-14 ever has except maybe the first day I owned it. If you want better steel than AUS8 then ZT's are good. I have used a ZT but not actually owned one.
 
misterjuiceman said:
I've heard of some serious issues with the Emerson liner locks. you might be better off going with ZT or the Spyderco Military (if ZT are too bulky) if you want something for hard use. plus you should get a better steel, as far as I know.
Click to expand...

Hmmm...

Well, I don't plan on "hard use" for this knife. I only wanted to get an idea of the other models they might have that would be stronger.

As for the steel used in the Commander, check this out:

Commander.jpg



Also, that particular knife won a prestigious award:

EmersonC.jpg


I've also heard of some problems with the liner lock models. Hopefully the titanium lock in this one will stand up to the very light tasks I plan on using this knife for, like opening plastic wrapped packages, slicing sandwich bread, and the like. Not that it can't handle tougher stuff, but I don't need it for that. I have plenty of others with which I can open cans and so on. :)

For me, at least for now, this knife is one I'll take very good care of.
 
The framelock Emersons I've seen have thinner cutouts than some of the other linerlocks. I've seen a ridiculously thin cutout on a 12 at a local store and I've read of similar complaints from other posters. However, a member here has an HD7 with a reasonably thicker cutout and he said he's seen a 12 with a thicker cutout than the ones that I'm talking about.

I've read that the 13 has one of the, if not the thickest liner. The 14, having a much shorter blade than the rest but with a relatively thick liner would seem to me to be able to take a high(er) amount of stress on the lock due to there being less leverage against the lock (shorter lever arm).
 
Ankerson's recent test on a 13, showed that the knife can take some hits...even being a linerlock, the lock never failed and the tip never broke, while the manix 2 did...im not bashing anything, just throwing that out there.

Folderguy, i think you are selling your knife short a little bit...they are meant to stand up to alot of work :)

Its not as stout as a 0300, but i think it can handle most of what you throw at it
 
Folderguy said:
Hmmm...

Well, I don't plan on "hard use" for this knife. I only wanted to get an idea of the other models they might have that would be stronger.

As for the steel used in the Commander, check this out:

Commander.jpg



Also, that particular knife won a prestigious award:

EmersonC.jpg


I've also heard of some problems with the liner lock models. Hopefully the titanium lock in this one will stand up to the very light tasks I plan on using this knife for, like opening plastic wrapped packages, slicing sandwich bread, and the like. Not that it can't handle tougher stuff, but I don't need it for that. I have plenty of others with which I can open cans and so on. :)

For me, at least for now, this knife is one I'll take very good care of.
Click to expand...

154CM isn't bad by any means, but for the price they charge, you should be getting S30V, CPM154 or 20CV, at least. I'd trust the Military's linerlock over an Emerson any day, in fact I'd trust it over the production framelocks as well.

what other knives do you own? you might want to check out some Spydercos and Benchmades, or save up a little more and go for a small CRK or Strider PT. I'd sooner pay the $300-330 for those than the $230 for a production Emerson (which is the price given in your image). for me personally, I'd rather have a few really nice knives versus a huge variety of cheaper knives, but again, that's just me.

I don't mean to derail the thread, it's just from your question, I got the impression that you were looking for a stronger knife than what you've got, and I feel like Emerson isn't the answer then. The Spyderco Military, Para-Military 2, Benchmade 755, are all stronger knives, in my opinion, though some may disagree due to the tip on the Para 2. if you want to spend a little bit more, the Strider PT and small Sebenza will both be much stronger than the Emerson production folders.
 
The ZT 300's are awesome except for a few things I would like changed on the knife (mind you it's my EDC so I'm not knocking it in any way). But...

1. No speedsafe, don't want assisted just a smooth buttery gliding flipper. Might be hard with the HUGE blade.
2. It's HEAVY....not a problem IMO but with the flipper it does sometimes open in the pocket, watch yourself or never have children. DEFINITELY change it to Tip up so it opens away from the worst spot to have a blade pierce.....
3. The TI framelock on it is MUCH thinner than Striders and it weighs more....some changes need to be made BUT all and all for less than $200 it's definitely worth the $$$$ if you cannot afford a strider.
 
For my money, the A100 is a winner. It has a really thin profile , great blade shape, impressive liner lock thickness.
 
You can go round and round on the lock strength issue, but the one I would say is the brute of brutes is the CQC-11. Just in terms of size and the design of the blade, although it offers no real advantage over the Commander as it is a similar design. I just personally prefer it.

If you want one that is brutishly strong, pick the one you like and get STR to make a framelock for it.
 
You can always send ANY Emerson off to Reese Weiland for a framelock conversion. That's what I did.
 
misterjuiceman said:
154CM isn't bad by any means, but for the price they charge, you should be getting S30V, CPM154 or 20CV, at least. I'd trust the Military's linerlock over an Emerson any day, in fact I'd trust it over the production framelocks as well.

what other knives do you own? you might want to check out some Spydercos and Benchmades, or save up a little more and go for a small CRK or Strider PT. I'd sooner pay the $300-330 for those than the $230 for a production Emerson (which is the price given in your image). for me personally, I'd rather have a few really nice knives versus a huge variety of cheaper knives, but again, that's just me.

I don't mean to derail the thread, it's just from your question, I got the impression that you were looking for a stronger knife than what you've got, and I feel like Emerson isn't the answer then. The Spyderco Military, Para-Military 2, Benchmade 755, are all stronger knives, in my opinion, though some may disagree due to the tip on the Para 2. if you want to spend a little bit more, the Strider PT and small Sebenza will both be much stronger than the Emerson production folders.
Click to expand...

Other knives? BM 755 MPR, ZT 0300, ZT 0400, Cold Steel Black Rhino, Cold Steel Recon 1, Cold Steel Mini-Lawman, BM 930, various CRKTs: Ripple, Ripple 2, Kommer 30-30, various Kershaws: Scallion, Vapor (quite good) and others. The Strider PT is too small for me. Actually, the titanium liner lock on my Emerson measures .055 in while the cutout on the BM 755 measures .035 in. I'm probably in the market for a Strider SnG if the price is right, meaning a user would be just fine. Also, I got the Emerson Commander in excellent, almost new condition for only $130, not a bad deal from what I've been told...
 
I don't think STR does those anymore.
 
Charlie Mike said:
You can always send ANY Emerson off to Reese Weiland for a framelock conversion. That's what I did.
Click to expand...

Can you give me a price range for an A-100 or mini-commander from Reese? I want to know before I purchase the knife, because as we all know, framelocks are boss.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top