Question for long time Emerson users

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Aug 6, 2013
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Good morning folks. I have recently got into Emerson's (mini commander and commander). When I am about to get a new gun or knife I research the product almost with an ADD compulsion. I read a lot about Emerson's liners failing and developing pre mature wear type stuff. I also read about liners/G10 not matching, gritty actions, off center blades. What I always questioned is why these people simply did not just call Emerson and send it 2 day priority mail to them for 5 bucks and have it fixed. So I figured what the hell and ordered a mini commander, it impressed me so much that I bought a commander also. I have zero of the fit and finish problems that people are talking about, both my knives action are very smooth right out of the box with very nice scale/liner match up (not that it matters that much).

My question is basically about the liners.........have any of you long time Emerson owners seen your liner locks wear to the point of blade play or fail completely? I am also under the impression that even if this did happen after years of use, Emerson would take care of it for only return shipping? I am really enjoying these knives and I dig the fact he is in Harbor City CA and they are 100% American made. They seem like a great company to deal with.
 
My horseman is not very old and has a decent amount of liner lock wear. There is no lock rock or play yet, but if it starts, i know i can send it in and get it fixed up. So i am not worried. Emerson stands behind their product.
 
My horseman is not very old and has a decent amount of liner lock wear. There is no lock rock or play yet, but if it starts, i know i can send it in and get it fixed up. So i am not worried. Emerson stands behind their product.

Thanks for your feedback.
 
I have had a Mini 15 for 3 years.. love the knife.. it is at about 50% lockup and solid as a rock.

I wouldn't worry about the liners, or anything else.. Emerson's are awesome, and worth every penny. (IMHO)

There all kinds of Youtube videos showing long term use.. here is one..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhiqitMNIhE
 
My mini-15 is a 2012 (bought new) with fairly regular carry & use. My lock bar started out at about 30% (just the full width of the lock bar) engagement and hasn't moved. No issues of any kind with mine except not enough stuff to cut in a day.
 
1. It is easy to complain on the internet.

2. Many "complaints" are retweets by people who don't own Emersons with those problems.

3. Great knives! Enjoy yours! :D
 
I think most of the complaints come because new knives that need to be sent in. Not used one or older worn ones. The used ones Emerson stands behind but his return shipping is like $14.95 (or thereabouts ?) plus there is a wait period you are without the knife for weeks. With a new knife this is not acceptable and that is why people complain. So they end up selling them instead and forever hate Emerson knives.

The 3 complaints I see the most are:

1) lock slip (from to early lockup or the tang ramp has to much of an incline)


2) off centered blade. Which can easily be fixed by yourself and should not be an issue anyway.

3) gritty opening and closing- also it is standard procedure to clean out a new emerson grit. I kinda like that because the grit polishes things more and then you end up bonding with the knife by talking it apart.


The problem is people who are new to Emersons, just don't know emersons.. I sold a Emerson with a V-grind on Ebay once and the buyer complained that I sharpened the blade wrong and demanded a refund on a new knife..of course he did not know that a V-grind on an Emerson still only has one bevel sharpened (not both sides). Ebay agreed with the buyer and refunded his money on a knife that was factory..

So yeah, I wish these idiots would do their homework on Emersons first. Instead all they do is complain on the internet where any know-knowing can post anything they want..So beware selling any Emersons on Ebay!

EmersonGrinds.jpg
 
One thing I have noticed is that my mini commander pivot screw was able to be backed out some without causing blade play. My standard size cannot be backed out very much and the horizontal blade play starts. I did find a nice happy place though with fairly smooth opening with no blade play. Should only get better as it breaks in hopefully.
 
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Hi

I have owned 2 Roadhouses, a commander, minicommander, CQC-7, CQC-8, CQC-15 and Gentleman Jim.

No issues, fit and finish were fine on the ones I have owned. All had tight lockup. And to be honest, as long as the blade does not rub against the liners, I do not care if the blade is perfectly centered.

Your mileage may vary..

Best luck
P
 
My first Emerson was the Benchmade/Emerson collaboration (CQC 7). This knife is like a mini sword!. My current EDC is the Combat Karambit. I've had zero issues with liner wear or anything else on either knife. The early CQC-7 was my EDC for about 4 years, my Karambit has been my loyal partner (almost daily on my person) since 2005.

Love these knives, met Mr. Emerson and he is a true gentleman. I will continue to support Emerson as his blades fill the niche that I have a need for...
 
Good morning folks. I have recently got into Emerson's (mini commander and commander). When I am about to get a new gun or knife I research the product almost with an ADD compulsion. I read a lot about Emerson's liners failing and developing pre mature wear type stuff. I also read about liners/G10 not matching, gritty actions, off center blades. What I always questioned is why these people simply did not just call Emerson and send it 2 day priority mail to them for 5 bucks and have it fixed. So I figured what the hell and ordered a mini commander, it impressed me so much that I bought a commander also. I have zero of the fit and finish problems that people are talking about, both my knives action are very smooth right out of the box with very nice scale/liner match up (not that it matters that much).

My question is basically about the liners.........have any of you long time Emerson owners seen your liner locks wear to the point of blade play or fail completely? I am also under the impression that even if this did happen after years of use, Emerson would take care of it for only return shipping? I am really enjoying these knives and I dig the fact he is in Harbor City CA and they are 100% American made. They seem like a great company to deal with.

I have been using my cqc 15 for over 3 years, which I sent it in twice. Once for back and fourth play due to the liner being worn out, I use it everyday, and then again because when they sent it to me the lockup was still late and they mismatched one of the handle screws. They appologized and fixed the issue. The customer service I think is very good. I love my 15 and still carry it everyday.
 
Well, I have a Mini 7 that is 12 years old, the lock was fine, but it was a bit past 70% or so after 10 years. I sent it in and the liner was replaced. Easy to get things fixed, just don't screw with the knife and void the warranty and you are fine. That is, if you need the warranty.
 
Long time Emerson user, a number of models. Haven't had any problems.

Never had a liner failure. As to rust, I'm thinking the most they would ever do is patina eventually with age. I think the steel liner is 300-series stainless.

I like the factory lube, last I heard, it' s pretty high quality copper-based grease for temperature extremes.. Any grittiness always goes away--I always thought it eventually permeated the Nylatron washers to provide a lifetime lube. So I never lube any of mine. I let the washers be the lube. Maybe someone can point out if I'm wrong.

I think a lot of the Emerson bashing is due to first-time owners' impatience of not allowing them a break-in period.
 
..... My current EDC is the Combat Karambit. I've had zero issues with liner wear or anything else ..... my Karambit has been my loyal partner (almost daily on my person) since 2005......

Curious about your experiences carrying the karambit EDC....

A while back I EDC'd my combat karambit (original tip style) for about two months as an experiment, and became enlilghtened to the fact that it made a great EDC, contrary to popular opinion and probably out of range of belief to most people. :) I wrote about it here once or twice.

Then I switched it out for another knife and forgot about it. This reminded me and I'm interested to see how you like it as EDC. I never ran into anything it wouldn't handle (only exception--flat-slicing veggies or similar on a plate or board; thumb-sliced them excellently though) and was pretty amazed at how it handled some tasks better than a regular knife. Thing was hell on zip ties, I know....
 
This thread is old but relevant IMO. I've got both karambit models . I prefer the combat to the super just because of ergos and my combat has the finer tip vs the thicker tip on the super.

At first I didn't use them for edc. Bought them with the intent on carrying but never using it unless as a weapon. Well found myself needing a knife one day snd karambit was all I had on me. It makes a great little edc knife.

Only issue one might have with a karambit is resharpening it . I invested in a belt sander with 1 inch belts so it's not an issue for me . Depending on your setup though they can be a PITA.
 
Got a Combat Karambit that's about two years old, lock up is about 25%. Just got a CQC7 a few months old and the lock up is 80%, go figure (???). Both are rock solid however. Also have a Super Karambit and I actually prefer to the Combat K as the blade angle seems to make for easy EDC tasks such as breaking down cardboard boxes (which I do a lot of at certain times of the year). Weird yeah?
 
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