The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 $250 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
I got myself on the custom waiting list around 1998 or so, just before Mr Emerson closed the books. I knew it would be a long wait of 10+ years and so every time I moved, I'd email the generic info@emersonknives.com with my new address, and I was getting replies and also confirmation that I was still in the books.
I met Mary Emerson at an event around 8 years ago and she suggested that I check in on occasion on the custom order because, to use her words "the squeaky wheel gets the grease" so I started emailing annually which seemed reasonable without being annoying. I was getting responses regularly saying "still on the books" and I felt good about that because I knew my knife would get made eventually.
The last several years I haven't gotten any responses when I email in to check on my order or update my address. I called in a year or two ago and the gentleman who answered the phone said Mr Emerson himself controls the customs books and he would route my verbal message to him, but I also did not get a reply.
I don't want to be annoying but I feel like I should at least get a response when I send in an email with my address update to say "yes, we received it, and you're still on the books." I've personally experienced several hard drive crashes over the last 20 years so it's nice to know my order didn't get lost.
I am completely okay if it takes another 10 or 20 years to make the knife, as long as I know I'm still on the list and it will still be made. I know Mr Emerson still regularly makes customs since I see auctions and lotteries going on a few times every year. Anyone else here still on the books for a custom and if so, have you been successful in getting responses on address updates? I apologize if come across as rude, that is not my intention. I love Emerson knife designs and can't wait to own my first custom!
2- There has been many lotteries over the years, but I understand the desire for a knifemaker to balance custom orders and lotteries because the custom orders serve long-time customers that have been waiting for years, whereas the lotteries can serve newer customers that didn't get on the list before it closed. Of course it feels bad to see lotteries occur when my order that's around 20 years old or so hasn't been fulfilled, but I understand it and am not mad about it.