Spyderco or Emerson wave ?

bladeprince

bladeprince

Joined
Jun 12, 2006
Messages
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I had an Emerson Commander wave for quiet awhile. I loved the feel of the knife in my hand but I could never get the wave feature to really work dependably. I practiced quite a bit but did never feel that I could depend of myself to get to deploy in a high stress situation (i.e. needed for SD).

My question is: are there other Emerson models where the wave feature works more easily and does the design of the Endura wave and/or Delica wave make them easier to deploy than the Emersons?

As a side note: almost all of all of my knives are plain edge. However, I wish they made the waved Delica and Endura with a full serrated edge. I have a plain edge and fully serrated edge Military and the military will slice a phone book over twice as deep as the plain edge. For a SD knife (and many other general chores), I love the Spyderco serration design, even though I'm a plain edge guy.

I still know practice is needed but which knife is the easiest to get used to?

Thanks
 
the spyderco version is quite a bit larger. all my emersons have the same size wave; combat kerambit, 12,13.

just took practice for me to deploy reliably.

the spyderco, i imagine, would be even more reliable since the wave is larger.
 
My Endura wave worked nearly perfectly. I was quite impressed with it. In fact, the opening was so dependable, the problem was when I wanted to pull it out without opening it automatically ;). I ended up cutting myself a few times on those occasions and finally decided to carry regular Endura. It takes a small extra step to open, but it does open smoothly even with my gloves on, and I do not risk tearing non-denim pants (I felt that my lightweight nylon hiking pants were no match for the wave hook).

In short, if someone depends on the wave to open each and every time coming out of reasonably strong pants, I would go for it. Otherwise, I prefer the regular version.
 
I don't know what it is. I can't seem to master the Emerson knives either. I mean they work but not as consistant as the others I have used. I can get the Spyderco ones and the ones I make on them to work like a charm most everytime but the two new EKI knives I have just don't seem to be as easy to use. Kind of ironic since Ernie was the one that started it all. I'm hoping it gets better with them after they break in because I had a very broke in CQC12 in the other day that worked really easiliy compared to my two new ones.


STR
 
Hey Guys...

I also carry a Waved Commander,, and although it works well,, I still get it to fail, every once and awhile,, and I'm VERy deliberate on how I draw the Commander..

The Spyderco on the other hand has a VERY positive deployment and has been Far less prone to misfires..
Actually the only misfires I get from it is if I don't draw it quick enough...

Hands down though, the Spyderco Waved models work better and Far Superior to the Emerson's.

ttyle

Eric
O/ST
 
Waved Spydercos = Glocks of the knife world . IMHO much beter value for money than the Emersons .

Also less of a pocket wrecker .

Chris
 
I agree with that, Spyderco's version of the Wave is much easier on the pocket. Also, it's a great knife for the money. I don't care much for the flat/sabre type grind as it's a bit thick but it's a tough cookie and seems to handle light prying and scraping well. Love the screw construction and the PB washers. A techno-geek's dream! :D
 
The wave feature on the Endura is huge and it worked very well for me. It opens easily from jeans with strong hand to running shorts with weak hand reverse grip draw. Be careful when drawing from your back while sitting in a car with seat belt on, I almost cut myself the first time I did that.
 
I think most people that the Spyderco version will open a lot easier than the Emersons. There are a few members on these forums who may consider "waving" a serrated Endura/Delica/Salt Series folder for a nominal fee.
 
Glad to see I'm not the only one that had trouble with the Emerson.

Good stuff....thank you all.

Regards
 
The Spydies have a Tsunami instead of a wave. However, so does one of the Emersons. Shoot I forget the name though, it's like a G10 blackbird, but with a massive wave. They came PE, CE, or 90 percent serrated.

The ease does come down to size, as well as various angles and measurements. The older Emersons had a much smaller wave that didn't work nearly as well as the later ones. The change-over happened at different times for differnt models, somewhere in the 02 area I believe.

With a later model commander or CQC, I found the wave effortless and could even reliably do it from IWB carry (90 degree rotation as i pull it past my pants, turning the spine outwards). I never tried the Emerson I mentioned (think it had asian writing on the blade? Maybe also an opening hole instead of disk, like a cqc10?)

Good luck with your search.
 
talonturbo said:
The Spydies have a Tsunami instead of a wave. However, so does one of the Emersons. Shoot I forget the name though, it's like a G10 blackbird, but with a massive wave. They came PE, CE, or 90 percent serrated.
Click to expand...

I believe that knife would be called the M-wave (mega-wave)
 
The Spyderco wave works great, but is actually too big for some of my jeans, as it gets caught up in the pocket and won't deploy all the way if you don't do it right. Hey, STR, can't you just cut the blade a little deeper near the wave on your Emerson's to make it work better for you? The only real problem I see is if you have the black coated blade you'd have a bare, shiny spot.
 
I could do that to any of them sure. But I hesitate on mine because both have black blades.

I fixed my own personal carry SpecWar from 1998 up so that not only was I able to do away with that thumb disc that seemed to be in the wrong position for my thumb (I missed it and had to look down most all the time with this model to find it) but I equipped it with a flipper of my own that ironically is the easiest using Wave I've ever had and took the thumb disc off and moved the hook of this new flipper more to the center of the ramp where my thumb always expected the disc to be making it much easier to use manually now also.

I just did this for my own personal knife though. I've made two of these and the first was long before Mr. Demko had a patent or even applied for one. I have read both patents and this appears to fall inbetween them by definition and design so it is probably perfectly legal to reproduce since is is separate and removable from Ernie's Wave, and up like a hook but not parallel like Demko's, and also the blade does not have to be modified to make it work unlike Demko's or Ernie's patent. My flipper will mount and use any existing thumb disc slot and screw mount hole. I've thought of working on one to mount to any existing thumb stud also but I don't know where to start on those kind of IP things.

I probably won't be doing a lot of these for a number of reasons. Number one being this was hard to do. These take a lot of finnesse to get right and it took me three tries to get one that worked just for my own personal use. It has to fit right in the slot that used to hold the thumb disc so it won't spin. Once I got it though it was awesome. I did this with a low rider clip that went haywire on me. Once again proving there is no such thing as waste in my shop. Its the easiest on pockets and the easiest to catch of any I've ever used. I think this would successfully convert any blade with a thumb disc to Wavable usage.

STR
 
STR wicked idea. Seen some other wave devices but never that before. I'd love to come up with something really clean for a couple of my tip up folders.
 
The only Emerson that I've owned or handled, I cannot get the 8 to wave reliably. Although I haven't had much time with one.

I agree that the Spyderco waves work better.

Vu
 
I turned a Matriarch into the ultimate wave. First time screwing around with a Dremel and a blade. Opened up the hole and it was a thin blade with a huge wave. But strangth isn't the point of the Matriarch so I figured it suited the knife. I'd post pics but I gave it away.
 
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