Tell me about Emersons

glockfire said:
Cool. I'll stick with my statement still. If people want to claim that their Emerson knife is meant for hard use, not basic cutting, then give examples such as using it as a prybar, then they should have bought a prybar and a box knife. Would it make you feel better if I said a $10.50 box cutter? $100.50? I know an Emerson cuts a bit better than a standard box cutter, but I know it doesnt pry or punch or melt steel any better than any comparable knife in its price point. It also doesnt kill terrorist leaders any better, it doesnt conduct "Close Quarters Combat" any better, regardless of the number placed after the acronym, and it doesnt induct you into an elite group.

Its a folding knife, it does things that other folding knives at that price point do, som at that price do things better, some dont. It doesnt do anymore.
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Of course.

Some of my posts from this thread (some clipped to get to the point)

Warp said:
I am a bit put off by Emerson and his marketing. Given the pricing, his statements/marketing, and their availability I probably won't buy another one anytime soon. Then again I don't buy very many knives.
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Warp said:
Knives aren't really meant to pry and I'm sure an Emerson will break if you really try to PRY with it.
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imho, if you don't need the wave feature, don't get an emerson knife. I have 5 Emerson knives, and have used the Cqc7. I end up selling the used knife and keeping the rest for collection. As someone mentioned earlier, there is no sweet spot that i can adjust to flick the knife out without having blade play or having the closed knife open up itself in my pocket while i am running. So there's only 2 ways to open am Emerson knife is to slowly use the thumb disc, or to wave it. Thus, if you don't find the need for wave, there are many other options.
Knives that i highly recommend: ZT 0200, Benchmade bedlam, Spyderco paramilitary2, Galye Bradley.
 
Frozy said:
imho, if you don't need the wave feature, don't get an emerson knife. I have 5 Emerson knives, and have used the Cqc7. I end up selling the used knife and keeping the rest for collection. As someone mentioned earlier, there is no sweet spot that i can adjust to flick the knife out without having blade play or having the closed knife open up itself in my pocket while i am running. So there's only 2 ways to open am Emerson knife is to slowly use the thumb disc, or to wave it. Thus, if you don't find the need for wave, there are many other options.
Knives that i highly recommend: ZT 0200, Benchmade bedlam, Spyderco paramilitary2, Galye Bradley.
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How does that happen?
 
glockfire said:
Like he explained in his post.

Either loosen the pivot so you can open it with your thumb, or tighten it so it doesnt open in your pocket. Poor design.
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I have one. I have tried a lot of tightnesses of the pivot before settling on one and setting it with plumber's tape (which works perfectly BTW). Even when I made it loose and it loosened up more it never moved, let alone OPENED, while clipped in my pocket no matter what I did.

Was it loose in a big cargo pocket or something??
 
I'm mostly a Spyderco guy but I have a CQC-8 and a mini Commander. Great knives. A little in the heavy side but for hard use outdoors knives I like them. And the look flat out cool to me. I plan on getting a CQC-7V this next year. At around $130 the mini Commander is not a bad deal. The CQC-8 at around $200 is kind of over priced but if it were lost or stolen I'd replace it. Great ergos for me and a great all around blade shape. The asymmetrical edge makes long, straight cuts challenging for me at least but I usually don't need to do that. If you have an Emerson that catches your eye and you have the money I say go for it.
 
I thought this would be a good place to post my thoughts after briefly using a mini a-100 that I bought and resold. I loved the look and feel of the knife, but had some deal breaker issues with it. I received it and it had the usual very minor fit and finish issues that people complain about (liners not flush with G-10, machining marks here and there...). I didn't care about those fit and finish problems at all. I had never owned any knife with a chisel ground bevel before, and was uncertain how it would perform and if I would like it or not. The knife was quite sharp, but not as razor sharp as I liked, so I sharpened it up with a DMT guide system. I did like how easy it was to sharpen the single bevel. I thought that it wouldn't be a fair test of cutting if it wasn't sufficiently sharp.

So I began testing it cutting things. I didn't get too extensive in my test because I got the answers I wanted very quickly. Chisel ground blades do indeed "cut to the right" when going through something like paper or plastic. I didn't like the feel of this because if I ran my knife in a straight direction through some plastic, it would automatically cut at an angle, I felt like I didn't have as much control of the cut as I would like. This was very worrisome to me. I really like to use my edc knives in the kitchen, so I tested it against an apple. I had read that the bevel was on the wrong side for a right-handed person slicing food. I also had read that this type of knife probably couldn't cut an apple well. Needless to say, these things were absolutely true, the blade, with a hair-popping edge, had to be put under a great deal of force to get it into the apple at all, and then it finally got moving, but didn't go the intended direction, and basically broke the apple slice off rather than cut it. This, again, did not provide the ability to control the cut in a safe manner.

Next day, I put it up on ebay. I loved it as far as looks, feel, size, and materials, but it failed in my opinion in all the ways that matter for my use of my knives. It could not accomplish the tasks that a knife is meant to accomplish (for me).

The happy ending is that I purchased a paramilitary 2 and a yojimbo 2 instead. I love them, especially the yo2! Here is a quick photo of my new blade:

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Just my 2 cents...
 
Mostly they suck...locks stick , blades loose and off center....piss poor quality (IMO)....the wave feature is cool but thats about it.
 
bigmark408 said:
Mostly they suck...locks stick , blades loose and off center....piss poor quality (IMO)....the wave feature is cool but thats about it.
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Everything I was to afraid to say for fear of getting a lashing by the Emerson followers:thumbup:
 
I know it sounds like unnecessary work, but you can get the blade reground from the double-v chisel, to a conventional edge.
Then you get Emerson ergos and designs, plus a blade that cuts straight.

Your choices of the Paramilitary 2 and Yojimbo 2, do demonstrate how Emerson knife quality should be.
 
Daniel L said:
I know it sounds like unnecessary work, but you can get the blade reground from the double-v chisel, to a conventional edge.
Then you get Emerson ergos and designs, plus a blade that cuts straight.

Your choices of the Paramilitary 2 and Yojimbo 2, do demonstrate how Emerson knife quality should be.
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Emerson does have great ergos and some nice designs, but he would rather line his pockets than listen to the complaints from the customers, and do something about it.

If it was me, I would be embarrassed to have my name on those knives.
 
I suppose you're claiming you tried most of the Emersons out there...

yes, the lock sticks. just like pretty much every other lock using titanium.

the pivot does loosen. just like pretty much every other pivot using a screw.

every single Emerson I've had showed perfect centering. naturally it'll look off to the side at the tip due to the chisel grind.

piss poor quality? not even close. there are many things other companies do better, but there are some things Emerson also does better. For example I seem to have to take a sandpaper to every Spyderco knife's spine nowadays because they come almost as sharp as the edge. My G-10 Delica has SS liners also as sharp and it's one of the most uncomfortable knives I've ever used. Of course one of the screws stripped while trying to disassemble the thing to sand it. I've never had such problems with any Emerson.

I did say myself that Emerson's left handed chisel grind doesn't serve much use, but thinking about it, it would be better in a regular slashing motion, as in you have the knife in your right hand and you are slashing right to left. Most EDC cutting involves left to right cuts for right handed people, and I really can't think of uses for right to left cuts except for offensive/defesive slashes and chopping a tree down. So in that respect the left handed chisel grind serves a purpose. Unfortunately, any kind of edges do fine cutting into soft flesh.

Not trying to be an Emerson fanboy, in fact I'm moving away from them myself for personal preferences, but they're also not nearly so bad that you can write them off in a single vaguely formed sentence.
 
100eyes said:
I suppose you're claiming you tried most of the Emersons out there...

yes, the lock sticks. just like pretty much every other lock using titanium.
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Agreed, even some of my customs will stick. Though Kershaw has been doing better in that regard as my 0301, Speedform, and Tilt never stuck.

the pivot does loosen. just like pretty much every other pivot using a screw.
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Agreed, nothing a little loctite won't fix. Though some knives seem to have been pre-adjusted and already have loctite applied. At least, I assume so, I haven't had to adjust the pivot on my last 20 knives.

every single Emerson I've had showed perfect centering. naturally it'll look off to the side at the tip due to the chisel grind.
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Centering wasn't an issue once I tightened the pivot.

piss poor quality? not even close. there are many things other companies do better, but there are some things Emerson also does better. For example I seem to have to take a sandpaper to every Spyderco knife's spine nowadays because they come almost as sharp as the edge. My G-10 Delica has SS liners also as sharp and it's one of the most uncomfortable knives I've ever used. Of course one of the screws stripped while trying to disassemble the thing to sand it. I've never had such problems with any Emerson.
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I hate to say this, but my thumb had the skin repeatedly torn off from repeated use with my Spyderco Moran. Some insist it's there for striking a firesteel, but I could do without it. As for the screws, I did mention that some companies are starting to loctite their screws. Spyderco and Kershaw seem to threadlock ALL the screws, even for the pocket clip. Thus attempting to remove the screw without warming it up to break the loctite will result in a stripped screw. As for Emerson, every screw on the knife seems to loosen up over time without loctite. Nothing big mind you(aside from the pivot), but it'll happen.

I did say myself that Emerson's left handed chisel grind doesn't serve much use, but thinking about it, it would be better in a regular slashing motion, as in you have the knife in your right hand and you are slashing right to left. Most EDC cutting involves left to right cuts for right handed people, and I really can't think of uses for right to left cuts except for offensive/defesive slashes and chopping a tree down. So in that respect the left handed chisel grind serves a purpose. Unfortunately, any kind of edges do fine cutting into soft flesh.
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I have to admit, the mall ninja in me was not looking for a chisel grind for that reason.
 
You gotta luv all the chatter around the perimeter of the frames and how the handles are not flush with the frames.

I had a custom that the lock stuck so bad that i had to use a screwdriver to release it...i called ernie (great guy BTW) he said send it in....i had it back in a week...flicked it a few times and had to get out my screwdriver again.

Some of the better ones i owned were the TAD super commanders (IIRC 2002).

As per the comment above about titanium sticking....I'ts not the nature of the beast...it's all about the angles of the lock and blade tang where they meet.
 
I now have a grand total of two Emersons. A CQC-13 and a CQC-10. Both are stonewashed and plain edge. I really dig them both. I particularly like the 10. Its a great knife. Perfect size and the stonewashed finish with swedge is awesome. The 13 is great too but the point is very fine, which worries me a bit. I would really dig to get a CQC-8 and a 15 or a Roadhouse. However the prices new are pretty steep so I have to wait for them to turn up on the 2ndary market. This can be frustrating because when they do show up in the configuration that I favour, I'm usually broke. BTW both of them have zero issues. They lock up fine, the lock disengages fine, the fit and finish is just fine to my eyes. However, I did not pay full retail for either of them. If I had I would probably examine them in much closer detail and I might find one or two things I dont like so much. Its all relative.
 
Thank you for removing that n2wilderness.
 
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n2wilderness said:
Off-topic, distasteful content removed per member complaints
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gooeytek said:
Tom...Holy Crap!

srsly, a poopbubble...
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jeepin said:
Thats freakin disgusting:barf:.
Why did you post that here?:confused:
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Sorry if this was offensive. I didn't think that one complaint would give me a warning though... :(

This topic has been beat like a dead horse so many times that continual threads saying the same thing over and over again isn't helping anyone but giving flame throwers something to do.

There are enough threads on here so that people should know what they are getting into with Emerson and there should be no surprises.

Signing out...bubblepoo
 
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