Thoughts on Emmerson Commander?

[doctor_arcane]

Does anyone have one of these and want to post a little review? Does that 'wave' thing work as intended? Is the thumb well placed and easy to use?

 

[the4th]

The Commander is a fairly decent knife. Hand pick one for yourself if you can or order one from a forum member that has. Emerson's quality control is hit and miss. However, when the quality hits, it hits well.

The wave feature does work and works well. Sometimes too well. You might not want your knife to open when pulling it out to leave with the officer at the courthouse entrance.

Or when asked for it by an LEO. I guess verbalizing that "THE KNIFE IS GOING TO OPEN WHEN DRAWN!" might help, but you never know.

The thumb disk is well placed for me. I have "medium large" hands.

Althought the knife isn't "my thing," I do like it overall and would not be afraid to carry one for utility.

Some people around here would carry it as a defensive knife.

I prefer the satin finished jobbies, or will take the black coating off myself.

 

[LarryLuana]

My wife is a LEO for the City of Reno,Nevada, and has been carrying her Wave in her uniform pants for a year every work day.She loves that knife, and won't carry any other.With the black blade, clip, and G-10 scales, it blends in nicely in her black BDU pants.
Her fellow officers are amazed at how fast she can pull that knife with the wave feature, and puts them in awe.
I put lock-tite on the pivot screw, and she has not had one problem with the knife since she started carrying it.
I bought it at a gun & knife show last year(March 1999) for myself, but the next day she got ahold of it, and the only time she lets me handle it is to sharpened it up.
The thing she likes is the fast deployment, and pocket clip for one hand use when her other hand may be busy.

Hope this helps.

Just my .02 cents rounded off to a buck!!!

Larry

 

[GONESAILING]

The Commander is a great knife. The black coating will scratch if your wife uses it to dig in the flower garden. The wave feature works well, opening if you pull twords the edge of the pocket, and if pulled just straight up, out comes the knife without opening up. Fits my hands well. A bit hard to sharpen, it has an offset bevel. One of my favorites.
Jim

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What? Another knife? Don't you have enough of those things already?
How many does one person need?
And just what are you going to do with this one that you can't do with the others?
What is the purpose of all these knives anyhow??

 

[shootist16]

Nice design, very ergonomic. But as stated above the QC is hit and miss. I have had three commanders and two of them didnt want to stay shut. All three of them developed blade play and would rub the liners. It seems the pivot on the commanders are prone to come loose. Nothing a little loctite wont fix, but I would rather not have to on a $150+ knife. Try to hand pick one or have a dealer you trust pick one out for you.

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Dennis Bible

 

[Ken Cook]

I can attest to the problem of the pivot screw working loose.
Mine does CONSTANTLY.
(GOTTA get to Walmart, outta LOCTITE!)
That's not as bothersome to me as the fact that mine came with the clip screws stripped out! They'd stay in there, but they weren't tight and I just KNEW that I was gonna lose a screw.
Having heard repeated stories about how long it takes to get service from Emerson, (not judgin, just SAYIN!) I decided to go with RED loctite on those screws. The red stuff is permanent unless you put 450 degrees on it, so they SHOULD stay in there.
(whether I want them to or NOT!)
I'll put blue on the pivot screw, but as was said above, when shelling out 150 bucks, I don't feel like I should have to deal with this kinda thing.
On the OTHER hand
MAN is that wave feature COOL!
The blade flies open so fast I usually have to show people two or three times before they begin to figure out how it opens itself.
GREAT knife, but QC could use a little improvement.

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I cut it, and I cut it, and it's STILL too short!

 

[Trent]

I carry a BM Stryker right now but really like the Commander design. The only thing is, I've only seen online pics. Can someone please tell me how thick and how heavy this knife is? It's not on Emerson's website. I basically want to know if this is a knife, like my Stryker, that I can clip in my pocket and forget about, or is it too bulky and heavy for that?

 

[Ken Cook]

Hi Trent,
Actually, it's got a LITTLE more bulk than the Stryker, but not enough to be cumbersome. It will slip into your pocket and feel right at home in an hour or so.
As to the "feel" of the knife;
The very first thing that struck me when I opened it was the heft of it. My carry blade until the Commander was an AFCK and by comparison the Commander has a much more "hefty" feel. It's blade heavy in a very comfortable way and the grip fits my hand like it was made for me.
A very comfortable knife to use and carry, I don't think you'll be disappointed on that count.


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I cut it, and I cut it, and it's STILL too short!