Timberline Emerson/Neeley SPECWAR

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I have several of the original SpecWars. The black coating is titanium nitride ("black ti") and the later greyish coating is Aluminum Nitride, which Mr. Neely at Timberline told me was better.
 
DazedandConfzed, I was just cleaning out my safe and I came across one that I had baught several years ago that I will part with. It has the black ti finish with the good sheath all in new condition. Looked at but never used.

$250 plus shipping. If you don't like it send it back and I will refund your money. I live in the Phoenix area if that helps

Let me know.

Mike D
 
Ok the Specwar is made of 60Rc, ATS34. The handle is made of Grivory, which is a thermoplastic cross that has some flexibility and hardness while being non-conductive and heat resistant.

Made in the USA

The knife was deigned with Prying, insulated cutting, chopping, swing cutting and light hammering, in that order of priority.

The 304 stainless steel pommel is not attached to the blade but can be used for light hammering, but will not conduct electricity from the blade.

Ernest Emerson and Timberlines Vaugh Neely collaborated on the Timberline Specwar and was made in Timberlines Colorado Facility using hadnmade techniques to get it right.

Production of the Specwar stopped and the Aviator was born. A low cost alternative.

Just a little history about the Specwar. It was a collaboration between Nealy and Emerson. Timberline produced it and the retail was near $400 when new. The knives ended up selling for under $300 and from what I understand Timberline took a loss on the knives and thus stopped producing them. The handle material was non conductive and impervious to everything including heat, and chemicals. The coating on the blade was not a corrosion resistant coating. It was a wear resistant coating that was reputed to be a Rockwell hardness of 80-90. Harder than even Chrome. The edge was chisel like all the emerson specwars. The Aviator was much smaller and cheaper and sold better, I think. The knife was top quality and you could tell. I have two and will not part with them.


There were specwars and aviators that came later and were cheaper. Be very carefull as these were not the same as the early Specwars. The original Specwars were quality pieces with awesome heat treats. The later versions with the cheap sheath were suspect quality. They were expensive knives and the profit margin was low. The knife retailed for $400 which at the time was way too high. I also heard that at the prices that they ended up being sold (around $300 was normal), timberline was taking a loss and decided it wasn't worth making anymore.

Kind of like the Junglee Hattori fighter. The old ones were $270 and the later ones were $100. The difference was that the early ones were quality knives from Japan while the later ones were Chinese(or Taiwanese can't remember now) POS's.
 
mikeyd,
let me know if your Specwar doesn't go. i'd be interested to have a look next time I drive up from Tucson. kevin
 
Holy smokes! After reading Cobalt's post I'm not sure I want to part with it. It is a great knife and feels good in the hand too. I remember talking to Neely about the sheath and he said that it is jump rated too!

Kevin, I would be happy to show it to you next time your in town. If you want to own it we can talk.

Mike D
 
hi im new to this forum ,i have purchased some knives from a women that her husband was in law enforcement before he passed away one of the knives is a timberline specwar the origanal one with the better sheath i bought these to sell ,anybody interested,i also have automatics.:thumbup:
 
I thought the original with the different sheath system and the polished bevel was the original version made by Timberline. Later on Timberline was purchased by Gatco and the knife was continued only with a black non-polished finish. Also, the smaller version "aviator" was produced at that time as well. I owned all three versions at one time and could not tell the difference between the two Specwar knives other than the sheath system and the finish polish on the bevel.
 
"...I remember talking to Neely about the sheath and he said that it is jump rated too!
..."
-mikeyd501
Which is all fine.
Except that the kydex integral "push-button lock" (which incidently is moulded like a blister on the back portion of the sheath) is prone to being abraded or worn down by the constant drawing (of the thick blade stock which should have been "rounded-off" around the tang area) from its sheath.
This is one problem which does not exist on the simpler Aviator model.
The Timberline Aviator, though similar to the larger Specwar; wasn't an Emerson product.
Maybe that explains further the fall-out between the two companies.
But as a whole the Timberline Specwar is one sexy chisel!
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Emerson
 
I bought a total of three of these. One in the original "Black Ti" Titanium Nitride finish, the other two in the dull grey "Aluminum Nitride" finish (supposedly better). I made the mistake of taking the black ti coated knife scuba diving (figured "what the hell, its a Navy seal knife"). Even though I rinsed it in the fresh water tank the ATS 34 steel was bubbling with rust under the black ti coating by the next day. I called Timberline and they reluctantly exchanged it for a new knife, although it was a second with rough machining or finish marks on the spine of the blade.

This is one knife that never fails to cause a "non-knife" person to make a large breath inhalation whenever you take it out of the sheath for the first time around them.

Also, beware holding down the plastic release button too long as you draw the knive from the sheath as you can be cut fairly deeply by the razor sharp blade edge (as I can attest to personally)
 
Was going through my safe and came across my as new Specwar again.

Mike D
 
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The thread that will never die ... with on-going rules violations, too. :)
Closed. Edited.
 
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