What do you call the wave feature?

[d12bn]

Hello everyone, I've been out of the knife hobby for a while and just learning about the Emerson wave. Is there a term for a knife that opens when you pull it out of your pocket? Are there other similar knives like the Commander/Mini wave?

Thanks

 

[mongomondo]

Leatherman owns the Wave trademark so I think it's just called the Emerson opener now. Spyderco has some knives with it as well.

 

[SPXTrader]

Unwittingly, Kershaw produced the first "waved" blade in 1997 with their model 1421ST Modified Talon. Interesting story on it here. It started life out as a simple bottle opener.

 

[Brutus013]

As far as I know, they are just called "waved." If not officially, by every one I've ever seen mentioning them.

 

[saxon]

There probably isn't a generic term for a knife that opens when you pull it out because the general concept really didn't exist until Emerson put the wave on the Commander. I used to use the thumbstud to catch the edge of my pocket to open the blade before that, but the wave is more consistant. If you look at EKI's catalog you will see that they use it on almost all of their production models. They refer to it now as the "wave opening feature" because of what mongomondo said about the trademark thing. Emerson protects their patent on the wave pretty strictly so really only the Spyderco Endura and Delica as far as I've seen have been given permission to use it. Cold Steel has weaseled around and done a version along with the Chinese rip-offs.

 

[JD Mandrell]

Right from the Emerson website..."features our patented "wave shaped opening feature" or "Remote Pocket Opener."