What is your understanding of these terms?

3Guardsmen

3Guardsmen

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Mar 16, 2005
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I considered posting this in the Emerson sub-forum, but thought I'd get a better variety of opinions, and by those accustomed to several different styles of knives, by asking it in this forum instead. Beg pardon if I should have first posted it there.

I am a fan of Emerson Knives, and after owning several, I've found they perform quite well for my day to day uses. After just recently checking out the FAQ and Glossary sections of the Emerson Knives website though, I have some questions regarding other knifenuts' understanding of a couple of the terms used on the Emerson Knives site. Perhaps it is my misunderstanding, but I'm really curious about what you think of when you see these terms used, and whether it's the same things I think of.

The first term I saw used and was a bit confused about was "double V grind," used to describe the grind style on non-chisel ground knives such as the Commander. Now, I have a Commander, and the primary bevel does have a "V grind," the secodary bevel, the edge, however, most certainly does not. Only one side of it appears to have been ground. The other side looks as though it only had the burr removed from it. I found a reference to this type of grind on Emerson Knives' FAQ page:
http://emersonknives.com/EK_FAQ.html#grind
It goes on to say: In describing our knives it would be either; a chisel grind blade with a single edge grind or a double V grind blade with a single edge grind depending on which model you choose.

Now, according to the Emerson glossary:
http://emersonknives.com/EK_Glossary.html
a "V grind" is described as follows: V grind means that the bevels of the blade are flat ground equally on both sides. This produces a cross section that is shaped like a V.

My first question is what type of grind the other forumites here consider a knife like the Emerson Commander model to have? Does anybody consider it to be a "double V grind?" I sure can't say that I do. Going off of the definition on the Emerson Knives website's glossary, I'd consider the grind to be more akin to a single V grind with single edge grind, not a "double V grind." What say you?

My next question is regarding other forumite's understanding of different blade finish styles. I'm wondering whether anybody here considers "satin finish" to be synonymous with "bead blasted finish?" The reason I ask is that I was looking at the Emerson Knives' website glossary: http://emersonknives.com/EK_Glossary.html
at the definition of the term "satin finish," and saw the following stated: The term satin finish refers to the grey finish on Emerson Knife blades. This is a bead blasted finish that is then coated with any of several coating finishes that we may use.

My understanding of a "satin finish" is that it is less polished than a "mirror finish," yet is more polished than a "stone washed finish," and certainly a lot more polished than a "bead blasted finish." When I think of a blade with a "satin finish," I think about a Spyderco Manix or a Cold Steel Voyager. How about you?

Thanks for your assistance!

Regards,
3G
 
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You need pictures of the Emerson's blades and grinds to go along with their definitions.

Rich
 
I would describe the Commander as having a primary v grind and a secondary chisel grind.

"Double v grind" doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Maybe he's using it in contrast with the single chisel grind, like on the CQC-7.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
I would describe the Commander as having a primary v grind and a secondary chisel grind.

"Double v grind" doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Maybe he's using it in contrast with the single chisel grind, like on the CQC-7.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just don't get the "double" in Emerson's "double V grind." As far as the CQC-7, if it's a custom, it most likely has a true "zero grind," (the single chisel grind you mentioned, Esav). However, the production CQC-7s have a double chisel grind, as there is a secondary bevel present, which makes the edge stronger than a zero grind, but not nearly as sharp.

Thanks,
3G
 
Since he puts a chisel secondary (edge) bevel on all his knives, he doesn't mention it.

So single grind means chisel primary and double grind means v primary. Too much definition; too little clarity.
 
imho all the EKI productions are a form of chisel grind.

no one else to my knowledge grinds like EKI does.

it confuses lotsa folks too lol.

i dont have a clue why he does it that way, they arent a bad grind but they arent imho a std "v" grind like say a spyderco delica, to me they are more of a CG.

if i had a dollar for everyone who bought a commander and expected a std "v" and was suprised i could buy a commander lo.

i agree with your description of the blade grind.

there finish terminology is also a little funky.

all in all though EKI is my fav production knife.
 
Yeah, SIFU1A, I'm an Emerson fan as well, and have no problem with the way EKI knives handle, I was just extremely confused by the terminology used on the website relating to their blade grinds and finish.

Regards,
3G

P.S. Thanks, Esav, for helping me try to understand the terminology!
 
You're welcome! I'm another Emerson fan, I always liked his knives, even the Benchmade Emerson 975 I've still got. The funny grinds are not hard to use. :)
 
I've still got a few of those BM 970 and 975's myself, Esav. Darn good pieces they are! My pops still has the auto version (BM 9070 or 9700?).

Regards,
3G
 
A 'satin' finish is produced on a belt grinder where a 'bead-blasted' finish is produced in a bead blasting chamber.
 
I'd say it's a v-grind or a chiselgrind with a chisel edge.
Does Ernie have any more flavours?

Good post 3G. It has bothered me a bit too!
 
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