why I don't complain about fit and finish on production Emerson Knives

abcdefg said:
When the spyderco AND the benchmade that you carry in your pocket break in a tough situation
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Yeah, I'll let you know when THAT happens...
I do have a Combat Karambit which has turned itself into a slip-joint though. I bought it new from a reputable dealer, I'm the only owner, and it was already into the shop once for repair.
Hard-core!!!
 
SVRIDER1 said:
I don't get it, what is it about his politics that are in question? ( I am really looking for an answer, I don't know what the companies stance is on anything)

The only emerson I own is a benchmade cqc7 that I just sent out for the spa treatment. It's always been a solid reliable knife as far as I am concerned.
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Well, Mr. Emerson is quite conservative in his political speech and writings, i.e., he consistently offers very "right wing" opinions,and he is NOT hesitant to share them!

Admittedly, I don't share a lot of his political beliefs, but I do like the fact that he speaks plainly about what he believes in. And, if it comes to it, he'd be one of my Top Ten Foxhole Buddies. I'm definitely a fan of his knives and I have carried an Emerson every day for years.

Emerson production knives are attractive to many of us because they're USA-made by a tiny company, built MMA tough out of excellent materials, they always work, and look cool as heck. Did I mention they look cool? But I think there's more to it than that...

Like those of us who are Chris Reeve fans, owning an Emerson makes many of us feel like we're part of something. With an Emerson, you get a great knife, and you get Ernie Emerson. He promotes a way of thinking about knives, self defense, and personal responsibility. You don't get that with a Cold Steel or CRKT. I think Spyderco engenders that same kind of feeling for many, although I think it's more of a "smart knife consumer" feeling--it's a helluva company.

I don't know what the exact gripes are about "fit and finish," but all my Emersons look great and work perfectly (a couple of them are shelf queens with zero real use, though!). I suppose it would be nice if they polished the waterjet marks off the liners, but Emerson blade design and execution matches or bests any current production folder. There nothing I've seen in the cutlery world any better than the beautiful, precise grinds on a CQC 7 or the wickedly perfect recurve of a Commander.
 
SVRIDER1 said:
I don't get it, what is it about his politics that are in question? ( I am really looking for an answer, I don't know what the companies stance is on anything)

The only emerson I own is a benchmade cqc7 that I just sent out for the spa treatment. It's always been a solid reliable knife as far as I am concerned.
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They could be referring to his uber Patriotic beliefs

or

They could be referring to the politics regarding Ernest Emerson within this forum. He's quite bold whenever called out to defend his knives. After all it's his company with his name on it that started with him building knives with his own two hands. When things go wrong, he will always be there to fix it, but not without a lengthy post reminding us of how he does things. I put that as neutrally as possible, it's how you choose to decipher that.

But for a lot of people looking to get into an Emerson, just pick up a CQC-8 or it's smaller brother the Horseman. They just make sense. I don't care for the wave or that it's sharp on one side only, but the dang thing just works.

I do not care for Emerson's as of right now, I sold off all the ones I had and they do well in the marketplace because people actually want them!
 
mystro said:
Let's just break it down to one innovative feature that every Emerson hater dances around...The "wave" feature is a game changer for a lot of owners. No other knife deploys as fast or effortlessly. Look at all the other knife companies that copied Emerson's design. :rolleyes: Spyderco, Benchmade, etc....
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Don't know about Benchmade, but Spyderco definitely did NOT copy the Wave, they licensed it from Emerson..........
 
His F&F sucks. If it was not for his right wing ideology I would never have purchased any of his knives.

Typical american made by a patriot who stands for everything American. If you want quality buy overseas. Buy American and it sucks and you pay top dollar. LOL!

But I still drive a Toyota with a Spyderco Tenacious in the glove box!
 
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I wonder. Has anyone reveiwed the Tenacious vs Emerson CQC?
 
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S1Rider said:
Admittedly, I don't share a lot of his political beliefs, but I do like the fact that he speaks plainly about what he believes in. And, if it comes to it, he'd be one of my Top Ten Foxhole Buddies. I'm definitely a fan of his knives and I have carried an Emerson every day for years.

.
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I would choose a 'Foxhole buddy' that had actually served in the military personally, is the rest of your top ten made up of movie stars by any chance? Not sure if that makes a good knife or not. I bought one because of the videos of NASA astronauts using them which is really cool even if those ones aren't available to the public.
 
NASA knives were his customs which are some of the best custom knives you can buy, even his detractors will agree that they're very good, dare I say good for the money as well.

The SEALS also are known to carry his stuff too... thats kinda badass.

Emerson knives is a smaller company than Benchmade or Spyderco, the latter of which uses overseas production and materials to bolster their product lines with affordable merchandise. EKI has higher costs and donates a lot to soldier charities and I love that to death but at the end of the day I need something that is head and shoulders above the competition for the price. I got that with his Roadhouse model until the rust came in and I was scoffed at for not knowing how to care for a knife when I shared my concerns (I even put it in third person as to not immediately get flamed)... dude I have balisongs with 154CM with not a single rust blemish on them and they're chipped and bloody like hell.
 
cevtv said:
Don't know about Benchmade, but Spyderco definitely did NOT copy the Wave, they licensed it from Emerson..........
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I don't think mystro implied Spyderco stole the wave design. Copy doesn't neccesarily mean steal.

A licensed feature is still a copy. Emerson copied Hartsfield and Walker, but asked permission to use their signature features in his knives. No one would say he stole from them.
 
Wow, post on this subject are down right hard to read due to all of the fanboys. At one time, I owned and carried a Super Commander and a CQC-11 (I think). I got them because I heard how great an Emerson was. I never heard about how "Earnie doesn't care about F&F" or any of the other politics about them. I read about how they had preformed spectacularly for so many people, and I wanted to jump on that boat. I carried and used the Super commander for about two weeks, it dulled a lot faster than expected and when I went to sharpen it, it literally felt as soft as A36 steel! It took me about a week to realize something wasn't right with the knife when I was cutting with it (I deburr a lot of UHMW plastic parts at work with my knives): then the whole ground on the wrong side of the blade hit me. I can take average F&F, I can take soft average steel, I love the wave, I love the rounded and ergonomic G-10 handles, but a design decision to put form over fibrin on a blade that is "only supposed to be used and who cares how it looks", well that's unacceptable to me. It actually made me mad. I had spent hundreds on those two knives, and until that grinding flaw is corrected I will not drop another dollar their way.

To sum it up, I never had a problem with their F&F, only with a bullheaded decision to stick with a form over function design.
 
michaelmcgo said:
Wow, post on this subject are down right hard to read due to all of the fanboys...
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Ummm...it's an Emerson forum. No offense, but you should have expected people who really like Emerson knives to congregate here.

Hard to let the "average soft steel" statement pass, though. 154cm is an excellent blade steel, but I'm thinking you know that and just wanted to bolster your "ground on the wrong side" argument--fair enough. My S30V blades hold their edges a bit longer but are a bit harder to sharpen. Ernie says its possible to sharpen 154cm in the field--even on a rock, if necessary. If you take him at his word, well...there it is.

You obviously also know Commanders are V ground but sharpened only on one side. If, as you state, you love everything else about the Commander, could you perhaps spend 10 minutes on your Sharpmaker putting another edge on the reverse side and reevaluate it?

If you do have a CQC-11, you know this also has a V grind, but you might not want to mess with it too much, though...I don't know if you can get them anymore. Good luck!
 
This whole, "ground on the wrong side" argument still does not make sense to me. I could see someone saying that they prefer the other side for their own personal uses, but to just say it is wrong, does not make sense and it cant be justified in absolute terms.

There are advantages to having the grind on either side IMHO.

Maybe, in the end, it did not matter to Emerson which side the grind was on (functionally speaking), so he chose the side that would add the most to aesthetics. I really cant say.

I do know however that I really like the grind being on the side it is currently on.

I like to use my CQC-7A for woodcarving from time to time, and the grind acts just like a wood chisel would. Bevels down.

I guess if I were using my CQC-7A to cut sushi, I would want the grind on the other side, but I don't use my Emerson knives for sushi very much.
 
The Government said:
Maybe, in the end, it did not matter to Emerson which side the grind was on (functionally speaking), so he chose the side that would add the most to aesthetics. I really cant say.
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Well put. I believe the company has stated just that. The presentation-side grinds are for aesthetic purposes.
 
This is a little concerning. I ordered replacement part for my Super Karambit because after taking it apart so many times the screws are getting banged up.

The new Both Pivot bolt and screw were rusted. The bolt was particularly bad, the threads inside were filled with rust, I had to toss that away. Luckily my factory pivot bolt was in good condition, I just swapped the screw with the new one. But dood, this is sad... can't even get a good $3 part without issues.
 
Add LEOs, EMS, and Firefighters to the list of users. Each one of my Emerson's F&F is flawless. Maybe the dealer I get it from is really good. I have personally inspected many Emerson's over the years and have not seen these problems. When When I buy from my dealer, he brings out the ones he has in stock. I inspect them all, they are all excellent quality. I usually go for the lowest serial number or a serial number that has a meaning to me.

Prior to retirement ( LEO), I stopped carrying the CQC7. I wanted to retire it to one of my sons. At that time, getting Emerson's was more difficult, so I opted to carry one of the other manufacturers which has been exemplied in this forum for it's excellent finish and attention to detail. The liner failed on me and made a mess of me. I sent it back to manufacturer and they sent me their new full proof locking mechanism which replaced the Liner lock on the seal team knife. In the interim, I bought another liner from a company which had hard core military grade knives. This also failed three weeks into duty. I went back to the Emerson. After picking up another Emerson, my CQC7 went back to my son. I think I'll stick with knives that work. It keeps my medical bills and stress lower. Granted in my retirement, my only hard core use it to teach wilderness survival, pioneering, and orienteering merit badges. I'm set in my ways, I'll stick with what experience has taught me hard lessons on what works. Thank you Emerson.
 
iTz Schmiedy said:
i thought both liners were titanium???
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They used to be, but changed that in more recent production.

As far as fit 'n finish is concerned, I have no problems on any of my Emersons. As far as I am concerned, the slight lack of polish on the handles gives me better grip and serves to contrast with the perfect blade grinds on an Emerson.
 
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