Emerson CQC14 Pop In Lock

[STR]

I hate doing this but this gent had a knife confiscated recently from his customs. So at his request I have made a 14 lock to fit the 14 I have here for this same job (almost done) and I'm shipping this one down under in the hope he can pop his old liner lock and G10 scale off of his folder and pop this one on in its place and go right back to work. As shown I've also included my custom made replacement floating stop pin to rid the knife of the rattle so many have complained to me about. I don't do this replacement on every model but here lately most have been done that way and it is requested. I've even had some guys request it on their stock folders and have done that twice now for folks not wanting the frame lock conversion.

Anyway, In the past when I've done this pop in replacment on CQC7 models a couple other times it mated right up and worked just fine for them so hopefully that will be the case with this 14 also. We'll see. This is the first 14 I have done this for so the jury is still out on how this will go. I am figuring with the modern machining and precise engineering of the parts that it will pop right on there no worries. Guess we'll know in about ten days plus or minus. Thanks for looking.

STR

 

[stabman]

Pretty neat.
How does the pin eliminate rattle?

 

[STR]

Because it eliminates the side to side play that some have. Personally the rattle is something I've noticed but its never been an issue with me personally. I'm more concerned about losing the stop pin which is why most all mine are screwed down. The one thing I tell everyone that asks me is that there is a perceived benefit from a floating stop in that it spins on its own so the pin doesn't wear as fast but the way I'm doing these stop pins its a simple matter of simply taking a phillips head screw driver and giving the screw a have twist clockwise every now and then and its the same benefit basically. Maybe not as frequent but honestly I've never had to replace a stop pin because it indented only because it fell out. I've replaced the lost pins on Kabars, and Emersons as well as other makes. On Emersons it seems popular with some to let the blade have a bit of side to side play. When I've inquired about this a couple of times most say it simply Waves more reliably that way so I think thats what maybe causes the pin to fall out at times when its a combo of both blade slop in the pivot and lots of lateral movement with a pin thats a bit short as opposed to a bit long for tolerance.

Anyway, thanks for asking.

STR

 

[stabman]

Hmmm, might like to have one of those when the Karambit lock gets done.

 

[STR]

I had planned to actually so no worries.

STR

 

[stabman]

I had planned to actually so no worries.

STR

Awesome!
That's customer service.:thumbup:

 

[jylong_away]

Can't wait for this one to get here...

For those of you 'in-the-know' about how customs down here operates, they have a truly broad definition of what constitutes a 'gravity/switchblade', or 'flick knife' as it's known here. Fortunately, the police and a lot of the 'hands on' customs people (ie the ones who actually examine stuff, rather than hash theory at policy meetings) seem to have a more common sense view of things. Still, better safe than sorry. I cannot begin to thank STR enough for accommodating me, as the linerlock on the CQC-14 has been the one factor preventing it from seeing and heavy use...or any use at all, pretty much.

Photos, and possibly a play-by-play assembly to follow once it arrives. Does anyone know a good free image host?

 

[STR]

ImageCave. Used it for years.

http://imagecave.com/members/default.aspx

STR

 

[Bimmer1]

An Emerson combat karambit version would be awesome!

 

[jylong_away]

Got the lock in the mail today!

Was initially planning on posting a play-by-play reassembly, but realized that the only camera I have right now is on my phone, and as some of you might know, the camera on the Nokia E71 is *crap*. At any rate, the end product looks just like STRs previous 'bare bones'(though they're anything but!) framelock conversions which he's posted here and on his blog.

Let me just say that it wasn't hard at all to reassemble the knife with the framelock. For Emerson owners who have taken apart and reassembled their knives for cleaning, etc, it will most likely be intuitive. If not, STR gave really good step by step instructions during our email communications.

Lockup was early, which I prefer. As Steve promised, the tolerances were tight. No rattles or gaps where there weren't supposed to be.

Want to say a big thanks again to Steve for agreeing to do this pop-on for me. Saved a load of potential hassle with the paper-pushers in Aus Customs. It also gave new life to a knife which would otherwise have spent most of its life in a shelf, because I had little confidence in its liner lock.

With Emersons in particular, I feel this is an issue, as there is no 'backup' designed to prevent the user from being 'bit' if the lock fails. By this I mean some inherent feature of the knife that will prevent the edge from hitting your hand/fingers should the blade close. In kershaws, it's the flipper. Spydercos seem to be designed so that the blade choil(even if it's not a 'functional' one) will hit your fingers, rather than the blade, as long as you're holding the handle in a 'normal' fashion. Can't say the same for emersons in that regard, so the framelock at least allows some degree of control over the lock while I grip the knife.

Thanks again Steve, and I hope to be able to get this done for my Mini CQC-7B once this last hassle with customs is somewhat behind me.

 

[genius5th]

thanks for the installation info, i really want one of these but for another model
I'm sure it will be a breeze to install for me as well. I've disassembled enough Emersons

 

[STR]

Thanks for letting me know you got it and that all went as planned. Its good to know. :thumbup: Enjoy and I hope this makes ups some for that loss of the HK folder a while back to the sticky fingered customs folks.

STR

 

[jylong_away]

Steve,

It more than makes up for the HK! Have discussed that particular case with both Customs and Police, as well as some people with first hand experience. It sounds like with the Emersons, I should be able to get them through without a problem if the pivots are adjusted to gutwrenchingly tight.

Hopefully this means I'll be able to send the Mini CQC7B over once enough coin has been saved. Wouldn't happen to have one over there now, would u?

Thanks again!

 

[STR]

No but now is not a good time to ship it anyways. I've been pretty busy since the Obama selection to President. I've got enough to keep me in work into Jan or maybe Feb. of next year as it sits here so I think maybe next year would be better on that one. In fact its got to be. If you sent it now I wouldn't be able to get to it until then. Just how it works these days.

Anyway, I do think you'll enjoy that 14. I've done so many of that model alone that I think it probably speaks to how nice it comes out or folks wouldn't keep referring folks by word of mouth. They seem to be a very popular folder anyway even above and beyond my conversions or anyone elses. I would not be surprised if my friend Harry's idea for that knife (the Harry that pitched the concept of that folder to Ernie in the first place that Ernest mentions in the write up for the 14) is one of Emerson's best sellers at this point. Ironically I did end up recreating the handle somewhat on that one for Harry's "Chicago Carry" knife because close as Ernie came he slightly missed the blade length requirement for Harry for the one he wanted to carry and use and Harry being the stickler that he is for detail wanted it right so he sent me the folder and I reworked it keeping the original platform but making it so the blade measured slightly under 2.5" instead of slightly over. I'll be doing another one for him like this here before too long along with some others coming up in the way of a Spyderco R2 conversion, a Karambit by EKI, a Persian by EKI and more. Eventually we'll get er done!

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=549001&highlight=CQC14

STR

 

[jylong_away]

Okie dokie, giving it a go with the camera phone! Apologies for the bad resolution.

The first attachment shows the CQC-14 disassembled, with the original locking side replaced with the pop-on from STR

Next is the lock side, with the pivot assembled, and the blade attached. STRs non-rattle stop pin has also replaced the original stop pin.

3rd image shows the lock-side attachment of the stop pin. It's a flat-head, recessed phillips screw on this side.

4th is the other side of the stop pin, after the non-locking liner has been installed. I've intentionally focused on this part of the assembly, because it's the main difference between STRs framelock, and the 'stock' Emerson ones.

Final attachment image is the T7 screw that fits into the other side of the stop pin, and fixes it to the other liner.

From here, the scale screws fit as per usual through the liners and spacers. Steve supplied 4 spare scale screws in case the stock ones got tweaked during the disassemble. I used 2 of them to go through from the G10 side to the lock side. They're slightly longer, so came up exactly flush against the exit holes on the Titanium lock side. I kept the original screws going from the Ti side to the G10 side, as they come out *under* the G10 scale, and need to be a bit shorter.

The end product:

And yes, that's my kitchen counter It's the only place tonight that I could find proper lighting to take these pictures

The upgraded '14 has replaced my Manix 2 as EDC. Had initially decided to carry the Manix for the rest of the year as a sort've experiment(I know, promises, promises..), but as you can see, this baby is too good to leave on a shelf for that long!

 

[Andy the Aussie]

I am thinking not, but, do you still do any of the frame locks ? (Emerson A100). I would also be very interested in one of your low rider clips for the same blade, I am of course reluctant to send it over to the US for obvious reason.

Thanks.

Andy

 

[STR]

I am thinking not, but, do you still do any of the frame locks ? (Emerson A100). I would also be very interested in one of your low rider clips for the same blade, I am of course reluctant to send it over to the US for obvious reason.

Thanks.

Andy

Andy I quit doing the after market lock sides coming up on two years ago. Can't say I've missed it so I don't expect I'll be going back to doing them. Thanks for asking but you may want to try Reese Weiland. I believe he could fix you up. Now the clip I can do. I still offer a lot of clips for various knives from all manner of make and model. Each one is different but the Emerson clips I do have a pattern for. I would need to know a couple small details to fill the order and once I know that I'd be good without needing the knife. The distance from the middle of the east west positioned screws in the clip to the end of the folder is either 1/2" or 5/8" on various Emerson models. I would just need to know which yours is set up for . Thanks again
STR

 

[Andy the Aussie]

Thanks mate, just waiting for the Emerson to arrive (the whole Customs deal), once it is in hand I will be in touch..!!

Andy

 

[Andy the Aussie]

Loks like my A100 will be here this week... FINALLY....I will take the measurements and get right onto you...!!!