I spent the whole day today at Blade Show West. Emerson Knives had a booth there.
During the morning, I spent about 1 1/2 hours speaking with Ernie and listening to him speak with others. This is the first time I have met him. Let me start off by saying that I was EXTREMELY impressed by him. He is very, very nice. He is warm, friendly, interesting, patient and intelligent. Listening to him talk about his self-defense techniques and training is fascinating and heart warming.
I decide to approach him very gently about the issue regarding the wait for his custom knives. He gave a very thoughtful explanation. He told me that he made a very difficult decision a few years ago to concentrate all of his efforts on getting his production company up and running. Unfortunately, it was a lot more work than he expected: It took much longer than he hoped and he had to devote 100% of his energy to that. He feels very, very bad towards the many customers that have a custom on order with him. I suggested to him that he put a brief explanation on his web site about this and he said he might do that.
He brought up the issue of why he doesn't contribute too much on-line. First of all, as everyone can imagine, he is very, very busy. He gets up at 4:30am most mornings. Secondly, he really does not like conflict and he feels that delicate situations and explanations can quickly cause tempers to flair. He does not like for that to happen. I'm sure I'm not explaining this clearly but I was touched by what he said.
I've gained a very high level of respect for Ernie. I purchased from him at the show a Commander even though I had recently sold mine (a mistake indeed!) I must admit that part of the reason for doing this is because I wanted to get an autographed receipt from him. The Commander is a great knife - I recommend it highly.
Ernie has a lot of friends. Many people dropped by to chat with him. People really like him.
In the afternoon, I returned to his table. Mary, his wife, had joined Ernie. I've spoken with her many times on the phone but this is the first time I met her also. She is very low key. I purchased one of their shirts and I asked to be put on the list for a CQC-8 (I also have a Viper on order which I ordered two years ago). Mary would not accept a deposit; she said she would put me down for one without a deposit. She said she has stopped collecting deposits for the customs. She said the wait would be 4+ years. I thought it was great that she did not take a deposit.
I'm sure that a lot of people are wondering if Ernie had any customs for sale at the show. He did not. Many people, including myself, asked him this. He said he simply has not had the time to make them for this show and he is working on making the customs for his back orders.
I'm glad I met Ernie today.
