Not pleased with Emerson

[WJC01]

I had a waved commander that would open in my BDU front trouser pockets when I ran . Contacted the company and they promptly replaced it. New model was a waveless but it did the same thing. I saw Ernie the boss at the Atlanta blade show and told him about the situation and his reply was do not run with it! I promptly traded it off within 20 minutes at the show. This happened a couple of years ago.
I never have been on this section of the forum but the title caught my eye and I had to add in my 2 cents.
Bill

 

[STR]

I had a waved commander that would open in my BDU front trouser pockets when I ran . Contacted the company and they promptly replaced it. New model was a waveless but it did the same thing. I saw Ernie the boss at the Atlanta blade show and told him about the situation and his reply was do not run with it! I promptly traded it off within 20 minutes at the show. This happened a couple of years ago.
I never have been on this section of the forum but the title caught my eye and I had to add in my 2 cents.
Bill

Thanks for your input. Its not the first time someone has reported the tip coming out in the pocket during exercise.

STR

 

[Lycosa]

There are so many knives to choose from. Get one that suits your fancy and enjoy it.

 

[jeepin]

This is why Emerson is so paranoid about keeping quality assurance under such tight scrutiny - he understands that a name is only worth the weight of the tests it passes, and he doesn't want anything with his name on it being an embarrassment to him.[/QUOTE]








He obviously doesn't care about the embarrassment.
Will all the negativity that his knives bring. Like screws coming loose, tight locks, blades moving to the side when opening sometimes rubbing the liner.
You would think he would start doing something.
I guess as long as he gets paid that's all that matters to him

 

[TheBleedingEdge]

Thanks for your input. Its not the first time someone has reported the tip coming out in the pocket during exercise.

STR

Does this happen more often as Emersons age? I've only owned my CQC-8 for a short while and I haven't noted any problems with it opening itself.

And on a side note, I checked out your blog and some of your other links, STR. Top notch work! When a man enjoys what he does, it shows in his work. :thumbup:

 

[STR]

Does this happen more often as Emersons age? I've only owned my CQC-8 for a short while and I haven't noted any problems with it opening itself.

And on a side note, I checked out your blog and some of your other links, STR. Top notch work! When a man enjoys what he does, it shows in his work. :thumbup:

Well, it seems to be reported more since they went to the stainless non lock side liner that is responsible for holding the detent ball. The spring set memory is not as good on these as the old titanium was and it appears to be easier to flatten that tab that has the ball even when you don't mean to flatten it so I'd suggest just checking to be sure its still sticking out enough to do the job before reassembly once you take your folder apart. I'd suggest checking that tab periodically also and it may be a good idea to check it when new so you know when its not right although thats assuming when new its set right too. Some flat out don't work to hold the tip down even when new and I've had more than a few I reset to my preference. Honestly a military, fighting, police, or lay person knife that you can't trust to stay closed when you get physical in any way is a liability plain and simple. It disappoints me that this gentleman says Ernie said simply don't run with it. Thats no answer and if true I think it needs a better response than this personally.

 

[STR]

Oh I should point out that when I say its not the first time someone has reported a blade opening in the pocket when they were active, or when they fell, I did not mean to single out just Emerson. I've had people report BenchMades and others including Kershaw models doing this from the flipper. One gent told me that he opened his flipper model Kershaw by stepping up high into his military Unimog and that it cut his pants when the tip came out so its not just Emerson. In my opinion this is a problem on many brands and believe me I see them all the time where the detent ball simply does not do its job and the knife is nothing less than a liability to the user. Its also a gravity knife by definition and the current political environment in some states like New York and Illinois as well as others having a knife that could be illegal can really get you arrested fast. Fined too. One such gentleman posted on the forums a while back about his 400 buck fine in a NY court for being seen with a knife in his pocket and promptly arrested when it was deemed a gravity knife. It was a liner lock too by the way. If you live in a state known for cracking down on these things tighten the pivot down to keep that blade from flicking open. If you have the option and can stand it on a non waved knife simply flip the clip or see if you can find someone to do so for you so its tip down. This would be safer in the pocket and since its non waved big deal.

STR

 

[STR]

glockfire's post had been marked by Esav Benyamin for a rules violation, so I assumed it was for attempted trolling. I didn't see his post as a trolling attempt, but one of the moderators apparently did.

Edit: I now see the reason for the rules violation tag. I assumed the tag was applied to this post specifically, rather than globally across all of his comments.

I agree that most people wouldn't equate foreign knock-offs with Emersons. But that's precisely my point: the difference between two knives does not become apparent until they are put to the test. We know the quality difference between a Taiwanese-made knife and an Emerson only because we have direct experience using both. In our search for facts, we must not begin with what is written, but with experiments and demonstrations.

This is why Emerson is so paranoid about keeping quality assurance under such tight scrutiny - he understands that a name is only worth the weight of the tests it passes, and he doesn't want anything with his name on it being an embarrassment to him.

Not to down play USA made knives because I like and prefer USA made obviously but to be perfectly objective here some of the recent China made products I've owned, Persistence and Tenacious by Spyderco to name two, are top shelf products for the money. From Taiwan I can think of more than a handful of CRKT knives including but not limited to the S2 which I own and most notably, some of the recent Cold Steel knives made in Taiwan including the Rajah I, the Black Rhino, the American Lawman and AK-47 Triad locks I would say they are as well made, strong, reliable and top shelf as anything else in my collection including all my USA made products. There is nothing at all wrong with these knives or the materials they used building them, including all the same things we like and find in our USA knives, IE, G10, 7075 aluminum, stainless pins and hardware, and good quality Japanese stainless.

 

[WJC01]

Honestly a military, fighting, police, or lay person knife that you can't trust to stay closed when you get physical in any way is a liability plain and simple. It disappoints me that this gentleman says Ernie said simply don't run with it. Thats no answer and if true I think it needs a better response than this personally.

Unfortunately that was his response, I was a big fan prior to the blade show meet. I never had poor customer service like that and when you get it from the top there is no where else to go from there except to shop elsewhere.
Bill
_________________

 

[TheBleedingEdge]

Not to down play USA made knives because I like and prefer USA made obviously but to be perfectly objective here some of the recent China made products I've owned, Persistence and Tenacious by Spyderco to name two, are top shelf products for the money. From Taiwan I can think of more than a handful of CRKT knives including but not limited to the S2 which I own and most notably, some of the recent Cold Steel knives made in Taiwan including the Rajah I, the Black Rhino, the American Lawman and AK-47 Triad locks I would say they are as well made, strong, reliable and top shelf as anything else in my collection including all my USA made products. There is nothing at all wrong with these knives or the materials they used building them, including all the same things we like and find in our USA knives, IE, G10, 7075 aluminum, stainless pins and hardware, and good quality Japanese stainless.

Heh, I suppose I should clarify.

When I said "Taiwanese knock offs", that wasn't a suggestion that foreign-made knives are necessarily of sub-par quality. I know that Cold Steel, Kershaw, and a great many other knife manufacturers make and assemble their knives overseas, and plenty of those knives are solid as tanks.

I was mostly referring to the stereotypical tendency of cheap, sub-standard products (from pirated DVDs, to textiles, to clothing) to be developed inexpensively in south-eastern Asian countries and then here. I have a folding pocket knife which was given to me which had a price tag on it for $5, made in Taiwan, and with a liner-lock so pathetic that the blade flies shut when you drop it on a thick carpet.

 

[love4steel]

to the OP - how about a 3 strikes rule?
lucky for you there are other great brands of knives out there, a couple of which you mentioned. I owned one emerson, a cqc7 and it was perfect - but i've had similar experiences to yours with other companies and guess what - I stopped buying them. yea of course you can email them, and send the knife in to be fixed, etc., etc., but who the hell wants to go through all that nonsense? shouldn't have to!

 

[chipdouglas]

Well, it seems to be reported more since they went to the stainless non lock side liner that is responsible for holding the detent ball. The spring set memory is not as good on these as the old titanium was and it appears to be easier to flatten that tab that has the ball even when you don't mean to flatten it so I'd suggest just checking to be sure its still sticking out enough to do the job before reassembly once you take your folder apart. I'd suggest checking that tab periodically also and it may be a good idea to check it when new so you know when its not right although thats assuming when new its set right too. Some flat out don't work to hold the tip down even when new and I've had more than a few I reset to my preference. Honestly a military, fighting, police, or lay person knife that you can't trust to stay closed when you get physical in any way is a liability plain and simple. It disappoints me that this gentleman says Ernie said simply don't run with it. Thats no answer and if true I think it needs a better response than this personally.

I'll very soon get rid of all of my Emerson knives--I'll get something else to replace them--I can't collect knives from someone who doesn't care about his customers. One sad thing though is that I like the look of EKI knives and I enjoy the wave feature as well--While I understand each and every knife company appears to have imperfections, Ernest Emerson's attitude puzzles me. It might be that he makes enough money selling to the military and police that he doesn't care about retail customers--this is merely a conjecture, but it crossed my mind.

What's more, doesn't Mr. Emerson read any of these negative comments ? I bet he does.

 

[STR]

I'll very soon get rid of all of my Emerson knives--I'll get something else to replace them--I can't collect knives from someone who doesn't care about his customers.

Well, one report from one person, regardless of how credible that person may or may not be does not equate to lack of support at EKI anymore than one knife model made that isn't quite right sold to one person that posted about it means that every knife of the same model is junk. If you look at other reports from various forums as well as here you will find that a high percentage of the time EKI has a stellar rep for usually taking care of customers. This is part of the surprise with a response like that because as I said, if true thats still unresolved in my opinion and deserves a better answer than simply, 'don't run with it' particularly when this guy is in the Military. I mean whats he supposed to do tell his Sgt. something like, "hey Sarge, can I walk cause if I run my knife might open?" Please, his Sarg would tell him to throw than damn knife down and get with the rest of the guys and probably having him peeling taters by chow time! I would have probably offered to flip the clip to tip down carry for him on that Non Waved folder personally.

There are two sides to everything. We've only heard one. One report or even 10 is not enough to justify having a change in opinion about a company or person in my book. Its sad that some negative reports come up but as the old saying goes, you can't please everyone all the time. I do find a response such as don't run with it to be less than pleasing though. Police and others carry these on duty and they need to know that if they have to take off after a guy fleeing from a crime that they can do so. A liability in the pocket besides the rest of the liabilities they have to live with on the job that they can't control is unaccepatble IMO.

STR

 

[chipdouglas]

Well, one report from one person, regardless of how credible that person may or may not be does not equate to lack of support at EKI anymore than one knife model made that isn't quite right sold to one person that posted about it means that every knife of the same model is junk. If you look at other reports from various forums as well as here you will find that a high percentage of the time EKI has a stellar rep for usually taking care of customers. This is part of the surprise with a response like that because as I said, if true thats still unresolved in my opinion and deserves a better answer than simply, 'don't run with it' particularly when this guy is in the Military. I mean whats he supposed to do tell his Sgt. something like, "hey Sarge, can I walk cause if I run my knife might open?" Please, his Sarg would tell him to throw than damn knife down and get with the rest of the guys and probably having him peeling taters by chow time!

There are two sides to everything. We've only heard one. One report or even 10 is not enough to justify having a change in opinion about a company or person in my book. Its sad that some negative reports come up but as the old saying goes, you can't please everyone all the time. I do find a response such as don't run with it to be less than pleasing though. Police and others carry these on duty and they need to know that if they have to take off after a guy fleeing from a crime that they can do so. A liability in the pocket besides the rest of the liabilities they have to live with on the job that they can't control is unaccepatble IMO.

STR

I admit I got carried away to an extent. I agree EKI has a stellar rep when it comes to taking care of their customers. Like for instance, they sent me that backspacer a few weeks ago, that I'd personally damaged (long story). I was honest enough to let them know I'd damaged it myself. They don't usually send such parts as they told me, because this is only for cosmetic issues. It took two weeks for them to get back to me. However they did tell me that it'd have been quite a different story If I'd been missing a part or the knife had been broken--so it looks like they offer very good customer service.

Some do not care about the man behind the product if they happen to love the product--well, I'm not like this, but I'll admit that I really like EKI knives--I'm only short of 3 to a full EKI collection, so that means a sizeable amount of money I gave EKI. Like you wrote, you can't please everyone. If I were to get rid of all of my EKI, the downside to it would be that I'd lose considerable moola in the sale of same. So I need to pull myself together before I do this, as I might regret it.

 

[puukkoman]

Seems strange to me to hear all this negativity. Personally, I've had nothing but positive experiences with EKI's products and customer service.

 

[gstrand]

Deleted.

You can't delete your account here, or your posts... but deleting the content you contributed, well, that's easy to fix.

...

 

[Lycosa]

Dogpile.
Give it up and move along.

 

[chipdouglas]

Seems strange to me to hear all this negativity. Personally, I've had nothing but positive experiences with EKI's products and customer service.

I have a tendency to getting carried away easily, so when I see a negative comment on here, it triggers a wave of negativity within. I then later on realize that I once again got carried away for no reason.

 

[chipdouglas]

I've had nearly every brand of folding knife I've owned come open in my pocket. I can't think of any I've owned that has not opened at one point or another while carrying except Chris Reeve and Case... Kershaws with the speedy unsafe feature were the absolute worst and I will not own one. Benchmades with Nitrous or their old assist, and yes, even Spyders. My old SnG's bit me more than once reaching in for keys or whatever... I've cut my hands plenty of times on Emersons, too.

I play with knives. I get cut.

I spend my knife money with the companies that I choose based on many factors, service being as important as the knife.

I really think that there is a lot of conjecture and jumping to conclusions here, if not personal bashing of the owner of the Company in a forum that he pays for, around one person's gripe. I know, big company, thick skin, free speech, yadda yadda, but frankly, if someone wrote of me like some of this in my own forum, well, let's just say that Ernie is a better man than I, but I know that already. I'm not here to validate or challenge the gripe.

I've only ever returned one knife to the factory because of poor quality, a Caly3. The one I got as a replacement was as poor if not worse than the original and I haven't bought another Spyderco since, but I don't go over to their forum and whine about it, either. It's not my style. I vote with my wallet.

I have not found a Knife Company with more heart or integrity than Emerson, and I carry their knives daily. I'm not a highspeed or hardcore bada$$ and will never purport to be, but in the office, in the woods, in the dark... I carry an Emerson, because the have met every need I've asked them to, as a knife and as a company.

Though I've participated in this negativity, I agree with you and I'm stopping this nonsense. I now have 10 EKI knives and like them all. I even like them even more so than my Spyderco because of the nice tactical look to them and the wave is a pretty nice feature as well. Overall I have nothing to say against them, heck otherwise I would've bought so many of them. The only thing is I got sort of carried away out of disappointment over some of the negative comments on here.

In hindsight, I find this whole thing pretty stupid. I admit Ernie is probably a patient man.

 

[STR]

I've had nearly every brand of folding knife I've owned come open in my pocket. I can't think of any I've owned that has not opened at one point or another while carrying except Chris Reeve and Case... Kershaws with the speedy unsafe feature were the absolute worst and I will not own one. Benchmades with Nitrous or their old assist, and yes, even Spyders. My old SnG's bit me more than once reaching in for keys or whatever... I've cut my hands plenty of times on Emersons, too.

I play with knives. I get cut.

I spend my knife money with the companies that I choose based on many factors, service being as important as the knife.

I really think that there is a lot of conjecture and jumping to conclusions here, if not personal bashing of the owner of the Company in a forum that he pays for, around one person's gripe. I know, big company, thick skin, free speech, yadda yadda, but frankly, if someone wrote of me like some of this in my own forum, well, let's just say that Ernie is a better man than I, but I know that already. I'm not here to validate or challenge the gripe.

I've only ever returned one knife to the factory because of poor quality, a Caly3. The one I got as a replacement was as poor if not worse than the original and I haven't bought another Spyderco since, but I don't go over to their forum and whine about it, either. It's not my style. I vote with my wallet.

I have not found a Knife Company with more heart or integrity than Emerson, and I carry their knives daily. I'm not a highspeed or hardcore bada$$ and will never purport to be, but in the office, in the woods, in the dark... I carry an Emerson, because the have met every need I've asked them to, as a knife and as a company.

Seems like a lot of exaggeration to me also. Speaking of which. I don't know how you could cut your hand carrying a folder with the clip set for tip up right hand or tip up left hand carry when the blade would be on the opposite side of your hand as your reach it into your pocket??

"Every knife?" "Bashing?" I don't see any bashing here except maybe some leanings there on the speed safe by someone. Wait that was you! but what I do is see is some over reaction to statements made by several people perhaps and maybe even some BS at the same time.

Tip up carry is debatable as a liability to some degree no matter how you cut it and with liner locks in particular. I believe many manufacturers know this though because tip down carry is the default setting to ship their knives out even when they are set up for tip up carry. Most always if you want tip up carry you have to set the knife up yourself for that. The detent ball is responsible for keeping gravity from doing its thing. Tip down helps to prevent accidental openings in the pocket because the point is already down. When you switch to tip up carry mode on a folder that the detent is weak on or on one where the detent doesn't work the blade can and has moved to allow the tip to come out and this can happen by momentum or sometimes just from gravity alone. Flippers can have this problem and its been reported although rarely.

STR