 | |
| Company type | Proprietorship |
|---|---|
| Industry | Manufacturing |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Torrance, California |
Key people | Ernest Emerson, Founder & President |
| Products | Knives |
| Revenue | US$10 million |
Number of employees | 20–25 |
| Website | www.emersonknives.com |
Emerson Knives, Inc. is an American company that produces knives and related products. It was founded in 1996 by custom knifemaker Ernest Emerson in an effort to mass-produce his folding knife designs for the U.S. Military and collector markets.
In February 1996, custom Knifemaker Ernest Emerson and his wife, Mary, founded Emerson Knives, Inc. (also referred to as EKI) in Torrance, California to manufacture knives on a larger scale than a custom knifemaker was capable. This new company would be a distinct entity from his Specwar lineup of custom knives, although several of Emerson's custom designs have made their way into production. [1] Four years after starting this venture, Emerson sold an entire year's worth of production in four hours at the SHOT (Shooting Hunting and Outdoor Trade) Show in January 2000. [2]
Emerson Knives primarily manufactures tactical folding knives utilizing the Walker linerlock. EKI most commonly machines blades of Crucible's 154CM steel by using the stock-removal method. Small runs of knives have been produced utilizing steels such as CPM S30V steel, CPM S35VN, and Titanium with a carbide edge. The handles are constructed with titanium liners, G10 fiberglass scales, and a G10 backspacer. Since 2009 EKI has been using a stainless steel liner on the non-locking side in order to keep costs down.
The most common models are the CQC-7, Commander, SARK, Karambit, Raven, and the SPECWAR. The majority of Emerson's folding knives are equipped with the Wave: a hook on the spine of the blade (originally designed as a blade catcher) which, when snagged on the edge of the pocket or sheath causes the knife blade to open as it is drawn. [3] Emerson called this innovation the Wave and secured a patent for it in March 1999. [4]
The company makes a small variety of fixed blade knives. These models include the Police Utility Knife (PUK), Emerson's version of Fred Perrin's La Griffe, and a dagger. [3]
Production knives made by the company differ from Emerson's custom knives by the logo on the blade which reads "Emerson Knives, Inc." Sometimes the model number is found on the blade with a date and a serial number. Additionally, custom knives made by Emerson have dual titanium liners and handles made from linen micarta with titanium bolsters. Emerson Knives Inc.'s primary focus is on the military and police markets. There is a large secondary market of collectors as there is with most knife companies. [3]
In May 2013, a non-custom factory-made Emerson CQC-7 knife carried by the Navy SEAL who served as point man on the mission to kill or capture Osama bin Laden was auctioned off for charity, netting over $35,000.[ citation needed ]
| Model | Description | Blade length | Blade Profile | Handle Material | Overall length | Year introduced |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPECWAR | The first model debuted by the company, a linerlock folding version of the SPECWAR Knife designed by Emerson in collaboration with Timberline Knives. | 3.5" | Tanto or spearpoint | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 7.5" | 1996 |
| Raven | The second model made by Emerson Knives, made with Kraydon handles (fiberglass) and a recessed linerlock. | 3.5" | Tanto or spearpoint | Kraydon scales, Titanium liners | 7.5" | 1997 |
| CQC-7 | Emerson's first "Custom Design" to enter the Production lineup. | 3.5" | Tanto or spearpoint | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 7.5" | 1997 |
| Commander | Designed as a SERE knife based on the ES1-M, the first model to feature Emerson's Wave shaped opening device. | 3.75" | Recurve | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.8" | 1998 |
| SARK | A Search and Rescue Knife with a blunt tip, designed for the US Navy. | 3.5" | Wharncliffe with blunt tip | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.2" | 1998 |
| PSARK | A version of the SARK with a pointed tip, designed for Law Enforcement Use. | 3.5" | Wharncliffe | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.2" | 1998 |
| Blackbird | A standard linerlock and G10 handle version of the Raven. | 3.5" | Tanto or spearpoint | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 7.5" | 1999 |
| Mach 1, MAX-1 | Originally called the Mach 1, it was renamed the MAX-1 in 2004. | 3.5" | Spearpoint | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.2" | 1999 |
| PUK | Police Utility Knife, a fixed-blade designed for Law Enforcement. | 3.5" | Spearpoint or tanto | Kraydon handles replaced by G10 slabs on 2007 and later models | 8.2" | 1999 |
| La Griffe | A fixed-blade designed for Law Enforcement, based on a Fred Perrin design. | 1.75" | claw shape | bare metal | 4.9" | 1999 |
| La Griffe WWR | A fixed-blade designed for White Water Rafting, based on a Fred Perrin design. | 1.75" | claw shape, blunt tip, fully serrated blade | bare metal | 4.9" | 1999 |
| NASA Knife | A version of the SPECWAR with a guthook, designed for NASA for use on Shuttle Missions and the ISS. | 3.5" | Tanto | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 7.5" | 2000 |
| I&I Tanto | A folding Tanto designed for Martial Arts Company I & I Sports. | 4" | Tanto | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.2" | 2000 |
| SOCFK | A version of the SPECWAR with the Wave shaped opening device, designed for Extreme Outfitters. | 3.5" | Tanto or Spearpoint | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 7.5" | 2001 |
| Mini Commander | A scaled-down version of the Commander Folding Knife. | 3.4" | Recurve | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8" | 2001 |
| Mini CQC-7 | A scaled-down version of the CQC-7 Folding Knife. | 3" | Tanto or Spearpoint | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 7" | 2001 |
| Super CQC-7 | A scaled-up version of the CQC-7 Folding Knife. | 3.78" | Tanto | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 9.15" | 2002 |
| Combat Karambit | A folding version of the Indonesian Karambit Knife | 2.6" | Curved | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 6.8" | 2002 |
| Super Commander | A scaled-up version of the Commander Folding Knife, originally a TAD Gear Exclusive. | 4" | Recurve | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 9.5" | 2003 |
| CQC-8 | A knife based on Bob Taylor's Warrior knife and Bill Moran's ST-23 designed in 1994 for Navy SEALs. The first production version, made in 2002, was part of a collaboration with SureFire Flashlights. | 3.8" | sabre profile | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 9.3" | 2003 |
| CQC-10 | A bull-nosed folding knife. The first version was part of a collaboration with Heckler & Koch. | 3.6" | bull nose | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.5" | 2003 |
| CQC-11 a.k.a. UTCOM, a.k.a. Blackhawk | A kukri-shaped blade. The first version was part of a collaboration with Blackhawk Tactical. | 4.1" | kukri recurve | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 9.275" | 2003 |
| Persian | Based on an earlier Fixed-blade custom knife, the first version of this folder was an exclusive to Emerson Collectors. | 4.1" | Upswept | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 9.6" | 2003 |
| CQC-12 | Originally designated the "Comrade Military Folder", Emerson's first Framelock design based on the AK-47 pattern bayonet. | 3.9" | Clip point | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.85" | 2004 |
| CQC-13 | A folding Bowie Knife. | 3.85" | Clip point | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 9" | 2004 |
| CQC-14 | A full sized handle with a shorter blade designed for jurisdictions with prohibitions on knife blades greater than 3". | 2.7" | Spearpoint, tanto, and recurve | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 7.6" | 2004 |
| NSAR | A version of the SARK with a linecutter, designed for Naval Air Rescue Units. | 3.5" | Wharncliffe | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.2" | 2006 |
| CQC-15 | A recurved tanto blade folding knife. | 3.9" | recurved tanto | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.9" | 2007 |
| EDC Tanto | A folding Tanto designed for EDC Knives. | 4" | Tanto | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.2" | 2007 |
| CQC-16 | A non-recurved Clip point Commander designed as a hunting/skinning knife. | 4" | Clip point | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.2" | 2007 |
| Horseman | A scaled-down version of the CQC-8. | 3.4" | sabre profile | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.35" | 2007 |
| Mini CQC-15 | A recurved tanto blade folding knife. | 3.5" | recurved tanto | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8" | 2008 |
| A-100 | A spearpoint folding knife based on an early Custom Design. | 3.6" | Spearpoint | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.4" | 2008 |
| Super CQC-8 | A scaled-up version of the CQC-8. | 4.3" | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 10.2" | 2009 | |
| Mini A-100 | A downsized version of the A-100. | 3" | spearpoint | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 7.2" | 2009 |
| Super Raven | A scaled-up version of the Raven. | 3.9" | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 9.3" | 2009 | |
| Gentleman Jim | A folding clip-point named for Boxing Champion Jim Corbett. | 3.75" | clip-point | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.55" | 2010 |
| Roadhouse | A folding Tanto based on the earlier custom Warrior Fixed Blade. | 3.8" | Tanto | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 8.9" | 2010 |
| UBR Commander | A scaled-up version of the Super Commander. | 4.4" | Recurve | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 9.35" | 2010 |
| Tactical Kwaiken | A folding version of signature series fixed blade. | 3.9" | Japanese tanto | G10 scales, Titanium liners | 9.00 | 2018 |
Emerson Knives has collaborated with other companies on knife-related projects. In 2002 Emerson Knives collaborated with Gerber Knives to create both companies' first automatic opening knife, the Gerber-Emerson Alliance. [5] In that same year, Emerson Knives collaborated with SureFire Flashlights by making an exclusive CQC8 (Banana Knife) numbered and marked with the SureFire logo and sold with an identically numbered Emerson-marked Centurion C2 CombatLight. In 2005 Emerson Knives collaborated with Andy Prisco, the CEO of the American Tomahawk Company, to produce the CQC-T Tomahawk. This tomahawk features a curved head machined from 4140 steel with a rear spike and a lightweight fiberglass handle. Although not made by Emerson, the tomahawk was designed by him. [6] In September 2010, Emerson Knives announced a collaboration with Pro-Tech Knives to produce an automatic opening version of the CQC-7. In November 2010, Emerson's Roadhouse Knife won Knives Illustrated's American Made Knife of 2010-2011 Award at the Spirit of Steel Show in Knoxville, TN. According to Emerson, the knife will be used as a prop on the Sons of Anarchy Television Show. [7]
The Benchmade Knife Company is an American knife manufacturer in Oregon City, Oregon.
A pocketknife is a knife with one or more blades that fold into the handle. They are also known as jackknives (jack-knife), folding knives, EDC knife, or may be referred to as a penknife, though a penknife may also be a specific kind of pocketknife. A typical blade length is 5 to 15 centimetres.
Strider Knives, Inc. is a custom and production knifemaking facility headed by Mickey Ray Burger, founded and based in San Marcos, California.
Spyderco is an American cutlery company based in Golden, Colorado, producing knives and knife sharpeners. Spyderco pioneered many features that are now common in folding knives, including the pocket clip, serrations, and the opening hole. Spyderco has collaborated with 30 custom knife makers, athletes, and self-defense instructors for designs and innovated the usage of 20 different blade materials.
Gerber Legendary Blades is an American maker of knives, multitools, and other tools for outdoors and military headquartered in Portland, Oregon. Gerber is owned by the Finnish outdoors products company Fiskars. Gerber was established in 1939 by Pete Gerber.
Ernest R. Emerson is an American custom knifemaker, martial artist, and edged-weapons expert. Originally an engineer and machinist in the aerospace industry, Emerson became a knifemaker by producing knives for a martial arts class and making art knives early in his knifemaking career. In the 1980s he became better known for his combat knives and popularizing a style of knife known as the Tactical-folder.
Christopher Stanley Reeve is a South African-American knife maker, recognized as one of the most influential people in knife making history. Reeve founded Chris Reeve Knives (CRK) in 1984. In 2014, Reeve retired and was inducted into the Blade Magazine Hall of Fame in 2015.
The Strider SMF is a framelock folding knife that was specifically developed for Det One, the first unit of the United States Marine Corps (USMC) under the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM). The Strider SMF was the first knife issued to an individual USMC unit in over 60 years and the first tactical folder issued within the USMC.
The Linerlock is a locking mechanism for folding pocket knives. A Linerlock is a folding knife with a side-spring lock that can be opened and closed with one hand without repositioning the knife in the hand. The lock is self-adjusting for wear. The modern Linerlock traces its lineage to the late 19th century, but in the 1980s the design was improved by American custom knifemaker Michael Walker.
Cold Steel, Inc., is an American retailer of knives/bladed tools, training weapons, swords and other martial arts edged and blunt weapons. Founded in Ventura, California, the company is currently based in Irving, Texas, after an acquisition by GSM Outdoors in 2020. Cold Steel products are manufactured worldwide, including in the United States, Japan, Taiwan, India, Italy, China, and South Africa.
The Sebenza is a folding pocket knife manufactured by Chris Reeve Knives of Boise, Idaho. It is constructed with a stainless steel blade and titanium handle. Its handle functions as the lock mechanism similar in concept to the Walker linerlock differing in that the handle itself forms the lock bar which holds the blade open. This mechanism was invented by Chris Reeve, and is called the Reeve Integral Lock (R.I.L). It is also commonly referred to as the Framelock, and is one of the most widely implemented locking systems in the folding knife industry, where lock strength and reliability is a product requirement. The name Sebenza is derived from the Zulu word meaning "Work," a tribute to Mr. Reeve's South African origins.
Chris Reeve Knives is an American knife manufacturing corporation with international sales and distribution headquartered in Boise, Idaho, that designs, develops, and sells folding pocket knives and fixed-blade knives. Its products include the Sebenza, Inkosi, Umnumzaan, TiLock, Mnandi folding knives, Impinda slip joint, and the Green Beret, Pacific, Professional Soldier, Nyala, and Sikayo fixed blade knives. Chris Reeve Knives' industry contributions include the Integral Lock, contributions to the blade steels CPM-S30V and CPM-S35VN, and has won Blade Magazine's Blade Show Manufacturing Quality Award 15 times. Their motto is Think Twice, Cut Once.
The CQC-6 or Viper Six is a handmade tactical folding knife with a tantō blade manufactured by knifemaker Ernest Emerson. Although initially reported as the sixth design in an evolution of fighting knives and the first model in the lineup of Emerson's Specwar Custom Knives, Emerson later revealed that the knife was named for SEAL Team Six. It has a chisel-ground blade of ATS-34 or 154CM stainless steel and a handle made of titanium and linen micarta. The CQC-6 is credited as the knife that popularized the concept of the tactical folding knife.
American Tomahawk Company is a US-based company which manufactures modern tomahawks for use by the US Military. It was founded in 1966 by Peter LaGana to make tomahawks for the Vietnam War and folded in the 1970s. ATC was revived in March 2019 by RMJ Tactical to produce tomahawks for a wide range of outdoor uses and to continue on the great military history. The famous VTAC has been revised, updated and re-introduced as the Model 1 Tomahawk.
The SARK or NSAR is a folding knife designed by knifemaker Ernest Emerson for use as a search and rescue knife by the US military. It has a hawkbill with a blunt tip in order to cut free trapped victims without cutting them in the process. There is a variant with a pointed-tip designed for police, known as the P-SARK.
The Commander (knife) is a large recurve folding knife made by Emerson Knives, Inc. that was based on a custom design, the ES1-M, by Ernest Emerson that he originally built for a West Coast Navy SEAL Team. It was winner of the Blade Magazine Overall Knife of the Year Award for 1999.
Michael Leon Walker is an American custom knifemaker and sculptor based in Taos, New Mexico. Walker is the inventor of more than 20 different knife mechanisms including the Walker Linerlock for which he secured a trademark in 1980.
The Applegate–Fairbairn fighting knife is a combat knife designed by Colonel Rex Applegate and William E. Fairbairn as a version of the Fairbairn–Sykes fighting knife. The blade has a similar double-edged dagger profile, but is wider and more durable. It features a different handle, made most commonly of Lexan plastic with adjustable lead weights which can change the knife's balance-point. Later models and some custom variants included weights made from pure Teflon, tungsten, stainless steel and aluminum. The blade profile was also changed from a V-grind to a convex, or "appleseed" profile. While this changed the effectiveness of the blade in puncturing, cutting and slicing, it does not lend itself to being sharpened in the field by an inexperienced user. In addition to these modifications, the tang was also strengthened. The current production model made by Böker in Solingen, Germany, uses a fiberglass reinforced delrin handle which solves the issues with earlier models where the handle would crack if exposed to heat.
Robert G. Terzuola is an American knife maker who popularized the type of knife known as the tactical folding knife.
Medford Knife and Tool is an American custom and production knifemaking and tactical tool making facility founded by Greg Medford in 2010 in Arizona United States.
