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Originally posted by Mike Searson:

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Originally posted by Czechvar:
Those of you who actually know Jon over at eBossHoss...I'll bet he has some great stories to tell about the hardware that has passed through his hands...Like this one. Sometimes I don't understand why Ernie doesn't put a beauty like this in production after the prototype...

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Ernie Emerson Custom Karambit Commander Prototype


Under 3" Blade & Forward and Reverse Grip

•Recurve Commader Recurve Blade
•Emerson Custom -- Specwar Knives Logo
•Marked Prototype
•Wave Opening System
•Ergonomic Handle Design fits Forward and Reverse Grip perfectly
•Reverse or Forward Grip
•Total Ambidextrous Opening
•Black G10 Scales
•Drilled for Tip-up Either Pocket Carry
•Blacked Pivot and Hardware
•Great Action, Lock-up and Easy Lock Release
•Specs: 2 3/4" Blade (as the crow flies); 7 1/4" OAL

http://www.ebosshoss.com/trade...ander-prototype-2172

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Originally posted by Mike Searson:
It was a long time grail knife for me. I had ordered it in 1997 and was quoted an 18 month wait. 2 years later i hit a financial mess and cancelled the order because i didnt want to be a deadbeat. A year later Ernie stopped taking orders for customs completely and announced he would be making no more Rhinos

Ernie has been a long time friend and my wife knew how bad i wanted the knife. 5 years ago she talked to Ernie and Mary at a show and asked Ernie to make one for me as a 10 year anniversary gift without my knowledge

So she gives me a box on our anniversary and i open it guessing its a knife. I see the EKI factory nox and think she picked me up a Commander or something from my local gun shop and then i realize. This thing is heavy

I couldnt believe it. He made it exactly the way i ordered it 11 years previously. Milspec with a satin blade and black micarta scales

This knife is special on a number of counts. The 2 most being it was a gift from the wife and it was made by one of my dearest friends for me. Ive been offered $14,000 for it and turned it down. The 45 thumbstud was made by another good friend, Derrick Obatake of Steel Flame

Oh and there mever were any waved rhinos. Any waved rhino is a lesser knife that has been modded to approximate the look but not the functionality

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Originally posted by Czechvar:
Hey...This is interesting...Ernest Emerson didn't just drop out of the Sky to be a successful knifemaker. He went to school and actually got his start in the Aerospace Industry. I normally don't care much for WikiPedia...But this is pretty good info...And some of it is surprising...

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Background

Ernest Emerson was born on March 7, 1955 in northern Wisconsin.[11][12] While attending high school he displayed athletic ability as a wrestler and baseball player, being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals to play professional baseball at the age of 17 in the Midwest League.[11]

Emerson began his training in martial arts at the age of 16 with the Korean version of Judo known as Yudo, traveling from Wisconsin to Minnesota twice a week to attend school.[2] He continued his study of the martial arts while attending the University of Wisconsin–La Crosse where he earned a brown belt in Kyokushinkai Karate and a black belt in Shotokan Karate while competing on the university's karate team.[11] After graduating with degrees in physical education and world history, Emerson moved to Southern California for the sole purpose of continuing his martial arts training at the Filipino Kali Academy.[11][13] There he studied Jun Fan Gung Fu, Jeet Kune Do, and Eskrima under the tutelage of Dan Inosanto and Richard Bustillo (both protégés of the late Bruce Lee).[11][13] Emerson subsequently trained in Gracie Jiu Jitsu for three years at the original Gracie Academy in Torrance, California, under the founders of the Gracie Jiu Jitsu system, Rorion and Royce Gracie.[14] Eventually, Emerson became an instructor in his own right and combined the principles of all these systems.[15] It was in Southern California where he met his wife, Mary, who at the time was one of the world's top female practitioners of Jujutsu.[4] During this time, Emerson worked as a technician, a machine operator, and eventually a design engineer for Hughes Aircraft in El Segundo.[1][16]

Early knifemaking

Emerson's first handmade balisong knife
Although Emerson credits his grandfather's gift of a Barlow knife to him at the age of eight years with starting his interest in knives, it was not until later in life that he turned to making them.[12] The summer of 1978 found Emerson in need of a balisong knife for his study of a Filipino martial art and, unable to afford one on his salary,[2] Emerson decided he would attempt to make his own instead.[16] He milled and drilled the handles from aluminum stock; the knife's blade was a simple steel blank that he hand cut with a hacksaw, shaped with files, and heat treated at his dining room table with a butane torch.[16]

When he started classes with this "homemade" knife, his instructors and fellow students were impressed with his handiwork and asked him to make knives for them.[4] Emerson did so and sold these early butterfly knives for just the cost of materials, but he soon raised the price to $50 each, as demand for his knives increased.[16] Emerson went on to make fixed-blade knives on a part-time basis, but upon seeing a Michael Walker handmade folding knife at a gun show, he was so impressed by the quality and design that he decided he was going to make folding pocketknives from that point on.[2] Emerson contacted Walker and obtained his permission to use the Walker Linerlock mechanism on his own knives.[2] According to a 1990 article by Paul Basch, Emerson said of Walker, "Here was a guy who put everything I was looking for into a knife. It was then I decided to start making knives seriously and locking liners in particular".[17]

Emerson Knives, Inc.

Main article: Emerson Knives, Inc.

In February 1996, Emerson and his wife, Mary, founded Emerson Knives, Inc. (abbreviated as EKI) in Torrance, California to manufacture knives on a larger scale than he was then capable of.[2][30] This new company would be a distinct entity from his Specwar custom knives, although several custom designs would make their way into the production lineup.[42] 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.[43]

Emerson continued to collaborate with other companies on knife-related projects as his own company grew. In some cases these collaborators had become his competition, such as Gerber Knives. In 2002 Emerson collaborated with Gerber Knives to create both companies' first automatic opening knife, the Gerber-Emerson Alliance.[44] In that same year, Emerson collaborated with SureFire Flashlights by making an exclusive CQC-8 (Banana Knife) numbered and marked with the SureFire logo and sold with an identically numbered Emerson-marked Centurion C2 CombatLight.[27] In 2005 Emerson 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.[45] In 2007, Emerson announced a collaboration with custom knifemaker and knife thrower Bobby Branton. The collaboration piece is a fixed-blade knife designed primarily for knife throwing dubbed the BETT: Branton-Emerson Tactical Thrower.[46]

Emerson Commander
One of Emerson's earliest production models, the Commander (winner of Blade Magazine's Overall Knife of the Year Award for 1999), is a large recurve folding knife based on a special custom design, the ES1-M, that he had made for a West Coast Navy SEAL Team.[4][47] The Commander has 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.[5] Due to its visual aesthetic, Emerson called this innovation the "Wave"and secured a patent for it in 1998.[48] Since another knife and tool company, Leatherman, had trademarked the name "Wave," in March 1999 Emerson changed its name to the "wave-shaped opening feature". Emerson's Wave made its way onto most of the knives in both the production and custom lines, with the exception of the Viper models. It is a required feature on all knives that Emerson supplies to military units, search and rescue units, and law enforcement agencies.[49]


Emerson SARK
After a disastrous helicopter crash in 1999 resulting in the deaths of six Marines and one sailor, the US Navy performed an assessment of their equipment and decided among other things that they needed a new search and rescue knife.[50] The KA-BAR knives issued to the SBUs (Special Boat Units) had catastrophically failed to cut the Marines free from their webbing.[31]

The Navy went to Emerson, who designed and fabricated a working prototype within 24 hours.[31] They found that it met their needs, and the model was dubbed the "SARK" (Search and Rescue Knife). The SARK is a folding knife with a wharncliffe-style blade and a blunt tip designed so a rescuer could cut trapped victims free without stabbing them.[50] The knife features Emerson's Wave.[31] Seeing another need in the police community, Emerson replaced the blunt end of the SARK with a pointed end and named it the "P-SARK", or Police Search And Rescue Knife.[51] In 2005, the Navy changed the requirements on the SARK to incorporate a guthook on the back of the blade for use as a line-cutter.[52] Emerson made the change on this model which is only available to the US Navy and the model designation is the NSAR (Navy Search And Rescue) Knife.[52]

Emerson NASA Knife
In 1999, NASA contracted Emerson to build a knife for use on Space Shuttle missions and the International Space Station.[6][7] Rather than design a new model from scratch, NASA chose an existing model which already met their specifications, with one additional design requirement.[53] The model is a folding version of the Specwar knife that Emerson had designed for Timberline with the addition of a guthook cut into the tantō point of the blade with which astronauts could open their freeze dried food packages.[53] The knife is not available for purchase outside of NASA.[54]

On July 1, 2000, Emerson announced his semi-retirement from custom knifemaking in order to concentrate on this new production company and to fill the thousands of outstanding orders for his custom work. He still makes custom knives available for sale at knife shows, but takes no orders for new custom work.[55][56] Since 1995 the only way to get a new custom knife from Emerson himself is through a lottery held at knife shows where he is present.[55] Depending on the size of the show, as many as several hundred potential buyers write their names on individual pieces of paper at his booth, and at a predetermined time a name is drawn. The winner gets a chance to buy one of the custom knives brought to the show.[28][56]

In 2007, Emerson branched out in a new direction, announcing he would manufacture twelve custom electric guitars per year.[28] His first guitar debuted at Blade Magazine's Blade Show in Atlanta in June 2007.[57] In 2008, Emerson opened a clothing company called "Emerson Brand Apparel" specializing in MMA and casual clothing. In 2009 at the annual NRA Convention, Emerson announced a collaboration with custom pistol manufacturer Les Baer to produce a custom M1911 pistol built to Emerson's specifications with a semi-custom (handground blade) folding knife named the "CQC-45"(out of sequence from the CQC series as the number relates to the caliber of the pistol).[58] In late 2009, Emerson announced a collaboration with Spike's Tactical to produce an M-4 Carbine based upon his specifications for training, chambered in .22 long rifle and in 5.56 NATO; with a matching folding knife designated the "CQC-22" (out of sequence from the CQC series as the number relates to the caliber of the rifle).[59]

In September 2010, Emerson 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.[46]

Wiki ain't quite fitting...He needs to hire a shadow writer and put out a Biography...This would make a great book...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Emerson