Emerson Mach I

Guns Magazine, Feb, 2001

Ernest Emerson is a custom knifemaker who parleyed his phenomenal success in designing and handcrafting serious tactical knives into a proper manufacturing concern. In only two years, Emerson went from making a few hundred handmade custom Special Forces knives, one at a time in his garage, to manufacturing thousands of knives for the retail trade. This is not easy.

The mass-produced knives from the new concern, Emerson Knives Inc., not only equal the quality of his handmade blades -- they're better! Emerson Knives Inc. does not totally rely on mass production. Edges are ground by hand and the assembly of the blade into the locking mechanism, the real beef in a folding knife, is also done by hand.

However, the critically time-consuming tasks of cutting out the blade blanks, fabricating the G10 handles, machining out the liner locks and other mundane matters are accomplished with Emerson's state-of-the-art machinery with a higher degree of precision than is even possible in handwork.

The latest design from Emerson is called the Mach I. It is a clip-point, double V ground, liner-lock tactical folder featuring G10 handles, titanium liners and 154CM stainless steel blades. The 3.5" edge is partially serrated and features a Black T finish. It sells for $240.

Sounds so matter of fact, so dispassionate. But those features -- at that price -- are nothing short of mind-boggling when you consider that the Mach I is the current state-of-the-art in tactical folders. A similar handmade version from Emerson would cost about triple that.