Ernest Emerson - Emerson Knives, Inc.

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. 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. 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.

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. 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. 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. 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.

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. 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. Due to its visual aesthetic, Emerson called this innovation the "Wave"and secured a patent for it in 1998. 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.

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. The KA-BAR knives issued to the SBUs (Special Boat Units) had catastrophically failed to cut the Marines free from their webbing.

The Navy went to Emerson, who designed and fabricated a working prototype within 24 hours. 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. The knife features Emerson's Wave. 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. 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. 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.

In 1999, NASA contracted Emerson to build a knife for use on Space Shuttle missions and the International Space Station. Rather than design a new model from scratch, NASA chose an existing model which already met their specifications, with one additional design requirement. 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. The knife is not available for purchase outside of NASA.

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. 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. 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.

In 2007, Emerson branched out in a new direction, announcing he would manufacture twelve custom electric guitars per year. His first guitar debuted at Blade Magazine's Blade Show in Atlanta in June 2007. 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). 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).

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.

In January 2011, at the SHOT (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade) Show in Las Vegas, NV, Emerson debuted a new knife model designed in collaboration with Kelly McCann known as the Canis.