I guess you could call it normal, although not preferred. There is nothing wrong with your blade steel. Anytime you bead blast a material, you create a rough, pitted surface. Microscopically, it looks like craters on the moon. These craters or pockets, have a tendency to collect and hold dirt, salt, and moisture. This will create rust stains on the knife blade. they won't pit, and should wipe off with an oily rag. We recommend Tuf-Cloth from Sentry Solutions, ltd. as a rust preventative and Miracle Cloth from R&S Industries for removing existing or troublesome rust stains.

All of our knives have stainless steel pocket/belt clips. They are mounted with the attachment at the rear of the handle, clip facing toward the front. Experience and feed back from the end users has shown that this is the preferred clip position for easy accessibility and quick opening sequence. [Top Of Page]

Yes, we do make left hand version of several models. At present the only models that are available as left hand models are the Commander, the CQC-7 and the SARK. They are only available with the black handle material. We make them in limited quantities so you should call or email us to make sure the model you want is available. [Top Of Page]

There are several reasons for the chisel grind. For any of you who have ever used a correctly sharpened wood chisel for woodworking, you know what a chisel can do. Although a knife is not a chisel, those properties, when applied to a knife grind have almost magical effect. A chisel ground knife, being beveled, (ground) on one side only, possesses greater strength, (due to increased cross sectional mass) and they cut with an ease not found on any other type of blade. This is because there is no parasitic drag produced by the flat side when cutting --- no drag points. On top of that, they are much easier to sharpen --- you only have to sharpen one side. [Top Of Page]

This is an Emerson signature. Being the knifemaker who brought the chisel grind to worldwide recognition, we are often asked; Why do you put the grind on the opposite side of a traditional Japanese Chef's knife? The answer is simple....We are not making chef's knives. Our knives are hard knives meant for hard users. We do not cut many tomatoes. Our tests and those of a major government agency determined that there was no difference between right and left side grinds for use as a tool or weapon. The left side was chosen for purposes of visual cue and reference. [Top Of Page]

Kydron is a proprietary formula of a polyester based elastomer, with Kevlar fibers for stiffness and increased strength modulus. It is not plastic, Zytel, or hard and noisy like other manufactured knives. It has a warm feeling and a great physical texture. Kydron was chosen for several reasons; strength, resistance to chemicals and sea water, overall feel, and the ability to reproduce the contours and linear checkering designed for the Raven handles. This would not have been possible with either Micarta, and Kydron is ultimately a much stronger material. You can bend it 90 degrees without breaking, and you can pound it with a ball peen hammer and not break it --- We have done it. Try that with Micarta! [Top Of Page]

The reason that we offer both the conventional grind and the chisel grind, is really quite basic; to give you, the user, a choice. What type of grind you want is really up to you. We realize that the chisel grind is not for everyone, and a lot of your choice is based on what you are familiar with, or comfortable with. My recommendation is to go with what you would feel comfortable with. As with any gear that you may use in a high stress situation, it will perform better and you will perform better, if you have confidence in that gear. You will always shoot better with your own gun. I have my personal opinions and preferences, but ultimately the choice must be yours. [Top Of Page]

The easiest way is to rinse the knife in clean fresh water after marine or chemical exposure. You can oil the blade and the pivot area from time to time with any good, light oil such as WD-40. If the knife becomes encrusted with dirt or sand, it can be completely disassembled and cleaned out thoroughly. [Top Of Page]

It has had a tremendous effect on my custom work and has tried the patience of everyone who has custom orders with me. Fortunately, the vast majority of my customers have understood the situation and are waiting patiently for their custom orders, and I thank them all for that. Very few people ever get the opportunity to undertake deeds that impact others in a positive way. Emerson Knives was given this opportunity and acted on it. We now employ over 40 people full-time and provide employment for literally hundreds of others in the cutlery industry in an auxiliary manner through licensing, manufacturing, retail sales and distribution of our product. Many, many people now pay their mortgages and put their children through school because of what we have done. Did I know this would affect time of delivery on my customs - yes. Did I make a choice - yes. Fortunately we have proven this to be the correct choice and our decision now serves a greater good. Starting, growing and managing a major production facility has taken almost 100% of my time for the last 2 ½ years. I now have trusted and loyal personnel in place to do those jobs for me. This has allowed me to get back in to my custom shop and working on chipping away at my custom orders. We are slow, but steady, and will continue to fill the custom orders as fast as we can. Thank you again for your understanding and patience in waiting for an Emerson Custom knife. [Top Of Page]

Please be aware that my company operates on a business program modeled after Rolex watches. More hands-on labor goes into the crafting of our knives than any other company in the cutlery industry. We don't have assembly lines. We don't have our knives made overseas. We don't have parts made overseas and shipped here for assembly. Because of these reasons and the strict quality standards that this company lives by, we do not produce thousands of knives a week like the other companies do. In the end, the legacy of Emerson Knives will be that of quality and not quantity. Like Rolex watches, we build our knives in batches, so the entire company can concentrate on building a particular model all at one time. Therefore there are times when we are out of certain models or variations until we circle around to build that particular model once again. We will ship your purchase as soon as it is built if it is currently out of stock. I hope that you understand that we do this to insure and preserve the quality of our product.

We try to keep knives in inventory to supply to you, but the worldwide demand is so high that there are times when we are simply sold out. So bear with us and please be patient as we will have most models on hand most of the time.

The bottom line is this: we could make tens of thousands of knives like the other companies do and we could do it well. However, a fictitious corporate name doesn't go on the logo of any of these knives. My name goes on each and every one, and I will not allow anything with my name on it to be substandard or mass produced. [Top Of Page]

There are many ways to sharpen our knives and no one way is better than any other. Actually because our knives are sharpened on one side only, people tend to think they are harder to sharpen. It is actually easier, since you are only dealing with one side. It's just different, not any more difficult.

We are always asked about different sharpening systems and fixtures. Well, there are so many that we cannot be familiar with them all. We don't know how they work or how well they work on our knives. Then again, I've sharpened knives on pieces of cement, bricks, rocks, steel pipe, car windows and just about anything at hand.

The easiest method that I usually recommend is to purchase a round or oval shaped diamond stick (finest grit possible). You can get them at hardware stores, gun stores, and cutlery stores.

Hold the knife in your left hand with the point facing away from you. With your right hand run the diamond stick out along the blade's edge away from you. You have to find the right angle to incline the diamond stick so you are affecting just the edge. Depending on how dull your blade is or how hard you press this may take 5 to 25 strokes.

Take your fingernail and scrape towards the edge on the backside of the blade. Run your fingernail towards the edge at 90 degrees to the edge, not along the edge. You should feel a noticeable click as you run your fingernail off of the edge. This is the burr that you produced by sharpening the front side. If there isn't any, hit the front side a few more times. Now take the stick and just lightly run it along the backside of the edge. You are not trying to sharpen the backside just breaking the burr loose.

At this point you must burnish or strop the edge. You can use leather for this but I prefer the gray cardboard backing from a yellow legal pad. Take the cardboard and lay it down on a stable, hard surface. With pressure, strop the blade back and forth just like the old barbers did. Not fast, but slow and controlled. Remember you have a sharp knife in your hand. Just strop the blade until you can no longer feel the burr on the blade. Your knife should now be sharp enough to tackle any normal chore.

This may sound a little complex but once you've done it a couple of times it can actually be done in about 2 minutes. If you come up with any different ways to sharpen your knife please let us know. We are always willing to listen and learn.

NOTE: On the tanto style blades, treat each edge (the main edge and the front short edge) separately. Don't run the stick out and up the front edge in one motion or you will round off the crisp transition point between the long (main) edge, and the front, short, upswept edge. Sharpen each of these separately. [ Knife Sharpening ] [Top Of Page]

Titanium is not a usual material for a knife blade. It is not hard like knife steel and will not hold an edge. However, Titanium does possess some outstanding properties that steel does not. Titanium is virtually unbreakable. It is extremely lightweight with a superior strength to weight ratio, that is better than steel. Titanium is inert and virtually impervious to any corrosive medium. It will never rust, ever. It is non-magnetic and will not cause a static spark. Titanium is extremely tough, durable and hard to work with.

In order to turn Titanium into a suitable knife material, Emerson Knives uses a unique and proprietary process. We grind the blades to finish shape and configuration (they must be ground by hand, one at a time). We then bond a layer of tantalum carbide micro- crystals onto the backside of the cutting edge. These crystals are ultra hard and sharp, acting as thousands of tiny saw teeth along the edge. These knives will not shave the hair off of your arm, but they will out cut and out last the steel edge of any knife that exists. [Top Of Page]

We use Aerospace grade titanium on the spring/lock side liner. Titanium is the perfect material for that function and has all of the properties needed to perform the duties of a strong reliable locking liner system. The opposite side (non-lock side) is crafted from a 300 series stainless steel. This side of the knife functions as a handle frame stiffener and has a minimal mechanical function. The stainless steel is truly stainless. It will not rust and does not affect the overall performance, wear, or durability of the knife in any negative way. [Top Of Page]

As I have explained in the definition of chisel grind in the glossary, the term chisel grind refers to the overall grind of the knife ie; the main bevel, not the edge, just as V grind refers to the main bevels of that style of blade. What you are referring to is the edge, the edge grind. All of our knives feature a single edge grind regardless if they are a chisel grind style like our model, CQC-7 or a double V ground style like our Commander model. The edge grind is the silver colored line located and visible at the bottom of the blade edge, not the main bevels. The single edge grind produces a very strong, sharp and easily maintained edge, especially in the field. This type of edge has been used historically on many hard use grade knives,most notably several million AK-47 bayonets. In describing our knives it would be either; A chisel grind blade with a single edge grind or a double V grind blade with a single edge grind depending on which model you choose. [Top Of Page]

We are currently using what is called a ceramic finish on our blades. The trade name is Cerracoat. It is used on automotive parts like racing headers. This baked on finish provides good corrosion resistance and high lubricity. it is hard and durable yet it will still scratch just like the blued surface of a gun. The coating will wear away with use, over time, and if you cut extremely abrasive materials it will scratch or wear more rapidly. Our warranty does not cover scratches or wear on the blade. [Top Of Page]