I have an Emerson CQC7F that I like a lot.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
... and a ZT 0620 Emerson (Elmax) that I like even better. On sale for $164...
https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Toleranc.../dp/B00ILFL66S
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Last edited by Clusterfrack; 07-13-2018 at 08:14 PM.
“There is no growth in the comfort zone.”--Jocko Willink
"You can never have too many knives." --Joe Ambercrombie
So, I love Emerson's and Ernest is a friend.
But if picking a knife for EDC where potential defensive use is high on the scale of selection criteria - the Spyderco P'Kal is the best choice. The ball-bearing lock is extremely strong and does not interfere with any grip style, unlike the liner/frame lock mechanisms used in Emersons.
For every day users, general utility, I love my various flavor Emersons and Kershaw-Emersons. Despite having half-a-dozen or so of them, the Spyderco P'Kal remains my go to folder for EDC. Rarely am I found without it, and if I am, it's likely because I flew someplace and took a Opinel in its place (to avoid running afoul of legal problems).
The only things I would change is to switch over to 154CM or CPM-154 steel in the P'kal, because I find S30V to be a pain to sharpen easily. And I would swap the silver pocket clip for a black one. Fortunately, the latter is available from Spyderco for a few bucks.
Last edited by RevolverRob; 07-14-2018 at 03:54 PM.
You need to up your sharpening tools, Rob. It's part of the fun. (Except when it isn't.)
There's nothing civil about this war.
That's not actually untrue, I do need a better set of sharpening gear. I also find S30V tends to chip and get toothy around the edge more, where various flavors of ATS34/RWL34/CPM154/154CM will roll and thus I find those steels easier to fix. Because it never fails, that I will goof up an edge or tip somehow with a daily carried knife.
Last edited by RevolverRob; 07-14-2018 at 06:43 PM.
Diamonds followed by ceramic...or...Shapton Glass...or...Venev bonded diamond will all work well with S30V and the diamonds will work with all the higher Vanadium carbide steels like S110V, CPM-20CV, S90V etc etc
You can also use silicon carbide (Norton Crystolon) on S30V.
There are more than a few steels out there that will make you swear a blue streak absent the right hones. And sometimes even with.
ETA:
@RevolverRob Here's a thread worth looking at on bladeforums specifically regarding sharpening S30V
Last edited by blues; 07-14-2018 at 07:01 PM.
There's nothing civil about this war.