Spyderco byte December 2021 - THE EMERSON OPENER

THE EMERSON OPENER​

Featured Product​

SKU: C10PGYW / C11PGYW / C12SBK2W / C12SBBK2W / C28PGYW2 / C103GP / C103TR / C170GBBKP / C237GP / C243GPYW / BY03PSBK2W
MSRP: $61.50 to $373.00
ORIGIN: Japan / USA / Taiwan / China

Ernest Emerson​

Ernest Emerson has had a profound impact on the cutlery industry and both the form and function of the modern tactical folding knife. Although the scope of his influence is extremely broad, perhaps his most revolutionary innovation was the “Emerson Opener.” Also known as the “Wave-Shaped Feature” or more colloquially—and inaccurately—the “Wave,” it consists of a small integral hook on the spine of a folding knife blade. When the closed knife is carried tip-up and drawn from the pocket, the hook snags on the lip of the pocket and swiftly rotates the blade into the open position. If you need to use your folding knife in a hurry, the Emerson Opener is hands down your quickest option.

Ernest Emerson’s Knifemaking Journey​

A native of northern Wisconsin, Ernest Emerson was born on March 7, 1955. He was a gifted athlete in high school and began his lifelong obsession with the martial arts at age 16 by training in Yudo, the Korean version of Judo. He attended the University of Wisconsin-Lacrosse and earned degrees in physical education and world history, as well as a brown belt in Kyokushinkai Karate and a black belt in Shotokan Karate.

Immediately after graduating, Emerson moved to Southern California with the sole purpose of furthering his martial arts education at the famed Inosanto Academy of Martial Arts under Bruce Lee’s protégés Dan Inosanto and Richard Bustillo. There he studied the Filipino art of Kali and Bruce Lee’s systems of Jun Fan Gung Fu and Jeet Kune Do. Later, he also trained in Brazilian Jujitsu under the acclaimed Royce and Rorion Gracie. During this time, Emerson made his living as a machine operator and design engineer for Hughes Aircraft.

Photo Credit: Peter1960​

n 1978, as part of his study of the Filipino martial arts, Emerson found himself in need of a balisong, or butterfly knife. Balisongs were not widely available back then, so he opted to make his own. When his fellow students saw it, they asked Emerson to make knives for them as well. Balisongs quickly led to fixed-blade knives and, after seeing a Michael Walker custom LinerLock folder at a gun show, ultimately folding knives. With Walker’s blessing, Emerson began making LinerLock folding knives and soon found himself a full-time knifemaker. Drawing inspiration from his work in the aerospace industry, he incorporated state-of-the-art, high-performance materials and concentrated on meticulously crafted, investment-quality knives.

In the mid-1980’s, Emerson shifted his focus to more spartan, tactically oriented designs. He also adopted the single-sided chisel grind—a signature element of the knives of fellow custom knifemaker Phil Hartsfield, who had been making knives for members of the West Coast U.S. Navy SEALs. When the SEALs asked Hartsfield to make folding knives, he explained that he only made fixed blades and introduced them to Emerson. Emerson’s folders quickly became must-have kit among the SEALs, and that popularity soon spread to other U.S. and foreign special operations units and elite law enforcement agencies. It later led to collaborations with several leading commercial knife manufacturers and ultimately to Emerson Knives, Inc., Emerson’s own production knife company, which he founded with his wife Mary.

Emerson’s legendary designs have been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Museum—an unprecedented achievement for a knifemaker—and his knives continue to be trusted by some of the world’s most elite warriors.

The Birth of the Emerson Opener​

The Emerson Opener is one of the most dynamic knife-related innovations ever developed and has been used—both with and without Emerson’s blessing—on countless knives over the years. The actual invention of this feature, however, was an accident. According to Emerson, the instructors of the U.S. Navy SEALs Combat Fighting Course wanted to develop a specific knife for combat use. One of the features they wanted on the design was a “blade catcher” on the spine of the blade to protect the user’s hand. Emerson incorporated the feature on his iconic Commander model and decided to shape it like a small ocean wave. When he had finished the initial prototypes of the design, several SEALs from U.S. Naval Base Coronado drove up to his shop to pick them up for test and evaluation. Emerson delivered the knives to them but kept one for his own testing.

Shortly after the SEALs left, Emerson drew his prototype knife and suddenly realized that, as it cleared his pocket, the “blade catcher” snagged and partially opened the blade. At first, he was concerned that it might be a safety issue, but as he repeated the experiment with more vigor, he realized that the feature opened the blade reliably and very quickly. Just as he had this epiphany, the phone in his shop rang. It was the SEALs from Coronado, who had just returned to base, started evaluating the knife, and discovered the same amazing auto-opening function of the “blade catcher.”

Because of its shape, Emerson called his invention the "Wave" and applied for a utility patent on it in 1997. That patent, #5,878,500, was granted in March 1999, but since another knife and tool company, Leatherman, had trademarked the name "Wave" as it applied to knives, Emerson changed the official term for it to the "wave-shaped opening feature." He also made it a required element of all the knives his company produced for military and law enforcement contracts.

Spyderco co-founder Sal Glesser, a keen follower of all new developments in the knife industry, appreciated the brilliance of Emerson’s invention and approached him about the possibility of licensing it for use on select Spyderco designs. In 2006, we released versions of our popular Delica® 4 and Endura® 4 Lightweights that proudly incorporated our expression of the Emerson Opener. To acknowledge our formal licensing of the feature, we engraved Emerson’s patent number on the reverse side of the blade.

Since then, the “wave-shaped opening feature” has been showcased on a number of other Spyderco models, including the Rescue™ 93mm, Endura and Delica Trainers, the Matriarch™ 2, the Karahawk™, the Tropen™, and the P’Kal™ and P’Kal Trainer, which are unique in that they include a removeable Emerson Opener that screws into the spine of the blade. More recently, Emerson’s invention has been incorporated on the Endela® Lightweight, Dragonfly™2, and byrd® Cara Cara™2 Lightweight, as well as several limited-edition Exclusive models, including expressions of the popular Para Military™ 2.

In January 2016, Ernest Emerson was granted U.S. registered trademark #4,879,356 for the iconic, proprietary design of his “Wave Shaped Feature.” His utility patent expired in 2017, and since then many knives have been produced using the Emerson Opener without attribution to Emerson or his revolutionary innovation. There are also countless improvised devices, blade modifications, and aftermarket accessories out there that emulate the function of the Emerson Opener. Nothing, however, beats the original. To that end, Spyderco continues to officially license this unique feature from Emerson—even after the patent expiration—and is extremely proud of the longstanding friendship we have enjoyed with this legendary knifemaker.



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