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guvnor
735
Apr 30, 2015
These knives are designed by Ernest Emerson and made overseas by Kershaw. Emerson production knives and Emerson/Zero Tolerance knives are made in the US.
The wave feature is to allow for fast one handed deployment of the blade as the knife is drawn out of the pocket.
I personally have mixed feeling for the wave opener - it's definitely the fastest way to open a folder, even faster than any auto, but there are some big drawbacks.
For example new owners of knives with the wave sometimes forget about the feature and accidentally deploy the blade when not needed. And the wave opening can sometimes fail to deploy if you only pull the knife straight up out of your pocket, so you have to motion the knife towards your back as it opens(as in posted video). The problem is, that can be dangerous for anyone who happen to be standing or walking behind you. I've heard of numerous stories regarding bystanders being cut this way. I've definitely ruined some clothes and furniture as well wave opening knives.
Also you'll find that the wave opening is almost useless while sitting or lying on your back, or if you're standing with your back against the wall(all of which are very likely positions for the type of scenarios a knife like this is meant for). This can be remedied by setting up the knife for a reverse grip deployment, but then that's not very useful for EDC where the knife will most likely spend its life opening boxes.
A lot of people I've seen go through a wave opening knife phase then move on after a while - I've owned around a dozen Emersons over the years and it sure would've been a lot cheaper if an affordable option like this existed back then.