Yay! new sharp pointy thing.

I was at a local Sportsman's Warehouse last night browsing the knife selection when I noticed a peculiar looking knife- it looked like it had a bottle opener which seemed way out of place on a Spiderco. I noticed a Emerson patent etched on the blade- I've heard of Emerson before as a high end knife maker so I decided to look further. I had been looking for a Spiderco Endura as I've been carrying a Delica for about 10-11 years as an everyday work knife. The Delica pictured below, I bought a year or so ago when I lost the one I had for 10 years. I did a little research (here and on the Emerson site) and found that the wave was a really cool (ok- really really really cool) feature. I went and picked it up tonight as a replacement for the Delica.

Two other features I like is that the clip on the new knife seems to have a bit softer edges and the straight blade. The delica's clip seems to stick out too much and tends to scratch against things, I have to be extra careful around cars, my old Delica had a nicer molded in polymer clip, though it wasn't reversible. I've kind of tired of the 1/2 serrated blade style- it doesn't seem as practical as it looks.




Only downside to this whole experience is that I discovered the Emerson Karambit while researching how the WAVE works. Those things are so pretty that I can actually see forking over a few Benjamins for one even though I don't have too much use for one.

The problem with the wave is that the knife is moving in the wrong direction when you deploy it (except the kerambit). Instead of forward, towards the threat, the knife is moving back, away from it. Cool feature, but not that practical.

Click to expand...

Yup, most of the threats I have to deal with on a daily basis are cartons, various types of tubing and hoses, zip ties, and the occasional hangnail. Even in these mundane chores I can see your point.

West Bend.

I figured I'd give a follow up review after carrying it for a week or so.

At first the wave feature seemed a bit awkward in that I was swinging the knife well behind my body to open it. After opeing and closing it many many times, its seemed to have smoothend out a bit. I had a very slow day at work today, and being one of two people in a very huge building, I had time to practice with it a bit more. I found that if I just put minimal pressure on the back of the pocket and draw it straight up and roll my wrist over to a suppenated position, it snaps open every time without the knife traversing backward at all. Not only that, but I really don't need to draw it fast or even snap my wrist over fast- my 'muscle memory' has figured out how to make it open right every time.

As far as deploying it forward with a reverse grip, it works very well after a bit of practice.


I gave into the needs of my knife fetish and bought a Spiderco Karambit as well. With the 'ghetto wave' zip-tie trick it opens flawlessly. I'm a bit scared of this knife yet, not only is it eager to open easily but it just seems hungry to eat some flesh-especially mine. I've used it at work a few times to cut rubber tubing and boxes open and every single time I get an image in my head of the knife slipping and taking off a finger or ripping through my arm I haven't cut myself with it, but mainly because I give it a lot of respect.