There are very few knives, if any that rival the respect and adoration obtained by a set of knives made by the Emerson Knife company. A young company in knife making  terms, Emerson knives have been featured in movies, museums, been sent to space, have had books written about them, and are now standard issue for many nation’s special forces operators. Emerson knives are one of the most durable and combat ready knives available.

Born as a poor boy in Wisconsin, Emerson was raised as a farmer and craftsman. He quickly became interested in the martial arts and knife making. In 1978, he created his first knife from scratch, a balisong knife that he needed for his study of a Filipino martial art, but was unable to afford one. A legend was born.

His classmates were impressed with the quality and compatibility of the knife with their martial arts studies, and asked Emerson to make them a set of knives as well. Word spread and Emerson knives quickly known for their exacting quality. It was only a short time later that Emerson decided to secure his future as a great maker of knives by narrowing his niche to folding knives only.

It was then that he made the pledge to only create the best knives from the best materials available. Hailing from the aerospace industry, he understood that there were some incredible metals available that had the potential to make a knife an indestructible object. He then incorporated rare materials such as titanium, carbon fiber, micarta, meteorite, along with rare hardwoods for his blades. This all came at a time in the early 1980’s in which these materials were never ever heard of, which set the Emerson knife apart from the rest of the herd.

It wasn’t until 1988 that he started making knives with the exclusive purpose of arming martial artists. An avid martial artist himself, he realized that some of the students he was training with had a strong need for a knife that they could use in the gym, then fold up and take with them outside of the training area. He stripped down five folding knife models his company currently made and the first martial arts folding knife was born.

Emerson’s popularity started growing on the West Coast as a specialty knife maker. It was in the mid 1980’s when a group of Navy SEALs approached his company with a requirement to make a combat effective Emerson knife. Referred by his fellow knife maker and competitor, he quickly obliged and created a special knife labeled the CQC-6, for "close quarters combat". The unique properties of the knife made it corrosion resistant, easy to clean, and highly effective in versatile situations such as hand to hand combat.

The entrance into the Department of Defense was a good gateway for Emerson to be approached by a few other government agencies, and before he could even get his company to the point where they could mass produce blades, they were contracting with NASA and other foreign governments to create their blades.

Owning an Emerson knife means owning a very special knife for a special purpose. No matter what the price, even if you can find a cheap Emerson knife, you’ll find that you’re getting the highest quality knife in the industry.