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SOLD - "These knives are the first hint of the third era of Emerson handmade knives....(read more)
- Click to enjoy the USN Thread discussing this very pair of Specwar knives!
- Custom-made blades by Ernie
- Ernie used thick .0625” titanium liners throughout
- Unmarked prototypes
- Made in early 1998
- Used thick black G-10 (same material as the infamous '98 Commanders)
- MilSpec configuration
- Black hardware – very rare
- True satin finish – Extremely Rare from Ernie
- All hand ground
- Domed pivots
- Unique use of Cut-Down oval thumb discs
- First use of the angular, all grips handles later seen on many other models
- Designed for LEO and Military use
- Very rare custom serrations
- Condition: Pre-owned for 15 years--never touched
"These knives are the first hint of the third era of Emerson handmade knives. After the Pre-Tac era and then the purely garage era, there came a time when EKI was just starting to make knives, and his attention in creating customs was spilling into the new venue. The SpecWar models are very much like the original Viper knives, in the sense that they carried the brand name/logo into a specific model.
These particular knives are among the earliest known pieces that were handmade with the idea of someday possibly becoming a production knife. Everything else before them - _up to and including the Raven _- were made solely as a custom knife, or design exercise, and then adopted into the prodo platform. It is not a small thing. Because they do represent the very start of this third phase (we're in the fourth phase in case you are just joining us!), they wound up being nearly unique because Ernie never made too many custom versions of this model once the prodo version got into being. I would bet heavily that no more than 4 or 5 were ever made.
I love these black micarta handled, non-bolstered, satin bladed customs from the mid-nineties. They represent knives that were on the event-horizon of the tactical world, meant to be used and carried by men who used and needed a knife in their pockets. "
(This text by JBravo, the acknowledged World Authority on Emerson Knives and History is reprinted with his permission.)
$800