Chisel grinds are great for food prep. The problem with Emerson is that he puts the bevel on the left side of the knife instead of the right side for some stupid reason. Many chefs knives are chisel ground, as the right sided bevel will push food away as you cut it. I'm sure if you cut food from the left side (say using your left hand), it would work pretty well.
Legend has it that Ernie started doing left-handed grinds because he thought the knives photographed better with the blade pointing to the left and stuck with them after they became a brand 'thing'. There's also a post on bladeforums where he says afahc it doesn't matter which side the chisel grind is on when cutting and so, by implication, anyone who wanted a chisel grind pointing in a particular way is wrong. Edit: oh, and NASA has bought knives from Emerson. So, he must be correct.
...in the same post Ernie said the tanto tip was chosen because he believes it is optimal for punching through 'soft body armour', a pastime which is not top of my own list of EDC priorities even if, which I'm not entirely convinced, the mythic powers of tantos are true.
As far as tanto blades go, I have personally seen tantos punch through car doors and similar material with little to no real damage done to the blade. It's not mythical in my experience. It's all about the overall blade geometry and physics. The chisel grind being on the left side has a specific reason as well. The chisel grind is for ease of sharpening(free hand) in the field quickly, on a flat rock if need be. It is on the left side since 90% of people are right handed. If you think about how knives are sharpened, traditionally, it makes sense. When Emerson started making knives, consistent angle sharpeners were not prevalent and furthermore, he always designs them with soldiers deployed in a hot spot in mind where toting around extra gear you may or may not even need just is not feasible. While I have not directly quoted Emerson, this is all information I have picked up from video and print interviews I have come across.
Living in a big city here in the US where the cops are now afraid to get out of their cruisers, I don’t walk out the door without my Emerson and it’s not for cutting cheese. good video👍
I've got a few pieces of an old leaf spring kit leftover at the workshop, I think I'm going to make a matching set of 3 knives - chisel ground on left side, a v-grind, and another chisel ground on the right side. That ought to make for some interesting DIY testing.
I like chisel grind no matter what side its bevel on..it works Great on wood and good at cutting food. Feathersticks like a Champ!!! Cuts wood easy and its cuts are even and flat for bow drill and fun to whitting with plus its easy to sharpen.
I have a SUPER THICC custom fixed blade with a chisel grind. This knife was designed to be completely indestructible, and I'm sure it is, but it's SO thick that it's not practical for cutting thin/light materials. I'm thinking maybe it would be a good heavy duty carry (basically as a sharpened pry bar) accompanied by a much, much thinner blade.
The one thing I re as ll like about the chisel grind,and think it is on the correct side is as a scraper without digging in to the material underneath. But I use my knife as a tool, not for food prepI h as ve other knives for that.
Chisel grind blades come in left-handed and right handed grinds. I noticed that you were using a left-handed blade while you are right handed. This will degrade the effectiveness of the blade. Try slicing your cheese with a right-hand grind and you'll see a drastic difference. Me, my favorite knife is a chisel grind that I use for woodworking and EDC. Works great at all tasks.
I ordered a right hand commander and the chisel edge is not orientated best for a righty. It's been that way every time. Does that mean that ordering a left handed blade will be the opposite?
I am glad you reviewed the Emerson. I have one of his wave opening knives and have been looking at his CQC series. I heard he went with chizel gring to make it more easily sharpenned in the field. Great idea but I was not sold. Yours is the first actual test I have seen. Thanks.
I do not like the music at all. There's nothing better, IMHO, than the sounds of what people are doing on their vids and the sounds of nature around them. I generally find music an annoying distraction. Thanks.
I just don't get why so many like this $300+ knife that only has a 154cm blade. With a hardness rating of 57-62 it's not worth anywhere near what people seems to be willing to pay. Especially with the grind these come with..
Iamthedudeman00 no worries i try to get to every comment i can offer a decent response to! sometimes my alerts let me down - they seem to get less helpful as more folks chat
I think the grind on the left side is mainly for aesthetic reasons ,so when you open the knife/ play with it it looks the part !(right handed ). Let's face it this expensive knife will spend most of it's life being played with and showed off with, by a lot of people ! For people that want to use the knife (right handed )the bevel would be better on the right . This is just my thoughts. I have leatherman squirt right hand bevel works great (i know it's a mini blade not in the same league )I think this was a fair assessment of the knife / blade
If you do an image search for 'pocket knife' you'll see most are displayed pointing to the left, for the reasons you describe. Do a search for 'sushi knife' though and they'll mostly be pointing to the right so you can see the chisel grind. Emerson grinds are, for aesthetic reasons, on the 'wrong' side for the kind of fine work sushi knives are designed for. However, Emersons are, first and foremost, weapons where wavy cuts and asymmetrical punctures are marketed as a feature not a problem.
this grind is 100% left hand users grind it is way harder for right handers to use left hand chisel knife, the angle manipulation is harder in this case.
Is it my imagination, or does the music sound like final fantasy music? Either way, good comparison of knives. However, I think the others in the comments are correct about left hand vs right hand with the chisel grind. With the cheese, if you used a right hand chisel instead of a left hand chisel, it would have been a much more pretty slice.
When I think of the military, it must have been a cost-saving feature to make only one-side. But as common sense would dictate, why not make a flat-grind blade? Linton from Taiwan does some folders this way also. Heavily criticized for putting all the nice blade design on the right side. Emmerson on the left side. Smart.
i’ve has emerson chisel grinds i do not like chisel grinds they are horrible for food prep the blade slides all over the place very innacurate cute with a v grind it’s much easier to hit the mark every debate about emerson’s someone parrots the “ chisel grind is so you can sharpen your knife on a rock” exactly how many people are sharpening their knives on rocks !!! give me a break and i don’t see a tanto piercing clothing well at all and how many times do you need to drive your knife through a damn car door chisel grinds are good for one thing wood working that is why you see the grind on chisels doing a chisel grind on a knife is for one thing saving money and emerson has convinced their followers that it’s the best and if your a spec ops you would know this it’s the classic groupie mentality “i have the same knife as a navy seal” you still have to hit the opposite side on a chisel grind knife so i don’t get where it’s easier to sharpen either i’ll take a v grind blade over a chisel any day let all the spec ops people enjoy the chisel grinds and if i ever need to sharpen my knife on a rock i will looks for an emerson
Aesthetics. Knives are usually presented, displayed, photographed with the blade 'pointing' to the left (ready to be picked up by a right-handed person). If the grind on an Emerson was on the other side it would look like it had no edge in photos.
Chisel grinds are great for food prep. The problem with Emerson is that he puts the bevel on the left side of the knife instead of the right side for some stupid reason. Many chefs knives are chisel ground, as the right sided bevel will push food away as you cut it. I'm sure if you cut food from the left side (say using your left hand), it would work pretty well.
FMD, I thought I was the only one that was going to say something.
Good that he makes a lefty version - where is the one for the 90% of the users????
Phil Sinex you are absolutely right and I cannot see why it would be on this side. Simple switching it over would make suchba difference!!
Legend has it that Ernie started doing left-handed grinds because he thought the knives photographed better with the blade pointing to the left and stuck with them after they became a brand 'thing'. There's also a post on bladeforums where he says afahc it doesn't matter which side the chisel grind is on when cutting and so, by implication, anyone who wanted a chisel grind pointing in a particular way is wrong. Edit: oh, and NASA has bought knives from Emerson. So, he must be correct.
...in the same post Ernie said the tanto tip was chosen because he believes it is optimal for punching through 'soft body armour', a pastime which is not top of my own list of EDC priorities even if, which I'm not entirely convinced, the mythic powers of tantos are true.
As far as tanto blades go, I have personally seen tantos punch through car doors and similar material with little to no real damage done to the blade. It's not mythical in my experience. It's all about the overall blade geometry and physics. The chisel grind being on the left side has a specific reason as well. The chisel grind is for ease of sharpening(free hand) in the field quickly, on a flat rock if need be. It is on the left side since 90% of people are right handed. If you think about how knives are sharpened, traditionally, it makes sense. When Emerson started making knives, consistent angle sharpeners were not prevalent and furthermore, he always designs them with soldiers deployed in a hot spot in mind where toting around extra gear you may or may not even need just is not feasible. While I have not directly quoted Emerson, this is all information I have picked up from video and print interviews I have come across.
Living in a big city here in the US where the cops are now afraid to get out of their cruisers, I don’t walk out the door without my Emerson and it’s not for cutting cheese. good video👍
try a gun, they’re really good at cutting cheese
knives suck shit for self defense you’re just gonna end up dead
what if a thug attacks you with a giant swiss cheese wheel?
bet you didn't think about that
I've got a few pieces of an old leaf spring kit leftover at the workshop, I think I'm going to make a matching set of 3 knives - chisel ground on left side, a v-grind, and another chisel ground on the right side. That ought to make for some interesting DIY testing.
Blinded by Light was a solid music choice.
I like chisel grind no matter what side its bevel on..it works Great on wood and good at cutting food. Feathersticks like a Champ!!! Cuts wood easy and its cuts are even and flat for bow drill and fun to whitting with plus its easy to sharpen.
Music makes me feel like I’m about to play super smash
I have a SUPER THICC custom fixed blade with a chisel grind. This knife was designed to be completely indestructible, and I'm sure it is, but it's SO thick that it's not practical for cutting thin/light materials. I'm thinking maybe it would be a good heavy duty carry (basically as a sharpened pry bar) accompanied by a much, much thinner blade.
The one thing I re as ll like about the chisel grind,and think it is on the correct side is as a scraper without digging in to the material underneath. But I use my knife as a tool, not for food prepI h as ve other knives for that.
Could an emerson chisel ground edge be modified into a v-style edge and still be centered? I want an emerson seax but I don't want the chisel grind.
i mean you could do it it would look wonky. you could also do a split edge like a 70/30 bevel or a 80/20 bevel.
I bought a CQC-7 in 1998, only to find out that chisel grind SUCK for everyday tasks.
Chisel grind blades come in left-handed and right handed grinds. I noticed that you were using a left-handed blade while you are right handed. This will degrade the effectiveness of the blade. Try slicing your cheese with a right-hand grind and you'll see a drastic difference. Me, my favorite knife is a chisel grind that I use for woodworking and EDC. Works great at all tasks.
I ordered a right hand commander and the chisel edge is not orientated best for a righty. It's been that way every time. Does that mean that ordering a left handed blade will be the opposite?
Congrats on 3,000 subs!
I cut the cheese everyday but not with my emerson cqc7. Lol
never buying chisel grind again glad i learnt this on a $5 knife
🙄
NO MO' CHISEL cheaper to produce??
congrats on the subs nice comparison of blade types thanks for the video
Also this Emerson knife has a full chisel grind, but most of the Emerson knives have v grind with chisel edge...
The dramatic music really spices the video up a notch. Will the blade cut? Who knows but the music sure sounds good.
Cutting the cheese is always a tricky business. Not sure what it means in Oz but that is funny here.
Tom Olofsson glad to see I wasn't the only one jamming out to the cutting montage music lol
I am glad you reviewed the Emerson. I have one of his wave opening knives and have been looking at his CQC series. I heard he went with chizel gring to make it more easily sharpenned in the field. Great idea but I was not sold. Yours is the first actual test I have seen. Thanks.
Now, back to cutting the cheese.
I do not like the music at all. There's nothing better, IMHO, than the sounds of what people are doing on their vids and the sounds of nature around them. I generally find music an annoying distraction. Thanks.
I just don't get why so many like this $300+ knife that only has a 154cm blade. With a hardness rating of 57-62 it's not worth anywhere near what people seems to be willing to pay. Especially with the grind these come with..
I love the FF13 music
how is the spyde cheff going i am so hyped for the knives i am getting probably a 940-2 first then a kizer gemini the hype is real
Thomas Nardelli
I am going for the same knives as you lol, great minds think alike...
Yeah thanks
Hi would you please do a edge retention test on the Emerson 154cm chisel grind? I wonder if the chisel grind is somewhat less edge holding... Thanks.
+Iamthedudeman00 i will! good idea 💡
CedricAda Gear and Outdoors thanks, you are one of the most responsive TH-camrs! :)
Iamthedudeman00 no worries i try to get to every comment i can offer a decent response to! sometimes my alerts let me down - they seem to get less helpful as more folks chat
I think the grind on the left side is mainly for aesthetic reasons ,so when you open the knife/ play with it it looks the part !(right handed ). Let's face it this expensive knife will spend most of it's life being played with and showed off with, by a lot of people ! For people that want to use the knife (right handed )the bevel would be better on the right . This is just my thoughts. I have leatherman squirt right hand bevel works great (i know it's a mini blade not in the same league )I think this was a fair assessment of the knife / blade
If you do an image search for 'pocket knife' you'll see most are displayed pointing to the left, for the reasons you describe. Do a search for 'sushi knife' though and they'll mostly be pointing to the right so you can see the chisel grind. Emerson grinds are, for aesthetic reasons, on the 'wrong' side for the kind of fine work sushi knives are designed for. However, Emersons are, first and foremost, weapons where wavy cuts and asymmetrical punctures are marketed as a feature not a problem.
The chisel is on the wrong side. It would work well for a leftie though...
this grind is 100% left hand users grind it is way harder for right handers to use left hand chisel knife, the angle manipulation is harder in this case.
So it's more of a skillset, mindset and personal preference thing.
Is it my imagination, or does the music sound like final fantasy music? Either way, good comparison of knives. However, I think the others in the comments are correct about left hand vs right hand with the chisel grind. With the cheese, if you used a right hand chisel instead of a left hand chisel, it would have been a much more pretty slice.
Almost every single sped up rope cutting portion is. He apparently loves the series. I have maybe heard him talk about his Fandom once though.
better for a lefty, just like Spyderco serration chisel grinds. On wrong bloody side
When I think of the military, it must have been a cost-saving feature to make only one-side. But as common sense would dictate, why not make a flat-grind blade? Linton from Taiwan does some folders this way also. Heavily criticized for putting all the nice blade design on the right side. Emmerson on the left side. Smart.
what kind of cheese were you cutting?
Colby. Pretty rubbery stuff too
i’ve has emerson chisel grinds
i do not like chisel grinds they are horrible for food prep the blade slides all over the place very innacurate cute
with a v grind it’s much easier to hit the mark
every debate about emerson’s someone parrots the “ chisel grind is so you can sharpen your knife on a rock” exactly how many people are sharpening their knives on rocks !!!
give me a break
and i don’t see a tanto piercing clothing well at all and how many times do you need to drive your knife through a damn car door
chisel grinds are good for one thing wood working that is why you see the grind on chisels
doing a chisel grind on a knife is for one thing saving money
and emerson has convinced their followers that it’s the best and if your a spec ops you would know this it’s the classic groupie mentality “i have the same knife as a navy seal”
you still have to hit the opposite side on a chisel grind knife so i don’t get where it’s easier to sharpen either
i’ll take a v grind blade over a chisel any day
let all the spec ops people enjoy the chisel grinds and if i ever need to sharpen my knife on a rock i will looks for an emerson
Cool.
Why does he put the grind on the wrong side
Le Grand Fromage I am really tryig to figure it out. I am fine with chisel grind, but its like its backwards!
Aesthetics. Knives are usually presented, displayed, photographed with the blade 'pointing' to the left (ready to be picked up by a right-handed person). If the grind on an Emerson was on the other side it would look like it had no edge in photos.
Lel you intrested one of the locals
I've two Emerson. A full chisel grind and a V grind with chisel edge. Both sucks.
Hi
👋
It is not a fair test because of the Emerson knife has a tanto edge, it may comprise its cutting ability somewhat...
Emerson = Highly overpriced poor quality sold under the false pretense of being tactical-fighting knives.