EMERSON MINI CQC-7 2.9 inch SATIN Plain

I just received this knife but I can tell it's going to be a favorite. This is my first Emerson but not my last. What's so great about this knife? It feels "right" when holding it. The handle is very comfortable and longer than other knives I own with the same length blade. While it may seem out of proportion to the eye, the long handle/short blade combination is really an excellent design. The G10 is aggressive. Maybe too rough for some but it certainly makes the knife easy to hold onto. The pocket clip is, again, something that is just "right"--big and beefy and sturdy. The blade is 154CM, one of my favorite blade steels due to its edge holding ability while maintaining the ease of sharpening. The blade has Emerson's standard chisel edge on a tanto design. The Emerson chisel edge is something often debated. I bought one of the budget Kershaw Emerson collaborations and was not impressed with the chisel edge grind at the time. The knife was relegated to "beater" duty in the shop. Over time, I began to realize that chisel grind was pretty useful and easy to sharpen and maintain. I was converted. That's when I knew a real Emerson was in my future.Now there are a few things the prospective owner should know before jumping in and spending almost 200 bucks for this knife. First of all a little history. The CQC7 Mini is a smaller version of the CQC7, a production version of the original Emerson CQC6. The "6" is now a custom knife only. It was designed for military/law enforcement use. The CQC7 Mini shares a lot of design features with that original Emerson model. Opening the knife is accomplished by using a disc attached to the blade spine rather than a hole (like Spyderco) or a thumb stud like most other brands. In addition, Emerson uses "The Wave" opening system. This is nothing more than a hook near the blade tang that can catch on your pocket as the knife is drawn and snap the blade open. Many people love this feature. I find it a bit of a pain and I don't use it. There are Emersons that don't have this feature but it is present on the Mini. I can live with it (***or not...see the edit below***).Being an Emerson, it's a quirky design. Emerson definitely marches to the beat of a different drummer. What people have come to expect in new knives is not a priority with Emerson. My knife was stiff and sticky and hard to open out of the box. I immediately loosened the pivot which made the knife easier to open but the blade had side-to-side movement and was rubbing the liner. I was concerned about this because it seemed like a defect. The titanium lock bar was also sticky when releasing. It also was difficult to operate due to being so sticky. To try to clean out the pivot and maybe loosen up the knife, I washed it in hot water with a dishwashing detergent and put a drop or two of oil in the pivot and blade tang. It did little to nothing to help. So I just started working the action of the knife over and over. Initially this did nothing at all but after about an hour of constant opening and closing the knife I realized it was noticeably looser--not loose like a Benchmade or Spyderco or ZT, but looser than it was originally. A quick check with the Emerson website indicated I was doing the right thing. Emerson knives are stiff when new and need use to break in properly. Most sources say they never become loose enough to flick them open but they reach a point where they become extremely smooth in deployment and the stickiness of the lock bar is reduced as it wears in.Overall, Emersons are probably an acquired taste. The wave opening, the chisel edge grind, the short blade/long handle design of the CQC7 models, the stiff opening and the need to break them in are all, well...just weird. But the whole package works (sort of***). I'm acquiring that taste.***EDIT: I initially said I could live with the Wave feature on this knife. It didn't work out that way and I've had to downgrade the assessment to a 4-star instead of the original 5 stars.This is certainly a personal thing and may have no impact on your own use of this knife. I found the Wave intolerable. About every other time I tried to take the knife out of my pocket, the Wave would unintentionally catch on the pocket and partially open the knife. A couple of minor cuts ensued since I was not aware the knife had partially opened, only aware the knife was hanging as it was being drawn. The final straw came when the Wave caught on the interior portion of the pocket seam, cut my finger and proceeded to hang there in the ripped pocket seam, partially open, while I tried to disentangle it from the torn fabric. At that point, I retrieved my Dremel and used one of the cutting wheels to carefully remove the hook of the Wave. I then used the Dremel to bevel and smooth the area where the Wave had been removed. Once done, the problems I had removing the knife from my pocket disappeared. I like the knife much better Wave-less. Unfortunately, there is no option of buying this particular model Emerson without the Wave feature, otherwise I would have done so. There are a couple of Wave-less models available for the CQC7 but they are for full size knives. If you want a Wave-less Mini CQC7, it's a DIY project.

Excellent knife--I highly recommend this as every day carry knife. Smaller and lighter than typical emersons so very comfortable to carry for smaller - med size person

My 3rd one purchased because all my buddies keep stealing it!!! A GREAT small every day carry knife. Razor sharp.. The "wave" opening assist works perfect every time...

Great knife form a respected knife maker, now in a more convenient size.

Emerson is the only liner lock I trust even halfway - Cold Steel's Triad lockback is probably the most secure. This knife has a short enough blade to be legal in most places. If you prefer a V-grind and a spear point, get the Mini-CQC-7AW. If you wear it clipped to your pocket, the wave feature opens the knife when you draw it. If you wear it at the bottom of your pocket as I do, you open it manually. Your choice.