» Emerson Knives Grand Opening
By Vince on March 5, 2012
I’ve known Ernest Emerson and his family for a long time now, for well over 10 years, although lately due to finances and distance we haven’t been able to get together. I also know that Ernest Emerson makes a superlative knife.
Ernest has prided himself for years that his knives are made right here in the USA. He’s never been one to produce thousands of knives at a time like some of the other big knife companies but he does make quite few knives. As his knives are always in large demand, it’s always been an issue to get blades out to the public.
As the saying goes, his knives are famous in the worst places. Why? Because his knives are made for fighting men (and women!) and the military is a large segment of his fan base. His knives are literally used and carried everywhere around the planet.
Well, such demand requires building space, and in Emerson’s case it also demand training space. Ernest Emerson is also an accomplished martial artist in his own right, having trained with many of the great Masters in the world. Names like; Dan Inosanto, Richard Bustillo, the Gracie Ju-jitsu clan and many others.
His knives are a reflection of that training, retaining many traditional characteristics while having a traditional core and modern materials. He has also improved designs, take for example his patented Wave.
The Wave is a hook on the back of the blade that on a folding knife, deploys the blade on taking it out of your pocket. A design that came about in conjunction with the US Navy SEALs.
Back to the space issue. He required more room, so a large warehouse was located and modified and a factory/training center was created. Ernest decided that a Grand Opening was in order, but only to his most devoted fans and VIP’s.
I hazard to say that his most devote fan base is the Usual Suspects of UsualSuspect.net. A forum/community started in 2001 for custom knife enthusiasts and especially custom Emerson knives. From the initial startup this has been a small forum, initially just over a 100 members that has now ballooned to over 33 thousand!
Of those 33k not all are Usual Suspects. Suspects are held to a higher level than standard member. In fact, only a fraction are. Suspects are vote on by other Suspects and must be nominated by a current Suspect. I have been a Usual Suspect since the inception of the USN, as it’s come to be known.
After receiving the invitation, I spoke to my wife Virama and we decided to make the Pilgrimage to California for the event. Our daughter Amber came along as well.
It’s been awhile since I’ve flown anywhere and TSA doesn’t make thing easier, but this flight on Virgin America was excellent and I cannot recommend the airline enough.
After landing at LAX we took a shuttle to Hertz and after my wife’s initial protestations, upgraded to a vehicle with a GPS. A strange city and me with no idea how to navigate it, I felt a GPS was in order, we’d tried to use our iPhone’s GPS to find the parking lot in Ft. Lauderdale with less than stellar results.
To her credit she later on said that it was a very good idea that we’d done so as Los Angeles is easily 5 times larger than Miami. Traffic was truly impressive! It was a like a Miami rush hour ALL the time! And due to size it took at least an hour to get anywhere.
We stayed in a pleasant place in Rancho Palos Verdes, just a few miles from the Emerson factory. We’d been invited to a “pre grand opening” by Steel Flame jewelry, you’ve seen their beautiful bling on such stars as Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke in the movie The Expendables.
I’m here to say that these folks made my family and me feel right at home! Derrick and Leonard are true gentlemen of the old school and I cannot thank them or praise them highly enough for the way we were treated. We came there as strangers and left as family. A true pleasure!
Ernest had pulled out all the stops for his Grand Opening. A shuttle bus from the parking area to the factory, food, drink and entertainment, even a tattoo artist was on hand…and his signature lottery, where everyone gets a chance to buy one of his custom hand made by him, knives.
These custom creations can literally be turned around on the spot for twice or more of what you pay for one. They are in VERY high demand!
We walked into thru the gate and entered the training area. Heavy bags, speed bags and mats against the wall. Weight lifting equipment made this a full service training area/gym. Most of this was pushed up against the walls to make room for tables and chairs for attendee’s to sit and catch up on old times and make new times and just plain meet folks you’d talked to on the forums but never met in person. Pictures of past knives and knife shows with a very young Emerson at the table lined the walls. Glass cases with prototype blades and memorabilia also lined the walls.
The lottery knives were in a glass case to be viewed and a vendor area was set up further towards the factory area, with Emerson t-shirts and mugs. The Steel Flame guys had a table as well, blinging people out and spreading their love. Outside a BBQ had been borrowed form LAPD and the food was cooking.
Yes, I added to my ink that day! My daughter Amber scored some Steel Flame bling of her own, Thank You Derrick!! A demonstration by Sifu Richard Bustillo and his superlative students was done and a very impressive one it was! A former Navy SEAL spoke about his training and his experience, both in his life and with Emerson knives.
And then Ernest Emerson spoke. He told of his humble beginnings and his road to where he is now. He thanked us, his faithful friends and customers, the USN in particular, for getting him to this place, that he couldn’t have done it without our support and friendship. Emerson Knives is a family run business and his entire family was, of course, in attendance. A nicer bunch of folks you’ve never met.
It was actually with sadness that we boarded the bus at the end of the day; we’d had such a great time making new friends, BS’ing with old friends and just hanging at such a cool place.
Ernest Emerson is a true gentleman and a class act. I am proud to have him as a friend.