I had a chance to take my new Emerson Journeyman through its paces. I needed a EDC that worked as well in the woods for hunting/skinning as well as opening up my kids toys and personal protection. The Journeyman hits all my needs without compromise. This knife is outstanding. Much like a CQC-11 but with a more versatile blade shape. This is the Emerson to own. Ernie's description of the knife is almost exactly what I use my knife for....."This is an "all rounder" as I would call it, being capable of working equally as well on a hunt, in combat, in your garage workshop or on the construction site."
Emerson hit this one out of the park.
My own Journeyman has very good fit and finish. The handle shape is the best I have felt from Emerson. There is no bad grip with this knife. The G-10 is very grippy with a almost perfect blade centering. I have slightly adjusted the pivot since these pics for perfect (dead nuts) blade centering. There is absolutely NO blade play in any direction. Solid as a rock.
The handle design really lends its self to a perfect "wave" deployment in any pant. The knife deploys well in sweatpants to shirt pockets. Notice the back of the blade is flat and lets the "wave" catch on anything.
The blade shape is a conventional drop point at slightly less than 4". This blade shape does everything well. Its also the easiest shape to sharpen. My CQC-11 has a bit too much re curve for skinning. There is no drawbacks with the Journeymans blade shape. It has a sharp point but is beefy enough to use for unusually hard tasks without the fear of breaking it.
I have found the stone wash finish the toughest finish. It cleans up well and hides marks. You can polish out scratches if they bother you. I like to take a high quality automotive cleaning wax over my stonewashed blades. It really brings out their beauty and allows easy cleaning.
The grind is what Emerson calls a "Conventional V grind" It still has a chisels grind at the bottom. This means the very edge is sharpened on one side and the other is flat. My first experience with this was with my CQC-7V. I really like this edge. Its easy to get a razor edge and easy to maintain. Strop this edge on a piece of leather and it will cut you just looking at it. It also cuts more symmetrical as oppose to the true Chisel grind on the standard CQC-7.
To sum things up..... This is Emersons best and most useful knife design ever. It carries flatter than the CQC-7 and excels in anything it is asked to do. Its speed of deployment and blade shape lets it be the best "wave able" knife in the Emerson line up. Ernie set out to design a knife that is a "all-arounder". His experience as a knife maker came through knowing what is and is not important in a knife. By design, the Journeyman is the best Emerson EDC.
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Originally Posted by Linos
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