Regular denizens of this community are doubtlessly aware of my beloved Kershaw/Emerson CQC-6K, which gets brought up in basically every single one of my posts as my ISO standard comparison EDC knife. I just can’t shut up about the thing. In fact, it’s so beloved that I have two of them.

Well, guess what?

It’s got a little brother. This is the Kershaw/Emerson CQC-5K. The one I have is model 6074OLBLK, which specifies olive scales and a black nitride coated blade.

Said blade is 8Cr14MoV steel with a nice useful clip point and, like I prefer, no serrations. This knife is 7-1/16" open, a very pocketable 3-15/16" closed, and has a blade precisely 3" long with a 2-7/8" usable edge. It’s 108 grams (3.8 ounces), so unlikely to pull your pants down around your ankles unexpectedly, either.

Having a 3" or less blade puts it right at the legal-to-carry pocketknife category in a wide variety of states and locales, which is probably no accident. This may help it appeal to people who can’t carry a 6K instead because it’s a hair too big.

The 5K has G10 scales on both sides, with a reversible clip – tip up only. You wouldn’t want to carry it the other way anyway, because just like its bigger brother this knife has the Emerson “wave shaped feature” (rendered with scare quotes around it just like that, consistently, every time they write it) which is the little hook you see at the rear of the spine there. This snags your pocket hem when you draw the knife and snaps it open for you – no button, spring, or other tomfoolery required.

The 5K is a plain liner locking folder with a regular pivot. It’s just as fast to deploy in most circumstances as any automatic knife, but is Very Definitely Legally Not A Switchblade. This is also beneficial to those wishing to carry it in myriad locales with insane laws.

Note also the patch of grip tape on the clip, which is not from the factory. I added that myself to assist in fishing this thing out of my pocket.

I actually bought this knife before I got my pair of 6K’s. It has the headline feature I like – the “wave shaped feature,” of course – but you’ll note it has grip scales on both sides whereas…

It’s 6K brethren doesn’t. This makes it a bit snaggy on the ol’ pants fabric (hence my grip tape) and can turn it into a bit more of a fiddle than I think it should be to draw. I think this could be fixed a little more authoritatively by anyone sufficiently brave by sanding off the texture beneath where the pocket clip touches the scale. I haven’t been that bold, but then why should I? I’ve got two 6K’s to play with instead.

Barkeep, pour me another.

I wasn’t actually sure until I busted out the calipers if the 5K is actually thicker than the 6K due to the extra scale. It is: 0.570" vs. 0.480".

The 5K is otherwise pretty much just what you get from someone sticking a 6K in a photocopier and then pressing “80%.” It has the same ambidextrous thumb disk thingy on the spine of the blade for use when you don’t feel like using its trick deployment mechanism, the same handle scale texture, and even the same shape of pocket clip. Actually, the clips are even interchangeable. The only difference is their color. And the same overall shape, same lanyard hole, even the same screw pattern.

It also has the same quirk in that if you prefer to sharpen your knives to a shallower angle, you have to remove the thumb disk so it doesn’t hit your sharpening stone. It’s just held in with a regular Philips head screw.

The Inevitable Conclusion

I like this knife. But is really needs something done about the pocket clip gripping onto your pants like a piranha.

But the fact is, I like its larger sibling more. Which might go some way towards explaining why I have two of the damn things. But this was my EDC companion for a while, not just a drawer decoration, and it did its job really well. It’s a pretty good spend of $40, especially if you want a slightly smaller (but not too small) knife.