Overview & First Impressions
Coppicing is cut-and-come-again forestry: hazel, willow and chestnut are felled on a rotation so the stools throw clean rods. The billhook does the heavy work, but the pocket knife does the hundred small jobs around it, from cutting ties to trimming side shoots and opening a bag of stakes. The QSP Emu QS164-B2 in 14C28N is a light, grippy companion for a day in the copse.
Materials & Construction
14C28N takes a keen edge, resists the damp of an English winter and sharpens on a small stone kept in a jacket pocket. That combination is why QSP knives uses it across the Emu line. Green micarta is the other half of the story: it grips when wet, it does not crack when dropped on frozen ground, and it does not swell or shrink with the seasons the way a wooden scale can.
Design & Details
The Emu uses QSP's Glyde lock, a sliding mechanism that keeps the lock bar out of the grip and closes with a thumb rather than a pinch. For coppice work that matters because the hand is often muddy or gloved, and a lock you can release without looking is safer than a stiff liner. The blade is a drop point with a fine tip, good for reaching into a dense stool to clear a trapped shoot.
Real-World Use
A day in the copse: cutting sisal ties, trimming side shoots off a rod, opening a bag of stakes, slicing the plastic wrap off a bundle of binders and cutting cord for a faggot. The knife also gets used to notch a stake for a dead hedge. Among folding knives chosen for woodland work, the Emu's light weight and secure grip make it easy to carry all day on a belt without noticing it.
Ownership Notes
Green wood is gentle on an edge, but soil is not, so never cut near the ground if you can avoid it. Wipe the blade, oil the pivot monthly and check the Glyde lock for grit after a wet day. A leather sheath or a belt pouch keeps the knife out of the mud. EdcMall stocks the Emu in several micarta and G10 colours, and the green version disappears least often in leaf litter. Woodland workers tend to buy EDC knives for the sheath rather than the blade, then discover the blade matters more. This one has stayed on the belt for a full season because it is light enough to forget and grippy enough to trust when the handle is wet with sap.
Who Is This For?
Buy it if you work woodland, hedges or allotments and want a light knife that grips in the wet. It suits the coppice worker, the hedge layer and the conservation volunteer. Skip it if your cutting is heavy timber, where a folding saw and a fixed blade are the correct tools and a folder is only ever a helper.
Final Verdict
The Emu QS164-B2 is an honest woodland companion: light enough to forget, grippy enough to trust, and cheap enough to use without ceremony. The Glyde lock is easy to operate with cold hands, and 14C28N keeps a working edge through a damp week. It is the knife that stays on the belt while the billhook does the rest.
