Ed Calderon is a very interesting individual and I am proud to have called him my friend for almost 20 years. For most of those years I couldn’t talk about him or tell you about him. The reason was that he was working as a counter narco terrorist up against some of the most ruthless cartel organizations in Mexico.

Now Ed is retired from that profession and is now known as a Non-Permissive Environments Specialist fully engaged in teaching his hard earned skills to an endless number of United States agencies and law enforcement personnel who are actively seeking his expertise.

The tool that Ed carried as his ultimate back up weapon was a knife. It was a knife that belonged to his mother and she knew how to use it both as a utility tool and as a weapon, using it to save the lives of her family when they were once attacked by a vicious street criminal.

Ed approached me to see if I would be interested in producing that knife in a folding version made by Emerson Knives. Of course my answer was yes.

That knife is called the Elvia, and it is named in honor of Ed’s mother.

It is different, very different from any other knife we have ever made. But that is the key to its effectiveness. Once I understood its multi-purpose function – kitchen, utility and defensive weapon, it became crystal clear how effective it was in each domain. All you need to do is put one in your hand and you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Thank you Ed and thank you Elvia.