I'm not familiar with the emerson, but If its a lockback like a spyderco, too much flicking will wear out the lock & make the blade wobbly. I wore out 2 police model spydercos that way. I use them at least 10 times a day at work. I sent them back to spyderco for repairs & instead they sent a new knife! The liner locks are more resistant to wearing out because the blade isn't stopped by the lock mechanism itself, rather by the solid stop of the body. I suspect the emerson uses a linerlock.