When it comes to Emerson custom knives there are a couple of main grinds used. These are commonly referred to as "Zero ground" "Chisel Ground" and "V ground"

Zero ground blades are ones with a deep grind from the edge up the blade with no secondary bevel. The back side of the blade is flat.
These are still considered chisel ground blades


NOTE: BACK SIDE IS FLAT

From the EKI FAQ page:

There are several reasons for the chisel grind. For any of you who have ever used a correctly sharpened wood chisel for woodworking, you know what a chisel can do. Although a knife is not a chisel, those properties, when applied to a knife grind have almost magical effect. A chisel ground knife, being beveled, (ground) on one side only, possesses greater strength, (due to increased cross sectional mass) and they cut with an ease not found on any other type of blade. This is because there is no parasitic drag produced by the flat side when cutting --- no drag points. On top of that, they are much easier to sharpen --- you only have to sharpen one side.

The reason some people say the knife looks backwards:

Our tests and those of a major government agency determined that there was no difference between right and left side grinds for use as a tool or weapon. The left side was chosen for purposes of visual cue and reference.