Newt Livesay UJI Fighter

[Aphthartos]

I've been looking around for a cool looking fixed blade "fighter" lately and I happened to revisit Newt's website and my eyes stuck firmly on the UJI Fighter. It looks to me like a knife made of great quality materials for next to nothing. Which immediately makes me suspicious. So my question is, how good is the construction of Livesay's knives? Specifically the UJI Fighter? AND, what do those of you who own one think of it? What I'm worried most about is the blade being too thick, that's a problem I've run into on alot of large tanto fixed blade knives.

Thanks in advance.

 

[RokJok]

Originally posted by Aphthartos
... how good is the construction of Livesay's knives? Specifically the UJI Fighter? AND, what do those of you who own one think of it? What I'm worried most about is the blade being too thick, that's a problem I've run into on alot of large tanto fixed blade knives.

I had Newt make me a Uji without the lateral curve in the spine and have other blades from him. I find they're good users in mostly 1095 steel (some D2) at pretty good prices.

I had some trouble sharpening the chisel grind on the Uji until I got it reworked a bit. But that could easily have been my technique, since the knife was sharp when I got it and I blew the edge out as I worked it on a Sharpmaker. I don't find the Uji too thick. It looks like it may be a touch over 1/8", maybe 5/32" stock. You could call Newt & ask him about it. He's plenty friendly to talk to.

Although I've had no trouble with it so far, the lack of a guard of any kind always makes me nervous about the Uji. The possibility of running a tightly gripped fist up onto the blade gives me that sinking feeling in my guts. Otherwise, I think it's a good blade for its price.