Question for Yojimbo owners

Rick in KY · Jul 29, 2004

First, I'm jealous.

Do have some questions though. I haven't been able to find one to handle, so I'd like to get some forum feedback from those who have.

1. With a blade length of less than 3 inches, are you satisfied that it would be effective in a SD role? What if you were assailed by someone wearing a thick down coat?

2. Is it a smooth opener?

3. Because of the fine point, my guess is it has excellent initial penetration, but does the rapid broadening of the blade impare penetration performance? For example, and I don't mean to be goulish, but would it penetrate a rib cage if used in a vertical thrust, or would it stick between the ribs? Obviously I'm not asking this from personal experience, rather from the more educated guesses of those who own or have experience with it.

4. Is a standard grip the only grip that is comfortable?

5. Does the handle stick out past the hand when gripped? Again, this would obviously vary based on hand size, so if you would include your glove size.

6. It seems to ride pretty low, is it easy to quickly remove from the pocket?

7. With some of the problems I've heard about regarding difficulties sharpening the Ronin due to its fine tip, is the Yo easy to sharpen on a Sharpmaker?

Sorry for the protracted post, but I've been anxiously anticipating the release of this little guy for quite some time now, and am looking for a review which answers these questions.

Thanks,

Rick

ThinkOfTheChildren · Jul 29, 2004

1. I feel that it's a great knife for a SD role, but in a cold weather environment it might not do great against thick layers of clothing. It will still do better against thick clothing than any other blade its size, I feel, due to its thin edge.

2. Yes

3. I have no idea. I'm not really aware as to how much resistance human ribs give a knife. Its "penetration performance" is quite good though.

4. I find forward and reverse grips to both be comfortable, including edge-in variants.

5. Yes. It's quite a long handle. I think anyone who doesn't have gigantic hands will find that the butt sticks out since that was how this piece was designed.

6. Actually, it rides with a lot of it out of the pocket. It's quick to draw.

7. I'm not sure what problems you mean. A wharncliffe blade is very easy to sharpen, including the tip. Are you talking about people having problems rounding the tips off their knives? If so, this can be addressed through technique on the rods and is not the fault of the Yojimbo. I have not sharpened mine yet, but can't imagine how it would be a problem (I've had no problem sharpening my Ronins before).

Hope that helps.

ChrisN · Jul 30, 2004

Hi Rick

I've got no training or skills in SD, so I'm not qualified to answer some of your questions, but I can say that this is a very smooth opening knife. Regarding penetration and the blade shape: I can remember reading that the steep spine of the blade forms a ramp that pushes the tip and the edge of the blade downwards as the blade travels inwards. With the cutting efficiency of the edge geometry (it is very thin, and very sharp!) I can believe this is true. On grips, here's a few photos. The comparison with the Dodo is really interesting - from the front of the choil to the base of the handle is almost exactly the same on the Dodo and the Yojimbo. When held in the conventional grip, the end of the handle will sit in pretty much the same place. The extra length of the Yojimbo is all forward of the choil, towards the tip.

Rick in KY · Jul 30, 2004

Thanks for the replies.

ThinkOfTheChildren, in answer to your question about sharpening difficulties, I reference a thread entitled "Best way to sharpen a Ronin" in which gud4u notes "tip-flexure" as being a hinderance in sharpening.

ChrisN, unfortunately, the pics didn't work for me. Came up as "red 'x' boxes". Probably something w/my comp, not your post.

ChrisN · Jul 30, 2004

Hi Rick. That's odd - the pics come up for me. They're hosted on Hunt101. Anyone else not seeing them?

Chris

Leo Daher · Jul 31, 2004

I can see them just fine. Nice pictures - the one with the Yojimbo and the Dodo side by side is very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

HoB · Jul 31, 2004

A picture saves a 1000 words. Not to much add for me here.

1. The Yo will zip thru any type clothing that is not chain mail with freightening ease.

Tip flexture. What tip flexture??? I don't know about the Ronin but the Yo doesn't have any. Sharpening should not be any more difficult than any other knife as long as you don't try to sharpen all the way to the point while on the corner of the rods, but sharpen all the way to the tip only on the flats...the usual advice, which applies pretty much to all knives.

If you grip the Yo closed, the handle will stick out and makes for a nice control tool.

Rick in KY · Aug 2, 2004

Hi ChrisN,

Memory must've been low on my computer, took another look at the thread, and the pictures realy do answer alot of my questions. Thanks. BTW, for comparative purposes, what sized gloves do you wear?

ChrisN · Aug 3, 2004

Rick - I'd guess that Hunt101's server goes down occasionally for service - that was probably the problem. Glove size is a size 8 in my local system - mens medium.

Thanks HoB for reminding me about using it with the blade closed. Is this what you mean?

Mr Blonde · Aug 3, 2004

Thanks a lot for the nice photos, with the clip set-up for left-hand carry adn you demonstration of the point down - edge in grip, I think Spyderco already has a pikal folder in the line up! I'll definitely pick one up!

Wouter

goke · Aug 3, 2004

Why isn't there a Spydy bug on the pocket clip???
Mines got a tiny amount of bladeplay I can't get rid of. Very pleased overall though.