Quick impressions of Kershaw JYD

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I find 13C26 to be great how they're doing it now. I really like their 440A, so I thought it was a great comparison. It cuts great, is easy to sharpen, doesn't chip, and holds an edge well.

I also wouldn't say the softer grinds are a quality issue to me, more of an aesthetic thing. Aesthetically it looks like an import, but in terms of quality, it is much better than the typical import. In fact, one knife that I would characterize as the epitome of quality (in a production knife) is my Sebenza -- whose grind line isn't ultra crisp either. At least not the stonewashed blade.
I've never noticed crisp grinds affecting use, but I can see how that could affect performance, so that is an interesting thought Jeff.
 
I've come into this thread kinda late, but for what it's worth, I though that 'ehhh' did a terrific job with his review. I think that he was thorough and fair, and gave the kind of detail needed by a person considering a purchase of a JYD. I don't see how a rational person could find fault with anything he said, or that he is anything other than a huge fan of this and other Kershaw products.

Please, ehhh, don't let this absurd turn of events stop you from contributing other reviews in the future.

Frank
 
Ehhh, ditto What Frank said. Keep up the good reviews. IMHO, and of course, its only my opinion, its pretty telling that the Kershaw rep edited his posts. Can't really take it as an apology, but maybe as justification. I don't own a kershaw, not due to quality, but mostly due to their designs...they don't float my boat, particularly the beadblasted softness and the wild handles.
 
ehhh said:
I'm not really sure why you're so aggressive towards me in this thread Thomas, but ok. STR and thombrogan have handled a 64HRC Kershaw Storm iirc, and a number of other people have talked about high hardness 13C26. Anyways, that's where I've seen 13C26 get hyped up a lot.
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I very much doubt that either STR or thombrogan have ever hyped up anything. It must have been the reader. I can remember a former member of bladeforums, who did what I would consider hyping up the 64 Rc 13C27, even though to my knowledge he never got to use it. Maybe that's what you have been thinking of.

As to the grind lines. Personally, I think really sharp grind lines on a design like the JYD with its flowing lines would look .....odd. I think the way the JYD is executed now makes for a nicely consistent design. I would consider the grind lines more as 'blended' rather than soft. But all of that is just me.
 
HoB said:
I very much doubt that either STR or thombrogan have ever hyped up anything. It must have been the reader. I can remember a former member of bladeforums, who did what I would consider hyping up the 64 Rc 13C27, even though to my knowledge he never got to use it. Maybe that's what you have been thinking of.

As to the grind lines. Personally, I think really sharp grind lines on a design like the JYD with its flowing lines would look .....odd. I think the way the JYD is executed now makes for a nicely consistent design. I would consider the grind lines more as 'blended' rather than soft. But all of that is just me.
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I recall them saying it was great stuff a few times, but I could be wrong because I didn't go back and search. Yes Cliff Stamp (gasp I said it) hyped it up a whole lot. I said it was hyped because there was so much talk around the steel this summer and because it was highly praised by some. I think it's an accurate statement.

A lot of things are personal opinion, and mine is that crisp grinds are attractive. If people like soft grinds, then they have all the more reason to buy the knife. So really, my comment could work both ways. For instance, you now know (if you didn't already) that the grinds are soft and match the flowing style.

And don't worry, I'll still review knives with honesty. I'm not here to scratch anyone's back, and people can argue with me all they want about my opinions.
 
For the record, I saw multiple mentions of the virtues and anticipation of using high hardness 13C27 by several members. Thomas himself mentioned a special run of high RC 13C27 Leeks in the Kershaw forum. So, Kershaw themselves apparently have some reason or another to want to look into it. Not sure I would call it hype, but it has been discussed a lot by people other than just Cliff.

Regardless, there's no point in attacking somebody for mentioning it. I'm getting really sick of this attitude around here.
 
I stated that I was done with this thread, and I left it alone until the heat blew over. I stated what I stated here after reading a decent review and what I thought was an unwarranted defensive attack. I'm sure I'm held in low regard by many of the Kershaw loving guy posters here and was called a troll in several threads that were spun off of this one. I didn't say a thing, and believe that Tim Gaylean even sort of came to my defense and put the troll name calling to bed. I thank him for that.

I will say this, I can see where knife manufacturers could and should be hacked by a review, of say customer service , for example, or an unbiased review. I see threads regularly that "Buck, Cold Steal, Kershaw, Spyderco, etc.'s customer service sucks because they didn't replace the tip of my blade that I broke off in a weeks time" and other unreasonable type of threads. I think any manufacturer should defend themselves vigously against unwarranted attacks. That's a far cry from attacking someone for saying the blade is slightly off centered and the grind is soft and the graphics aren't my favorite but I like the knife.

Glad to see you all joining the circle around ehhh's wagon. Keep on reviewing great knives, ehhh.
 
ehhh said:
I recall them saying it was great stuff a few times, but I could be wrong because I didn't go back and search. Yes Cliff Stamp (gasp I said it) hyped it up a whole lot.
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The 13C26 that I liked/like/think is die Schizzel was heat-treated by Kershaw within a range of RC57-61. Strangely, the RC57 was the sharpest and had the longest lasting edge of the bunch. The 13C26 that turned me off was hardened to about RC64. Should've liked it. Expected to like it. Didn't. Didn't act like other steels within the same hardness range (YSS Blue Super, ZDP-189, 1095, M2) and didn't act like 13C26 with Kershaw's first and recent heat-treatments. What impresses me the most with 13C26 is that I can grind it real thin and polish it up and cut out huge chunks of hardwoods with it and, at worst, have a few dents here and there for my carelessness. S30V, at the same thinness and hardness, rewards me with an oppurtunity to regrind and repolish my edge to remove the microcracks and microchips (a laminated Ericksen blade doesn't even get the blunting the 13C26 got, but I'd still carry a JYDII over a Scandi-style fixed blade).

13C26, with the standard Kershaw heat-treat, takes the types of edges I like and holds them better than some other steels at similar hardness. After dealing with "better" steels that wouldn't do that, I was highly impressed. If you catch me hyping up high-hardness AEB-L (Bohler-Uddeholm's twin to Sandvik's 13C26), it will be in a custom knife whose heat-treating protocol would change a priced-to-own folder from Kershaw into a priced-to-depress folder. I would much rather depress you with my singing.
 
thombrogan said:
The 13C26 that I liked/like/think is die Schizzel was heat-treated by Kershaw within a range of RC57-61. Strangely, the RC57 was the sharpest and had the longest lasting edge of the bunch. The 13C26 that turned me off was hardened to about RC64. Should've liked it. Expected to like it. Didn't. Didn't act like other steels within the same hardness range (YSS Blue Super, ZDP-189, 1095, M2) and didn't act like 13C26 with Kershaw's first and recent heat-treatments. What impresses me the most with 13C26 is that I can grind it real thin and polish it up and cut out huge chunks of hardwoods with it and, at worst, have a few dents here and there for my carelessness. S30V, at the same thinness and hardness, rewards me with an oppurtunity to regrind and repolish my edge to remove the microcracks and microchips (a laminated Ericksen blade doesn't even get the blunting the 13C26 got, but I'd still carry a JYDII over a Scandi-style fixed blade).

13C26, with the standard Kershaw heat-treat, takes the types of edges I like and holds them better than some other steels at similar hardness. After dealing with "better" steels that wouldn't do that, I was highly impressed. If you catch me hyping up high-hardness AEB-L (Bohler-Uddeholm's twin to Sandvik's 13C26), it will be in a custom knife whose heat-treating protocol would change a priced-to-own folder from Kershaw into a priced-to-depress folder. I would much rather depress you with my singing.
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Thanks for clarifying Thom.

I'd like to add that I'm not basing hype from just Thom and STR, but I know they have both handled the 64RC Storm. The hype was just the general commotion surrounding the high hardness steel. If you take a look at the Spyderco Mule Team thread, high RC 13C26 is one of the major requests iirc. Not many people have handled the stuff, yet there's so much commotion with it...If that's not hype, I dunno what is.

When I get around to cutting down the stack of boxes sitting around my house, I'll post up a comparison with 13C26, 440A, and S30V. Maybe some other steels if I have enough.
 
Thanks to this review I ordered two Kershaws, my first of this brand since I don't favor most of the blade shapes. I received them today and gotta say I'm impressed with the quality.

This 1725 USA JYD II has a great grind with no uneven difference like ehhh shows in his picture. And the liner lock is catching at the very beginning of the blade.

The Cyclone 1630 AO is just as excellent. I find this blade shape more to my liking. Of the two, I think my favor leans more towards this one. I like big knives and I'm glad I ordered both. BTW, both do flip open very easily. Now I can give my EDCs, Casper/Krawford 7773 and Buck 889 a break. :)

Not a very good picture, but the CRKT and 889 do seem to be stronger built than the Kershaws (In order with strongest knife at top, IMO) :
EDCs.jpg
 
I'm really glad to see someone give an honest review on here. I don't usually say much myself, I tend to just sit back and soak it all up. I have to say though, honesty in reviews has seemed to have gone down the drain on here, as with BF itself lately. I personally would never buy a Kershaw product again, or even take one for free at this point after seeing how Thomas handles business on here. Let alone the fact i'd have to have it reprofiled before I would even consider putting it in EDC rotation. And another thing I find pretty funny is his mindless harassing/trolling of threads of some forum members (Vivi comes to mind) who have valid points and are not trying to start problems at all. Yet, Thomas doesn't have any warnings does he... yeah because that would be bad business to someone who has purchased a sub-forum on here wouldn't it admins? Way to be. When I first got on here I loved this site, now after seeing what a lot (definitely not everyone, you know who you are) of the people are like on here I have no desire to ever come back. 90% of you get knives and don't even use them! Why spend $100+ on a knife to just look at, pretend you use, then toss in a safe? Then continue to give positive reviews without any real world experience on a knife. Just basing what you are writing off of conjecture... or opening envelopes.

(P.S. - What the hell we're you thinking on that pocket clip for the JYD2? I'm not to into looking like I have a Klingon weapon hanging out of my pocket. I own a JYD2 btw.)
 
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StigmataDiaboli said:
And another thing I find pretty funny is his mindless harassing/trolling of threads of some forum members (Vivi comes to mind) who have valid points and are not trying to start problems at all. Yet, Thomas doesn't have any warnings does he...
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This is something I've never understood. Thomas has posted some very educational things as times that I personally found useful. Other times, he has come into threads and made completely irrelevant posts that amount to little more than personal attacks. What strikes my curiosity as well is why so many of his posts in old threads have been edited.

For reference:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=528394 - Here he came into my pass around thread and insulted me and implied I am little more than a puppet of Cliff Stamp's opinions, after I have spent years researching the things Thomas, Cliff Stamp and others on the forum have passed off as "facts" about knives. I invite anyone to look at my post history on BF and see that within the span of a few years I went from not knowing any of the major companies or even how to sharpen a knife to being able to get any quality knife in my collection hair whittling sharp. If that is not indicative of integrating what I read here into practical knowledge I do not know what is.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=570045 - I wanted information on the current Leeks and was essentially told to piss off because I have no reason to look at Kershaws products.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=570356 - I asked a question, received an "odd" answer, and another forum member completely unprovoked by me questioned Thomas' response. I ended up emailing the knife designers in question and they were very helpful in helping me to understand their design perspective. They were not defensive at all, they did not thump their chest about making knives in the USA and they did not question my integrity.

At many times I feel like my honest opinion is not welcome here. This is one reason why I started my own website, so I can express my honest opinion and not receive any flak about it, unless I come here to discuss what I have written. I also enjoy writing and creating a website and the work that goes along with it.
 
Vivi,
There is a big difference between honest opinions and broad baseless pronouncements.
I generally will read your posts with interest, I may disagree with what you say, and whatever anyone says about you, you are passionate about your pursuits and knives. You've had a lot of ups and downs in the forum, but I can see that you are working very hard to be a positive contributor.

Getting back to my broad baseless pronouncements comment, this is not meant as an attack, just as a constructive criticism. You tend to make a broad statement about Kershaw and not of the specific knife that is being discussed.

Typical things are comments about all of Kershaw's blade geometry based on the one knife you happen to be testing.

Also you tend to be a little overly gushing about Spyderco (not that many of their products don't deserve gushing).

This bias is pretty obvious to most who read your posts and is closely paralleling someone with the initials CS.

Regarding the choil question, I think the "ask the designer" was a good point. The design of the knife is the knifemakers art. When you have well known designers creating a knife for production, you do what you can to be true to their design, otherwise you may as well not attach a designer's name to the knife. It will no longer be their design.

As you'll notice Ken joined in the discussion as I suggested he might. I suspect it helped that the thread made it obvious that his input was desired regarding the question. I thought the discussion turned out quite well.

Keep up your work on improving testing :thumbup:, but every once in a while step outside yourself and check for bias you might not otherwise notice.

I know this will have to be taken with a grain of salt, since I am clearly a Kershaw fan, but the post was sincere.
 
SD and especially you vivi, don't you have better things to do than dig up 7 month old threads just to feebly take a jab at Thomas? He's dusted your butt more than once, and to try this crap just shows what a punk kid you really are.

Grow up and get a life.
 
Didn't think this thread would see the light of day again.

To reiterate, the JYD is a nice knife. I still have it and it's doing well. It works great for the price, and the aesthetics are purely a personal taste issue. It isn't a conservative design, so I think it is more love/hate than most conservative knives. It's not as nicely finished as a $100 Spyderco/Benchmade, but at a 3rd of the price what do you expect?
Bottom line: It's a good value and performs well.

I think that's all that needs to be said in this thread. This isn't really the place for name-calling.
 
StigmataDiaboli said:
I'm really glad to see someone give an honest review on here. I don't usually say much myself, I tend to just sit back and soak it all up. I have to say though, honesty in reviews has seemed to have gone down the drain on here, as with BF itself lately. I personally would never buy a Kershaw product again, or even take one for free at this point after seeing how Thomas handles business on here.
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1. Certain knives and certain knife companies are not for everyone....Kershaw does a mighty fine job of making most of its' product in the US, if that matters to you, and of making more friends than enemies....if you don't like Kershaw Knives at this point...it says a lot more about you than it does about them.

2. Saying bad things about the Forums is bound to bode badly for you....and your man parts will probably drop off, if they haven't already.

3. Thomas is a good guy, and genuinely passionate about knives, and the company he is employed by....which makes him good for the industry at large. Are YOU good for the industry at large, Mr. Bleeding Devil?

ESAD & no regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Vivi said:
At many times I feel like my honest opinion is not welcome here.
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Your opinion, for the most part is NOT welcomed by many, and welcomed by some....that is the really real, dude...and it can be said for just about all of us, who walk this earth.....welcome to reality.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
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