Thailand Custom Knife (not Yuna) lots of pictures

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Feb 13, 2009
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A bit of history:

I have a pretty good knife collection that includes Strider, CRK, Benchmade, Spyderco, customs, lower end knives and stuff in between. After acquiring customs and high-end productions I didn’t stop looking for lower end knives that I consider to be a good value.

I check ebay from time to time, to see what knives are on the market there. I have noticed many custom Thai knives listed. They look pretty good and use good materials. The topic about Thai knives have come up in the past, but I couldn’t find any reviews. I found one knife that I liked for $122 shipped and started to consider what I’ve got to gain and what I’ve got to loose. No brand recognition, possibly lower resell value and questionable quality one one side. Good materials, original design, custom limited production on the other side. I was thinking about putting this knife in use, so I didn’t really care about the resell value. Quality was still in question, Since there were a lot of good feedbacks on ebay, and in my understanding quality control on a homemade custom wouldn’t pass a faulty knife, I decided that was good enough for me.

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Blade thickness was stated to be 1/8” (3mm). It looked thinner on the picture. Also after seeing many knives with bad lockups, I asked seller to clarify this and to send some pictures if possible. I got a reply that I’m quoting:
“Dear customer,
blade is well made with very firm, it is D2 and it is really close to 1/8 or normally we call 1/8 but it is fomal thick of the blade sheet in Thailand. It is a goodvknife.”

No pictures, but at least a confirmation that everything is good.

Paying $122, I didn’t expect to get a sebenza or something similar, and was looking for just a good useable knife. So I pulled the trigger and got it and the auction starting price.

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Here is the actual review.

First the good stuff  I liked the design (you might not) and materials. Actually I expected to like those to begin with.

Design is pretty good. This is the main reason why I have chosen this knife. It looks a bit unusual. At least the design is not very common. The whole thing reminds me of the Yuna custom (another Thai), maybe even Hinderer XM-18 a bit because of the choil and blade grind.

Handle is very comfy, feels great both in straight and reverse grip. Handle lines are a bit pointy for my taste, but still ok. Rosewood looks good. Buffalo horn boslters aren’t bad either.

I like the blade shape too. Even though I’m not a big fan of recurve tanto style, it looks nice (at least to me). There are a lot of discussions about pros and cons of the blade style, so I’m not going to go into this. The blade keeps its thickness almost to the tip, so it can withstand some abuse and this is what I liked about it.
I also like blade steel (D2), so it was a plus for me.

Now the bad. QUALITY. Oh man, where to start…..

I wasn’t expecting CRK, but I really thought it will be better than some $10 crap knife.

First and the biggest problem is the lock up. Oh my…. UP-DOWN blade play. Lock bar goes all the way to the other side. The blade stops (thumbstuds) aren’t stopping blade where they should. The bolster area that gets in contact with bladestops isn’t even. Right side is not on the same level as the left side. Both bolster sides don’t have any cutouts for bladestops, so with time lockup will be even worse.

But wait, there is more… The lock bar somehow is twice thinner than the liner! The liner isn’t thick to begin with, but the thickness of the lockbar is just a joke. My only thought is that when they discovered that lockup is bad, they tried to deform (extend) the lockbar by hammering it. Also the thumbstuds (bladestops) have marks like they were manipulated with pliers. After I saw all this, I just couldn’t believe that I see this on a $100+ knife.

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At this point I already made the decision that knife is going back to where it came from.

Well surprises didn’t stop there. The bolts used to attach scale to the liner are too long. At some places they almost made contact with the blade. Also the bolster bolts were not tightened all the way, either because they would stop the blade, or because they were overlooked of because of some other problem. The result is that there is a big gap between scale and the liner.

Knife is very stiff. I could barely flick it out using the flipper and the wrist action. I didn’t even try to adjust it, because at that point I have gave up on it already.

Further some minor flaws that I could’ve lived with:

The blade is not 1/8” (3 mm) thick. It is about 2 mm. It is ok, probably even good, if knife is used for light cutting, but for Hard use and some abuse I would rather have 1/8”. It is really not a big deal, but it only shows that advertised specs are not correct. As a matter of fact, when asked specifically about the thickness, no right answer was given.

There are number of other small F&F flaws. Liner and scales could be better aligned. Same with the pocket clip. One corner of the pocket clip kind of hangs off the scale near the bolt. Blade grind is a bit rough. I really doubt that D2 was properly hardened. Blade wasn’t sharp either.

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Before I have received the knife, I had a plan to modify it a bit. After the first look at the knife, I decided that it isn’t worth it. Just for fun, here is what I had in mind:

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So here you have it my review of the one Thailand custom from ebay. I didn’t have any big expectations about the knife. Some flaws I could live with, some things I could’ve fixed, but overall I felt that this knife isn’t worth even half of what I have paid for it. $120 knife that felt like a $15 boker magnum. It looks good..., but....well, that's it. Knife was send back, and I have received full refund, but I still lost money shipping this piece back to Thailand.

I’ve been very cautious about such customs ever since. I have looked at some others, asked for additional pictures. After handling the knife in review and seeing some more pictures of others, there is no way I would pick one up in the near future.

Hope this review will help others.
 
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The only knife(s) I have from Thailand is a kitchen knife I bought from a fish store,Was astonished,for 2.50 I got one of the best kitchen knives I ever had.Is marked KIWI Brand<made in Thailand....I went back for a cleaver,is awesome,I think that was like 3.99.I don't know about those folders,but if you come across these kitchen knives grab em.
 
The only knife(s) I have from Thailand is a kitchen knife I bought from a fish store,Was astonished,for 2.50 I got one of the best kitchen knives I ever had.Is marked KIWI Brand<made in Thailand....I went back for a cleaver,is awesome,I think that was like 3.99.I don't know about those folders,but if you come across these kitchen knives grab em.

Thanks for the heads up. To get a good knife for 2.5 or 4 bucks is a real deal. Actually I won't be disappointed even if $2.5 knife isn't that good at all. If it cuts at all, it is good for something :) If it cuts well and comfortable, it is a deal.
I expect a bit more from $100+ knife.


One more thing. Don't get me wrong. I don't think that all Thailand knives are bad. As a matter of fact Yuna, a great Thailand custom knife maker, is one of my favorites. I think his $500 knives are a awesome deals compared to many other custom knives. But the knife in this review is not anywhere near that quality, and this knife in my opinion isn't worth even half of its $120 price tag.
 
Yeah,that sucks,I'm sorry....I'm not to familiar with Yuna,but upon hearing,would like to be.The last large amount of cash I put down on a custom folder was like 9 years ago,was a Pat Crawford Magnum framelock,after that I stopped.Got way too expensive,even for used at shows.Crap I'm still on Jim Hammonds waiting list for the Cruiser,been a few years...Money down,nothing yet
 
I just ordered one last week from a thai maker as well. It'll be my second. The first is a really nice damascus piece for light use.

If the new one is as good as the first I'll definately keep it. Too bad about your experience though.
 
I just ordered one last week from a thai maker as well. It'll be my second. The first is a really nice damascus piece for light use.

If the new one is as good as the first I'll definately keep it. Too bad about your experience though.

Is the knife you got & the one you're getting FBs? I ask because it seems to me that there are some decent makers of FBs in that area. With folders, there's more R&D work needed & their heritage is more along the lines of FBs, not folders.

As for the OP, sorry to hear about the issues, but glad to hear you at least got your $ back, even if you did have to pay the return shipping.

Not to further knock that knife, but I doubt it was even D2 steel. Or, if it was, as you said, probably not heat-treated well at all.

As for the remarks about Yuna, while I don't have one, I've talked to others that do & have read quite a bit about them. His knives are excellent & the steel he uses, laminate ZDP-189 is fantastic.
 
Nah, the one I got is a really nice Mastodont and Black pearl damascus thingy.

A tiny little folder.

The new one I'm getting is also a folder.
 
Nah, the one I got is a really nice Mastodont and Black pearl damascus thingy.

A tiny little folder.

The new one I'm getting is also a folder.

Well, the one you've got in 3" damascus is a $240 Thita. I believe Thita knives a bit better made.
The other one (3 5/8 tiger claw in 440c) twice cheaper from a different maker and might be a different thing. I would love to see your review of both those knives with pictures. I can tell you right now, that 1/8" 440c blade probably is not going to be 1/8" thick. Would love to hear your feedback about 440c wear, if you going to use the knife.
Please share some better pictures of lockup and general quality, if you don't mind. There is not much good info on the internet about those knives.
 
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I'll see what I can do. They claim mine also to be D2 though. We'll see how it compares to the D2 in my Queen gunstock.
 
Ah, I see. In one place it says that blade material is 440c, in another it says D2. Well, either way more info about this knife from you will be much appreciated. Hope your knife will be much better than mine.
 
You're really keeping track of this eh? (I don't mind) but yeah, I noticed that as well. I asked the seller and they said 440C was wrong. A misprint. D2 is what they claim it to be.
 
:) Oh yeah. I'm interested in these knives. I check what they have to offer from time to time. Information about these knives is very limited. As I said the topic has come up in the past on the forums, but still no reviews, no solid opinions. I'm glad to hear that you enjoying your thita and wonder how the other one is going to be.
 
I got my claw folding knife in. It's pretty good. The linerlock goes over a little more than most people like. But I'm not worried about that at all. It's very strong as far as I can tell.

Mine doesn't have the issues that yours seemed to have.

When I get around to it I'll to a review of both.
 
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