It has been awhile since my last review, so I figure it's about time for another. I received the YCS karda in the mail the other day, a generous gift from a fellow forum member (thanks 
). Since it was such a nice day out, I decided to give it a work out.
Blade - The lines on the YCS's blade are very well formed, with a consistent even edge with high convex that gradually goes to a slimmer convex towards the handle. The sides and back of the blade are well formed and with little forging dips. The blade on it also has a bit of tapering, it starts off at 3/16" at the handle/blade junction and tapers to about 1/8" in thickness about 4" down the blade (starting at the handle). The blade finish is the same as on other normal HI products, which is a high, near mirror finish that is nice and even throughout the whole knife.
Handle - The YCS karda has a very nicely done carved dragons on the monkey pod handle. The handle while carved, is not uncomforable in any way. When first picking up the knife, I questioned if it would be able to work well without getting blisters all over my hand, however it is very comforable in the hand and does not cause any hot spots when working. The finish on the handle is nice and clean, without rough areas (other then the carvings). The handle slabs fit nearly perfectly with the tang of the knife, with only one small area with filler.
Sheath - The sheath on the YCS karda is nice and works well enough to hold the knife, however it could be much better. On the inside of the sheath the stitches from the belt loop are sticking though, the knife will often stick on these stitches when it is sheathed. After much use I am sure that the stitches will be cut, causing a new sheath to be inevitable. The leather of the sheath is of decent quality though.
Cutting - To start off cutting I went with some 1/2" living branches, which the knife went though like with the ease of one strike. After this I decided to try out something a bit more of a challenge for the knife, for this I decided to try out an old hard branch that was about 2 1/2" that tapered down to about 2". The knife chopped though fairly easy, it did a great job of not getting stuck as well as not glancing. It was biting deep considering its size and what it was cutting. After cutting the branch into 5 pieces, ranging between 11-17" in length, I also batoned the wood. While the YCS karda chops well enough for it's size, it's ability to baton is not very good. It took quite a bit to get the karda though the wood in batoning, however it was going though dried wood and many knots.
Overall I am very happy with the YCS karda. I feel that the YCS karda is a great knife that is capable of doing some decent size work for a knife it's size. While the sheath could use some work, it is not unreasonable considering that that the karda can be had a very reasonable price. With that said, I will probably some time down the road get a new sheath made for it so to compliment the workmanship of the knife.
Here are a few stats to the knife
Blade length - 5 1/2"
Blade thickness - 3/16" - 1/8"
Handle length- 4 3/4"
Weight of knife - 7 3/4oz
Weight of knife and sheath - 9 5/8oz
Point of Balance - .5 cm after handle
Kami - Kumar
). Since it was such a nice day out, I decided to give it a work out.Blade - The lines on the YCS's blade are very well formed, with a consistent even edge with high convex that gradually goes to a slimmer convex towards the handle. The sides and back of the blade are well formed and with little forging dips. The blade on it also has a bit of tapering, it starts off at 3/16" at the handle/blade junction and tapers to about 1/8" in thickness about 4" down the blade (starting at the handle). The blade finish is the same as on other normal HI products, which is a high, near mirror finish that is nice and even throughout the whole knife.
Handle - The YCS karda has a very nicely done carved dragons on the monkey pod handle. The handle while carved, is not uncomforable in any way. When first picking up the knife, I questioned if it would be able to work well without getting blisters all over my hand, however it is very comforable in the hand and does not cause any hot spots when working. The finish on the handle is nice and clean, without rough areas (other then the carvings). The handle slabs fit nearly perfectly with the tang of the knife, with only one small area with filler.
Sheath - The sheath on the YCS karda is nice and works well enough to hold the knife, however it could be much better. On the inside of the sheath the stitches from the belt loop are sticking though, the knife will often stick on these stitches when it is sheathed. After much use I am sure that the stitches will be cut, causing a new sheath to be inevitable. The leather of the sheath is of decent quality though.
Cutting - To start off cutting I went with some 1/2" living branches, which the knife went though like with the ease of one strike. After this I decided to try out something a bit more of a challenge for the knife, for this I decided to try out an old hard branch that was about 2 1/2" that tapered down to about 2". The knife chopped though fairly easy, it did a great job of not getting stuck as well as not glancing. It was biting deep considering its size and what it was cutting. After cutting the branch into 5 pieces, ranging between 11-17" in length, I also batoned the wood. While the YCS karda chops well enough for it's size, it's ability to baton is not very good. It took quite a bit to get the karda though the wood in batoning, however it was going though dried wood and many knots.
Overall I am very happy with the YCS karda. I feel that the YCS karda is a great knife that is capable of doing some decent size work for a knife it's size. While the sheath could use some work, it is not unreasonable considering that that the karda can be had a very reasonable price. With that said, I will probably some time down the road get a new sheath made for it so to compliment the workmanship of the knife.
Here are a few stats to the knife
Blade length - 5 1/2"
Blade thickness - 3/16" - 1/8"
Handle length- 4 3/4"
Weight of knife - 7 3/4oz
Weight of knife and sheath - 9 5/8oz
Point of Balance - .5 cm after handle
Kami - Kumar
:thumbup: 
