YCS Kardas, show what you received.

[ferguson]

Received my YCS Karda from the 7/20 Yandu's Deals of the Day. It was the "9 inch 7 ounce YCS Karda with Karam wood handle". Now this is one sweet "little" knife! Excellent ergonomics, good blade shape. What more could you ask for. Who else has pics? Here's mine.

Steve

 

[Khukuri Monster]

The kami mark on that one looks clean and doesn't detract from the appearance of the knife. Normally I don't like the marks.

 

[Dave Rishar]

Anyone etched one yet?

I haven't etched either of mine but it's in the works. I'm curious if the standalone kardas have the same heat treat as the ones that come with the YCS.

 

[depusm12]

Awesome looking knife, hopefully they will become a standard item. Cause I want some of them. Would make way cool kitchen/utility knife.

James

 

[Svashtar]

I don't know if a YCS has ever been offered in horn, but I have never seen one. I have several YCS's, each with 2 Kardas, but they are all wood. The kardas that came with the checkerboard model are really much smaller than the regular kardas, being only about 5-6" in length. Because I had the wood already, I wanted a horn one. I got the last one to the right in Yangdu's pic. The horn polishing and inlay was superb, as was the sheath. My only disappointment was on the butt of the handle, where there was a largish gap where the horn met the tang. It was filled with some type of putty, not laha I'm sure as it was way too soft. Had he exact consistency of dark, dried chewing gum, so who knows?

I spent a half-hour digging it all out with a pik, and cleaning out the hole. I plan to mix up some black epoxy or acra-glas tomorrow and filling it in. I doubt it will be noticeable at all when I'm done.

This is a great design and I can't believe it took us this long to realize what we had under our noses all along with the YCS's. I'm hoping to eventually snag an 11-12" model, like the neem handled #1 that was with the same batch. With the exception of the one with the checkerboard, every one of mine is exactly 9.5".

Don't have a pic yet, but with my photgraphy skill you guys aren't missing much.

Regards,

Norm

 

[Big Bob]

Norm, I've only seen one or maybe two YCSs with horn handles offered on the forum. They seem to be quite rare indeed.

Bob

 

[ferguson]

Just got my YCS Karda in Walnut from Yangdu's deals of 8/11. Fast shipping, great packaging, nothing new there. :thumbup:

The walnut is absolutely beautiful, and the knife has a very pleasant curve to it. The edge needed a little thinning to be a slicer and dicer, but that took just a few minutes. This is a sweet little fixed blade. If you can find a better hand made, carbon steel, fixed blade for under $75 shipped you should definitely buy it! I love this one.

Steve

 

[ferguson]

The variations of the YCS karda are seemingly endless. The carved horn looks much better than in my photos. The blade shape makes slicing a dream. This one's a 9" model.

Steve

 

[Ad Astra]

Dragon-carved YCS karda:

Matches my carved HI katana, the "Water Dragon":

Carter, here's a Kumar Karda with the YCS karda, and some other HI knives:

The YCS dragon-carved has a pretty slim handle, I don't know if they all do. Wasn't sure I liked it at first, but it makes for an easier carry. Blade style isn't real pointy, but it does poke holes as well as carve.


Ad Astra

 

[mamav]

W W

No wonder I can't ever catch one of there.....LOL

These are great looking little guys. I have to get one. Or else take Sarge up on getting him to make one.......

 

[SASSAS]

I hadn't been really attracted to them at first. I had really only seen the YCS type with the inlays and I missed out on the white antler ones that were really nice looking to me. I thought they would make a great gift for a hunter I know.

But, I got two of the carved handled 11 inchers with black sheathes from the last batch. One is red and the other is what I think of as ugly chandan - a black/maroon color which is on my Dukti as well. They're both soaking in mineral oil right now.

I have a 14" 12oz on the way now. It should arrive just as the others come out of the oil so they can have a group photo.

That 14" 14 oz. blade for the last batch has to have some serious heft to it.

 

[Daniel Koster]

Dang...that's the nicest Kumar Karda I've ever seen....hold onto that one!

 

[losangeles]

Nice! Thanks for the pics guys!

 

[ferguson]

Dang...that's the nicest Kumar Karda I've ever seen....hold onto that one!

The gentle downward curving of the handle does make it look elegant. Very nice Mike!

Steve

 

[Erin Burke]

Not much of a photographer but...

Erin

 

[Yvsa]

I have to admit that I'm glad these are becoming a pretty much standard item. The only thing I'd like to see is a nice radius where the handle and blade meet, would make the knife a lot more comfortable methinks.

I surely do admire the kamis or Newari's carving skills as well. Having done a little carving I can really appreciate the difficulty in carving such intricate patterns in such a hard wood, and *especially* the horn!!!!:thumbup:

The YCS karda's is what caused the price of the original YCS to be so much higher than the other khukuris as they were knives that could stand alone, and now they are. Methinks Uncle Bill would be pleased.

 

[Nasty]

I think the original idea of selling them as a stand-alone was mine...guess I need to get one sooner or later.

 

[Svashtar]

Here's the ones I have managed to snag. I have 6 more with the knives, 2 in Osage orange (from Nasty), 2 in Chandan, and 2 in satisal with the checkerboard YCS.

These are a pair of 14" 14 oz., one with carved chandan and the other in Dab Dabe. The older dab dabe has a nice scabbard with it that I really like. The newer carved one comes in a regular black sheath.

The others are an 11" 8 oz. in neem, a 10.5" 8 oz. in satisal, a 9.5" 7 oz. in horn, and a 9" 6 oz. in carved karam. For my hand the 9.5" 7 oz. horn feels great, and the 10.5" 8 oz. in satisal is the best all round length for me I think.

Took these pics last night in the shop, but couldn't get anything posted at the time. Sorry, a couple of the pics are a bit blurry.

Thanks,

Norm