Yuna knives--which one?

S

samzy

Joined
Jul 31, 2009
Messages
30
Hey guys,

I posted this in Custom Knives and it got little to no traffic whatsoever, so I'm reposting this here.

I decided to put an order down for one of Yun's blades, but I'm not sure which model and blade shape would be good in an EDC capacity--I don't want a safe queen. I've currently narrowed it down to the following:

Qi3
Mini Hard, ZS or Zen Series.
Hard series.

I'm just wondering how the hawksbill Zen, wharncliffe ZS, Qi blade shape and various Hard blade shapes (fighter, drop, Chaithong (mild recurve)) compare to each other in terms of utility, as well as the size of the normal Hard series versus the rest of the selection. Could some Yuna owners give me advice?

For reference, I have both the Cold Steel Mini AK and full-sized AK. For me personally, while the Mini feels more useable in an EDC capacity the full-sized deploys more readily and sits in my hand easier. EDIT: Also, I just ordered THE Cold Steel Talwar 4",and that actually feels better in my hand than the full AK. Finally, I live in Singapore, so double-edged blades aren't allowed (I'm not sure if the Zombie has a double edge)

Hope this helps!

Thanks guys,
Samuel
 
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This is the first I've heard of this knife maker, but I'll give my thoughts with regard to their EDC usefulness. Keep in mind that I do not own any of these knives, and that these are just my impressions and preferences based on past experiences with similar blade and handle profiles.

Qi3: Blade shape seems good, but the handle is almost a "pistol grip," with the blade angled forward like you might see in a kukri type design. These types of angles are suitable for chopping and fighting knives, but are not what I would consider ideal in an EDC knife.

Mini Hard series: The drop point blade is very reasonable for EDC. The others feature unusual blade profiles that would be serviceable for EDC tasks, but would likely prove difficult to maintain and sharpen. The handle looks a bit small for my hands, but may work for you. Still has a bit of the forward angled blade issue. The handle looks big enough on the full size Hard, but is more contoured than I like in my knives.

Mini ZS: I LOVE wharnies for EDC. Just a supremely useful blade shape. It's hard to tell but it looks like one of the knives pictured may have a compound grind near the tip - I would get one with a simple grind.

Zen: Again, wharnies are great (I would consider this closer to wharnie than hawkbill, and will give you about the same utility as the ZS wharnie). I prefer the handle on this one to the mini ZS, but I like the blade shape of the mini ZS better. Also, the blade is quite large at almost 4" (substantially larger than your full size AK). I like big knives, but that may not be ideal for you.

The materials all look great and hopefully the construction is high quality as well. I would probably go with a mini ZS myself, but that's up to you and your preferences. Hope that helps.
 
For a long time now, one of my grails has been a Yuna Zen Type-S. I love Wharnies and Hawkbill blades.

The Zombie doesn't have a sharpened swedge.
 
Yun (knife maker) has a great reputation for putting out works of art.
It takes some patience being on his list, but I am expecting my Qi3 from him any day now and I will let you know if it was worth the wait.
They command a nice mark-up on the secondary market so you can always make your $ back.
However, I don't buy my knives with the intention of ever selling them and use nearly every knife I buy, so it's going to have to pass more than the initial box opening tests.
I ordered the regular blade style because I hate recurves and I'm not buying as a self defense weapon, so no fighter blades. And I love wharncliffes, but only on my traditional slipjoints ;)
Yun makes just about everything by hand, he has good communication back and forth, and he gets good remarks across the board on every review video I have seen, so I'm excited.
 
amg137 said:
Also, the blade is quite large at almost 4" (substantially larger than your full size AK). I like big knives, but that may not be ideal for you.

The materials all look great and hopefully the construction is high quality as well. I would probably go with a mini ZS myself, but that's up to you and your preferences. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

I forgot to mention, I just ordered a Cold Steel Talwar 4" as well and that one feels pretty good in my hand.
 
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