eswartz
Basic Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2005
- Messages
- 754
I have received the Folding knife by Yuvraj and I know many of you want more pictures and a review.
Well, long story short. I don’t think current folding knife makers have much to fear. <smiley deleted to add another picture>
The review is going to sound negative, but it’s not coming from a negative place. I don’t usually review knives, but let pictures speak for themselves and let other interpret them based on their own experience, but I need to describe things here.
First off, the knife is a slipjoint. It measures 5 7/8' l x 1" w x 1 3/8" h when closed and is 10 1/8" long when open. It weighs 5.6 oz.
The knife has horn on one side and antler on the other. These aren’t scales to the knife as they are the main structural components. There is no full metal liner as such. They are thick and don’t have any flex to them. Very solid. My main problem with the handle scales is the lack of symmetry along the backspring. Put the closed knife on the desk and it tilts over to one side. It looks like too much of the horn side was removed. The gap between the handle slabs is very inconsistant. The middle is further apart than the ends.
Another big problem…it doesn’t stay closed. There is no spring tension on the blade in the closed state, so it opens and closes with no effort, up to about 1/4 of the fully opened state. Once past the halfway point there is good resistance and the spring snaps into place to hold the blade.
In the closed state the blade is not completely enclosed by the handles so the tip of the blade is exposed. When closed the blade rattles around in the handle.
In the open state the blade engages the backspring pretty good. There is no rattling or movement of the blade in the open position when shaking. However, If you grab the blade and push back and forth there is blade play. Up and down is tight.
There are thin brass liners between the handles and the backspring, I mean, just the backspring!, but they are not even, and don’t go the length of the knife. They go around the butt of the handle, but stop about 2/3rds from the top of the handle.
From the inside the brass liners are rough and uneven and bent around in weird, unfinished ways.
The place where the spring meets the tang in the open position is not as nice as it could be.
The blade is typical HI steel, and is shaped and labeled in the typical manner of HI blades. Convex grind. I have not etched it or anything so I can’t speak to the heat treat. Maybe sometime, but I’m sure it is done as other HI straight blades are done.
It is not very sharp out of the box. It will cut, but it is not shaving sharp by any means. I don’t consider this a problem.
The blade has a large nail nick, but on the wrong side. I guess it would be good for a lefty, but it is not the standard position. It is not really needed, since the blade is easily grabbed and opened. May be useful if the blade was tight in the handle.
Problem Summary:
1. Doesn’t stay closed. Perhaps a bit of fiddling with the hinge pin would tighten the handle slabs and allow a friction close to happen.
2. Handle is not even and flat along backspring. Perhaps some judicious sanding would flatten out the spine.
3. Brass liners are poorly done. He definitely didn’t think this one out. A full liner, or no liner would have been better than this one that is curved along the backspring only.
4. Blade does not fully engage the handle when closed. This might be solved with some more judicious grinding on the blade tang, or re-profiling the blade so the tip will be hidden in the handle when closed.
5. Nail nick on wrong side. Not really a big problem.
Good things.
1. The handles are thick and pretty.
2. It stays open nice and tight.
3. Blade is nice and good looking.
All in all, I think this needs more work before it would be and acceptable standard HI product. Even for a product done in the handmade, low tech condtions prevalent in Nepal.
Eric.
p.s. These are just my opinions, I may be wrong.
Well, long story short. I don’t think current folding knife makers have much to fear. <smiley deleted to add another picture>
The review is going to sound negative, but it’s not coming from a negative place. I don’t usually review knives, but let pictures speak for themselves and let other interpret them based on their own experience, but I need to describe things here.
First off, the knife is a slipjoint. It measures 5 7/8' l x 1" w x 1 3/8" h when closed and is 10 1/8" long when open. It weighs 5.6 oz.
The knife has horn on one side and antler on the other. These aren’t scales to the knife as they are the main structural components. There is no full metal liner as such. They are thick and don’t have any flex to them. Very solid. My main problem with the handle scales is the lack of symmetry along the backspring. Put the closed knife on the desk and it tilts over to one side. It looks like too much of the horn side was removed. The gap between the handle slabs is very inconsistant. The middle is further apart than the ends.
Another big problem…it doesn’t stay closed. There is no spring tension on the blade in the closed state, so it opens and closes with no effort, up to about 1/4 of the fully opened state. Once past the halfway point there is good resistance and the spring snaps into place to hold the blade.
In the closed state the blade is not completely enclosed by the handles so the tip of the blade is exposed. When closed the blade rattles around in the handle.
In the open state the blade engages the backspring pretty good. There is no rattling or movement of the blade in the open position when shaking. However, If you grab the blade and push back and forth there is blade play. Up and down is tight.
There are thin brass liners between the handles and the backspring, I mean, just the backspring!, but they are not even, and don’t go the length of the knife. They go around the butt of the handle, but stop about 2/3rds from the top of the handle.
From the inside the brass liners are rough and uneven and bent around in weird, unfinished ways.
The place where the spring meets the tang in the open position is not as nice as it could be.
The blade is typical HI steel, and is shaped and labeled in the typical manner of HI blades. Convex grind. I have not etched it or anything so I can’t speak to the heat treat. Maybe sometime, but I’m sure it is done as other HI straight blades are done.
It is not very sharp out of the box. It will cut, but it is not shaving sharp by any means. I don’t consider this a problem.
The blade has a large nail nick, but on the wrong side. I guess it would be good for a lefty, but it is not the standard position. It is not really needed, since the blade is easily grabbed and opened. May be useful if the blade was tight in the handle.
Problem Summary:
1. Doesn’t stay closed. Perhaps a bit of fiddling with the hinge pin would tighten the handle slabs and allow a friction close to happen.
2. Handle is not even and flat along backspring. Perhaps some judicious sanding would flatten out the spine.
3. Brass liners are poorly done. He definitely didn’t think this one out. A full liner, or no liner would have been better than this one that is curved along the backspring only.
4. Blade does not fully engage the handle when closed. This might be solved with some more judicious grinding on the blade tang, or re-profiling the blade so the tip will be hidden in the handle when closed.
5. Nail nick on wrong side. Not really a big problem.
Good things.
1. The handles are thick and pretty.
2. It stays open nice and tight.
3. Blade is nice and good looking.
All in all, I think this needs more work before it would be and acceptable standard HI product. Even for a product done in the handmade, low tech condtions prevalent in Nepal.
Eric.
p.s. These are just my opinions, I may be wrong.
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