After having seen so many pictures of the Yo and hearing so much about it, I was still unprepared for what I found. For the first time, a :spyder: came out of the box whose side profile was exactly the size I expected it to be, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t twice as thick as I had anticipated! The blade is as thick as a Manix blade, and the scales have some of the meatiest G10 I’ve ever seen! Mind you, in my eyes this is a GOOD THING!!!
Of course, it felt weird in hand before opening it (because the clip was on the wrong side, as usual
) but popped open with an unexpectedly strong and sharp sound. Even the lock was stronger than I had anticipated, and had ZERO vertical play. It felt like someone had glued the thing open! Closing it leftie (even after switching the clip to the proper side) is a pretty tough, though, and extremely awkward. Wrong-handed unlocking and closure is actually quite pleasant, though.Opening was a bit awkward in the beginning due to the protrusive part of the scales just before what MIGHT be considered the “small” choil, but is now quite fluid and natural. It even takes well to the reverse grip middle finger opening (that I have no name for yet).
In the hand, it first felt like the clunkiest and most awkward piece of crap ever, but I figured out that my first instinctual grip on the knife just, well… sucked. Feels quite nice in reverse grip (edge in AND edge out), and what I call the “gardening grip” (regular grip, edge in, quite nice for trimming tomato vines). Also, unlike most :spyder: ’s, in a normal, edge out grip, the Yo seems to encourage you to choke back on the scales and take almost a pistol grip or whip grip on it. I like that. A lot! It’s quite different from my daily use of the Lava where my index finger lives millimeters from the blade.
As expected, it was hair-popping sharp (This message brought to you by the Department of Redundancy Department).
When in the hand while closed, the “pointy part” looks as though it would work nicely for pressure points. Now, if only I knew some pressure points…
The jimping on the back of the blade was puzzling to me until I held it closed in my hand where it felt nice and grippy (see above paragraph)
In conclusion: This knife is cool, and I’ll have to start carrying it instead of hiding it as I have with all of my latest knives (lest I be disemboweled with them by a girlfriend who doesn’t understand my collecting addiction). But it’s still one of the strangest knives I’ve ever seen; makes the Dodo look “normal” by comparison. For the moment, it defies my understanding.
Whereas many would fear what they do not understand, I now find myself ever more fascinated.
