A Little Champion of the EDC Spey Blade
Most people with a little experience in the kitchen could probably tell you that it’s easy to cook an egg, but it’s hard to cook an egg well. In that same vein, these days it’s easy to design a knife, but there are a lot of things you could do wrong to make the knife unpleasant to use.
The Civivi Yonder is a well cooked egg.
Key Takeaways
- The spey blade is thin and slicey
- The handle is grippy and neutral,
- The action is silky smooth with a rock solid lock up,
- The cross bar lock creates a hot spot,
- The pocket clip has a tight grip.
It makes sense that the Yonder came out well, designer Zack Whitmore came from a similar background as Ben Peterson of Knafs. Both of them have handled and reviewed enough knives to have a clear sense not only of what works in a folder, but what people actually want to see and feel in a folder.
Specifications
| Overall Length: | 6.62” |
| Blade Length: | 2.88” |
| Blade Steel: | Sandvik 14C28N |
| Open System: | Thumb stud |
| Blade Thickness: | 0.9” |
| Blade Shape: | Spey blade |
| Blade Grind: | Flat |
| Handle Length: | 3.74” |
| Handle Material: | Micarta |
| Lock Type: | Crossbar |
| Weight: | 2.56 oz (72.5 g) |
| Designer: | Zack Whitmore |
| Made in: | China |
| What I Liked | What I Didn’t Like |
|---|---|
| Thin, slice-y blade | The cross bar lock creates a hot spot |
| Solid, snappy action | Edge retention is so-so |
| Grippy, neutral handle | |
| Pocket clip has great retention |
Fit, Finish, and Action
Civivi knows what they’re doing. The blade is centered dead on, the edge is even, and the action is addictively snappy.
More importantly, I like the crowned spine and jimping. They have all of that dialed in just right to where I have feel traction in all the places I want while still making the spine feel soft enough not to bite into my thumb when I’m bearing down into cuts.
The cross bar lock and the action feel different. Maybe the word is tighter. I read another review of the Yonder that mentioned the travel path of the crossbar is shorter than usual, and that results in more resistance. Which sounds right to me. But I actually like the feel of it. It’s more firm than your typical crossbar.
We Need More Spey Blades Like This
I love the way this blade cuts. It feels clean and light.
I also love the shape. You don’t see a spey blade in this size or configuration very often, and I hope this knife starts a trend. It’s the reverse tanto for people who don’t want to admit that’s a real blade shape. It has some of the perks of a wharnecliff but leaves room for the edge to have some belly. Pair all that with a 2 mm-thick blade stock and you’ve got a nifty like knife with surprisingly widespread function.
It handles wood pretty well, which actually surprised me. Between the size and belly in the blade, I thought I would have trouble getting anywhere with carving, but it actually carves, feathers, and bites into wood pretty easily, and the handle shape goes a long way in helping with that. It’s not a bad whittling knife.
No one is going to be impressed by the edge retention in the blade. It’s 14C28N, and it wears like it. The thinness does help a lot, though. I broke down two big boxes before I had noticeable trouble cutting paper.
Also in true Sandvik steel fashion, it loves a strop. I’ve used it pretty hard for a couple weeks now and haven’t felt like I needed to do any drastic sharpening. And I’m not dreading the day either. This is agreeable steel.
The Coffin Handle Works, the Cross Bar Lock is a Small Problem
This knife seems to work well in all hands. It’s one of the few that my wife picked up and actually wanted to keep using because it suited her smaller hands so well. Meanwhile, I’ve been happily ham-handing this thing for a week without any ergonomic issues (except for one concerning the cross bar lock, but I’ll get into that later).
I always like an homage to the coffin handle shape. It keeps handles neutral so it works well in a lot of different grips (I switched to chest levers a lot more often that I thought I would with this knife), and it gives the pommel a good shape for seating into the meat of the hand.
The little finger guard is a nice touch too, since the blade shape had me push cutting quite a bit. Overall, this is a secure, comfy knife.
The handle is long enough for a four-finger grip, but I do feel my pinky wanting to slip down the pommel in a full grip. And any adjustment to the angle of my grip turns it into a three-finger handle.
But that’s all fine. This is a small knife, and the Micarta gives it a good, warm texture for gripping. It’s not a problem to hang on to the Yonder.
The one issue I’ve had with the handle actually comes from the crossbar lock. When I’m cutting anything large or difficult (like a big cardboard box or thick piece of cloth) the crook of my hand keeps snagging on the lock creating a hot spot. I haven’t had any trouble with accidental disengagement, but it doesn’t feel great.
Unpopular Opinion: We Need to Slow Down with Crossbar Locks
With that in mind, I’d like to take this moment to push back on the crossbar lock in general. I know people love these things because their fidgety and fun and make knives ambidextrous and easier to close one-handed, but they are objectively a worse option compared to a plain liner in 70% of the knives that have them.
These locks aren’t as strong and they add weird shapes and cutouts to handle scales that would otherwise have nice, smooth surfaces. Plus, you’re counting on the longevity of a little internal spring to keep your knife snappy and secure through years of spazzy fidgeting. I’ve never personally had a spring fail, but I’m still more inclined to trust the lock I can see and feel without having to take the knife apart.
It’s not that it’s always a bad lock, but sometimes it feels like someone cooks you a perfect good egg and then splashes pasta sauce on top. There’s a time and place.
Give me a liner or a back lock all day.
Comparison and Alternatives
The Knafs Lander feels like the obvious alternative here if you don’t like the shape of the Yonder. The two knives are different in the same way their designers are different: one likes to travel, and one likes to experiment, but somehow, they bring the exact same vibe into a room.
The Kizer Sheepdog is worth a look too. It’s larger (unless you get the mini), but there’s a similar warm, grippy experience in the handle, and it has a sheepsfoot blade that gives you something closer to a straight cutting edge.
I’d also put up the SOG Terminus XR as a worthy alternative. The handle shapes are fairly close, but the Terminus has G10 instead of Micarta, which runs a little smoother, typically. The Terminus is one of my favorite D2 steel knives. D2 steel tends to have better wear resistance, although the thicker blade interferes with that somewhat.
The Vosteed Racoon should also be mentioned here. It has a lot in common with the Yonder including a budget friendly price.
A Good Little Egg
If you want something that cuts well, feels comfortable, and stays in the pocket, this is it. It has a thin blade that’s reasonably tough and seems to be as useful out camping as it is cutting up boxes and letters in the office.
The blade shape is a little bit unique but highly functional, the action is solid and snappy, and the handle is comfortable for a lot of different hand shapes.
I still dislike the cross bar lock. That hot spot could have been so easily avoided if they had just gone with a liner lock. But I understand this is the direction the knife industry is going right now, and even with the hot spot, this does feel quite a bit stronger than the typical crossbar lock.
