There must be something in the fall/early winter air that makes people think of demanding outdoor expeditions, because we’ve seen a notable uptick in bushcraft-style releases lately. Latest exhibit is the Real Steel Yak, a rugged folder with lots of bushcraft blade design cues.
Ah, the yak – a noble beast. Nature’s answer to one of mankind’s oldest questions: what if a bull had a lot of hair? We see a fair number of knives named after animals, but usually makers will go for things like jungle cats, birds of prey, top of the food chain sea creatures. It’s refreshing to see good ol’ bos grunniens getting some love from the knife namers, because frankly, it embodies a lot of qualities that many people look for in their pocket cutlery: sturdiness, dependability, flexibility. It also, notably, does not talk back.
I am still not sold on a folder as a bushcraft knife. At least this one has a lockback. I had the liner-lock outright fail on a TOPS BOB folder.
Read the whole thing at KnifeNews.com