Ronin 2

Ordered this knife Saturday, received it Monday. I've owned Spyderco knives since the early 80s and I own over a dozen of them. Most of my earlier Spydercos were made either in Colorado or Seki, Japan, but many of my later, less expensive knives are from China. Regardless, they still maintain an edge (I only use the Spyderco triangle system on all of my good knives) and the fit and finish is great. This knife is no exception. I've been looking for a smallish, fixed blade edc that I could carry a number of ways, so I opted for this knife. Mine came sharp enough to shave and the fit and finish was as good as my more expensive knives. My only complaint is that the kydex sheath is very tight and putting the knife in and withdrawing it were very difficult and not conducive to quick deployment. Luckily, I work with kydex, so a hairdryer and a few minutes solved the problem. I'd like to take a moment to address some comments by other purchasers who said the knife looked or felt "cheap" or that because it was made in Taiwan, it was cheap. First, maybe they got a defect, as I said, mine was close to perfect. Yes, the blade is thinner than that of the Yojimbo, but it was done to reduce weight because it's a full tang knife. It's in no way an overly thin blade. This blade was meant for self defense, not hunting or bushcraft usage. Second, the Spyderco factory in Taiwan makes excellent blades. Taiwan is not China! I also own the Techno, a $300 knife at one time, made from fine, powdered steel...in Taiwan. The Taipei factory is on a par with either of the Colorado or Seki plants and a search of knife forums will confirm this. Overall I expect this knife to perform as well as my other Spydercos. If not, I'll did an update!

Love it. Took me a long time to find the “right” kind of fixed blade that I wanted to carry, I’ve always carried a folder but wanted something small, light, tactical but still utilitarian, intimidating but friendly, non threatening looking, etc to compliment the folder..and I most definitely found all of it with the Ronin 2. Excellent craftsmanship, tough steel (you’ll see what i mean when you sharpen it), comes scary sharp out of the box. Tip looks frail-ish but trust me, it isn’t, nor is the sheath as some reviews have stated. The handle is a bit small but I believe it was designed this way, there’s no doubt that this knife was designed with self defense in mind. Despite having the typically slippery-ish G-10 handle, the ergonomics of this knife (for me) seem to contour to the hand, resulting in a rock solid grip and a feeling of confidence in a scary situation. I can’t stress how light this thing is, it’s lighter than my iphone. Very well balanced. In certain carry positions (such as scout), you’ll completely forget it’s there. Super easy to conceal for a fixed blade, the whole thing in the sheath (which is also great and holds the knife well, if you dont push the knife in far enough it can appear small but it isnt), can easily disappear into the pocket of your jeans if you don’t want it on your belt. Very sleek, not thick whatsoever as you can see in the pics! One of my favorite knives of all time now, and by far my favorite thus far from spyderco. Grab one, you’ll love it!

Awesome knife, as expected from Spyderco. It should be said though, that this is not meant to be a utility knife, for everyday use. The tip of the blade is thin and sharp, and meant for slashing. It is not meant to bee used in any way for prying or any hard use. Regardless of where it was made, this knife has the feel and function of a well designed and built quality knife. The grind on the blade was even and equal on both sides, the sharpness is more than adequate for a factory produced blade. Overall fit and finish is perfect. Only issue I had with the whole package, was the sheath, Kydex or whatever it is. The blade would not fit into it easily or without tremendous force. I had to shave the edge where the sharp side of the blade makes contact with the sheath, with a razor blade. Once I got that shaped correctly, so the blade could be inserted with one hand yet still have more than enough retention on the blade, it was perfect. I now carry this knife with me everyday. In fact I like the belt clip on this sheath so much, that I purchased another Spyderco belt clip to use on my Kershaw Skyline fixed blade, which surprisingly came with the sheath, but without a clip. I have wanted to buy this knife for over a year, but when in saw the price was lower than the past (apparently many spydies were on sale) I finally broke down and got one. So glad that I did.

So I was told to get this knife because I wanted a edc fixed blade knife . Opening the box was a treat to see the quality and craftsmanship put into a beautiful tool. It's light in the hand and has a fantastic cutting edge from the factory. The sheath is well made and is held together well over all I give the knife 5 stars . Now for the part I didn't like The size caught me off guard . I was carrying a scharade fixed blade that hung off my belt in a horizontal angle and the belt over hang went right over the top of the belt attachment. We're this sheath does not accommodate to being carried owb appendix now with the extra inch it will make it hard to carry this knife without it printing to bad. The size of the knife is a pro and a con into itself I'm aware you want a bigger knife for self protection however the added bulk (not weight bulk but over all realestate is takes up ) Now I'm not going to hate on the knife because I have to change the way I carry the knife but it would have been a cherry on top of it would have had the ability to hang where my old edc knife carried But all in all I'll adapt to change and I still love the knife worth every penny out of the box just the 2% I do not like affecting the review.

At first, I felt a little disappointed. I have a Yojimbo 2 that I love, and hold great respect for its designer, Michael Janich. The Yojimbo 2 is obviously a high-quality knife that's made in the USA. The Taiwan-made Ronin 2 seemed a bit cheap in comparison, but it also costs $50 less. So, I actually got what I paid for, and that is how it should be. My next concern was the sheath; the knife didn't fit snugly. Then, I realized that I wasn't pushing it into the sheath as far as it could go. Doing so made it much harder to draw, but instead of tugging on its handle, the correct way to draw the knife is to grip its handle and press the sheath away by using your thumb. The thumb-release method may or may not work well for you, depending on how the knife is carried. You will need a torx bit if you want to remove the G-Clip. Once you've decided on where you want to position the clip, use a thread-locking compound to keep the screws from working loose. A minor issue I had was the lack of jimping on the blade's spine where it meets the handle. That's where I'm used to placing my thumb when holding a folding knife in a traditional blade-down hammer grip. While the spine of the Yojimbo 2 also lacks jimping, it is present on the handle's liner in the correct location. I had to be reminded that both knives were designed to be used with one's thumb fully extended along the blade's spine, in order to take full advantage of a Wharncliffe blade's potential and generate maximum cutting power. The Ronin 2 and Yojimbo 2 are both purpose-built fighting knives, as Michael Janich's "Martial Blade Concepts" (MBC) videos make clear. As for ergonomics, the size and sculpting of the Ronin 2 handle is identical to that of the Yojimbo 2. With a traditional hammer grip, the handles of both knives might feel too small if you have large hands. However, employing the Janich MBC fighting grip, with the hand as far forward as it will go, and the thumb fully extended along the spine, the ergonomics are spot-on. The knife is also comfortable to hold in a blade-forward, ice-pick grip with the thumb on top, but you'll lose the deep-cutting advantage of the Wharncliffe blade. In summary, it may be unfair to compare the Ronin 2 with the Yojimbo 2. Taken on its own, as a Janich-designed fixed-blade knife, purpose-built for the MBC style of self-defense, the Ronin 2 is clearly capable of doing its job well. What else could you ask of it? Although it won't be my EDC because concealment by a jacket or sweater would compromise its legality, I'm very pleased with my purchase.

Ok I am a fan of spyderco but that never influences my reviews. Having said that, this is a great knife for me. I am a fan of wharncliffe knives and this one doesn't disappoint me. It is comfortable and fits well into my medium/large size hands. It is unbelievable sharp and has a great edge. I personally don't like the FRN scales on fixed blade knives but they work just fine. They are removable, which is a must for my fixed blade knives. This knife should work for any job you have. It comes with a spyderco sheath which works well but I prefer a kydex sheath but to each their own. The spyderco G clip can be used on any sheath you decide to use and is my second favorite right behind tek lok.

Pros -thin, lightweight, spyderco craftsmanship -tight in sheath Cons -thin -tight in sheath, hard to draw As you can see in the video & pics, the bottom of the knife where your pinkie finger goes is quite small (Pic A), so you don’t get a full natural feeling type grip like with you would with the pm2 or pm3. HOWEVER, this changes when you hold it in it intended design with the thumb on the top of the blade which takes some getting used to(pic B). Also I was surprised that being a self defense design, the draw from the sheath is difficult. Since it’s in so solidly it takes some strength to draw which is not a problem if you could get all your fingers on the handle. Mounted on the right side and can’t get enough fingers on the handle to muster enough force to draw from(Pic C) so actually I feel that I’ll have to wear this crossdraw style on my left side in order to feel that I can get an accurate pull. Overall I think it’s a keeper but will take a lot of specific practice.

I recently ordered the Spyderco Ronin 2 fixed blade knife from Amazon. The cutting edge came razor sharp. I like the balance, light weight quality and feel of this knife. The knife moves comfortably in my hand from saber to hammer grip. I like the sheath. It's tight fitting and holds the knife without rattling. After working the blade and sheath, the knife can be easily drawn and holstered. This is an excellent self defense tool. It performs as good as it looks... Awesome Knife! Amazon sent the knife via FedEx. It was delivered securely wrapped and early! Thank You Amazon.com!