Latest WE/Torbé Joint Fuses Karambit Ring to Wharnie Blade

Maciej Torbé and WE Knife Co. have something pretty spicy cooking for April. Check out the Yardbird, a compact, high-tech knife that fuses a karambit handle to an EDC-ready wharncliffe blade shape.

Maciej Torbé is a maestro when it comes to visual panache. In both custom and production work, he is always pushing stylistic boundaries – and always in different ways, too: as an example, look at the Civivi Maxwell and Aratra; both are deeply distinct from a visual standpoint, both come from Torbé, but they are wildly different from a visual point of view.

Which brings us to the Yardbird. Speaking strictly in terms of the blade shape, what we have here is a wharncliffe with a bit of futuro-techinical embellishment. But the avant-gardism doesn’t stop there. This blade’s been put into the handle in an upslanted fashion, allowing users to approach their cutting chores at an angle if they so choose, in a way that brings to mind the Japanese kiridashi. Taking all this into the equation, the Yardbird seems to walk the line between tactical and everyday applications in a way that leaves neither side out in the cold. And, because this is a premium WE release, you get a steel that’s up to double duty, too, in CPM-20CV, which has long been a favorite with the prolific manufacturer.

When your eyes move to the handle, you see that Torbé went all out in terms of the styling, with an oversized frame made from titanium scales, embellished with no shortage of CNC work to play up the futuristic vibe. Then, laid over the scales on both front and back is an inlay of a second material – it can be in one of three different custom carbon fibers or, our personal favorite (for obvious reasons), orange G-10. Of course it’s really the karambit-style finger ring, with its integrated spine-side clip, that draws the eye most of all here; but don’t let that distract you from another interesting element of the Yardbird which is that, in all shown configurations, its button lock mechanism is situated on what, from the right hander’s point of view, is typically the offside of the knife.

The Yardbird looks like a unique piece to say the least. It will be hitting shelves next month.

Knife in Featured Image: We Knife Co. Yardbird

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