MICKEY YURCO’S URBAN GINUNTING PUTS A MODERN TWIST ON A TRADITIONAL WEAPON.

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY MICHAEL JANICH

Categorizing Mickey Yurco as a “knife maker” is a bit like describing Leonardo da Vinci as a “painter.” Yes, it’s an accurate statement, but it falls way short.

Although Mickey is fully capable of creating stunningly beautiful art knives, his best work combines his skills as a craftsman, his knowledge as a martial artist and his in-depth understanding of real violence. A perfect example of this powerful synergy is his Tene mini ginunting. I recently had a chance to try it for myself.

Design Origins

The genesis of the Tene design was actually an aluminum training version of a Filipino ginunting sword I designed for the 2016 Martial Blade Camp training event. Yurco successfully tested there for the associate instructor ranking in my system of martial blade concepts (MBC).

Although not practical as a self-defense tool, as a martial arts weapon, the ginunting has some very unique design qualities I tried to accentuate in my expression of it. When I explained the features of my design, which was beautifully executed by Keen-Edge Knives, I could hear the wheels turning in Mickey’s head. As we trained combatively with the ginunting, his evil grin grew even broader.

Yurco is skilled at making both leather and Kydex sheaths and provided both options for the Tene.

Several months later, Yurco sent me photos of knives he was working on that were inspired by my ginunting design. He had scaled down the pattern and streamlined it to make it compact enough for urban carry.

He also refined the handle design to complement the smaller overall size and comfortably support both standard-grip and reverse-grip tactics. Intrigued by the concept, I knew I had to have one. Yurco was all too happy to oblige.

The Tene

Named in honor of his Filipina daughter-in-law, the Tene takes the key attributes of the ginunting and distills them into a format suitable for street carry.