KUR Knife of the year why?

C

clearkevin

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Oct 7, 2014
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I am a big fan of the KUR have had mine for a few months now and think that it is a great blade. That said I would love to hear people's thoughts on what makes it knife of the year?
cost? construction? quality? size? weight? are there specific listed critera?
 
Overall Knife of the Year at Blade Show is voted on by the other exhibitors at the show and they don't need to specify why they voted that way.
 
Here are my reasons. It's an extremely well-built medium flipper. Solid construction with nice design cues like integrated backspacer/lanyard hole, nice wire clip, good jimping, great flipper action, good access to the hidden liner lock and that broad/thick full flat grind blade. Best of all is the affordable price point. The G-10 handle offers good traction but I'm a sucker for the innovative Metamorphosis handle.
 
From the internet -
"BLADE Magazine awarded knives across 15 categories. A number of factors influence the judging, including originality, utility, design, materials and construction and aesthetics. Lionsteel took the Overall Knife Of The Year Award for the second year running, this time for their Metamorposis, an aluminum handled knife with a heat sensitive coating that changes from black to a camouflage pattern when you hold it in your hand."

So it was the special version of the KUR that won the award and I guess that was a factor.
It would be interesting to know which models were under consideration for this award - the finalists. I imagine voting members nominate models and then vote on them.
 
Originality AKA innovative seems to be a determining factor if the recent past Overall Knife of the Year winners indicate.

Every one of the recent ones had something original/innovative although detractors may call it gimicky.

  • 2016 Overall Knife of the Year: LionSteel KUR Metamorphosis (color shifting handle based on temperature)
  • 2015 Overall Knife of the Year: LionSteel TRE (thumb disc, flipper opening or none of them)
  • 2014 Overall Knife of the Year: CRKT Hi Jinx (Ken Onion design made by LionSteel)
  • 2013 Overall Knife of the Year: Zero Tolerance 0454 (first triple layer composite blade)
  • 2012 Overall Knife of the Year: Zero Tolerance 0888 (composite blade)
  • 2011 Overall Knife of the Year: Zero Tolerance 0777 (sub-frame lock with composite blade)
 
Well I just received the one I ordered from knifecenter from the labor day sale.
Blackwash and black G-10. Very good looking.
Pretty much what I expected from watching vids.
I'll say this. No knife with a pocket clip this tight should be winning an award. Action on mine was weird too. Gritty and bumpy. I blasted the pivot with canned air and little brass colored particles came out. Sprayed with WD-40, blasted more and out came a bunch more.
Seems pretty good now.
I'd consider loosening the clip but I'm not sure how the thing is attached (in case I loosen too much).
Oh, and disengaging the lock was making a squeaking noise. That might have resolved.
 
After roughly a week of use, I got mixed feelings about this knife.

I got a KUR Metamorphosis.

It's now reasonably broke in, about a thousand actions.
I cleaned it with an air compressor, lubed it with used various T3 oils, doodled with the pivot tightening but I did not took the knife apart.

The good

I absolutely love the shape of the blade and the steel used
Nice thick blade
Very easy to sharpen to a laser
The ergonomics of the handle are some of the best of my collection
The leather pouch is really nice
The color change is an amazing technology


The Bad

No clip! Pouch use mandatory for safety reasons (see below)
A bit slippery, even for aluminium scales
The knife does not flip, unless you hold it pointing to the ground (but that's cheating!). It's a good flicker tho.
The first 80% of the action is lightning fluid, then it becomes coarse and gritty.



The Ugly

Color changing coating is incredibly brittle. Even a light impact may chip it.
Not a safe tool. The knife can open itself in your pocket. When broke in, it takes very little to get it open. I added a Paracord lanyard and just holding it upside down by the lanyard and slightly shaking it is enough to get it open. I absolutely won't carry that knife in my pocket in its current state.


Overall it's a knife with tremendous potential, but impaired with issues that need to be addressed to make it actually usable.
I don't like to buy novelty/collector knives, and I think this is what I did here.

I'm wondering why this knife, as promising as it is, was able to get such an award at Blade Show, considering its flaws.
 
My KUR Metsmorphosis is a very early sample from early June 2016.

It does have issues with the Metamorphosis costing chipping away. Mine has the clip because that's how they came early on. Underneath the clip it has chipped a tiny hole in the costing.

Flipper action on mine is great! It'll flip even pointing it straight up against gravity with no wrist assist.
 
The knife that was shown was the KUR with the metamorphosis scales. Which was the version I wanted but has been sold out for a while. I purchased the version with the black G-10 scales and I love it! The blade looks thick and has a great flat grind. The flipper just pops open, it doesn't need any assistance. And it opens with a delightful thwack. The blade wont open when it's closed no matter how hard I tried and the bearings are so smooth.. My favorite knife right now.
 
I love mine. However, Lionsteel is replacing the scales due to the fact I had a fairly large chip due to the tight clip, which has since been removed. They also shipped out a very nice leather case. I bought it from GP Knives and they have been very easy to work with and very helpful with my "issues". I think I'm going to pick up the Black / Brown G10 when I can find one as one of my EDC carries. The metamorphosis will most likely become a shelf queen.
 
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