Lionsteel--are they all this good?!

[jfk1110]

I have and had a few made by them for other companies, i.e. DPX GEAR and POHL FORCE!!
NIOLOX was the steel used and I found everything about the knives to be top shelf. I only have one knife out of 32 with m390, and honestly it's no better or worse than any other steel. I switch edc often and clean and strop any knife I carried before I put it away.

 

[Grandmaster]

I also have a dpx hest in niolox, I found the steel to hold a good edge, and the knife is a beast

 

[NicoColt1911]

Sweet piece of steel right there.
Lionsteel did not win blade show manufacturing awards for no reason.
I have a few of their knives, and besides nitpicking on details I have very little complaints on them.
Their alu handle anodizing could be a bit more rough for extra grip.
The ROK has a double detent, but then again so has ZT's 0562...


The only slip-up they made that I am aware of recently, is their QC missed some poor heat treated M390.

Is there some evidence that these were isolated incidents? The information I have is from three different knives across a considerable amount of time that tested as low as 50.9 HRC. All three knives tested below 57.

They apparently outsource the heat treatment, and need to have a serious discussion with that company. At present, I cannot justify buying any of their M390 products. M390 at <57 HRC would probably be outperformed by 154CM.

If you refer to the whole LTK video incident then I have to tell you that the whole thing has been resolved IMHO. LTK deleted the video. The Lionsteel Collector's Knives Sheepfoot (stated hardness 58-60hrc IIRC) that LTK had tested at 51 hrc was tested as 59.1 hrc after that. In his follow up video (also deleted) LTK admitted that not a single knife was out of specification.

I recommend reading the original thread here on blade forums and Collectorknives' comment under this Nick Shabazz video:

 

[bigsurbob]

I have a Lionsteel Bolus CF in M390, and I couldn't be happier with it. I have been using this little slipjoint for everything from EDC to camp tasks and whittling drift wood, and it has held an edge better that just about any knife I own (barring a couple in ZDP-189 and similar steels).

maybe the CK exclusives were HT'd differently, but I would bet the M390 in mine is not soft.

Are you at Pfeiffer Beach taking that pic?

 

[dman62]

Lionsteel makes a fine knife. The heat treat on my three seems fine. Check out Viper Knives as well.

 

[eon blue apocalypse]

The only lionsteel I have is the 2-blade bestMAN with CF scales, and the fit and finish is perfect (as good as my Hinderers and CRK) and the M390 is just fine, thanks!

I will definitely be acquiring more lionsteel knives!

 

[Glenn Goodlett]

My The only one I don't really carry is the Bestman. I concluded slipjoints weren't for me until the Thrill came out.

 

[psquared]

I have a Ti Spine, a few Operas, a mini and a Lion Steel made HEST.

The fit and finish, at first glance, looks to be very good. Disappointingly I have needed to spend a lot of time rebevelling all of them as, out of the factory, on a Sharpmaker’s 20 degree slots, I was hitting the shoulder. The HEST has thick blade stock so it might be excusable there but the rest are 3mm stock or should be (not sure why the Ti Spine is made with 3.7mm stock).

I don’t actually use any of them very often as, notwithstanding the rebevel, my perception is that the edges don’t have the stability of other knives that I have reprofiled. When I do use them I seem to spend more time touching them up than I do with other brands.

My opinion, based on the limited sample that I have, is that they are really very nice pocket jewellery but aren’t as “slicey” as I expect from my pocket knives.

 

[GatorFlash1]

2014 Blade Magazine Overall Knife of the Year was a LionSteel knife, sold by CRKT, designed by Ken Onion. I am glad I bought one! It was call Hi Jinx.

 

[PirateSeulb]

I have a Ti Spine, a few Operas, a mini and a Lion Steel made HEST.

The fit and finish, at first glance, looks to be very good. Disappointingly I have needed to spend a lot of time rebevelling all of them as, out of the factory, on a Sharpmaker’s 20 degree slots, I was hitting the shoulder. The HEST has thick blade stock so it might be excusable there but the rest are 3mm stock or should be (not sure why the Ti Spine is made with 3.7mm stock).

I don’t actually use any of them very often as, notwithstanding the rebevel, my perception is that the edges don’t have the stability of other knives that I have reprofiled. When I do use them I seem to spend more time touching them up than I do with other brands.

My opinion, based on the limited sample that I have, is that they are really very nice pocket jewellery but aren’t as “slicey” as I expect from my pocket knives.

I think the HEST might have been intended to be a Convex edge don't know so much for the other models mentioned but if you changed them up to a convex that might help your edge stability.

 

[xraso]

Are you at Pfeiffer Beach taking that pic?

Can't remember the specific beach name where I took that pic, but it was on the northern Oregon coast if that helps

 

[ourgon]

Satin finish on Gitano is very disappointing. I bought also g-10 and knife is even worse. With grind line on swedge rounded like in cheap market knife. Blade scratched new from dealer, also pin on pocket clip is messed up from hammering it into scale, like they showed in assembly video. I'm going to send back second one for sure, have hard time to decide about micarta one. Except that messed up satin, rest is quite ok. Maybe I'm too much spoiled after perfect WE knives.