First impressions:
- The knife arrived in a Lionsteel branded cardboard box.
Out of the box there were a few issues - the action wasn't smooth and it wasn't 100% centered. Lockup was good and so was the sharpness.
Also, it seems that the person that sharpened this knife missed a bit and sharpened a part of the recasso as well on one side.
I disassembled the knife, cleaned it on the inside and assembled it again, the centering improved and so did the action.
How to tell the clone from the genuine knife:
On the clone the torx screws are on the linerlock side and on the original they are on the show side.
Pros:
- The design. This knife has a great design from Molletta, thus has great ergonomics and looks.
It is designed as a hard use folder and certainly looks up to the task.
- The build. It has very thick 3D shaped G10 scales with nested skeletonized steel liners, thick linerlock and a pretty thick blade, so will definitely could handle hard survival tasks. No blade play whatsoever in any direction.
- Opening is quick and easy with the flipper tab.
- The details. Here are the real advantages of this knife - rounded ti backspacer, rounded spine, gimping, the lock opening, screws and deep carry reversible wire pocket clip - all of those make this knife unique and very interesting.
Cons:
- Like mentioned before, my knife had an issue where the part of the recasso was sharpened. Not a big issue for a user blade but still a finish problem.
- The action. Although it rides on ceramic bearings and the action improved after the cleaning - it still isn't as smooth as some of the other blades I have that run on bearings (doesn't fall shut).
- The clip has a bit side-to-side play.
- Has original logo and markings.
Summary:
- Overall this isn't a blade to keep on a shelf or in a box with the rest of the collection, this just won't do it justice. It is a blade that is designed and intended to be hard used and abused and I'm sure it will take a licking and keep on ticking.
Because of the build and the ergonomics, this knife became my go-to blade for tasks that require use of force and it has performed very well since.
Check out the knife here: Lionsteel KUR Clone
The original is sold here: Geniune Lionsteel KUR
More Lionsteel knives are sold here: Lionsteel knives
