That is one of the more interesting pieces of olive wood I have ever seen, I usually pass on buying it sight unseen because it can be a very plain looking wood but that example has a little flame in the grain, very nice. Nice review Nick.
Somewhat to my surprise, I picked up one of these about a week ago (before your review!). I really like the overall aesthetics (mine is micarta), the blade is wonderful, I prefer a somewhat lighter pull and I'm not overly bothered by some of the issues you raise. For me, it's a solid win! I've come to really like Lionsteel's modern traditional slip joints. I've got the "Thrill" and "Shuffler" as well.
This is a great looking knife and I really want to love it. I'm usually with you on the whole scale gap thing, I'd take a guess that maybe, just maybe, Lionsteel left those gaps in the wood inlays to account for the expansion/contraction of wood over time, depending on what part of the world the knife was getting sent to. I think if they had perfect gaps on the knife inlays, it could eventually lead to cracking around the screws, but perhaps it could have just been bad fit and finish. Just my two cents, thanks for the great review Nick!
Great video Nick! I’ve got the Jade green version with the black handle and it’s a masterpiece. Thanks for a great video. Always like your take. Take care
I have this knife with the carbon fiber inserts, and I love it, picked it up at the same time as the proper and I’m surprised this knife doesn’t get more love
I love the look of slipjoints but I just hate carrying them because of the lack of a pocket clip, I just want a modern traditional with a deep carry clip! Is there a rule that they have to lack such a useful feature?!
Kire EDC Look at the Lionsteel Gitano... Almost 3.25 inch blade modern clip point slippy with pocket clip www.collectorknives.net/product-category/lion-steel-knives/lionsteel-gitano/
For those of you wondering what Santos wood is: Santos mahogany (scientific name: Myroxylon balsamum) is also called balsamo (English) and palo de balsamo (Central America) in the lumber business. ... The typical log produces a large amount of knot-free lumber. This tree is well known for the resin, called balsam or balsamo, that it produces. Pulled from google.
Nice review as always lol. I just picked up my first “modern traditional”, the MKM Cellina designed by Burnley. M390, titanium w/micarta inlay. And it’s also ground very thin and a really great walk n talk. Finally and one of the best parts is the slip that comes with the cellina. If you get a chance you should check one out. I would love to hear your thoughts on it. Thank you 🙏
I have been looking at one of these for quite some time so thank you for the review. I like the idea of modern traditional Knife, and would have loved to see this with a pocket clip. Purists out there, please hear me out before claiming that it’s sacrilegious to put a pocket clip on the traditional knife. The successful design integration of Pena and JE made knives to include pocket clips does not take away from the aesthetic and adds to the carryability and utility of the tool. I would have totally overlooked the gaps in the handle, if this best man had a pocket clip.
Hey Nick, can you review the Civivi Exarch? Interested to see how it stacks up against the Metamorph and others in that price range. Great job on these reviews, one of the best knife/edc channels around.
Thanks for the review. Pretty knife. It's a shame they can't align everything and make the wood inlays sit flush. Heck, my Civivi Rustic Gent has significantly smoother finishing for half the price. Yes, it's D2 as opposed to M390 but still...
I’ve bought a few Italian traditional and modern traditional knives. This wasn’t my favourite. If you want sharp, try the MKM/Mikita Celina. What I really didn’t like with the Bestman was the double pivot, so I picked up the two blade, but it’s too bulky and heavy and your still left with a knife that looks like it put modularity over proper finish. All round a disappointment. Good idea, but no, I’d take the Celina, or I love the JE (I have one with cf covers). I think what you’re missing here is that these are assembled knives in the modern style, not hafted traditionals. Crowning and chamfering has replaced hafting as a deliberate choice. It’s not my preference either, but the MKM Celina does the same thing, but more successfully.
Yes, there are layers stacked, but mine is perfectly aligned. The back spine-spring and shoulder of the blade are rounded for comfort. My Micarta scales have no “gaps”, and to tell you the truth, I don’t see any on your scales either. When the blade is open, there is chamfer, by it’s necessary when the blade is closed. When closed, the chamfer is smooth, and finished nicely. Your pocket wear will happy when carried.
Wood makes everything less scary apparently. You can have the same gun in black metal and wood and people will say the black one should be banned instead of the wooden one version
Did they change completely, their heat treatment on M390 steel? I see big difference and it is not only a couple hrc higher, it also feels much better quality heat treatment, on their newer produced blades with M390.
@@tacticalcenter8658 Sorry for the late response.How does that translate in Lionsteel's M390 performance? Bad carbides? Easily to chip edge? Less edge retention?
Would be fun to have Nick check out the MKM Cellina, ive had mine for a while and i like it alot, checks alot of the boxes Nick feels lacking on this one🙂
I think the thick edge issue started and ended with the Roundhead--now years ago--Mike at CK addressed that immediately. So check out the Shuffler for example--mine is very thin behind the edge.
Is the blade crowned? Because I would want a crowned back spring with a crowned spine, so everything not being flush isn't a big deal to me. Aside from the handle inlays. Mainly the price is very compelling and it might actually get me back into "traditional" knives when I pick one up.
I am going to assume they are using stabilized wood, which has all of the moisture and air present in normal wood replaced with an epoxy resin. This makes it much more dimensionally stable. The gaps are likely just due to a lack of finishing work, which usually has to be done by hand. As a general rule, labor is more expensive than materials. So if someone spent that extra time making everything flush and straight, you now have a $200 knife.
Not a fan of the boxy shape of the scales. Sharp angles just aren't attractive to me when it comes to knives. Also not a fan of wood on knives either, looks cheap IMO... I'd definitely go with a micarta option. I do like the blade shape, and it's a great steel. If they smoothed out the corners on the scales a bit, it'd be more compelling to me.
Depends on the wood . The grips on my Ruger mark 3 hunter has a gorgeous chocobolo. With that said I haven’t seen it on any knives . ( tho I’ll admit I haven’t looked.)
Maybe I've been watching too many of your videos, because the first thing that jumped out at me was the gap around the scales, and I knew immediately that was the ugly. Like you say. modern traditionals are a great trend IMO, but they need to compete with well-built traditional knives at a similar (or even at a budget) price point. My $15 Rough Ryder Pipe Doctor has better all around fit and finish.
In my experience the lion steel modern traditionals just dont have very good f&f as a rule. Very unfortunate because they have some very attractive options. That's not to say I dont own a few.
M390 from LionSteel is not good steel. It's performance is very low for what m390 should be doing. I'd rather have the old school steel than fake m390. Don't use m390 if you can't do it right. Use something else you can do right. Those that expect m390 to perform like M390 and match the advertising that LionSteel says... Will be getting ripped off. It's very bad.
I'm going to have to disagree with this. I have a lion steel TRE and it's m390 is...very good. Holds a great edge for a long time. They had a problem in 2018 with m390. That problem is no longer an issue.
