Very interesting that you posted this because I started digging around last night on YouTube looking for field usages and reviews. Since this model and other Lionsteel products are European, you will find many, many reviews in other languages such as German, Swedish and Russian which are hard to understand for me other than viewing the action and also reading some of the user comments made in English. I am going to digress a little bit in here and say as to how much I really appreciate living in the U.S. (
I'm an English speaking Euro transplant something that many do not know!) because we are so spoiled by having easier access to fine makers such as Nathan and Survive! so that we can choose to be more picky and "snooty" about our knives rather than "settling" for say 1095 steels and so forth... Like I said, I digressed!
Anyway lo and behold I came across this video by a Russian guy which had English subtitles and this guy apparently has been doing very, very hard "use" (
let's say abuse) reviews of many knife models. If you have watched some of Guy's past videos and some of Nathan's videos, you get an idea as to what I am referring to! So at one point toward the end of the review of the Knife Research Legion model, this reviewer is furiously banging on the stock with a hammer (
metal on metal) while batoning into a securely clamped 2 x 4 treated wood. All of a sudden, the steel fatigues, started to shed shards and then boom! it cracks and splits from atop the fuller where he was banging backwards through to where the handle guard was. Done for! After reading the English viewer comments, I came to the consensus that the blame was more directed at the inferior HT (
purportedly less than 60 HRC, say 58-59ish although the official retailer stats show as supposedly 60 HRC) plus the erroneous location of the fuller groove. The reviewer was going to send the knife back to Lionsteel for some research and determination but I was spent and did not follow any more to find out if there was anything else on this matter.
Summary: I will not be pursuing the Legion model, although I can never fathom such hard usage by yours truly! That said, although I aesthetically like a fuller groove, after reading Nathan's comments and opinion over there on the CPK sub forum regarding as to how a properly implemented fuller groove not only saves some weight but also actually strengthens the structural integrity of a blade, I will henceforth put my full trust in what and how Nathan does it on his version of the CPK camp / survival knife. I did not come across any questioning or doubt about the Sleipner steel so in my conclusion if someone is interested in the Lionsteel's iteration of a 6.5" or so camp / hiking knife, the M7 which effectively was a Legion update, upgrade and replacement (
Knife Research also has Enki models which are similar) would seemingly be a better option. At this point, I'm out and I will just wait and try my luck / take my chances with landing the future CPK and/or Survive! 7/7