Any thoughts on the lionsteel rok?

Triton

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I was wondering if anyone out there owns a lionsteel rok and if so what you think of it? I am intrigued by the retractable pocket clip even though I don't usually care for flipper folders. How does it feel in hand, how is the action, the lock etc. Inquiring minds want to know...
 
Hmmm well either I did not pose a very interesting question or else no one actually owns one. The latter alternative does not bode well for lion steel if true. I should have looked to see if they have their own forum here. Off I go... :)
 
I've been interested in the ROK, but the thick blade grind and seemingly poor heat treatment I've seen on some of their blades makes me wary. I'd be curious to know if anyone has had a good experience with it.
 
Hey there, brand new member of the forum and new owner of a lionSTEEL ROK here (the titanium and damascus version). Disclaimer, I'm far from being a knife expert, I'm merely a knife enthusiast, and I'm not a native English speaker, so if anything I write seems weird/incorrect, please feel free to ask for clarification!

Design / finish: the knife is absolutely beautiful, and the design is really well thought in terms of details. One detail I especially appreciate is the rounding of the back of the blade, which makes it really comfortable. It really feels super sturdy in hand, and the ergonomics are wonderful.
Blade: this blade is thick af and super heavy, which makes the action less snappy than with other knives, but produces a really satisfying strong "CLAC" sound when locking. I haven't used it enough yet to have an opinion on edge retention and toughness though. Also, my experience with the blade might not be relevant at all to the M390 version, except for the thickness. marrenmiller marrenmiller could you elaborate about the heat treatment issues you've seen? I just know they rely on an external company for heat treatment (described on their website), which doesn't mean it's worse or better, so I'd be curious what's been your experience with their steel.
Lock: when I received my knife, the lock was really super strong. It pushed too hard on the blade to let it have a smooth action, but maybe it's just a matter of taste. I emailed lionSTEEL to tell them about it, and they offered me to send it back to adjust it to my liking, which I didn't do because France went into lockdown in the mean time. Anyway, I ended up fixing it myself, and now the knife has a pretty smooth action. The "rotoblock" on the lock bar is a also nice feature to prevent the lock from disengaging by accident (even though I think it's strong enough to never disengage by itself unless you're severely beating the knife).
Pocket clip: I personally like it, but it has pros and cons. It makes the knife extremely enjoyable to hold as it removes any hot spot from the handle, but it makes the knife hard to put in your pocket with one hand as you have to push the button to make the pocket clip appear all while holding the knife and sliding it in your pocket.

I hope this helps, let me know if there's something else you'd like to know.
 
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I've been interested in the ROK, but the thick blade grind and seemingly poor heat treatment I've seen on some of their blades makes me wary. I'd be curious to know if anyone has had a good experience with it.

If by "seemingly poor heat treatment" you mean the YouTube fiasco, that was all largely debunked. The originator issued an apology and ultimately removed the videos. The others denounced BF and stopped coming here.
 
Lionsteel won Blade Magazine's Manufacturing Award in 2018. At the time, the ROK was their signature folder.

That should tell you something
 
If by "seemingly poor heat treatment" you mean the YouTube fiasco, that was all largely debunked. The originator issued an apology and ultimately removed the videos. The others denounced BF and stopped coming here.
I don't care about any hardness determined by a third party. I'm referring to how poorly they seem to hold an edge in cut testing. Considering the troubles I and others have seen with blades out of Maniago, I'm not thrilled to buy from Lionsteel at the moment.

If they demonstrated a good M390 heat treatment (and started grinding knives to cut better), then I'd be very interested in the ROK. Hence my interest in this thread.
 
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marrenmiller marrenmiller could you elaborate about the heat treatment issues you've seen? I just know they rely on an external company for heat treatment (described on their website), which doesn't mean it's worse or better, so I'd be curious what's been your experience with their steel.

I mean that I won't buy one without seeing an improvement in cut testing results for their M390 models. Most of their M390 knives in this testing group did terribly. I'm sure everyone has their own opinions on the cut testing, but having done similar cut testing myself I don't think I'd be happy owning a knife that performed like these did. I know they are capable of doing steels like Sleipner well.

There were some earlier controversies on the forum regarding the hardness of some of their blades, but I don't care about the hardness being tested. I only really care about how they hold an edge, and that part seems to be lackluster. You can absolutely botch a heat treatment and obtain 60 HRC but still be left with a bad knife.
 
I don't care about any hardness determined by a third party. I'm referring to how poorly they seem to hold an edge in cut testing. Considering the troubles I and others have seen with blades out of Maniago, I'm not thrilled to buy from Lionsteel at the moment.

If they demonstrated a good M390 heat treatment (and started grinding knives to cut better), then I'd be very interested in the ROK. Hence my interest in this thread.

Ah. Understood and fair enough.
 
I mean that I won't buy one without seeing an improvement in cut testing results for their M390 models. Most of their M390 knives in this testing group did terribly. I'm sure everyone has their own opinions on the cut testing, but having done similar cut testing myself I don't think I'd be happy owning a knife that performed like these did. I know they are capable of doing steels like Sleipner well.

There were some earlier controversies on the forum regarding the hardness of some of their blades, but I don't care about the hardness being tested. I only really care about how they hold an edge, and that part seems to be lackluster. You can absolutely botch a heat treatment and obtain 60 HRC but still be left with a bad knife.

I see, thanks for the clarification. I guess time will tell how the blade on mine will hold its edge...
 
I see, thanks for the clarification. I guess time will tell how the blade on mine will hold its edge...
Let us know, because I'd be thrilled to see them doing it well. The ROK is so neat that I'd love to have a reason to pick one up.
 
marrenmiller marrenmiller I will! Although being locked down at home I tend to switch a lot more between my knives, so it might take a little time before it needs sharpening (well, I guess it would highlight a problem otherwise). Also keep in mind that my experience might be very different from what you might get with the M390 blade.

Something else I've noticed while playing with this knife is that the detent ball is a bit too low on the lock bar. When you disengage the lock and the flipper tab falls on your thumb, the blade hasn't passed the detent ball yet, and you have to push it past manually. That's a criticism I've seen in other reviews so I was aware of this when I bought the knife and it doesn't bother me that much, but it's something you might want to know if the fidget factor is very important to you.
On the other hand, still about the detent ball, I love how the blade is pulled in by the detent only once it's super close to its fully closed position (it tiggers exactly when the tip of the blade gets at the edge of the frame), which gives a pleasant impression of precision.
 
The ROC seems like a nice knife, like all the Lionsteel knives that I own. I honestly have not carried or used it enough to form much of an opinion as I have more knives than I really need. Also, I like the clip.

Just for reference, the ROC is the third one down from the top.

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Action on mine seems just right, certainly not overly stiff.
Thanks for confirming. This makes me think more and more that mine has/had a problem... I've fixed that stiffness (removed the "rotoblock" and pulled on the lock bar to make it less strong), but when I flick it open it still makes kind of a friction sound which I don't have with my other frame locks. This one being my first knife with a damascus blade, I can't tell if it's related to the damascus texture or not though.
 
A small update, I still have nothing to say about edge retention, but there is something I noticed while cleaning inside the handle. There were a few metal spikes leftover from machining (I don't know how that's called), and they catched the q-tip when I passed it inside. I managed to remove them with a small screwdriver, but I was really disappointed to see this on a knife of that price. :(
 
I own a Bronze Ti LionSteel Rok and I like it very much.

The action and feel of the Rok is excellent and the integral Ti frame w/the retractable clip are "trick" and at the leading edge of current knife design. Mine also comes w/a contrasting blue annodized clip and M390 steel which is icing on the cake.

Attention to detail is highlighted by the use of a inlayed hardened steel lock bar end to prevent lock stick and the rotating lock bar lock at all Lionsteel folders are noted for.

The blade length at 3.25" is a bit shorter than I prefer to carry but that has nothing to do w/the quality of the knife, which is exceptional. Frankly, I think that the knife is so nice, that it's one of the knives that I own that I prefer NOT to carry because I don't want to damage it in any way.

The only negative IMO is that if you do actually plan to buy/carry the Rok is that the retracting clip which (as cool as it is) is actually annoying to use in practice because you have to press the button in before clipping it to the edge of your pocket and the tension on the button spring really isn't strong enough to keep it in your pocket if you run or bend over in a way where it can fall out.

Since I don't carry my Rok, this clip design "fault" is not a problem for me.

What more do you need to know?
 
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