LionSteel T5 Review

The LionSteel T5 came in the mail in its branded cardboard box. Inside was another branded black box, in which came the sheath and the knife.

The black leather sheath felt and smelled like pure leather right out of the box. It covered the knife spectacularly. The sheath had more than one belt loop and the strap was pretty secure.

The knife itself was wrapped inside a plastic sleeve, with the blade covered by cellophane. The finishing of the knife was the first thing that captured our eyes. It had absolutely no smudges or stains. The vertical blade grind lines were very visible and it was perfectly centered with a full tang.

The drop point seems like an excellent choice for this fixed-blade knife, as its blade geometry along with the edge holding looked great. The thickness and weight of the knife did feel a bit heavy if you are used to carrying folding knives. But once you hold it and really choke it up, it provides such a comfortable grip that the weight does not become a problem. It may take some time to get used to the extra weight, but the knife itself feels splendid.

The edges of the handles were perfectly contoured and the Micarta slab had no bumps. It was smooth with a subtle texture, which also contributes to an ergonomically friendly hold.

The LionSteel T5 features a drop point flat ground Niolox, which is a high-quality stainless steel alloy with high amounts of carbon, chromium, molybdenum and vanadium, among other elements. This makes the steel highly resistant to wear, corrosion, abrasion, and chipping. Its fine grained structure improves its toughness, edge retention, and overall performance.

Chemical composition of Niolox:

Carbon (C): 0.80%            Chromium (Cr): 12.7% – 14.50%                Molybdenum (Mo): 1.10%

Vanadium (V): 0.90%     Niobium (Nb): 0.7%

The molybdenum content in the blade steel improves machinability and hardness, while vanadium increases wear and corrosion resistance and toughness. It’s the niobium that forms hard carbides that improve wear resistance.

The blade’s spine of 0.19” with a blade thickness of 0.20” makes it good for survival tasks. It is also another reason for the 5” length of the blade. It proves to be more beneficial for tactical tasks. It also helps that the flat grind lines run from the spine up till the tip, leaving enough cutting edge for piercing tasks.

The blade’s swedge further increases the knife’s piercing capability. However, the swedge does not continue to the handle, but morphs smoothly into a well-placed thumb rest. It is good for those who like the Filipino grip for precise cutting tasks.

The drop point tip’s North center makes it a good hunting knife. It also helps that the sharpening choil is pretty large, which makes it easy to sharpen the blade. It also enables creating a spark on a ferro rod for making a fire. It is also equally easy to debur. It has a good balance between durability and slicing performance. LionSteel knives also took feedback from soldiers prior to designing and manufacturing this knife. That is also a reason why the blade’s geometry matches outdoor survival tasks.

The handle of LionSteel T5 is made with a single piece of green Micarta. Most of the fixed-blade knives come with dual slabs of Micarta screwed to the knife’s handle. But the T5 has a single piece of milled Micarta that wraps under the knife’s tang. LionSteel M4 also comes with a full tang blade under Micarta scales and works exceptionally.

The handle is well-contoured without it feeling too bulky in the hand. With a handle length of 4.8”, it perfectly into the entire palm and the texture provides a decent grip. However, the handle is slicier than it looks. But the more you use it, the grippier it gets. The strange thing is that once it is stained with dirt and hand sweat, it becomes easier to grip than when it was brand new and shiny. So you can say that the knife urges to be used more to become more ergonomically friendly.

The thumb rest on the back of the spine is comfortable, but could have been larger. The swedge also feels shorter when you try gripping it with your hand with not enough space for the thumb to hold on to.

The issue with this handle is that the lanyard only passes through the Micarta portion of the handle. It does not pass through the actual steel tang. Another itch with the handle is that the bulge plate sticking out of the handle pinches into the palm when gripping it tightly and performing cutting tasks. That loses the comfort level of the handle.

You can wrap the LionSteel T5 up in a black leather LionSteel branded sheath that fully covers the knife. However, it is only configured for right-hand carry. It comes with a loop belt with button to really secure the blade in place. It holds the knife in a double-stitched thread lining on the inside. It feels incredibly durable and genuine leather.

The sheath sits low on the hip, which makes it easy to draw the knife quickly without twisting your hand at an awkward angle. When worn in a cross draw position however, it can feel like you are wearing it a bit too low for easy retrieval. At least that is what it feels like for shorter people.

A good thing about this sheath is that you do not necessarily have to close the strap and button it in once the knife is inside. Some sheaths do get caught on the blade guard of fixed-blade knives. But this sheath’s strap does not get in the way. The overwrap is well-designed and does a great job of knife holding even if the knife is upside down in a backpack.

It does not just work well with waist belts, but also with the backpack strap, or any strap or belt for that matter. So if you are backpacking, squatting, rock climbing, or bump into a tree, the sheath will not give way.

The MOLE strap at the back of the sheath however, is a little stiff when it is brand new. But it gets softer and easier to bend over time with usage. That makes it easier to carry the knife. Once it is a little worn out, you can also hang it on to a fanny pack. The snap can get hard to get through tight webbing, but the MOLE pack of the T5 still attaches well to any belt.

A MOLE is something that helps you attach knives or multi tactical tools to your tactical backpack or fanny pack. It is commonly found on backpacking gear like the sheath. But not all sheaths come with a MOLE, so the T5 gets extra brownie points for that.

Since it is a bushcraft knife, it had to be tested in the field. And so we started by chopping hard wood, soft wood, big logs and small logs. It did not just turn out to be an excellent chopper but slicer as well. It chopped faster than we expected.

The Niolox also turned out to be really tough in the face of hard wood cutting tasks. It is heat-treated to a Rockwell hardness of 59 HRC. It may be a little lower than other Niolox blades, but it worked pretty well on the T5. It made the blade less likely to chip. However, that comes at the expense of blade retention, although not too much. If you use the knife too harshly or improperly, only then it may chip.

Next, we used the knife on a pine cone. It accomplished the job with a few blows from a batoning stick. It chopped right through the pine cones.

One thing that we noticed is that the blade of T5 tapers abruptly at the tip. Although that makes it less likely for the tip to break, it still feels edgy. Nevertheless, it accomplished its task.

The handle did not give any problems so far. It offered a pretty comfortable and smooth grip, except for the bulge plate sticking out of the handle. But if you have average sized hands, you may not reach the end part and can still hold the knife comfortably.

When it came to chopping a hard piece of oak, it took more batoning hits than it did on the pine cone. This resulted in several large knots on the T5 that got wedged, and resulted in a chipped blade. The chip was small and unnoticeable. However, this is your sign not to push the knife beyond its limits.

The high flat grind and the tall edge of T5 helped in slicing wood chips with ease. The handle is perfect for a feather sticking machine. It works pretty well because it does not pain your arm or hand with extended use. And when you hold the handle with a hammer grip directly behind the blade guard, it feels like you have achieved the optimal hold.

There is no part on the blade spine with a 90 degree angle however. All the edges are pretty well rounded off, which results in the knife’s spine being worthless when sparking it with a ferro rod. The large sharpening choil at the base of the blade creates enough spark to start a fire with a ferro rod. The thinner the rods, the better it sparks.

The blades thickness and guard makes it less ideal for food preparation. But then again, this knife was not made for food prep. So don’t consider it a flaw. It would not work as well as a kitchen knife, but does a fine job of cutting meat.

Impressively, the T5 sliced through four plastic water bottles easier than expected with a factory grind.

LionSteel T5 vs Woox Rock 62

Woox is a new company that established in 2020 and Rock 62 is its first knife. But it is the best alternative to T5, with similar price range, availability of handle materials it is available in, the blade proportion and the overall profile.

However, Rock 62 has a better Sleipner blade steel, but its sheath is inferior to T5’s. On the other hand, Woox offers a replacement sheath.

Rock 62 has a better lanyard hole than T5’s and the lanyard can easily pass through it. Its ferro rod is also not as good as T5’s and its finger groove can get a little awkward. However, it is just as good a tactical knife as LionSteel T5.

LionSteel T5 vs Demko FreeReign

Demko also introduced FreeReign recently in Blade show in early 2022, so it is also a new knife from the tactical fixed-blade category. However, it is cheaper than LionSteel’s T5 and has one of the best sheaths.

It has a very pronounced finger guard and thumb ramp as opposed to T5, which has a smaller one. But the sharpening choil on FreeReign is much smaller than on T5. Its scales are of injection-molded rubber that offers excellent ergonomics and a secure grip without creating any hot spots.

Its blade thickness of 0.18” makes it razor-sharp and is able to shave hair right out of the box, unlike T5. However, it is a little tricky for feather sticks and the sheath keeps a death grip on the knife.

Although Demko FreeReign is a great tactical knife, its cons outweigh T5’s pros.