One of my favorite things about Blade HQ, and one of the big reasons I’ve worked here as long as I have, is our commitment to bringing you the best knives possible, no matter where they’re from or how recognizable they are. To that end, Blade HQ will often run exclusives of lesser known knives. In this case, the LionSteel TM1.
Are LionSteel Knives good?
LionSteel is famous for producing some of the best integral knives on the market.
When I think of LionSteel, I think of two things:
- First is integrals. Integral knives are made a little differently than most. Instead of scales with screws and spacers, integral knives, or “solid knives” as they call them, have a handle milled out of one solid block of material. LionSteel is famous for these and has even won awards for manufacturing quality because of them.
- Second is the archeologist-turned-knife-designer Michele Pensato—known better by his nickname “Molletta.” His designs speak to me, and judging by sales data, they speak to most of the knife world too.
So, Blade HQ teamed up with LionSteel to create an exclusive variant of a knife that combines these two things beautifully to create the LionSteel TM1.
Let’s talk about this special knife!
What Makes the TM1 Special?
Integral knives are most often made with metals like titanium or aluminum, but not the TM1. Instead, this knife opts for either micarta or carbon fiber.
Using laminates like these makes machining harder because they’re so fibrous. But LionSteel isn’t afraid of a little challenge.
As the mill cuts away, it leaves a fuzzy surface and creates a ton of fluff from the material removed. The metals don’t have that problem. LionSteel, however, figured it out—and they’re showing it off too.
The Handle
What I find so impressive is how they got rid of all the fuzziness from the surface. The TM1’s handle is nicely polished, giving you the warm feeling of Micarta we all love, but keeping it neat and presentable.
The handle is over a half-inch thick with no hot spots, and it feels like a knife you could use for several hours without trouble. And just to make it even a little better, they milled in a nice, grooved texture to keep it nice and grippy.
The Lock
The TM1 uses a lockback, which has been known for decades as one of the strongest knife locks. I think that’s the perfect match for this Molletta design, which feels like it wants to do some hard work.
The Blade
The blade is made of Sleipner, a revved-up version of D2 optimized for impact and wear resistance. While its pocket clip may look small, it’s one of my favorite features. It’s so small that you don’t notice it in your hand when cutting, but it holds snug in your pocket.
The Blade HQ x LionSteel TM1 Exclusives
We didn’t change too much about the knife for our exclusive. For two of the variants, we opted for one of our signature materials, raw black micarta. We’ve run this material on tons of exclusive models before because we love the way it looks. It ages from a slate gray color to a rich black as the material absorbs your hand oils.
And, just because we knew that LionSteel could pull it off, we did one with a gorgeous camo carbon fiber handle. It’s super light and very strong, and the contours of the handle reveal the beauty of its wavy grain structure.
I’ve only seen two other carbon fiber integral knives. The first was a custom done by a master machinist Brian Tighe. The second was a Williams Blade Design OZF S01, also made by LionSteel.
We knew that LionSteel could do it, so we made it a reality, and it’s way cheaper than any of the others!
Get a TM1!
LionSteel did an incredible job with these TM1 exclusives, and they’re ready to go to work. It’s also worth noting that we don’t have a ton of stock of them, and once they’re gone, we have no guarantee of their return, but the in-line model with the green Micarta handle is here to stay.
Blade HQ is proud to present these exclusives, and we invite you to add them to your collection!
