Lib Tech Box Knife Review: All-Mtn-Freestyle Snowboard Review

Hello and welcome to my Lib Tech Box Knife review.

In this review, I will take a look at the Box Knife as an all-mountain-freestyle snowboard.

As per tradition here at SnowboardingProfiles.com I will give the Box Knife a score out of 100 (based on several factors) and see how it compares with other all-mountain-freestyle snowboards.

Overall Rating

Board: Lib Tech Box Knife

Price: $479 (USD recommended retail)

Style: All-Mountain-Freestyle

Flex Rating: Medium (5/10 to 6.5/10, depending on size)

Flex Feel on Snow: Medium-Soft (4/10)

Rating Score: 83.1/100

Compared to other Men’s All-Mountain-Freestyle Boards

Out of the 24 men’s all-mountain-freestyle snowboards that I rated:

The average price was $507 (USD)
The average score was 81.3/100
The highest score was 93.3/100
The lowest score was 70.8/100
The Box Knife ranked 7th out of 24

Overview of the Box Knife’s Specs

Check out the tables for the Box Knife’s specs and available sizes.

Specs


Style	All-Mountain-Freestyle	Flex	Medium-Soft (4/10)
Ability Level	Intermediate to Advanced	Feel	Semi-Stable
Weight	Normal	Turn Initiation	Medium-Fast
Camber Profile	Hybrid Camber but mostly camber (Lib Tech's C3 camber)	Shape	True Twin
Stance Setback	Centered	Edge-hold	Good in hard and icy snow
Price	$479 (USD)	Base	Sintered

Sizing

Size (Length)	145N	148	151	154	157	157W	160
Waist Width (mm)	245	250	251	252	253	262	265
Weight Range (lbs)	80+	90+	100+	110+	120+	130+	140+
Weight Range (kgs)	36+	41+	45+	50+	54+	59+	64+

Who is the Box Knife Most Suited to?

The Box Knife is great for anyone looking for a board that can carve well, has good edge-hold but is also soft flexing and can hit the park for either jibs or jumps and is great for side hits, spins and butters.

Great for all over the resort but not the best for powder.

Whilst the C3 camber on this is easier/more forgiving that most boards with Lib Tech/GNUs C3 camber profile (due to a bit of rocker in the tip and tail and a very short contact length) it’s still not beginner friendly – there’s still quite a bit of camber there. But certainly suitable for an intermediate rider that suits the style.

The Box Knife in More Detail

O.k. let’s take a more detailed look at what the Box Knife is capable of.

Demo Info

Board: Lib Tech Box Knife 2019, 157 (253mm waist)

Date: March 3, 2018 (& April 14, 2018)

Conditions: The snow had a great medium feel to it. Relatively firm but certainly not hard and not overly soft. Off groomer was nice too and there were a few pockets of untracked powder from snow from a couple of days previous. Sunny and perfect visibility. Temperature was -7 with wind.

Bindings angles: +15/-15

Width at Inserts: 259mm (10.2“)

Weight: felt about normal or possibly slightly light (didn’t get a chance to weigh it though)

Powder

Didn’t feel like it would be a great board in powder – and the specs don’t suggest it either. I had a little bit of powder on the day and it was ok but you had to work to keep on the back foot as it felt like the nose was going to sink.

The one thing it does have going for it, in terms of powder, compared to other C3 camber profiles, is that it does have that little bit of rocker tip and tail.

Carving & Turning

It feels nice on a carve and that camber in there really helps with that. Not an out and out carver, and favors a tighter carve radius, as opposed to a wide arcing one.

Nice and agile with turns and pretty quick edge-to-edge and that made this board fun in the trees.

Speed

Can handle a bit of speed and very good in terms of stability at speed considering how soft it feels and given that contact length – but did get a bit wobbly when really opening out.

Not super fast in terms of acceleration, but pretty good – about average in that sense.

Let’s Break up this text with a Video

Uneven Terrain

Was pretty good in crud and with bumpy terrain.

Jumps

I found it had pretty good pop – not excessive but decent for sure, and it was really easy to extract that pop – didn’t have to give too much to get it, was an easy popping board.

In terms of landings it felt quite stable, as stable as you can expect for its flex and same with the approach, it felt stable enough.

Still something I would say favors small to medium jumps, as opposed to really big kickers but bigger jumps are doable, but definitely more suited to the smaller end of the spectrum.

Great for side-hits and great for spins.

Switch

Pretty much the same both directions. Great board for riding, taking off and landing switch.

Jibbing

Better than I expected on jibs. That soft flex helps and that early rise in the tip and tail helps too. Both those things help for presses/butters too. Surprisingly good at those things given the C3, but then it’s a different C3 than most.

Still not the Box Scratcher, when it comes to jibbing – but does have some other advantages over the Box Scratcher.

I’ve classified this as “all-mountain-freestyle” but you could certainly ride it as a dedicated park board too.

Pipe

I don’t ride the pipe, but given the edge hold and everything else, I think it would be pretty good. Probably a little soft and not quite fast enough to be ideal, but would be decent between the walls, I would say.

Changes from the 2018 Model

Not sure there are any major changes here – though it looks like the Core might be a little different

Also, the 160W seems to have slightly different specs (262mm waist for 2019 vs 265mm waist for 2018 and a 98cm Contact length for 2019 vs 100cm in 2018 and an 8.3m sidecut for 2019 vs 8.4m sidecut 2018) according to the catalog. The other sizes seem to have the same specs as the 2018 model.

Score Breakdown and Final Verdict

Check out the breakdown of the score in the table below.

FACTOR	RATING (OUT OF 5)	CONTRIBUTION TO FINAL SCORE
Switch:	4.5	18/20
Jumps:	4.0	16/20
Jibbing:	3.5	7/10
Carving/Turning:	3.5	7/10
Powder:	2.5	5/10
Speed:	3.0	6/10
Uneven Terrain:	3.5	7/10
Pipe:	4.0	8/10

TOTAL after normalizing		83.1/100

Overall the Box Knife is a more intense, poppier, more stable, more aggressive version of the Box Scratcher.

Though it’s not as aggressive as I thought. I could have categorized this is a park/freestyle board, or as an aggressive all-mtn-freestyle, but I felt it fit best in this category. Not as aggressive as you would think and that’s likely mostly because of the softer flex and the early rise tip/tail.

More Info, Current Prices and Where to Buy Online

If you want to learn more about the Box Knife, are ready to buy or want to research prices and availability, check out the links below.

Lib Tech Box Knife at evo.com

Lib Tech Box Knife at snowboards.com

If you want to see how the Box Knife compares to other men’s all-mountain-freestyle snowboards or want to check out some other options in that category, check out the next link.