- Joined
- Jan 30, 2003
- Messages
- 268
A weekend with the SOG Spec-Elite I (a field report)
Hi everyone.
This is my first attempt of a review (more a field report), let's see how it goes:
The Knife
I always been attracted to the original Pentagon Elite folders:
http://sogknives.com/store/PE14.html
But something on them turned me off. Something like a girl with a great body but an ugly face.
When SOG released the Spec-Elite series, I found my self hooked again. The strange dagger style was changed for a nice clip-recurved style. I had the chance to handle the Spec-Elite I and II at a local gunshop and the experience makes me start this tread:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=443311
Any way, I couldn't justify the buy of the Spec-Elite II, so I give a try the Spec-Elite I. And that's what I found:
The knife is a 4" bladed, folder, with zytel handles and full steel liners. It use the SOG Arc-Lock. You can find the specs here:
http://sogknives.com/store/SE14.html#
The first thing obvious is that is a sweet knife. Very nice finish, clean and elegant lines. The zytel looks and feels like plastic, but the overall package is very sexy:
The knife is heavy, but not in a "oh my god, there is a brick in my pocket" way, more in a "Hey! this is a solid knife" way.
It don't have any blade play in any direction, and is VERY smooth, the smoothest lock I ever see. Incredible smooth. You can open and close it with almost no sound, like if all the pieces were covered in cotton or something. Way smoother than my Benchmades axis. I'm VERY impressed with that. :thumbup:
The handle is very simple and grippy and very versatile, not as confortable as, say the Paramilitary, but easier to handle in any grip imaginable. Be aware, the handle flexes. Some people will be turned off by that, but it don't affect the lock at all, so I don't care.
The other thing I notice about the handle is how economical is in the use of the space.
As you can see is roughly the same length of the Paramilitary and the Presidio, but the narrower of the three, and the blade is half inch longer. And when is closed, the blade almost disappear inside the handle. The knife is the more compact of the three but the one that gives more cutting edge. :thumbup:
The blade is AUS 8, bead blasted and extremely sharp. The steel is ok for me, I'm not a hard knife user, the recurve makes it a very good slicer and the point is very useful, and reasonably strong (more on that next).
The Weekend
The next weekend after I bought the knife, me and some friends went to a beach house my parents have. We have there a nice oven, so the hardest use the knives have there is cut and split wood for it. My Becker BK7 usualy serves well, but I think "what the hell! Let's give the SOG a good beating and see how it works" and this is the report:
First, I cut a branch, just for the start (slightly more than an inch), no battoning, just cutting. It works well, but is a hard work! The edge held well and the lock and handle didn't even notice:
Second, some light battoning, on small pieces of wood. I use the very tip of the blade to split thinner pieces, the tip held very well, no apparent damage. Later, I make some tinder. The edge was still sharp before all that.
The knife was doing it good, so I tried some more battoning. This time, a wider branch, about 1.5 inch, I had no mercy on the tip or the lock and both survived well.
MORE NEXT...
BETO
====================
Sorry for my english
Hi everyone.
This is my first attempt of a review (more a field report), let's see how it goes:
The Knife
I always been attracted to the original Pentagon Elite folders:
http://sogknives.com/store/PE14.html
But something on them turned me off. Something like a girl with a great body but an ugly face.
When SOG released the Spec-Elite series, I found my self hooked again. The strange dagger style was changed for a nice clip-recurved style. I had the chance to handle the Spec-Elite I and II at a local gunshop and the experience makes me start this tread:
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=443311
Any way, I couldn't justify the buy of the Spec-Elite II, so I give a try the Spec-Elite I. And that's what I found:
The knife is a 4" bladed, folder, with zytel handles and full steel liners. It use the SOG Arc-Lock. You can find the specs here:
http://sogknives.com/store/SE14.html#
The first thing obvious is that is a sweet knife. Very nice finish, clean and elegant lines. The zytel looks and feels like plastic, but the overall package is very sexy:
The knife is heavy, but not in a "oh my god, there is a brick in my pocket" way, more in a "Hey! this is a solid knife" way.
It don't have any blade play in any direction, and is VERY smooth, the smoothest lock I ever see. Incredible smooth. You can open and close it with almost no sound, like if all the pieces were covered in cotton or something. Way smoother than my Benchmades axis. I'm VERY impressed with that. :thumbup:
The handle is very simple and grippy and very versatile, not as confortable as, say the Paramilitary, but easier to handle in any grip imaginable. Be aware, the handle flexes. Some people will be turned off by that, but it don't affect the lock at all, so I don't care.
The other thing I notice about the handle is how economical is in the use of the space.
As you can see is roughly the same length of the Paramilitary and the Presidio, but the narrower of the three, and the blade is half inch longer. And when is closed, the blade almost disappear inside the handle. The knife is the more compact of the three but the one that gives more cutting edge. :thumbup:
The blade is AUS 8, bead blasted and extremely sharp. The steel is ok for me, I'm not a hard knife user, the recurve makes it a very good slicer and the point is very useful, and reasonably strong (more on that next).
The Weekend
The next weekend after I bought the knife, me and some friends went to a beach house my parents have. We have there a nice oven, so the hardest use the knives have there is cut and split wood for it. My Becker BK7 usualy serves well, but I think "what the hell! Let's give the SOG a good beating and see how it works" and this is the report:
First, I cut a branch, just for the start (slightly more than an inch), no battoning, just cutting. It works well, but is a hard work! The edge held well and the lock and handle didn't even notice:
Second, some light battoning, on small pieces of wood. I use the very tip of the blade to split thinner pieces, the tip held very well, no apparent damage. Later, I make some tinder. The edge was still sharp before all that.
The knife was doing it good, so I tried some more battoning. This time, a wider branch, about 1.5 inch, I had no mercy on the tip or the lock and both survived well.
MORE NEXT...
BETO
====================
Sorry for my english
). I don't think SOG will replace it, no after reading that review! Anyway, the guarantee broke the moment I open the knife. I will try to fix it myself some time, I will tell you how it goes.
