- Joined
- Aug 12, 2002
- Messages
- 45
Twelve years ago I was about to do the mandatory militaryservice in my country which is Sweden.
I had no real knowledge about knives at the time but I knew I would need some form of knife. Therefore I purchased a couple of issues of "Fighting Knives" to do some research. In one of them them there was a test of the SOG Government and Cold Steel SRK. I really liked what both knives had to offer but my choice finally went to Cold Steel and the SRK model.
I was very happy with my choice and I also discovered that I had a passion for knives, and so I continued to collect information from wherever I could. Soon I had a real favorite among productionblades, the SOG Trident!!!
Six months after I had joined the military my best friend was about to enter his. He was going to join what at least in Sweden is considered an amphibious special operations group. He knew I had learned a lot about knives and he wanted my advise.
I took him to the local wilderness/hunting store and showed him some knives and among them was the Trident. He bought the Trident, partly because he knew I couldn`t afford it. Back then it cost 200 U.S. dollars in Sweden ( now it`s in the 400 range....)
Before I go on with the story there is some info on knives and the use of knives in Sweden that I need to tell you all.
By the majority of people in Sweden knives are viewed only as weapons and they are illegal to carry anywhere in public. The only knife that almost everyone can accept is the traditional Mora-knife that nowadays is recommended by a lot of "experts". They are cheap( maybe 5 dollars back then )and available almost everywhere.
Therefore it is basically the standardknife in the armed forces. Very few are issued knives in the military so about 80% carry the Mora.
The problem with Mora-knives is that they are not strong enough to tolerate any kind of stress. As a result many carry more than one( remember, they are cheap! ). I saw some who carried as many as 4 knives.
If you choose to carry anything else, especially a large( more than 4 inches!?! )american blade your considered a "Rambo".
Now back to the story again!!
My friend who was a constructionworker really abused any tool he handled but he felt confident with the Trident. He did get "badgered" with a lot of bad remarks and dumb questions like: How could you spend 200 on a knife when you can get a knife that is "just as good" for 5!!!!Why spend 40 times the money??
My friend was doing relly well in the unit and often he was looked at as the toughest individual there. However the questions kept coming mont after month.
After about six months he had had enough. When he was asked some stupid question about what his knife could do that theirs couldn`t he responded. He asked his teammate for his Mora who quickly gave it to him. Then he held it out in front of him while pulling his Trident from the sheath. Next he struck the knives together, edge to edge really hard.....The result?? The Moras blade was completely cut off at the impactpoint. The damage to the Trident was minimal, a small nick which was almost entirely removed with an Eze-lap rod. It did not affect the functionality of the knife at all while the Mora was destroyed.
After that "incident" they never bothered him again.
The Trident continued to serve him very well in everything from closecombat- to survivaltraining.
At the end of his tour he was chosen as "Soldier of the year" at his regement.
He went on to serve with the UN troops in Bosnia where the knife suffered its first real damage. He broke a tiny piece of the tipp off when he practiced knifethrowing over concrete.
Now he is a familyman and the Trident is on display among the rest of his military insignias, badges and photos.
The only regret he had was that he thought he should have chosen the SOG Bowie instead. He said he would have preferred the black blade when he was out on missions.
THE END
P.S.
This post has generated some debate on this forum conserning the Moraknife. The Mora is a good cutter and would probably be better for foodpreparation and similar tasks. The SOG would most likely serve better as a "problemsolving tool" in combat for people who tend to use knives really hard. A lot of professionals like the Mora, but then a lot of professionals like Striders too...You can´t really compare them.
This post is most of all a good story about an SOG being able to survive a test it probably wasn´t designed for. If you are happy with your Mora then by all means continue to use them, PERSONALLY I have never liked them!!
I had no real knowledge about knives at the time but I knew I would need some form of knife. Therefore I purchased a couple of issues of "Fighting Knives" to do some research. In one of them them there was a test of the SOG Government and Cold Steel SRK. I really liked what both knives had to offer but my choice finally went to Cold Steel and the SRK model.
I was very happy with my choice and I also discovered that I had a passion for knives, and so I continued to collect information from wherever I could. Soon I had a real favorite among productionblades, the SOG Trident!!!
Six months after I had joined the military my best friend was about to enter his. He was going to join what at least in Sweden is considered an amphibious special operations group. He knew I had learned a lot about knives and he wanted my advise.
I took him to the local wilderness/hunting store and showed him some knives and among them was the Trident. He bought the Trident, partly because he knew I couldn`t afford it. Back then it cost 200 U.S. dollars in Sweden ( now it`s in the 400 range....)
Before I go on with the story there is some info on knives and the use of knives in Sweden that I need to tell you all.
By the majority of people in Sweden knives are viewed only as weapons and they are illegal to carry anywhere in public. The only knife that almost everyone can accept is the traditional Mora-knife that nowadays is recommended by a lot of "experts". They are cheap( maybe 5 dollars back then )and available almost everywhere.
Therefore it is basically the standardknife in the armed forces. Very few are issued knives in the military so about 80% carry the Mora.
The problem with Mora-knives is that they are not strong enough to tolerate any kind of stress. As a result many carry more than one( remember, they are cheap! ). I saw some who carried as many as 4 knives.
If you choose to carry anything else, especially a large( more than 4 inches!?! )american blade your considered a "Rambo".
Now back to the story again!!
My friend who was a constructionworker really abused any tool he handled but he felt confident with the Trident. He did get "badgered" with a lot of bad remarks and dumb questions like: How could you spend 200 on a knife when you can get a knife that is "just as good" for 5!!!!Why spend 40 times the money??
My friend was doing relly well in the unit and often he was looked at as the toughest individual there. However the questions kept coming mont after month.
After about six months he had had enough. When he was asked some stupid question about what his knife could do that theirs couldn`t he responded. He asked his teammate for his Mora who quickly gave it to him. Then he held it out in front of him while pulling his Trident from the sheath. Next he struck the knives together, edge to edge really hard.....The result?? The Moras blade was completely cut off at the impactpoint. The damage to the Trident was minimal, a small nick which was almost entirely removed with an Eze-lap rod. It did not affect the functionality of the knife at all while the Mora was destroyed.
After that "incident" they never bothered him again.
The Trident continued to serve him very well in everything from closecombat- to survivaltraining.
At the end of his tour he was chosen as "Soldier of the year" at his regement.
He went on to serve with the UN troops in Bosnia where the knife suffered its first real damage. He broke a tiny piece of the tipp off when he practiced knifethrowing over concrete.
Now he is a familyman and the Trident is on display among the rest of his military insignias, badges and photos.
The only regret he had was that he thought he should have chosen the SOG Bowie instead. He said he would have preferred the black blade when he was out on missions.
THE END
P.S.
This post has generated some debate on this forum conserning the Moraknife. The Mora is a good cutter and would probably be better for foodpreparation and similar tasks. The SOG would most likely serve better as a "problemsolving tool" in combat for people who tend to use knives really hard. A lot of professionals like the Mora, but then a lot of professionals like Striders too...You can´t really compare them.
This post is most of all a good story about an SOG being able to survive a test it probably wasn´t designed for. If you are happy with your Mora then by all means continue to use them, PERSONALLY I have never liked them!!
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