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I had a fine idea. Do you think that SOG would be interested in having a review done by someone on several of the newer SOG knives to address questions concerning manufacturing, reliability, general fit and finish, etc. to dispel (if that's the case) all of the current worry that potential customers may have? I was thinking, I'd certainly like to give several of these knives a day in court and maybe you guys would like a nice review and write-up out of it. If you guys would be interested, we could work something out where you guys could send me some knives to review and I'll send them back when I'm done. I certainly don't want anything for free out of this. I just want to find out for myself and for all the other unsure potential customers and I think it would definitely be to your (SOG's) benefit to have a serious, unbiased, objective review. I'm going to have a lot of time off coming up over the next couple of months so I'll have some time to go out and do some serious testing of the knives for a good all around review. I also have a professional photographer on stand-by to take pictures. When it is done, you can use the copy and photos as you please. So what do you say? Are you guys up for it. If you need any references as far as whether or not I'm a trustworthy guy and whether or not my opinion is that of a real knife user, I can give you the contact information for a few well respected people in the knife biz who know me personally.

Edit:
Also, I'm not considering doing any destruction testing or anything like that. I consider that stuff useless. I'll be using the knives as they are meant to be used and per SOG's recommendations.

 

Well it's on the table. You guys think about it and let me know.

 

Don't worry. It will certainly be an honest review.

It is important to bare in mind that I'm not going into this LOOKING for failure from these knives. I'm heading into this review from a purely objective standpoint. I want to find out if the quality matches the expectations laid out by SOG for what these knives are designed to be used for.

This endeavor is meant to educate myself and other potential customers and to give us piece of mind (if that's the case) concerning purchasing these knives from SOG. That's all. This whole thing is stemming from my personal curiosity.

I've already told Chris that I don't want any money to change hands. There will be nothing about this to sway me in favor OR out of favor. I have no personal gripes about SOG, and at the same time, have no ties to them that gain them special favor from me.

I have a reputation with people that know me of being honest an objective. Someone who knows this well is Jeff Randall of RAT Cutlery. Jeff is a personal friend of mine and values my opinions for their honesty. He knows that being my friend doesn't mean that I'm going to agree with every design that RAT Cutlery produces and that I won't hesitate to encourage people in a different direction if I don't think that the product they want is the right product for their application. I'm not the type of person that goes out and buys every knife made by a company that I like just because it has their name on it and it's supposed to be their latest and greatest.

With all that said, rest assured that I'm not going to be giving a biased review. I tell it like it is. Now that doesn't mean that I will be a dick about flaws that I might encounter in a product and make a big deal about them, but I certainly won't leave anything out in an effort to make a product look better than it is.

Absolutely. I'm sure that SOG does no shortage of testing on all of their products and does a great job of evaluating everything they plan to release for purchase. However, SOG is also a business. While I'm not making any accusations or assumptions concerning their being forthcoming, at the same time, they are a business. That being the case, it's not easy for the average customer to be confident in a company being brutally honest about their products and the quality of manufacturing. I'm not saying that SOG's manufacturing isn't wonderful, that they are dishonest about the level of quality, etc. I'm simply saying that a customer who reads reviews trusts the reviews, not the manufacturer. So, until their is a standard military style testing that is carried out by some third party on every single knife that is produced and sold, we have nothing to go on but reviews from outside people who have handled the products and tested them themselves and the companies who produced the product.

So yes, the products are evaluated and tested before they go into mass production and sales, but it's done by the company who's product quality is in question. That's where an outside party doing their own testing becomes valuable.

 

Ok guys and girls. I just got off the phone with Chris, really nice guy by the way, and we're going ahead with this. He's going to send me a couple of products in question to test out, including the one I was most interested in, the New Fusion Hunter Revolver, and we'll see how they stack up. I'll keep everyone up to date on what I do with the knives and I'll have a thorough review when I'm done.

 

Got the knives today. The nice guys at SOG sent me a Hunter Revolver and a Salute to review. Don't hold your breath. These reviews are going to be thorough and will be done over a few different outings, so it's not going to be an overnight, rushed thing. Now to go out and kill an animal to test the guthook. I'll keep you guys updated on the goings on.

 

Ok boys and girls. The Hunter Revolver will be making a trip to the hunt camp this weekend. Unfortunately I can't go because I have family coming into town for Thanksgiving, so I'm sending it down there with a friend of mine who is confident that he'll bag a deer this weekend. I told him to take notes on everything and use the knife to process the deer until it gets too dull to use and report to me everything about the knife from his point of view. The good thing about this situation is that he has no experience with SOG knives, has no idea about the change in manufacturing, and will be giving his opinions based on an average hunter's perspective. In addition to this time out, I also plan on heading out on the next hunting trip to process a couple of animals with it. It will be very interesting to see what he thinks of the knife. He has been a hunter for several decades, so he's not green and will give a valuable opinion of the knife.

 

No problem bro. By the way, if anyone has an original Hunter Revolver and wouldn't mind me asking them a couple of questions over the phone, I would much appreciate it. If you don't mind, shoot me an email with your number.