controversy around SOG knives?

Mountain Mike said:
IMO the quality of their knives have gone down hill since the late 80's-early 90's.
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I agree. The newer knives I've handled of theirs were definitely not of the same quality as SOG knives of the past. Maybe it's just that my tastes have improved.
 
mr_anderson said:
KM-Gunny.jpg
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What's that the guy has got in his hand? Not gunny, but the old dude. Looks maybe like a forge?
 
sogflash said:
I've seen some posts about SOG copying other knives. what exactly are they talking about?

what other critique do you have?

I'm not trying to start a raging debate or make anyone angry, I'm just curious about stuff in the knife community.
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The major copying flak wasn't really over recent knives. It was over a year ago and mostly about the Sogzilla.
Probably not SOGs finest moment and definitely questionable, but the darn things keep selling and they are even making variants.
It was originally described as having a handle like "prehistoric armor" and I never did get an explanation on what the heck prehistoric armor was. Dinosaur skin? :D

Anyway, if you do a search for Sogzilla or SOG, you'll find several threads discussing it in depth besides the official response thread.

Mooseyard said:
For me, it's Gunny that has soured me on SOG. I don't buy from any company that is using Gunny to pitch their product.
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Nathan Ihrke said:
He pimps Glock also... That could be a tough stalemate to maintain
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Also seems to have associations with the NRA and Knife Rights.
Gunny is getting around.
If one is so inclined, its going to be hard to avoid everything he is connected with. ;)

Seems a nice enough guy. Shook hands with him and chatted a bit at Blade last year.

I will agree that q&a article at the back of every Tactical Knives does seem a bit odd and without purpose.
 
Have owned numerous products produced by SOG. Never encountered problems during hard use in harsh conditions. Have used Seki and AUS8 with no noticeable differences in edge holding abilities or sharpening using diamond and ceramic methods. I managed to destroy the rubber grips on my early model Tomcat. SOG replaced them no charge and in an expeditious fashion. The staff members were polite,answered questions directed at them like experts and even sent me a new SOG logo hat also without charge.I do not endorse all of their design changes and advertising methods. Sometimes I wonder who on their design team forgot that if it is not broken or it has been popular for a long period,leave it alone! The Gunny is ok with me. He served his country with integrity and honor. His credentials are real. He deserves respect for putting his life on the line and training recruits to survive,be honorable, love their country and live by the code of honesty. The spineless could never relate.
 
I am just blown away, that someone who was in the United States Marines, endorses something that is not made in this country. I'm just sayin'. I own PLENTY of stuff not made in this country, including knives & tomahawks. But i am not a spokesperson either. I guess i am old fashioned that way. Or just old.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but Lee Ermey was an NCO in the USMC who medically retired because of multiple injuries he sustained in Vietnam. He originally got into the movie business as a technical advisor the same way Dale Dye did. He kind of backed into the acting part of it. If nothing else, he is about the only guy who Stanley Kubrick EVER let write his own dialogue and improvise on camera. That has to count for something.:D Point being that his past is a bit less suspect than some other celebrity endorsers and cutlery company owners for that matter.
 
That is Kiku Matsuda, it is one of his handmade knives, just Google his name, you will find his knives. they are fliptastic awesome.

res1cue said:
What's that the guy has got in his hand? Not gunny, but the old dude. Looks maybe like a forge?
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Bobthemotorcycle said:
Everybody copies everybody, even cave men did it.
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First post nailed it.

We would not be where we are today without generations of copied and derivative designs in everything in the entire world.

This entire discussion is silly and pointless.
 
TwinStick said:
I am just blown away, that someone who was in the United States Marines, endorses something that is not made in this country. I'm just sayin'. I own PLENTY of stuff not made in this country, including knives & tomahawks. But i am not a spokesperson either. I guess i am old fashioned that way. Or just old.
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Yeah, I thought that was a bit odd, myself. I watched a couple of cheesy history channel specials he hosted a little while ago and he harped on "MURKAN MADE BY UNION MEN - OORAH GET SUM GLORIOUS MURKAN WEAPONRY" all the time...then lends his name to Austrian Glocks and Chinese/Taiwanese/Japanese/Anywhere-but-American SOG knives.

I don't personally have much opinion on the 'Buy American' movement, or even celebrity gear endorsements, I just thought that contradiction was a little funny.

Joben said:
First post nailed it.

We would not be where we are today without generations of copied and derivative designs in everything in the entire world.

This entire discussion is silly and pointless.
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OP was just asking a simple, reasonable question about recent discussions. No need to get your jimmies rustled about it. Besides, silly and pointless discussions are what we do best here on the Internet. :D:thumbup:
 
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The SOG folders i've held have had tremendous amounts of bladeplay from the factory -- all of them. So much so that I thought it may some new "feature" they are using or some design limitation of their lock mechanism. I've never owned an SOG so I can't speak for all of their models, but the half dozen or so that I handled all had this same, serious, bladeplay issue. I was very surprised how they could even begin to sell a knife with such a glaring flaw for that price tag.
 
I was under the impression that some of the Glocks are made in Georgia, much like pretty much all of the government contract guns made by FN Herstal are made in South Carolina, Walthers are made at the Smith and Wesson plant in Massachusetts (used to be made in Alabama) and the Sigs are made somewhere in New England. If you are on a "buy American" kick, I would be careful about American cars. The last generation Keuntucky built Toyota Camry had a higher Americans parts content (as opposed to American AND Canadian) that a lot of the Ford F150's or the Chrysler minivan. ;)
Dorito Monk said:
Yeah, I thought that was a bit odd, myself. I watched a couple of cheesy history channel specials he hosted a little while ago and he harped on "MURKAN MADE BY UNION MEN - OORAH GET SUM GLORIOUS MURKAN WEAPONRY" all the time...then lends his name to Austrian Glocks and Chinese/Taiwanese/Japanese/Anywhere-but-American SOG knives.

I don't personally have much opinion on the 'Buy American' movement, or even celebrity gear endorsements, I just thought that contradiction was a little funny.



OP was just asking a simple, reasonable question about recent discussions. No need to get your jimmies rustled about it. Besides, silly and pointless discussions are what we do best here on the Internet. :D:thumbup:
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As for SOG, they got their start in the business copying stuff. Their original fixed blade was a high quality, clean copy of the "sterile" knives made in theater by local smiths in Vietnam which were, by some accounts, their attempt to copy a Randall design. But who knows? The SOG "bowies" also remind me quite a bit of my early 60's Bill Moran fighter which is pretty much identical to the one that knife writer Ken Warner had back then before he had Bill make him one of the original big "Rio Grande" spear point knives IIRC.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
The Spyderco hole is not patented, it's a trademark.
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The round opening hole was patented, but the patent ran out. Now it's a trademark, just like the Coke bottle or John Deere green.
 
I have only 2 SOG's, an old X-ray vision and a newer (but still made in Japan) Tomcat 3.0. Both are top quality and a were very good value for the money. I don't know about the newer ones though.
 
Mooseyard said:
For me, it's Gunny that has soured me on SOG. I don't buy from any company that is using Gunny to pitch their product.
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Is that the Glock guy? Well, Glocks are a good product. I don't know about SOGs. I've not heard great things about SOGs on this forum.
Lee Ermey is a strong personality, and folks remember him. I guess that's what you need for advertising. He did serve in the Marines for eleven yrs, so I appreciate his service to our country. But it won't make me buy a SOG.
Sonny
 
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IIRC most of the trouble started when the company was sold a few years ago, now that decisions have to be cleared by people looking only at the bottom line standards are much lower.
 
Not to change the subject too much, but what's the general consensus on their multitools? I've got a couple of their knives that I'm alright with (really like the mini vulcan), but I never hear much about the tools.
 
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