Copy of SOG Recon Government

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KenHash

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I noticed this Rothco knife on ebay recently. It appears to be a copy of the
SOG Recon Govt model. It is represented as" Vietnam Mac Sog Recon UDT Special Forces Combat Tactical Knife 3250 Great Knife For Camping & Hunting
6 1/4 Inches Blade Inches Grip-Tite Inches Handle Heavyweight Nylon Sheath Exact Copy Of Special Forces Original".

While the cheapo copies of the original SOG-MACV Bowie could be argued as copies of the original, I was under the impression that the SOG Government
was NOT one of the original designs. Is that right?

rothco1_zps9azgtqa4.jpg
rothco2_zpskcytyywq.jpg
 
Your hunch is correct. Not a reproduction of a known knife from that time. We could say that their advertising department is using a heavy dose of "poetic licensing" to try and include Vietnam in the description.
 
It does look like a Government. It also looks like the Chinese produced Fixation Bowie. Sog and other companies have gotten into trouble with the Chinese reproducing products that they commission. While not a direct copy it would not be far fetched to think the same factory that is making their fixation Bowie is also producing these.
 
I agree. The whole MIC thing is a double edged knife (pun intended). AG Russell wrote the most honest explanation why he had some knives made in China, as a response to his angry fans - cost. Nothing else. And therefore to be able to stay in business. SOG still makes the fusion line in China, Cold Steel has like 2 or 3 low end models left. Both of these makers are getting pounded by counterfeits. But to be fair, there really isn't a well known established maker globally who isn't being victimized by Chinese counterfeits. To think that the skill, tooling and knowledge to carry out such operations could be carried out completely independent of the legitimate Chinese cutlery industry is pretty naïve, to say the least. Especially when you look at the level of precision that seems to into some of the counterfeits.
 
Whoa! "bodyguard hunting knife"???!
Super scary description.
That makes it a real man hunter's tool...
The sog recon government has long been discontinued.
And i suppose any copies made now sans sog markings isn't going to be a major concern.
But i m willing to bet that these copies are not going to have kraton handles.
Perhaps utilising some cheaper form of soft plastic like rubber material.
The sog government was an economical sog fixed blade model,
Aimed at grunts or those on a budget.
I think it came about the time when the cold steel.srk was king.
It was sort of a work horse model without frills.



http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/267021-SOG-Government-recon
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...custom-tooled-sheath?highlight=SOG+Government
 
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KenHash said:
I agree. The whole MIC thing is a double edged knife (pun intended). AG Russell wrote the most honest explanation why he had some knives made in China, as a response to his angry fans - cost. Nothing else. And therefore to be able to stay in business. SOG still makes the fusion line in China, Cold Steel has like 2 or 3 low end models left. Both of these makers are getting pounded by counterfeits. But to be fair, there really isn't a well known established maker globally who isn't being victimized by Chinese counterfeits. To think that the skill, tooling and knowledge to carry out such operations could be carried out completely independent of the legitimate Chinese cutlery industry is pretty naïve, to say the least. Especially when you look at the level of precision that seems to into some of the counterfeits.
Click to expand...

It is really simple, in China youi can buy all of the quality that you are willing to pay for. That is why I have China made knives that cost what they do.

I could have a great many more if I were willing to use makers that are making counterfeits.

all the best, A. G.
 
We used to call the Japanese knives cheap in the 50s by the 70s they were making some impressive stuff on the production front, then Taiwan was the cheap country and by the time the end of the 90s they were also turning out quality knives on a regular basis and now here we are in 2015 and people still paint broad assumptions about the quality of the Chinese cutlery industry, to paraphrase AG, you get what you pay for.

The Chinese have the equipment, they can get the materials and they're learning how to make knives but quality is heavily influenced $. Money buys experience, money buys premium materials and money buys management whose bottom line is to make money but also make a quality knife. You can't do that without the end user having to incur some of that cost. Also to say all Chinese knives are cheap POS is to lump the companies who are trying to make a good knife, they're not all counterfeiters and they're not all crappy knives.

BTW, this is not aimed at anyone here it is just my opinion, I hear people trashing Chinese made knives and I'm old enough that I've heard the same story twice before. Also all my SOGs are Japan.
 
I don't see anyone on this thread claiming that "all MIC knives are POS". Common sense suggests that there are going to be both good and bad examples regardless of location or
country of manufacture. I do agree that there are quite a number of knife enthusiasts who
do express such a generalized view, however addressing a point made by non-participants in a thread doesn't make much sense to me. What is undeniable is that China is THE major source of counterfeit knives, and that nearly all established knife makers across the board are
victimized by this ongoing activity. China's counterfeiting is hardly limited to knives, it covers
a wide range of finished products. China is a one party communist dictatorship which only in the 1990s entered the rest of the trading world and to this day continues to be source of headaches in terms of trade practices, currency manipulation and failure to respect international trademarks and intellectual property rights.
I do not believe you could find many Japanese made knives in the U.S. in the 1950s. Japan suffered from a major steel shortage post WWII and during the Korean War. It was really in the 60/70s that I started seeing them as "Cheap Japanese Imports". That view turned around in the 1980s. Taiwan came later in the 1990s. While both countries' knives were at first considered cheap imports, neither nation became famous as a hotbed of counterfeit products. As one who has conducted business with Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and China over the last 30 odd years I find the view that China is just another Japan and Taiwan to be remarkably, with all due respect, naïve.
Then there is the political factor. I asked a friend who refuses to own any MIC knives why he
didn't like them, expecting the usual "poor quality" comment. He replied that he didn't feel comfortable supporting the economy of any country whose military talks openly about "nuking" the United States. Whoa, that shut me up LOL. But it did make me think of how in this country (the U.S., not China) we are free to make our own purchase decisions either isolated from, or in light of global geopolitics. Put simply, to each their own.
 
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KenHash said:
I noticed this Rothco knife on ebay recently. It appears to be a copy of the
SOG Recon Govt model. It is represented as" Vietnam Mac Sog Recon UDT Special Forces Combat Tactical Knife 3250 Great Knife For Camping & Hunting
6 1/4 Inches Blade Inches Grip-Tite Inches Handle Heavyweight Nylon Sheath Exact Copy Of Special Forces Original".

While the cheapo copies of the original SOG-MACV Bowie could be argued as copies of the original, I was under the impression that the SOG Government
was NOT one of the original designs. Is that right? :
Click to expand...

Actually Rothco made 1:1 copy of Spencer Frazer SOG RECON GOVERNMENT wich was based on what he said a modern iteration of this knife :

s-l1600.jpg


Nice SAE Carbon 1050 with decent tick blade
Love it actually :
 
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