Future of SOG Field Knife & Seconds

K

kc0byy

Joined
Feb 6, 2005
Messages
20
Hi,

I sent an e-mail to SOG re: their Field Knife seconds and the steel used (BG-42 vs. S-30V). I was told that they do have seconds available with BG-42. I was also told that their field knife has been discontinued.

Two quesitons:

(1) Anyone have experience with their Field Knife seconds? I am concerned a bit as they don't come with a warranty

(2) Anyone know why they are discontinuing their field knife? I've heard nothing but good things about it.

thanks
 
:eek: :eek: :eek: Say it ain't so!!! :( Were you given any reason as to why it's being scrapped?

My Field knife is a Second and it's great. Even got it second hand. Never a worry about it. Guess I'll need to get another before they are gone.. They make good gifts.:)

Heber
 
Here's the quote from the customer service rep:

"We did change the steel to S30V but now the Field Knife is discontinued."

No explanation. Most places I've seen it on the web list the BG-42 steel.

Pete
 
So just for everyone to know here is what is going on with the Field Knife and Recondo.

They are both temporarily discontinued. They may come back but I don't know when. The reason for this is that we were having problems getting them both ground correctly and consistently. We had too high of a rejection rate on the BG-42 steel and that was the cause for the initial switch to S30V. We were getting good knives in the S30V for a few runs and then we started running into problems again. So what we are doing is putting them on temporary hold right now until we can figure out how to solve the problem. They come back in six months but I do not know at this point.

As for questions about the seconds on these knives. Most of the knives are in seconds because they are not ground properly. Many have uneven grind lines and are just not cosmetically up to par for a SOG knife. You should still never run into a problems with these knives they just don't look as pretty as we wanted them to.

I hope this answered your questions and concerns.

Chris
 
Chris,

Does this mean that any Field Knife I buy from a dealer would have been ground correctly since you were catching these at the factor?

pete
 
Chris, thanks for the heads up. I hope you guys can get the problem fixed quickly. The Field knife is one of my favorites.

Heber
 
Looks like this all might be mute for my purchase decision anyway as I've been calling a lot of online knife shops and no one has the SOG field knife in stock :grumpy: Looks like I might have to reset my search and go with another brand :(

pete
 
Have you considered buying a "seconds" direct from SOG and re-sharpening to suit your needs ? All of SOGs seconds are just like other models but may have a slight cosmetic blemish, like uneven grinds or something else minor. You could actually almost buy two for the price of one, then sharpen.
Of course you may not want to do this if you want a perfect knife out of the box. I am sure there are plenty of new ones out there somewhere, just might take a little searching. Did you check here,

http://www.1sks.com/store/sog-x42-field-knife.html ?

Robbie Roberson ;)
 
Robbie,

Thanks for the suggestion. I did check 1sks and no joy. I actually could pick up a second and resharpen it (though i don't have a lot of experience with sharpening, but it could provide the opportunity. I've only got a couple of stones. However, one issue I see with the Second is that there is no warranty at all with it.

Pete
 
If you tried 1st stop knife shop, then Try Smoky mtn. knife works, if they say they don't have any showing in stock, ask them to check the showroom display, sometimes they have several there.
Robbie Roberson ;)

P.S. (Re; warranty), These knives are made very well, unless you used it as a prybar, I don't think you would ever have to worry about a warranty. (IMO).
 
Robby,

Y'know, you really got me thinking about this with buying second. With the money I'd save, I could buy a better sharpening system (looking at Gatco, but that's probably for another thread :) ). So then the questions become:

(1) Would I be able to make a consistent edge to correct for the grinding problems with a typical knife sharpening/honing kit? Or would I have to take it somewhere that would use a power grinder, etc. to fix the issue?

(2) What angle should the Field Knife be sharpened at?

Maybe Chris will jump in with the answers or others might know, but I would like to stick with SOG and thanks to you, I'm reconsidering the Seconds option.

pete
 
Regarding regrinding a Field Knife or Recondo to get the edges even, I would not worry about it. The steel is so hard that if SOG’s craftsmen were struggling to get the grind correct and just couldn't, it's unlikely that someone else will have success. Reprofiling an edge is quite difficult for an end consumer (especially for these harder steels). The knives are fully functioning and will cut outstandingly well. Some of the uneven grind lines might not be related to the edge, but other grinds on the blade not being even.

To answer your "angle" question, most of SOG's knives are ground in the low 20's. But since most are ground by hand, they are not consistently at a specific angle.

Generally, people who buy a factory second are usually more interested in getting a bargain than getting a perfect specimen. I've seen hundreds and hundreds of SOG's seconds stock and can say that while I managed SOG's Customer Service Department, the visual appearance of the majority of their seconds were in the 98-99.5% perfect range, with the blemish being slight/minimal. Occasionally, there'd be a knife where the blemish was a bit more pronounced (maybe dropping the visual appearance as low as 95%) and I'd give an additional 10% off those; but that was more of an exception to the rule and in those cases, I'd have the buyer fully knowledgeable of what they were buying. I called those “Thirds.” ;) But these were very rare.

Disclaimer: Of course, it's been a couple years since I was managing SOG's Customer Service Department, so it's possible that some things have changed from what I've outlined above. Also, since I’m not officially representing SOG in this statement (or any other), if you have specific questions, direct them to a SOG representative (such as Chris here in this forum, or better yet, by calling SOG’s Customer Service Department at 888.SOG.BEST, as they are the ones specifically designated by SOG to comment on retail sales, warranty, and overall general product information with the end consumer).
 
Pete

Ron is correct in stating that uneven grind lines might not be related to the edge. Many of them involved the other grind lines on the not being even. I can not speak for all of the knives in seconds but many were because of uneven grinds not relating to the edge. If you want more specific information on this please call SOG consumer services and they will be able to give you more specific information.

Also Ron is correct in that the edge is an the 20s and ground by hand. So there is going to be a little variance in the angle, but you should be able to maintain a good consistent edge with a little effort.

If you have any other concerns please let us know.

Thanks
Chris
 
ron IS the man !! he's the reason I got into SOG's in the first place. Thanks Dude, ya done a very good thing.

I bought a not-very-used BG-42 Recondo a while back and couldn't sharpen the chisel grind, and I don't much care for serrations, and I can take or leave a tanto front end.

I sent the knife to a pal of mine and he un-tanto'ed the front end, did away with the chisel grind, removed the serrations, and put some serious sharp on it.

In other words, he completely reworked the blade into something new and different and really neat. It surely isn't stock but it surely does the job. It still says SOG Recondo on it but that's about it.

I do like the BG-42 steel: hard as nails but when it's got sharp on it, watch out !! My pal that did all the work on it said it was so sharp he could slice off his fingerprints.

Cheers,

Carl
 
Just to wrap up this thead (?) and set the record straight. I've ordered a Second of the Field Knife. SOG Customer Service, besides being helpful and friendly (I talked to two reps) also assured me that the Seconds ARE indeed covered by warranty. However, I am NOT representing SOG's official position on this. I am in no way associated with SOG. I say this because I could have got it wrong and encourage anyone who is considering a SOG Second to contact them directly or via Chris on this forum about warranty on SOG Seconds.

Pete
 
kc0byy said:
SOG Customer Service, besides being helpful and friendly (I talked to two reps) also assured me that the Seconds ARE indeed covered by warranty. However, I am NOT representing SOG's official position on this. I am in no way associated with SOG. I say this because I could have got it wrong and encourage anyone who is considering a SOG Second to contact them directly or via Chris on this forum about warranty on SOG Seconds.

Pete
Click to expand...
Wow...either SOG has drastically changed their policy or you received incorrect information. The policy the 2nds program was started under had any knife branded with the 2nd's logo (the "X") would not receive warranty...the reason for the discounted price.

Here's a quote from SOG's 2nd page that I actually wrote:
SOG's warranty is void on any factory second that you purchase. But remember, these knives are structurally perfectly sound. No flaw or blemish will affect the product's performance.
Click to expand...
My guess is that if SOG is supporting "warranty" of their 2nds, it is more restrictive than standard warranty applications they typically would follow.

BTW...Pete, you'll certainly love the Field Knife. It's very fine!
 
hmmm, reading what the Factory 2nd "non-warranty" covers.....

if the knife leaves SOG and is "...structurally perfectly sound..." then one might not even need a warranty.

I have two Factory 2nd SOG's at the house, and two other Factory 2nd's are with pals in another state. No structural problems that I know of.

Enjoy the Field Knife !!

Cheers,

Carl
 
Ron,

I can understand your skepticism. I did bring up (with the customer support rep I spoke with) the fact that the web page said that Seconds are not covered under warranty. She said that they really needed to change the web page. I thought the discounted price was due to minor flaws (some possible surface pitting, unevenly ground edges, etc.). But, of course, you're much more knowledgeable about these things than I am. I've been known to get things wrong (very rarely though :)

In any case, I don't expect to have any issues although the warranty cinched the deal. I bought a second not so much to save money (although I do like doing that) but because I couldn't find the Field Knife anywhere else.

I imagine that once I get the field knife (maybe this week), I'll go around cutting up all sorts of things :)

Pete
 
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