government agent / gov-tac

[huugh]

Does anyone know how the tang of the governement agent or gov-tac looks like? Is it same material as a blade or is it welded? What is thickness and height of the tang (is there any chance SOG would publish pics of government/gov-tac before the kraton handle is injected?)?

AND is SOG going to produce gov. agent/gov-tac style knife made from carbon steel?

thanks

 

[Ron Andersen]

The tang is the same thickness as the blade (such as .016" for the Government). The height of the blade is reduced to something around 1/3" to 3/4" (depends on the knife) for both weight and to allow for making a handle around it. In the Government's case, the end of the tang has been ground down to a screw to allow for the butt cap to be attached. It is all one piece all the way back to the butt cap...no welding.

There is no tang welding (such as taking two pieces of steel and joining them by welding) on any of SOG's fixed blade knives (that I'm aware of).

I'm not aware of any pictures of SOG's fixed blade knives without their handles. But I did find a picture of Randall's tangs (and a series of knives in the steps a knife goes through in being made...actually pretty cool). The picture is attached below. SOG's knives actually looks very similar (for SOG, this exact construction would be knives with butt caps). I got the picture from this page, where there is also a very good description of how a fixed blade is made.

SOG knives that don't have a butt cap has more height and a hole drilled through it for the lanyard.

 

[Ron Andersen]

I did a little more looking around. Here's a page that has images and descriptions of different types of blade tangs.

 

[huugh]

thanks
I mean, some knife manufacturers (this one is spanish Muela) produce knives like this:

(not my pics, http://knife.cz/diskuze/philboard_read.asp?id=377 )

so I want to be sure SOG does it as it should be done

 

[huugh]

Chris@SOG do you know the answer on my second question?

 

[Ron Andersen]

AND is SOG going to produce gov. agent/gov-tac style knife made from carbon steel?

Oops, sorry...I was going to answer that one and forgot...I was sidetracked. With very few exceptions, SOG has moved away from manufacturing knives with carbon steel. Carbon steel rusts very easily and the majority of knife owners simply don't take care of their knives. The result is that their carbon blades rust and they wind up with a negative feelings about the knife and manufacturer (even subconscious). This is why Spencer dropped may of his carbon steel blades...included the Recon Government (a carbon version of the Government with blued blade).

Knowing Spencer and how he has made decisions, I'd be shocked if he added any (or even a few) new carbon steel models.

 

[huugh]

thank you
(10 characters)

 

[Chris@SOG]

Ron is spot on with the tang answer. The image of the Randall tangs is much closer to what SOG does. The fixed blades that have a screwed on butt cap like the Gov-Tac, Daggert, Bowie make use of a very short screw inserted in the end of the tang. The knives that have over nolded handles liek the SEAL knives the tang extends to with in about 1/4" of the end of the handle. There is no welding in the tang of the knife and the tang is just ground down to allow for a handle to be placed over it. This is a good example of what a typical SOG fixed blade tang looks like.

I hope this helps.

Chris