life of new tac. tomahawk < 1 hr!!

swimmerdude1127

swimmerdude1127

Joined
Mar 26, 2007
Messages
1,925
***EDIT: SOG has taken care of me in this situation, please see bottom post for details. Thanks again Chris!! ***

I just got a brand new Fusion tactical tomahawk from my brother for Christmas, and after going out back to play it with it for about 15 minutes, it snapped right at the metal retaining collar... broke completely in two. The breakage occurred inside the collar but it was the handle material that snapped.

Here are some pics I took after the fact:

tactomahawk003.jpg


tactomahawk002.jpg


tactomahawk001.jpg


I do have several other SOG's, but the Fusion line so far has me very unimpressed.
I'm wondering what SOG has to say about this?

I highly doubt there's a safe way to fix this on my own. Any ideas?

Anyway, happy holidays.
 
That's freakin' dangerous. Yet, another problem with SOG coming up with crap. Stick to making the SOG Recon Bowie and Scuba/Demo. Make them better. Lay off most of the company. And get rid of all that crap. Better yet, close the doors and sell the name to Taylor Brands LLC. At least then we know what we will get.
 
swimmerdude

I am truly sorry that you had such a bad experience with the Tomahawk just after you received it. Please send the knife into our warranty department and they will replace it for you.

SOG Warranty information
 
What a shame...If they didn't have those holes in the blade I'd have bought one too.
 
Chris@SOG said:
swimmerdude

I am truly sorry that you had such a bad experience with the Tomahawk just after you received it. Please send the knife into our warranty department and they will replace it for you.

SOG Warranty information
Click to expand...


Chris,
Thanks for the help. While I do like my other SOG's, I did not like this one... is there any chance I could redeem the value of this broken tomahawk for a different model knife?

I can't really see myself trusting/using this tool when it is most needed based on the performance it has already shown.

Thanks again. Also, feel free to email me at: m103552@usna.edu
if you care to discuss more details away from this forum.

Happy holidays.
 
Wow...
I got one of those for Christmas, also. I was adamant about getting the new synthetic handled one after reading about the wooden handle one breaking in a knife magazine review (I think it was Tactical Knives). This review was supposedly what prompted SOG to replace the wooden handles with the synthetic one.

That synthetic stuff is supposed to be really tough material.
From the pics it looks as if it was caused by a stresser produced by the bottom of the metal joint of the head, where it attaches into the haft. I wonder if this will be a common problem in all of them or if yours was just a bad example with an existing stress fracture...

The review that was done in the magazine seemed very positive overall and the product seems to be of good quality especially for the money. Let's hope yours was an isolated incident. I will give mine a run through and post if anything like that happens to mine.
 
Cool, let us know how your test goes.

However, IMHO it really is pretty much a pass or fail test. You will not be able to see any stress or fissures in the handle, because the the most pressure applied to the bare handle material will occur right under the metal collar. In other words, (again, in my opinion) you probably will not be able to see any stress until all of a sudden it breaks on a good whack.

Either way, fill us in with the details.
 
Some time ago, someone posted here about a handle mod they did that was aluminum as I recall. Stout and seemingly easy enough to do.

Troubling to see the handle break. The uneven break suggest a bad form or pour for the handle. What is the handle material made from? I have one although I haven't put it through any aggressive paces.
 
May have been a defective batch of polymer... the strength is supposed to be longways.. the break looks like it was a bad spot in the polymer to me.
 
Chris, I have emailed you twice about the problem... I'm not sure if you are on a holiday leave or if my emails are not getting through.

Just wanted to make sure you are getting them... please let me know, m103552@usna.edu

Thanks again.
 
I hope this is just a fluke isolated case :confused:
I just picked up a Fusion tomahawk yesterday, and even though I haven't used it yet I was quite pleased with the feel and look of it ..... until I saw this thread :grumpy:

Now I am a little worried to use it hard :(
 
Why SOG WHY!!!! Why did the fusion line have to be made in China!!! I don't mind Japan at all, but China? I was very close to buying the jungle primative, until I saw that china label. All of my hopes and dreams of that machette went down the drain when I saw that.
 
Hello all,
Just wanted to update you all with the current situation. Chris @ SOG is taking care of my issue, and I will be satisfied when this gets resolved.

Will post another response when it's all good. Thanks for the great CS, SOG.
 
Hey,
I just wanted to take a second to thank SOG for their excellent customer service. Chris took excellent care of me, and I am a happy customer. He offered a direct replacement for the broken 'hawk.

Although I cannot recommend the Tomahawk to anyone for actual use, I strongly recommend SOG due to their great CS.

Thanks again for making this right! :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
What exactly did they do? Give a refund? Replace with same product? Replace with different product?
If they replaced with same product, did you test it to make sure the first one was/was not an isolated case?
Haven't had the opportunity to test mine yet...

Although I cannot recommend the Tomahawk to anyone for actual use, I strongly recommend SOG due to their great CS.
Click to expand...

And I have to ask... what good is great customer service on a product that is unusable?

Thanks-
Cam
 
Orion said:
What exactly did they do? Give a refund? Replace with same product? Replace with different product?
If they replaced with same product, did you test it to make sure the first one was/was not an isolated case?
Haven't had the opportunity to test mine yet...



And I have to ask... what good is great customer service on a product that is unusable?

Thanks-
Cam
Click to expand...

Orion, they replaced it with a knife of the same value as the tomahawk. I did not want another one of the 'hawks that I broke so easily the first time... mostly because I would never feel confident in using the thing, therefore what's the point in having and using it?

To answer your second question, I think that although their Fusion tomahawk did not impress me, their customer service shows that they are willing to make the situation right since they were at fault. I don't think all companies do things this way.

Anyway, let us know how yours holds up!
 
I just went out and put my Fusion Hawk through the ringer...
I also filmed it in case it failed I could post the vid of exactly what happened.
I first chopped through a log that was about 8 inches in diameter (it was a piece of a larger log that was already split into quarters as firewood). The wood was dry and hard and it took a few minutes but the hawk did a fine job.

I then took another one of the firewood logs and batoned through it with the hawk, using a smaller limb as a baton. I was really worried about doing this because I was making contact almost directly in the place where Swimmer's snapped in two and it was pretty rough and abusive. Fortunately, and to my gratification, the hawk again performed very well with no ill after-effects.

I also jammed the spike end into the ends of some logs quite a few times and I hammered a few times with the checkered part of the head (though I did not film that part). The hawk held up greatly through all of it. My only complaint was that the spike could have been sharper from the factory, but nothing a file won't fix.

I had to clean it up a little afterwards but the edge of the hawk blade was still razor sharp. I have no complaints at all and am considering getting a few more of these as emergency tools for the vehicles and such as the price is great.

I think Swimmer's was just a lemon in the bunch. I would suggest giving the model another try. Who knows... it could break the very next time I use it but I banged it up pretty good today and it held strong.

Peace-
Cam
 
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