SOG QUESTION: ANY OTHER SERIOUS SOG COLLECTORS OUT THERE?

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SeppukuSamurai said:
I was never aware of SOGs rich history before this thread. Pretty neat.
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That’s the great aspect of this website/forum. I’ve learned SO much from communicating with others as much of SOG Knives and Specialty Tools isn’t documented. Spencer Frazier, founder of SOG, has been the authority since the company was founded 1986, but he will not be alive forever.
 
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SOGMASTER said:
Awesome! I’m following you now. At times I need to make room for more valuable knives, so I’ll sell a few via eBay for rock bottom prices. I’m connected with a few other SOG Collectors so keep in touch. In time I’ll post a few gems from my collection.
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Why not sell them here?
 
The stunning beauty that caught my eye was the Vietnam edition, Seki-built, black parkerized SOG with the leather washer handles. I can't for the life of me remember exactly what I paid for the knife, but I am thinking that two Benjamins were involved, which was a tub load of cash back in late 1979. However sliced, this was and is a mean piece of cutlery. I had plenty of chances to sell the beast but used her instead on some camping trips. When I picked up the Basic 9, the SOG got some welcomed rest.

Sold the knife about ten years later only to re-acquire the piece when an old friend needed money for a move north following a protracted divorce...and there you have it. The blade is still sharp after all these many moons despite a few bumps and bruises on the handle.

I love the looks and feel of this old knife, but I am relegating this tool to the proverbial shelf in the tool shed. I may decide to use her again after the deer season flows this direction or decide to mail it to a close Marine friend in the sandbox.

Yesterday I gingerly poked my head into the bay and could not believe what they were wanting for this old warhorse. I have decided to keep mine for the time being. Talk about a sweet knife for any collector!
 
Stubai said:
The stunning beauty that caught my eye was the Vietnam edition, Seki-built, black parkerized SOG with the leather washer handles. I can't for the life of me remember exactly what I paid for the knife, but I am thinking that two Benjamins were involved, which was a tub load of cash back in late 1979.
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SOG Specialty Knives was formed in 1986. If you purchased a knife in 1979, it wasn't an SOG brand knife. The original Vietnam-era, MAC-V-issued knives were constructed in Japan, but were sterile (except possibly for a serial number), so if your knife is marked "Seki" it isn't an original. Both the SOG Specialty and the military-issue knives had blued blades, not Parkerized.

Based on your description, I'm not sure what knife you have. Perhaps you can show us a picture.

-Steve
 
Steve, I must have been mistaken about those dates. In the haze of my memory it seems I have forgotten when I bought the knife. I have recently been told that the blade is a SOG S1 Bowie in blued sk-5 steel. On the right side it says Vietnam 5th Special Forces Group. It is a Seki made product and came with a very nice leather sheath.
 
Stubai said:
Steve, I must have been mistaken about those dates. In the haze of my memory it seems I have forgotten when I bought the knife. I have recently been told that the blade is a SOG S1 Bowie in blued sk-5 steel. On the right side it says Vietnam 5th Special Forces Group. It is a Seki made product and came with a very nice leather sheath.
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Ah, that clarifies it. The years start to run together for me sometimes, too! So you've got one of the original SOG flagship models. Very nice! Those are getting difficult to find these days. And, as you mentioned in your earlier post, they are beauties! I remember lusting after the S1 from the first time I saw one in a magazine....

-Steve
 
A S1 Bowie with the square SOG logo and black leather sheath is somewhat rare (see attachment/SOG Ad for the S1 Bowie from a 1986 Soldier of Fortune Magazine) as only 1.5K were made.
 

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I'm not sure how I missed this thread!
Insipid Moniker said:
Welcome! I'm not a big SOG guy myself, but some of their older model fixed blades look fantastic. I know craytab craytab had a nice collection of them at one point, though I believe he's sold most of them now.

You might also have some luck in the SOG subforum, here:
https://www.bladeforums.com/forums/sog-specialty-knives.729/

Would also love to see some pictures of your collection.
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I did some years ago but nothing like this guy! Mine was most all of the regular production Seki knives. Nothing too rare except a Midnight Tiger Shark Stamped S.M.C.A which I have never seen before or since. I got out of the collecting for collectings sake a while back. Now I just have a few users, mostly Taiwanese models but still classic designs. Frankly, most of their new stuff sucks IMO.

marcinek said:
Why not sell them here?
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They won't sell well and he likely won't get what they are actually worth. SOG has a bad reputation around here, and they have justifiably earned it with their change in direction over the past decade. Many folks here associate the company's current garbage offerings with their past fantastic offerings.

Not a lot of serious collectors of SOG on BFC. Serious collectors are who this guy is going to need to sell to and they are few and far between, especially here. Other places have a much more broad and diversified audience. It really comes down to a pure numbers game. That said, I think the OP is on the right track with his participation here, in trying to connect with the few collectors that are here. I certainly look forward to seeing any sales threads he may start!
 
Since my posting there has only been one other SOG collector and he lives in Belgium... wow that’s kind of sad. I’m well aware of SOG’s poor reputation today because of manufacturing in China and Taiwan, coupled with divorcing themselves from their successful past product lines. It’s especially disappointing when fakes from China can be easily confused with their current product line. Anyway, the current direction SOG is going in makes the discontinued Seki Japan Knives even more valuable due to increasing demand in the Collectors market for rare SOGs. In roughly 5-6 years I plan on offering my collection up on my future website ONLYSOG.COM. I’m very excited to show knife enthusiasts how awesome SOG Knives used to be. Thanks for your information and interest.
 
SOGMASTER said:
....In roughly 5-6 years I plan on offering my collection up on my future website XXXXXX.COM. I’m very excited to show knife enthusiasts how awesome SOG Knives used to be. Thanks for your information and interest.
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So you are a dealer promoting your knife sales website.
 
SOGMASTER said:
I’m well aware of SOG’s poor reputation today because of manufacturing in China and Taiwan, coupled with divorcing themselves from their successful past product lines
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It is not just those reasons (I actually like all my Taiwanese made SOGs but I use them, not collect them). There was also the SOGzila controversy where SOG basically copied a spyderco. It was and continues to be a very bad look for SOG. The knife enthusiast community detests copying. Also, their current direction is appealing to the mall ninja tacticool crowd but unlike companies like Cold steel which do the same, for SOG the quality to cost ratio is not there for the enthusiast community to over look the tacticool ninja persona.

So unfortunately, their current reputation hurts the likelihood of finding serious collectors of their very nice older stuff here.
 
marcinek said:
So you are a dealer promoting your knife sales website.
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Good Sir, pls see my original post in this forum for more information about my intentions with joining BF. I’ve emailed BF Contact about mentioning my intentions and if I was breaking any rules, but no response. If you know something I don’t know feel free to educate me once you read my original post. Thanks.
 
Sounds like your going to need a dealer badge sooner or later, if you are using your presence here to drive traffic to your site and you will be selling items from that site.

Let's also address why no one here likes SOG, its because the vast majority of the products they make are crap, Overpriced for what you get, Poor Designs, Low Quality Materials, Poor construction and QA/QC. The root cause of the all these issues is poor leadership at SOG. Chris Cashbaugh and the other senior leaders are SOG are not knife guys, they aren't even gun or gear guys. If you don't believe me that he is the root cause go watch the Nutnfancy SOG tour series from a few years ago, it's disgusting. Spencer Frazer has had a number of good designs over the years and those are what the company is respected for in some circles but the rest of it is junk. They might be good at brand marketing but they have no talent for knife design and manufacturing.

I have a SOG Paratool that I bought 25 years ago when I was in the Marine Corps and I love it but that's the extent of the love for SOG, I have a Twitch that sits in a box on my desk in pieces. It needs to go back to SOG, it wont open with the spring assist and wont go back together properly and function. They have some nice fixed blade knives if you pay for them but from a purely consumer perspective why pay more or why risk it on a lower cost model. Buck, KaBar, Ontario, Esee and others make better real world user models for the same or lower cost and if I wanted something for looks Im going to go to a custom or mid-tech.
 
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