Re: SOG SEAL 2000

J

joliver

Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Messages
55
Hi all - just purchased a SOG SEAL 2000 - saw it and loved the look/feel/design... But NOW a bit concerned about a few things I read on the web re: the steel...

On the SOG website it says that the steel is AUS6 but elsewhere I'm told its 440a - and that 440a is about the worst/cheapest/nastiest steel you can get and pretty horrendous in terms of edge holding...

Would really like ANY/all feedback - I bought the knife because I really liked the design/look/feel and see it as a good fighter/utility/survival knife - but I have to admit it *does* seem to sharpen a bit TOO quickly for my liking (from my experience if a knife sharpens THAT quickly its going to lose its edge just as quickly...)

The only thing I am really unhappy with (apart from the fact that the steel might be rubbish!?:-(( is the sheath - its rubbish - not the sort of FITTED kydex IWB sheath I would use with it - so that means I'll be getting Robert and survival sheath to make one of his sheaths for it...

John in down under land (Oz:-)
 
Yes 440A will not have the edge retention of something like ATS-34 for low stress work. ATS-34 will be harder and therefore resist indentation more, it will also be stronger and therefore resist rolling better, and finally much more wear resistant and thus overall the edge retention will be much higher, as well as the low impact edge durability.

However 440A has a number of advantages, first among them is the very high corrosion resistance. Second is the greater impact toughness. If you are really laying a beating on a knife then 440A is a better choice than 440C class blade steels as they will fracture much sooner. This could be just edge chipping or a gross blade failure. Finally it is much cheaper than 440C class steels and the performance / cost ratio always goes up when the price drops.

The other concern is about gross strength, the same knife you are asking about failed the prying test performed by Hilton Yam when he set out to duplicate the Navy Seals trials. 440A will be a bit weaker than 440C class steels and thus this could be expected. Then again it should take a large flex before snapping because of the higher ductility.

I have no idea on the steel, however 440A and AUS-6A are very close in composition. I would not be concerned about it from a performance point of view.

-Cliff
 
I bought the seal 2000 about two years ago. It does have 440a steel, but that is not a bad thing seeing as how this knife was made to see salt water. I go bodyboarding with it at my side and it hasn't seen any rust yet, but I make sure to coat the exposed edge with some thick petroleum gelly before heading out. Naturally I have yet to use the knife on a shark or other sea beast so I can't comment on edge retention. I don't really use the knife much on land either since it's blade is too thick for small cutting tasks and I have better things for chopping wood. But I was concerned about edge holding just like you when I first got it, so I did some chopping and found the knife performed fine after hacking through some 3in. hard and dead wood out in my yard. Go try it out, I'm sure you are going to find that the edge holding is satisfactory and edge touch-ups are easy and fast.
 
I bought the seal 2000 about two years ago. It does have 440a steel, but that is not a bad thing seeing as how this knife was made to see salt water. I go bodyboarding with it at my side and it hasn't seen any rust yet, but I make sure to coat the exposed edge with some thick petroleum gelly before heading out. Naturally I have yet to use the knife on a shark or other sea beast so I can't comment on edge retention. I don't really use the knife much on land either since it's blade is too thick for small cutting tasks and I have better things for chopping wood. But I was concerned about edge holding just like you when I first got it, so I did some chopping and found the knife performed fine after hacking through some 3in. hard and dead wood out in my yard. Go try it out, I'm sure you are going to find that the edge holding is satisfactory and edge touch-ups are easy and fast.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys!:-)

I guess that in terms of a fighting/survival knife that can basically take anything and that isn't going to corrode/rust in a hurry I've made the right choice then...:-)

I have to admit it, the first time I had seen these SOGs up close was the shop where I bought the SEAL 2000 - fell in love with the blade shape/design in particular:-) Its got belly and I'd guess very good penetration - and really looks like a knife that will be equally good at the cut and thrust:-)

I like the weight, balance and feel - and really my only concern was edge retention - but like you've pointed out - that edge retention issue would be solved by the choice of different steel - but steel that would be a trade off in terms of strength and corrosion resistance:-)

John.
 
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