SOF Tech and SOG Tech II

K

KenHash

Joined
Sep 11, 2014
Messages
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I just picked up a knife that the seller called a "SOG Bowie".
OK, I believe it to be a TECH II, the one with the 7-7.25" Blade.
It has ED WA under the square SOG blade logo, and the leather sheath
has this as well.
The question is how does one tell the difference between the original
TECH and the TECH II? If I understand correctly the difference was that
the TECH used SK5 while the TECH II used stainless, AUS8 (or 6?) then 440A.
Is there any other features that would differentiate them?
Thanks.
 
Well...without a metal test no one can be sure of the blade material of your Tech II.

Here's are my observations: I have two Sog Tech II knives (I got a great deal on both). Both of my knives have the Sog box logo on the left ricasso without any location indication, i.e. "Ed. Wa." On the right ricasso, my Tech II knives have a large gold-tone "S" centered over the words "Seki-Japan". This information indicated that the blades of my knives are stainless steel.

Continuing with my "observations" regarding your Sog Tech II knife, I do not know if your blade material is SK-5 steel or stainless steel. Because you did not mention that your knife has the large gold-tone "S" centered over the words "Seki-Japan", your knife material "MAY BE" SK-5 steel.

No way to really know what your blade material is without a scientific test. And scientific testing is "above my pay grade".

Looking forward to "hearing" thoughts/ideas from other members.

Regards,
d-1
 
Well, speaking of a scientific test, you could try to put a small patina on a small part of it. Don't know if you are willing to do that Ken. It would come off quite easily with a little polish. I drop of vinegar, mustard, fruit juice, or something with acid in it should change the color of the metal quite easily if it is SK-5.

The day after I used my SK5 tigershark for dinner prep, even though it got washed and dried, thoroughly I thought, there was a little patina on parts of the blade. Polished right off. Next time I will oil it after food prep.
 
Thanks guys.

defiant-
The reason I want to know the steel is that the knife came fairly unmaintained and had what I call "unwanted black oxide" ie; black rust spots. In my limited experience I have only seen that on my rather old user CS Carbon V blades. I have never seen that on Stainless, although maybe I just kept my stainless blades pretty clean. I have heard of the "S" that appears on some older Seki models and I know that there is a theory that it may stand for "Stainless". My personal theory is that is stands for Sakai of Seki (aka G.Sakai) which has contracted for several US makers, starting with the Silver Knight folder for Gerber in 1977, and I had read somewhere that SOG was one of them. If my theory (or speculation) is true, the odds are that it is Stainless anyway as I think all, or the vast majority anyway, of the knives G.Sakai did for US makers were stainless. So, getting back to why I want to know, I am preparing to polish up this blade and I wanted to take the steel type into account in choosing my compound grits. I kind of knew it was a longshot but I thought "maybe" there was some physical feature that would answer that.

Cray- Yup that is the only real way for a non-metallurgist like me to figure it out. I do have cold gun blue, which I have used successfully on carbon steels. But I guess something like lemon or
white vinegar (although these require my intruding on the wife's jurisdiction...lol) might be easier to remove afterwards.

Ken
 
Yup. Figuring out the type of steel the blade is made of is the biggest drawback to Sog Knives.

Best regards to your efforts in determining your blade material.

d-1
 
I want to thank you both for your help on this. The knife was tested with White Vinegar and in moments started to "blue". Tested both sides of the blade. Then to be sure, tested my known Stainless knife and no reaction. So I think it is safe to say that it is SK5 carbon steel.
If this is SK5 then does it follow that this is a "SOG Tech" which later became Tech II (using Stainless) after the Tech I was introduced?
I started preliminary polishing this afternoon so nowhere near complete but a couple of shots
for now.
 

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KenHash said:
I want to thank you both for your help on this. The knife was tested with White Vinegar and in moments started to "blue". Tested both sides of the blade. Then to be sure, tested my known Stainless knife and no reaction. So I think it is safe to say that it is SK5 carbon steel.
If this is SK5 then does it follow that this is a "SOG Tech" which later became Tech II (using Stainless) after the Tech I was introduced?
I started preliminary polishing this afternoon so nowhere near complete but a couple of shots
for now.
Click to expand...

Glad you were able to figure it out! I would say it is looking very good already!
 
KenHash said:
...So I think it is safe to say that it is SK5 carbon steel.
If this is SK5 then does it follow that this is a "SOG Tech" which later became Tech II (using Stainless) after the Tech I was introduced?...
Click to expand...

Good going and great score, Ken.

Per your question: You are correct.

Enjoy and thanks for photos,
d-1
 
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