SOG Fusion Knives

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Does anyone have experience with the 8Cr13MoV knives in this series? I'm thinking of picking up the SOG Fusion Fixation Bowie Knife, SG-FX01 but have heard some negative things about them breaking easily while batoning and not coming very sharp out of the box. At this point, it's a toss up between this knife and the Cold Steel GI Tanto. I'd prefer getting the SOG because it's stainless steel and seems to have a higher quality sheath but the Cold Steel is about $10 cheaper and seems to be undeniably strong.
So if any of you guys that have used both of these blades can comment and make a recommendation it would be much appreciated!
 
I have no personal experience with either other than handling them a little. But I will throw in some comments related to making the decision if not making a recommendation myself.

Question negative comments about knives on the internet. Many of them come from a single instance or individual and then people parrot it over and over. Sometimes the reputation of a product can be damaged by one unhappy person. It might be meaningful but it might not. I'm not suggesting you shouldn't consider on-line reputations. I'm just suggesting that you should question them and understand their source. I say this because neither of these products has been an issue in terms of customer returns for us. For me, the return rate is a very meaningful indicator of both quality and customer satisfaction with a product. The fastest way to get us to discontinue a product is to give it a high return rate. So either knife is ok.

The other comment I will make is that if you want to "baton" the knife, you would probably be better served by a carbon steel blade, depending how each is heat treated. So consider your application because it is far more important than a product's on-line reputation. You said you prefer stainless. But you are worried about the knife's performance under abuse. Think all of that through and decide what is most important to you.
 
In my opinion 8cr13 is way too hard for what i assume is a kabar sized knife
However, my spydercos with said steel is ridiculously sharp.
 
8cr13mov is a decent pocket knife steel, but I really don't see it outperforming a decent carbon steel especially at what you mentioned. The G.I Tanto is also coated so if you just keep the edge dry then it'll be fine. I think the GI Tanto is 1095? It's not going explode into rust if a little water gets on it.
 
I haven't used the fixed blade, but I have the Fusion Salute folder and the factory edge on it was shaving sharp out of the box, and it's held it well even cutting cardboard boxes.
 
DO NOT get the sog fusion bowie. or anything from that line for that matter. the bowie edge bent the first day of use. ontario makes a better $20 machete than that worthless pos.
 
i do have the gi tanto and it takes a LOT of abuse. batoning is easy for that blade. and it comes insanely sharp.
 
I bought a Fusion folder from Knife Outlet a few months ago. Nice piece, only thing is I could not get that sliding thumb stud to slide, no matter what I did to it. No reflection on Knife Outlet, his service and pricing was unbelievably good. Knife is, again, a tad heavy if wearning dress slacks or khakis. For anything else, its a nice affordable alternative to the Byrds and Pikas. I think the Byrds and Pikas, though, are better overall.
 
Bear Claw Chris Lappe said:
I haven't used the fixed blade, but I have the Fusion Salute folder and the factory edge on it was shaving sharp out of the box, and it's held it well even cutting cardboard boxes.
Click to expand...
You're correct. Salute folder is made in the same factory as Byrds and the quality is almost the same.
 
WongKonPow said:
8cr13mov is a decent pocket knife steel, but I really don't see it outperforming a decent carbon steel especially at what you mentioned. The G.I Tanto is also coated so if you just keep the edge dry then it'll be fine. I think the GI Tanto is 1095? It's not going explode into rust if a little water gets on it.
Click to expand...

Gi tanto is 1055, one of my favourite steels for hard use blades.
 
Well I just ordered the SOG Fusion Fixation Bowie. It strikes me as odd that so few folks seem to have personal experience with this knife. So if you'll all allow me to change my question slightly, I'd be interested and happy to hear simple, direct reports from owners of the SOG Fusion Fixation Bowie about how they like it and how it has preformed for them.
Thank you again!
 
i remember reading someone had one on here not too ago, and broke it clean in half batoning with it. and they refused to replace it because they said he was abusing it.

this personally turned me off to sog and that whole line
 
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