Sog Quality and Control

[sigsauer]

After having owned the Sog Pentagon, Sog angled pliers, and Sog Desert Dagger, and being more than pleased with the quality I decided to have my fiance pick up the Sog Tsunami at a shop in Washington. I asked her to speak with the shop owner about getting it with the kydex sheath. The owner informed that they did not make it for this knife. So I had her purchase it anyway being that I was happy with the leather sheath on my Pentagon.
When she brought the knife home to me I was more than happy with it's style. My only complaint was the leather sheath, this sheath is made of a thin leather that requires you to hold the bottom of it while you unsheath the blade quickly. Not much tactical use there.
I then checked out Sog's web site and found that they did list it as coming with a kydex sheath. To see if this was a clerical error I contacted Sog.
They informed me that they did in fact switch over to kydex sheath's. I called the next day to see if I could exchage this leather sheath for the kydex one, I told them I would pay any difference in cost. They informed me that they could'nt do that but they would sell me one for $29.99
I don't know about how everyone else feels but when I spend a hundred dollars for a knife I expect a quality sheath to come along with it, and I don't think I should pay another 30 bucks to get it.
Sog makes what I feel to be excellent knives but this one is not up to what I consider to be there usual quality.
Am I being to judgemental or do others feel this way about this Sog's sheath. I would appreciate anyone's insight.
I found Sog's reprsentitves to be polite and corteous. But I do feel everyone should be well informed as to what others think, that is why I believe the forum is here for us.

[This message has been edited by sigsauer (edited 09-27-2000).]

[This message has been edited by sigsauer (edited 09-27-2000).]

 

[Ron Andersen]

Hi Sig,

I'm sorry you have some ill feelings toward our company. That is not our goal. Let me, though, explain our position.

Our policy is to sell a current version of a knife with the current version of a sheath at that time. If we were to retrofit everyone's knife with the newest style sheath, we would then have a whole bunch of unsellable old-style sheaths and be giving away a lot of extra sheaths at no charge (this is what swapping out the sheath is doing). If there were a defect with the sheath, then that would be different.

We issued the Tsunami with the leather sheath and it served the knife well for a couple of years. SOG recently chose to upgrade the sheath and absorb the cost (not upgrading the cost of the overall knife). As a manufacturer, we can make changes to our products to improve them as we see fit. In this case, a change in sheath took place.

If a consumer wants an alternate version of a sheath, and if we have it in stock, we will provide it to them through our retail department.

By the way, I was the one who instructed Tina (a new employee in my department) today that an exchange was not available and if you wanted the Kydex sheath, that one could be purchased.

If you would like to talk with me further on this issue, or on anything else, either call or email me.

(By the way, you said in an email to me only several hours ago: "If you can clear up why I shouldn't feel this way please feel free to email me." Then you posted this thread. I had no chance to privately respond to you. I thought fellow forumites should know that.)

Ron@SOG
Ron Andersen
888.SOG.BEST, ext. 228

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Website: www.sogknives.com
Email: ron@sogknives.com

 

[sigsauer]

As I specified in the email, I do in fact think you have nice products. My goal in writing this was to get everyone's opinion. I wanted to know if anyone had the same feelings about the sheath as I do and if so why now is it that you are changing them over to kydex.
I feel that only through discussion can we resolve problems. As I wrote earlier I wanted everyone's feelings on the sheath's quality. And who know's maybe I am crazy, but I would be hard pressed to think anyone has a high opinion of this sheath. People are capable of making thier own choices but I think they should have all the facts, they deserve it. My intention in posting this on the forum was to see if others shared my feelings and if so by reading this maybe your customers will go out of there way to make sure they get the newer version sheath. After all I'm sure there are still alot of the model's with leather out there and by writing this maybe they'll be happier to get it the way they want it. That I beleive is why the forum was created.

 

[Ron Andersen]

Hi Sig,

Leather sheaths of varying qualities have been the standard for knives for centuries. Kydex, though, is only a recent invention. They are tactical, innovative, versitile, and uses the latest materials. In comparison, the leather sheath can look bad to a tactical user (some traditionalists still love leather, as do I on certain knives). But without the Kydex sheath in the picture, people have been happy with both leather and nylon sheaths for years. The reason SOG has converted to Kydex is that it is a superior sheath and we do have a superior product. And they match the tactical purpose of our knives (some of our more traditional knives come in leather sheaths).

If I sounded a bit harsh, I would like to appologize. It was your "hair trigger"

(I am a Sig Sauer owner) timing post after the email which made me feel I had not had the opportunity to yet resolve the issue. You had given me the opportunity to work this out in private via email, then made a negative post regarding an unresolved issue. If you had kept the topic only to the benefits of leather vs Kydex, that would have been different. Or, if I had not responded to your email in a satisfactory way or in a satisfactory time, then I am free game to you here in the forums.

Please feel free to keep posting. You are welcome here.

Ron@SOG

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Website: www.sogknives.com
Email: ron@sogknives.com

 

[sigsauer]

Dear Mr. Anderson
I did in fact believe that the matter had been resolved, your office told me the only choice I had was to buy a kydex sheath. My last email was not one of trying to get you to replace the sheath, but instead to let you realize that I was unhappy with the product.
I am not writing to the forum to make any personal attacks. I just wanted peoples opinion about the sheath and the knife. I wanted to know if they thought the sheath was of high enough quality for what they paid. And I do agree leather is a fantastic material for sheaths, I have one on my CS Mater Tanto and I love it. I just figured the current one on my Tsunami was not as high as a quality as I thought it would be, and that was my purpose in writing the forum.
To get everyone's opinion, not start an email war between the two of us.
I also wanted to clear up one last thing, then I will write only in the concerns of sheaths now used that need to be changed as that is my reason for having posted the original subject.
In your first response you quoted what I said, I believe you used my quote from the email in the wrong context. I wrote that I was asking you to give me a reason why I should'nt buy your knives, not why I should'nt feel the way about the sheath's quality which is what this forum is about.
Again I apologize if I have offended anyone that was not my purpose.

 

[Ron Andersen]

Hi Sig,

Thanks for the comments. There are no hard feelings here.

The forums are for an open exchange of ideas (both positive and negative). I welcome both, because any product has both strengths and weaknesses.

I suggest that you start another thread here with your sheath question and get those comments for which you are looking.

Ron@SOG

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Website: www.sogknives.com
Email: ron@sogknives.com

[This message has been edited by Ron@SOG (edited 09-29-2000).]

 

[brutay]

Well, it sounds like you two are back on speaking terms. Speaking of kydex, is there a one out there for the Bowie? Leather is OK but I keep this in the truck and the sharpening stone pouch and the traditional snap closure make it a little hard to conveniently store.

Thanks,
Bruce Taylor
Arlington, Texas

 

[Ron Andersen]

Hi Bruce,

No Kydex has been made for this knife. If you are interested, there are some places that will make a custom Kydex sheath for you. Contact me if you are interested in some names.

BTW, the Bowie should not be stored for long periods of time in its leather sheath. The leather poorly interacts with the carbon steel blade, increasing corrosion potential. If you must store it for long periods of time in its sheath, maintain it regularly. Clean and oil it often. We actually recommend Marine Tuf-Cloth by Sentry Solutions as a rust preventative.

Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you.

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Ron Andersen
Consumer Services Manager
SOG Specialty Knives, Inc.

Website: www.sogknives.com
Email: ron@sogknives.com