SOG questions

kancler

kancler

Moderator
Joined
Mar 21, 2005
Messages
1,202
Gentlemen,

My friend found this SOG somewhere...

Could you help me please with my questions:

1. Why there is no manufacturing country stamp? Does it mean made in the USA? How long ago? Fake one from China?
2. The blade is not finished with any modern finishes, looks like standard gun blueing? - Ami right?
3. Is this an original sheath?
4. Any other historical info?

THANK YOU ALL in advance! and sorry for Cell phone pictures :-)

There are pictures of this knife:

0_97831_212aba13_orig.jpg


0_97832_de8adb8c_orig.jpg


0_97833_312f549b_orig.jpg


0_97830_2e84325c_orig.jpg


Thank you all again for looking!
 
Looks like a Chinese fake. Iv never seen an early seal with machine marks or a crappy sheath like that. Could be a cheap replacement sheath.
 
IMHO, the knife pictured isn't kosher.
Sog seal 2000 had partial serrations.
It had a gray coated finishing on the blade.
the early sog models which were blued were carbon sk3 steel.
The seal 2000 was stainless 440a for salt water marine environments.
The early sheath on the original was nylon
And later models had kydex.
Judging from the pictures given,
There seem to be fine machining grid lines on the blade's surface
Which is something not seen on sog knives.
Also the moulding on the handle appears to bare
Some rather irregular shaped imprints on the surface.
The originals had a fine surface texture
No sink marks and was made of zytel.
Just my 2 cents....
 
Last edited:
Gun bluing seems to be okay for this one - see below specs.

No expert on these by any stretch of the imagination but sheath does not appear original.

I cant say for sure whether or not its a genuine knife but looks like it is or is supposed to be a SOG 'NITE TECH.'

The Nite Tech:

This knife is the 'blackened' version of the Tech II, and is also known as the "grand-daddy" of the Seal 2000 knife. Like the Midnight Tigershark, it was an exclusively produced by SOG Knives for the 'Cutlery Shoppe' knife company. It's production ran side by side with the satin-finished 'Tech II', which is the closest in dimensions (7") and geometry to the Nite Tech, except that it loses the Tech II's brass guard. Under the gun-blue coating does not lie a satin-finish, which explains why the Midnight Tigershark does not have a shiny mirror finish like the S1 Bowie. It instead has a blackened finish that has low reflectivity.



Some say that the blackened Nite Tech brings out the innate dark being of the Tech II knife in a way never seen before. Small, dark, sleek but yet ever so deadly. It is believed to be the foundation for the develpoment of the 'Seal 2000' knife for the US Navy SEALs.



Specifications:
Blade Length: 7 in. x .250 in.

Overall length: 12.25 in.

Blade steel: SK-5

Blade hardness: Rc.~57-58?

Blade finish: Gun-blued

Weight: ~12.6 oz.

Edge: Straight

Carry System: Black Condura sheath

Handle Material: Black Kraton handle
Knife Type: Fixed Blade

Country of origin: Japan

Part #: SSNITE



Rarity Details:

Last Known MSRP: $85?

Production dates: 1990 - 1992


Production numbers: ?

Limited run?: No.

Other things of interest: Not many were produced over the 2 years in production for the "Cutlery Shoppe".

Rarity index: 9.5/10 (10 being the most rare)




Rarity index scale (1 to 10, 10 being the most rare):


1 - Very common; easily available on ebay, google product search and almost every knife selling website. Spammed with at least 10+ listings on ebay.

3 - Has been around for at least 2 years and are selling reasonably well, with retailers favouring other newer models over this knife.

5 - Knives that are on the borderline of being discontinued or have been discontinued for less than 6 months

6 - Products from 6 onwards are either discontinued or limited edition.

7 - Discontinued knives that pop up once every few months on the "For Sale" part of forums or on ebay. Still can be found at a few online shops though.

8 - Knives that need lots of researching to find. Not available anymore in online knife shops and pop up (if you're lucky) >4 months for one at a time.

9 - Knives holding this rarity are the shadowy kind. You can't find any information on them at all (not even from online knife shops that have not taken down that knife's product page). If you see one for sale grab at all cost.


10 - The rarest of all knives. If you hadn't been here you wouldn't even have known that it existed. Should you have one of these you better lock it up in a triple-combination safe and treat it like a family heirloom...

SOG reference site
----------
 
Last edited:
I strongly suspect that is fake blued SK5 SOG Nite Tech. The SOG logo should have Edm Wa under it. My SOG "Tech" from the same factory at the same time had that.
The "Seki Japan" is missing from the right side of the ricasso. That leather sheath is not a SOG sheath, missing the logo and the bottom should not be tanto shaped.
The Nite Tech is said to have shipped with the cordura sheath.

You may want to email Jeff Loffer at the Cutlery Shoppe and see if he remembers if any of these Nite Techs had these markings, and no "Seki Japan".
 
Last edited:
Thank you all!!!

This is a hard one... could be fake but the quality is too good to be fake. Again - just an opinion.

I guess I will just keep it and use it as my camping knife.

THANK YOU ALL
 
kancler said:
Gentlemen,

My friend found this SOG somewhere...

Could you help me please with my questions:

1. Why there is no manufacturing country stamp? Does it mean made in the USA? How long ago? Fake one from China?
2. The blade is not finished with any modern finishes, looks like standard gun blueing? - Ami right?
3. Is this an original sheath?
4. Any other historical info?
Click to expand...
In short:
1. The original is made in Japan.
2. The original is gun blued.
3. The original sheath is Cordura.
4. The Nite Tech was made from 1990-92.
 
kancler said:
Thank you all!!!

This is a hard one... could be fake but the quality is too good to be fake. Again - just an opinion.
Click to expand...
No 'EDM WA' marking under SOG logo + absent 'SEKI-Japan' marking on obverse makes me lean towards the knife being a fake ...
 
The sheath looks like it came off a 90's frost cutlery tanto, and if I'm not mistaken all sog fixed blades are supposed to have the country of origin on them. My sog seal pup is marked Taiwan, and the current ones are marked china .
Currently It's more of a light etch or ink and not stamped , so this knife could be a recent one that someone forgot to mark.
the tech Bowie is currently blued , and others may have been blued for a short time recently as well .
There's a good chance that it may be a fake, but also could be real ( not an expert, but the quality doesn't look much different than my seal pup )
 
The sheath looks like it came off a 90's frost cutlery tanto, and if I'm not mistaken all sog fixed blades are supposed to have the country of origin on them. My sog seal pup is marked Taiwan, and the current ones are marked china .
Currently It's more of a light etch or ink and not stamped , so this knife could be a recent one that someone forgot to mark. Are you sure this one is blued ? Doesn't look glossy enough to be blued (even the bluing on 30$ Chinese air rifles is very glossy and the qc standards on them is non existent )
 
kancler said:
Gentlemen,

My friend found this SOG somewhere...

Could you help me please with my questions:

1. Why there is no manufacturing country stamp? Does it mean made in the USA? How long ago? Fake one from China?
2. The blade is not finished with any modern finishes, looks like standard gun blueing? - Ami right?
3. Is this an original sheath?
4. Any other historical info?

THANK YOU ALL in advance! and sorry for Cell phone pictures :)

There are pictures of this knife:

0_97831_212aba13_orig.jpg


0_97832_de8adb8c_orig.jpg


0_97833_312f549b_orig.jpg


0_97830_2e84325c_orig.jpg


Thank you all again for looking!
Click to expand...
Hi,

Do you still have the pictures of this knife? I don’t see them in the post.

Thanks
 
fa012en said:
I only asked because I saw a knife on Ebay that sounded exactly like this one and wanted to see if it was the same knife.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sog-Fixed-Blade-Specialty-Knife-NICE-/203011199777?_trksid=p2047675.l2557&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&nma=true&si=AyA2vL3qpMa7rlmsHn0doQmqm2M%3D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc

I was trying to determine if this was a real SOG Nite Tech or a fake.
Click to expand...

Buyer beware! They are faking everything nowadays, even electronic components.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top