- Joined
- Oct 7, 2009
- Messages
- 63
I just got this awesome blade and I wanted to share some thoughts about it which I think is important. There's a lot of pictures of this knife on the Internet and Nutnfancy has a long review of this knife. So I won't post any pictures. I own the plain edge black titanium nitride version with a kydex sheath.
The Sog Seal Pup Elite is an upgraded version of the old and original Seal Pup, and as far as I know, this is probably SOG's most sold knife. The blade is AUS-8 steel, 4.85" and the entire length of the knife is 9.5". The handle is made out of a material called Zytel. This is a glass reinforced, platic-like material which is impervious to chemicals, deterioration etc.
My Elite came with the newer style Kydex sheath which has a fold-over nylon strap instead of the American Sportsman quick-attachment clip. Visit SOG's webpage for pictures. It locks the knife safely and tight. If the knife has a weak lock, you can use a lighter and heat the kydex and try to shape it better to fit the handle. I had to do that.
There's a lot of reviews on this knife on the Internet, so I will cover some things other reviewers might have given a less preference to.
First of all is the country of origin. SOG made most of their knives in Seki city, Japan, before switching their manufacturing process to Taiwan. I own a Seki-made Seal Pup and the old Seki-made Seal 2000. These are high quality knives with no quality flaws whatsoever(mine's are at least top notch). The Seal Pup Elite is produced in Taiwan and I want to make this clear: The quality is as good as my Seki-made SOGs, if not even better. I can't see any difference at all, infact, the handle is much better polished and profiled than my Seal Pup. I'm pretty sure that SOG has some very strict quality control-procedures in Taiwan too. So if you're in doubt of buying this knife because of the Taiwan stamp, don't let that fool you. The Elite is as good as the old Seal Pup(quality and build). I think the same goes for it's bigger brothers (Seal Team and Tigershark).
I want to cover something that's not very often mentioned in reviews, and that's the lanyard hole. Yes, you read correctly, the lanyard hole. I have own quite a few knives (both expensive and cheap ones) and one thing a lot of them had in common, was a very small lanyard hole. A problem I often faced, which for most people, ain't a problem, was that putting a 550 paracord through the hole could be difficult sometimes. Especially if I had melted the ends of the cord with a lighter. The Seal Pup Elite has a fairly "big" lanyard hole which will accept some thicker cordage than the 550. Also, the lanyard hole is very polished and perfectly rounded. My old SOG's do not have such polished lanyard holes, which again says, good job in Taiwan, SOG.
The last thing I want to cover is the spine rasp on the top of the blade. I think this is an excellent addition to the knife compared to the old Seal Pup. Not only can you use it for notching and filing, but it also serves as an excellent thumbramp when you're carving. This makes the knife extremely easy and tight to use. The knife is very well balanced and is probably the most easy knife I have ever handled. Even easier than my Extrema Ratio Shrapnel.
Finally, some of you will probably find this review kind of unnecessary and strange. But as you might have noticed, I really wanted to state that the Taiwan stamp does not mean bad quality (no, I'm not a huge Asian fan
), as I have seen some people have said about the Seal Pup Elite. I'm a huge fan of US-made knives and Western made knives in particular, but I think SOG can easily par with the rest of the bunch of high quality knife-manufacturers. If you want to know more about the Seal Pup Elite's handling, geometry, usage etc. Visit YouTube or Google and you will find a lot of in-depth reviews of this knife. Especially Nutnfancy's review is excellent.
take care!
NorwayKnifer
The Sog Seal Pup Elite is an upgraded version of the old and original Seal Pup, and as far as I know, this is probably SOG's most sold knife. The blade is AUS-8 steel, 4.85" and the entire length of the knife is 9.5". The handle is made out of a material called Zytel. This is a glass reinforced, platic-like material which is impervious to chemicals, deterioration etc.
My Elite came with the newer style Kydex sheath which has a fold-over nylon strap instead of the American Sportsman quick-attachment clip. Visit SOG's webpage for pictures. It locks the knife safely and tight. If the knife has a weak lock, you can use a lighter and heat the kydex and try to shape it better to fit the handle. I had to do that.
There's a lot of reviews on this knife on the Internet, so I will cover some things other reviewers might have given a less preference to.
First of all is the country of origin. SOG made most of their knives in Seki city, Japan, before switching their manufacturing process to Taiwan. I own a Seki-made Seal Pup and the old Seki-made Seal 2000. These are high quality knives with no quality flaws whatsoever(mine's are at least top notch). The Seal Pup Elite is produced in Taiwan and I want to make this clear: The quality is as good as my Seki-made SOGs, if not even better. I can't see any difference at all, infact, the handle is much better polished and profiled than my Seal Pup. I'm pretty sure that SOG has some very strict quality control-procedures in Taiwan too. So if you're in doubt of buying this knife because of the Taiwan stamp, don't let that fool you. The Elite is as good as the old Seal Pup(quality and build). I think the same goes for it's bigger brothers (Seal Team and Tigershark).
I want to cover something that's not very often mentioned in reviews, and that's the lanyard hole. Yes, you read correctly, the lanyard hole. I have own quite a few knives (both expensive and cheap ones) and one thing a lot of them had in common, was a very small lanyard hole. A problem I often faced, which for most people, ain't a problem, was that putting a 550 paracord through the hole could be difficult sometimes. Especially if I had melted the ends of the cord with a lighter. The Seal Pup Elite has a fairly "big" lanyard hole which will accept some thicker cordage than the 550. Also, the lanyard hole is very polished and perfectly rounded. My old SOG's do not have such polished lanyard holes, which again says, good job in Taiwan, SOG.
The last thing I want to cover is the spine rasp on the top of the blade. I think this is an excellent addition to the knife compared to the old Seal Pup. Not only can you use it for notching and filing, but it also serves as an excellent thumbramp when you're carving. This makes the knife extremely easy and tight to use. The knife is very well balanced and is probably the most easy knife I have ever handled. Even easier than my Extrema Ratio Shrapnel.
Finally, some of you will probably find this review kind of unnecessary and strange. But as you might have noticed, I really wanted to state that the Taiwan stamp does not mean bad quality (no, I'm not a huge Asian fan
), as I have seen some people have said about the Seal Pup Elite. I'm a huge fan of US-made knives and Western made knives in particular, but I think SOG can easily par with the rest of the bunch of high quality knife-manufacturers. If you want to know more about the Seal Pup Elite's handling, geometry, usage etc. Visit YouTube or Google and you will find a lot of in-depth reviews of this knife. Especially Nutnfancy's review is excellent. take care!
NorwayKnifer
