SOG SEAL XR review

shinyedges

shinyedges

Unfaltering Love & Undeviating Will
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Jun 5, 2012
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From the moment I saw the SOG SEAL XR in the SHOT show video I was interested. I have always liked a stout knife and have had many of them, from tons of different manufacturers. This one is big and not for the faint of heart but those who like overbuilt knives will love this knife.

Blade length: 3.82"
Blade thickness: .186"
OAL open: 9.13"
OAL closed: 5.311"
Blade steel: s35vn


I have carried this SEAL XR non stop since I got it over 1 month ago:



First and foremost, this goes without saying... the knife is an absolute tank of a knife. The blade is .186 thou thick, but do to its high grind it maintains a very usable cutting geometry:




For those wondering, its handle is .696 thou thick and fills the hand well. There's jimping all over the place that definitely isn't needed, but I have not sanded them down and I have used the knife pretty darn hard without any real pain or blisters.


Here's some action shots of the knife cutting thick hoses off of fittings and making short work of clear vinyl:






I cut 12 of those hoses from those fittings, they were extremely stubborn to come off once the clamp was released, I used the knife to completely cut down to the fitting and they came right off.


This leads me to my next point I'd like to hit on, the heat treat is DAMN good, like really good. I absolutely love their heat treat on this hunk of s35vn. I haven't seen a single chip of any sort despite my rather hard use/abuse, and it sharpens up SO nicely... holy batman, it gets retardedly sharp. I can make this edge make hair pop off with barely any effort on my dmt stones.


I will say, the steel they used for the liners and extended pommel are a carbon steel that rusts easily when wet. I had the knife clipped to my shorts while lounging in this river for about and hour and rust was all over the liners and extended pommel/crusher. Sorry, didn't take pics of the rust before I cleaned it.








Overall this knife is a keeper in my stable, it's a rugged knife that is smooth as butter and cuts surprisingly well (obviously compared to an opinel on a zucchini this is a brick) and is well worth the price. (For the sake of disclosure, I attempted to purchase this knife before it was released and SOG sent me this knife for free, despite repeated attempts to pay). For those who know me, if this knife sucked I'd say so LOL

Well done SOG, the only complaints I have are the jimping which I can live with (if I couldn't I'd sand them down) and the components that rust very quickly if wet. That said, everything cleaned up nicely and if you maintain your knife, is no big deal.





I actually nearly forgot, I did knock some of the jimping on the flipper tab down...

Hope anyone who may be interested in this knife finds this helpful.
 
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I'll update this thread with pics of use and opinions as time goes on.
 
A knife supposedly designed for SEALs that rusts...If you didn't get a one off "Lemon" then SOG really screwed up.
 
dano said:
A knife supposedly designed for SEALs that rusts...If you didn't get a one off "Lemon" then SOG really screwed up.
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I was surprised by the rust as well, but for me the good far out weighs the bad. I really dig this knife.
 
Thank you very much for posting your review.

I have been interested in this knife since I found out about it from the 2019 SHOT Show.

I am hoping that there will be more variations based on this later on.
 
I'm starting to wonder if it's "Vaporware"....A few showed up, and then zero signs of actual inventory, anywhere.
 
Yes, I do recall seeing in SHOT Show videos the SOG Rep said they were hoping for a July 2019 release of it.

I haven't seen any on dealer websites yet.
 
I never saw it listed on the SOG website when I looked for it earlier this year...I looked quite a few times too.
 
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If the knife components aren't made out of titanium, H1, Vanax or LC200N then it could potentially rust if left wet for any length of time. Doesn't seem like this was designed for a wet environment? I wonder what saltwater would do to it? Yikes!
 
shinyedges said:
From the moment I saw the SOG SEAL XR in the SHOT show video I was interested. I have always liked a stout knife and have had many of them, from tons of different manufacturers. This one is big and not for the faint of heart but those who like overbuilt knives will love this knife.

Blade length: 3.82"
Blade thickness: .186"
OAL open: 9.13"
OAL closed: 5.311"
Blade steel: s35vn


I have carried this SEAL XR non stop since I got it over 1 month ago:



First and foremost, this goes without saying... the knife is an absolute tank of a knife. The blade is .186 thou thick, but do to its high grind it maintains a very usable cutting geometry:




For those wondering, its handle is .696 thou thick and fills the hand well. There's jimping all over the place that definitely isn't needed, but I have not sanded them down and I have used the knife pretty darn hard without any real pain or blisters.


Here's some action shots of the knife cutting thick hoses off of fittings and making short work of clear vinyl:






I cut 12 of those hoses from those fittings, they were extremely stubborn to come off once the clamp was released, I used the knife to completely cut down to the fitting and they came right off.


This leads me to my next point I'd like to hit on, the heat treat is DAMN good, like really good. I absolutely love their heat treat on this hunk of s35vn. I haven't seen a single chip of any sort despite my rather hard use/abuse, and it sharpens up SO nicely... holy batman, it gets retardedly sharp. I can make this edge make hair pop off with barely any effort on my dmt stones.


I will say, the steel they used for the liners and extended pommel are a carbon steel that rusts easily when wet. I had the knife clipped to my shorts while lounging in this river for about and hour and rust was all over the liners and extended pommel/crusher. Sorry, didn't take pics of the rust before I cleaned it.








Overall this knife is a keeper in my stable, it's a rugged knife that is smooth as butter and cuts surprisingly well (obviously compared to an opinel on a zucchini this is a brick) and is well worth the price. (For the sake of disclosure, I attempted to purchase this knife before it was released and SOG sent me this knife for free, despite repeated attempts to pay). For those who know me, if this knife sucked I'd say so LOL

Well done SOG, the only complaints I have are the jimping which I can live with (if I couldn't I'd sand them down) and the components that rust very quickly if wet. That said, everything cleaned up nicely and if you maintain your knife, is no big deal.





I actually nearly forgot, I did knock some of the jimping on the flipper tab down...

Hope anyone who may be interested in this knife finds this helpful.
Click to expand...
Dammit, Chris, I missed this when you posted it in August and now you have me wanting a new knife.
 
damn it was looking good until I heard about the rust
still a good looking knife
 
Insipid Moniker said:
Dammit, Chris, I missed this when you posted it in August and now you have me wanting a new knife.
Click to expand...
Hey Richard, hope you've well! Sog requested I send the knife back to them, I haven't heard an update in awhile but they may be changing what the liners are made of.
 
shinyedges said:
Hey Richard, hope you've well! Sog requested I send the knife back to them, I haven't heard an update in awhile but they may be changing what the liners are made of.
Click to expand...
A tad under the weather at the moment, but doing well overall, my friend. Glad to see you around these parts! Home you and the family are thriving.
 
Quite the knife! I am surprised the liners rust as it was designed for use by Navy SEALS? That can be prevented by using oil and keeping it dry. The only other issue that could see was that they used ball bearings instead of bronze washers. That's fine, unless you are in the sand or dirt, the opening and closing get gritty. I prefer phosphor bronze washers, but that wouldn't stop me from getting one anyway.
 
the first one i received seemed to have some play while the blade was still in the closed position which annoyed me, so i sent it back and the new one has the same thing going on. do you guys who own a seal xr also have this issue? the blade can be moved back and forth a tiny bit while still in the closed position, i wonder if they are all like this.
 
Mine does it too,if you push on the flipper tab theres a hair of play,it has a strong detent too which that play doesn't affect opening,and I still like it. Very cool design love the handles and lock.
 
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