- Joined
- Sep 7, 2006
- Messages
- 6,171
First off, this is a 'first impressions' report, rather than a review, as I have just received this piece.
I have wanted a SOG Tomcat ever since I saw a pic of the Tomcat II in a SOG catalogue some years ago. I love big and beefy knives and the Tomcat is certainly that.
The opportunity to make it happen finally presented itself recently and I set about locating one, only to discover that they had brought out the Tomcat III. At first I was bummed, but then noticed the improvements over the previous generation, such as the new Arc lock.
So I thought what the heck and ordered it anyway....
There's something old school about the Tomcat. First off, it has no clip. Shock! Horror! Secondly, its big bowie style blade is reminiscent of classic Buck 110 style knives. But this is not your granddaddy's sheath knife, by any measure.
First off, there's the aforementioned Arc lock. This is my first experience with this lock and I must say I am impressed. Its very easy to engage and disengage and removes a lot of weight from the knife. The concept has been used extensively already in slightly different form by Benchmade and I feel very confident that it will do the job. It's just as easy to disengage with one hand as a liner lock.
But what has really impressed me is the overall quality of the piece. The satin finish on the blade is really something. The steel bolster is finished equally well. Everything about it shouts quality. The blade is stamped VG-10 Seki City, which I am quite comfortable with. I have owned many knives made in Seki City and they have performed very well indeed.
One area of potential controversy is the handle slabs - they are made of rubber (Kraton). I was concerned about this to be honest, fearing it would look and feel cheap and nasty. However, there is rubber, and then there is rubber, if you get my meaning. This looks and feels like high quality rubber, and it affords a very grippy surface, as you can imagine. We'll see how it goes...
A nice touch is the four torx screws which hold the slabs in place. (I would imagine there is epoxy under there as well). The stainless screw heads are visible and look to be good quality, setting the SS bolsters off nicely.
The stainless bolster is worth mentioning in itself. It has a beautiful satin finish that is really quite exceptional for a production piece. A nice stainless satin finish is pure eye candy for me, and I really appreciate the extra work that has gone into this. Seriously, when last did you see a production knife with a really nice bolster?
Finally, the blade itself. I love the bowie profile and this is a nice one. Of interest are the filed grooves in the blade spine. They extend for almost 2 inches along the spine, and end right at the swedge, giving you ample surface to bear down without risk of slippage. The blade is good and thick too.
The edge is razor sharp, has a slight recurve, and is almost 4 inches long, the ideal length IMO. The satin finish on the blade is superb. I have custom knives that aren't finished as nicely as this. It looks as if it has been hand polished, and I do not exaggerate.
It is hard to convey the quality of this piece without taking some good photographs of it. Seeing is believing. My photographic skills are not up to the task however. Unfortunately SOG have also not done it justice on their website and those are the best pics I could find on the net.
My last word on the Tomcat III... for now. I recently purchased a Spyderco Chinook II, another long held object of desire for me. I was very pleased with it, and impressed with its obvious build quality and well thought out design. However, as far as finish goes, the Tomcat III knocks it into a cocked hat.
For around $125, this is a real knife bargain, gents. Find a nice sheath for it (the supplied one is predictably cheap in quality, though perfectly adequate) and you will have a wonderful working knife that you can hand on to your kids.
I have wanted a SOG Tomcat ever since I saw a pic of the Tomcat II in a SOG catalogue some years ago. I love big and beefy knives and the Tomcat is certainly that.
The opportunity to make it happen finally presented itself recently and I set about locating one, only to discover that they had brought out the Tomcat III. At first I was bummed, but then noticed the improvements over the previous generation, such as the new Arc lock.
So I thought what the heck and ordered it anyway....
There's something old school about the Tomcat. First off, it has no clip. Shock! Horror! Secondly, its big bowie style blade is reminiscent of classic Buck 110 style knives. But this is not your granddaddy's sheath knife, by any measure.
First off, there's the aforementioned Arc lock. This is my first experience with this lock and I must say I am impressed. Its very easy to engage and disengage and removes a lot of weight from the knife. The concept has been used extensively already in slightly different form by Benchmade and I feel very confident that it will do the job. It's just as easy to disengage with one hand as a liner lock.
But what has really impressed me is the overall quality of the piece. The satin finish on the blade is really something. The steel bolster is finished equally well. Everything about it shouts quality. The blade is stamped VG-10 Seki City, which I am quite comfortable with. I have owned many knives made in Seki City and they have performed very well indeed.
One area of potential controversy is the handle slabs - they are made of rubber (Kraton). I was concerned about this to be honest, fearing it would look and feel cheap and nasty. However, there is rubber, and then there is rubber, if you get my meaning. This looks and feels like high quality rubber, and it affords a very grippy surface, as you can imagine. We'll see how it goes...
A nice touch is the four torx screws which hold the slabs in place. (I would imagine there is epoxy under there as well). The stainless screw heads are visible and look to be good quality, setting the SS bolsters off nicely.
The stainless bolster is worth mentioning in itself. It has a beautiful satin finish that is really quite exceptional for a production piece. A nice stainless satin finish is pure eye candy for me, and I really appreciate the extra work that has gone into this. Seriously, when last did you see a production knife with a really nice bolster?
Finally, the blade itself. I love the bowie profile and this is a nice one. Of interest are the filed grooves in the blade spine. They extend for almost 2 inches along the spine, and end right at the swedge, giving you ample surface to bear down without risk of slippage. The blade is good and thick too.
The edge is razor sharp, has a slight recurve, and is almost 4 inches long, the ideal length IMO. The satin finish on the blade is superb. I have custom knives that aren't finished as nicely as this. It looks as if it has been hand polished, and I do not exaggerate.
It is hard to convey the quality of this piece without taking some good photographs of it. Seeing is believing. My photographic skills are not up to the task however. Unfortunately SOG have also not done it justice on their website and those are the best pics I could find on the net.
My last word on the Tomcat III... for now. I recently purchased a Spyderco Chinook II, another long held object of desire for me. I was very pleased with it, and impressed with its obvious build quality and well thought out design. However, as far as finish goes, the Tomcat III knocks it into a cocked hat.
For around $125, this is a real knife bargain, gents. Find a nice sheath for it (the supplied one is predictably cheap in quality, though perfectly adequate) and you will have a wonderful working knife that you can hand on to your kids.
