batosai117
Gold Member
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2007
- Messages
- 5,463
Hello everyone,
Just wanted to put up a review of the SOG Trident folder in tiger stripe which is growing on me. It's been my backup to my CRK Umnumzaan (not that my CRK needs it) as a beater knife at work on patrol. The guys ooh and ahh over it, ask where I got it, how much, etc...
So in short, I am putting this up to show what a nice folder this is both for Public Safety and just general use. The video portion of this review is just to show the basics of the knife (stuff all over the interwebs) but I wanted to re-state what others have with my own input.
Here's a quick pic with some main details pointed out:
We will start from left to right:
The Blade: Great attractive blade shape. I can't stress that enough, this knife is very attractive and brings you in to it like a light bulb to a moth. I'm not much for combo edge on anything, but I had to have it on this knife. The blade is very up swept which gives you more cutting edge than the actual 3.75" (3 3/4") of length from hilt to tip. There's more than enough plain edge to work with and you still get the added benefit of the combo edge for those "just in case" times when you may need them. The only Con to the blade would be that on the clip point model shown it is very thin about two thirds of the length is thin. Now the tip itself has a nice thickness, but the overall spine looks like it would give out at the smallest form of prying. I did stab the knife into some wood and did "pry" side ways and the knife performed just fine. Recommendation: don't pry with a folder anyways. The blade steel is AUS 8 stainless steel which is a medium grade blade steel to those of us who frequent the forums. For me (and a lot of you out there) AUS 8 is going to probably be the lowest form of stainless steel that you would be willing to use. SOG does an Excellent heat treat on AUS 8, it is by far the best AUS 8 I've ever used. It easily trumps AUS 8 from CRKT and Cold Steel. I forgot to mention, when I received this knife it had a little side to side (walking) blade play. This was easily removed with some added loctite and a little tightening of the pivot. Zero blade play and the blade flings out easily with the assisted opening.
The Arc Actuator Lock (not the Arc Lock!): Something that I have to gripe about is that a lot of people who review the Trident Folder mistake the Arc Actuator with the actual Arc Lock. NOT the same. The Arc Actuator is on the Trident Folder, Flash models, and more recently the Aegis. The Arc Lock is on the Vulcan, Pentagon Elite, Spec Elite and can hold 1000ish pounds of pressure. The Arc Actuator has about 30-40 pounds of pressure as told to me by a SOG representative when these first came out. 30-40 pounds is still more than enough for what you should be doing with a folder anyways, cutting. If you are using a knife properly you shouldn't even need a lock to begin with, so this is a nice feature.
The Handle: Very nice handle shape, the handle is actually proportionally bigger than the blade. This gives plenty of room to play with in saber and reverse grip - Also as seen on youtube this allows gloved use for those who deal with snow half of the year. The digi grip is OK, it's no G10, but it works fine. The jimping on the handle is nice and does hold good when gripped tightly in the hand. This brings up the jimping on the blade - the coated versions have excellent jimping on the blade. I've seen a lot of reviews on the satin finish model and that variation has smoothed edges on the jimping. The coated versions also strike a ferro rod very well and produce a lot of sparks.
The Safety Lock and Groove: I didn't place a pointer at the lock, but it's the hole next to the groove in the handle. I was able to disassemble the trident by keeping it in the open position and used torx bits to open the knife and pull out the safety lock. The safety lock pops up towards the spine and down towards the finger grooves. It prevents the accidental opening of the blade, however, this knife being carried tip up only anyways has the blade pushed up against the lip of your pocket therefore is unnecessary IMHO. The lock is useful for using the Groove in that whatever you are cutting using the groove will try to push the blade out of the way. I just removed the lock and when I use the Groove my grip is keeping the blade from moving out of the way. The Groove itself is a very nice feature that makes this folder stand out - especially for Fisherman!!! Down here in South Texas, everyone wants to know where I got this knife, how much, and wants to open and close it a dozen times. The Groove helps with fishing line, tent line, para cord, or on the job as Public Safety for seat belts or safely cutting something off of your child's clothing. Note that the plain edge portion of the blade IS the safety cutter so keep it sharp.
The Lanyard Hole: and what a hole it is! Most knives out there are stingy with the lanyard hole size and this knife is one of the exceptions. You can easily push 550 cord through this lanyard hole. So with the Groove feature being popular around salt water, it's a good thing this knife comes with a big lanyard hole to ensure not losing the knife at sea
In using this knife, I have no complaints whatsoever. It slices apples easily, cut my pizza for dinner today (coincidentally), goes through wood - cord - fishing line - etc... and still holds a great edge.
[youtube]nNn-SB4F6WI[/youtube]
I hope this was informative. Let me know what you guys think, J.
Just wanted to put up a review of the SOG Trident folder in tiger stripe which is growing on me. It's been my backup to my CRK Umnumzaan (not that my CRK needs it) as a beater knife at work on patrol. The guys ooh and ahh over it, ask where I got it, how much, etc...
So in short, I am putting this up to show what a nice folder this is both for Public Safety and just general use. The video portion of this review is just to show the basics of the knife (stuff all over the interwebs) but I wanted to re-state what others have with my own input.
Here's a quick pic with some main details pointed out:
We will start from left to right:
The Blade: Great attractive blade shape. I can't stress that enough, this knife is very attractive and brings you in to it like a light bulb to a moth. I'm not much for combo edge on anything, but I had to have it on this knife. The blade is very up swept which gives you more cutting edge than the actual 3.75" (3 3/4") of length from hilt to tip. There's more than enough plain edge to work with and you still get the added benefit of the combo edge for those "just in case" times when you may need them. The only Con to the blade would be that on the clip point model shown it is very thin about two thirds of the length is thin. Now the tip itself has a nice thickness, but the overall spine looks like it would give out at the smallest form of prying. I did stab the knife into some wood and did "pry" side ways and the knife performed just fine. Recommendation: don't pry with a folder anyways. The blade steel is AUS 8 stainless steel which is a medium grade blade steel to those of us who frequent the forums. For me (and a lot of you out there) AUS 8 is going to probably be the lowest form of stainless steel that you would be willing to use. SOG does an Excellent heat treat on AUS 8, it is by far the best AUS 8 I've ever used. It easily trumps AUS 8 from CRKT and Cold Steel. I forgot to mention, when I received this knife it had a little side to side (walking) blade play. This was easily removed with some added loctite and a little tightening of the pivot. Zero blade play and the blade flings out easily with the assisted opening.
The Arc Actuator Lock (not the Arc Lock!): Something that I have to gripe about is that a lot of people who review the Trident Folder mistake the Arc Actuator with the actual Arc Lock. NOT the same. The Arc Actuator is on the Trident Folder, Flash models, and more recently the Aegis. The Arc Lock is on the Vulcan, Pentagon Elite, Spec Elite and can hold 1000ish pounds of pressure. The Arc Actuator has about 30-40 pounds of pressure as told to me by a SOG representative when these first came out. 30-40 pounds is still more than enough for what you should be doing with a folder anyways, cutting. If you are using a knife properly you shouldn't even need a lock to begin with, so this is a nice feature.
The Handle: Very nice handle shape, the handle is actually proportionally bigger than the blade. This gives plenty of room to play with in saber and reverse grip - Also as seen on youtube this allows gloved use for those who deal with snow half of the year. The digi grip is OK, it's no G10, but it works fine. The jimping on the handle is nice and does hold good when gripped tightly in the hand. This brings up the jimping on the blade - the coated versions have excellent jimping on the blade. I've seen a lot of reviews on the satin finish model and that variation has smoothed edges on the jimping. The coated versions also strike a ferro rod very well and produce a lot of sparks.
The Safety Lock and Groove: I didn't place a pointer at the lock, but it's the hole next to the groove in the handle. I was able to disassemble the trident by keeping it in the open position and used torx bits to open the knife and pull out the safety lock. The safety lock pops up towards the spine and down towards the finger grooves. It prevents the accidental opening of the blade, however, this knife being carried tip up only anyways has the blade pushed up against the lip of your pocket therefore is unnecessary IMHO. The lock is useful for using the Groove in that whatever you are cutting using the groove will try to push the blade out of the way. I just removed the lock and when I use the Groove my grip is keeping the blade from moving out of the way. The Groove itself is a very nice feature that makes this folder stand out - especially for Fisherman!!! Down here in South Texas, everyone wants to know where I got this knife, how much, and wants to open and close it a dozen times. The Groove helps with fishing line, tent line, para cord, or on the job as Public Safety for seat belts or safely cutting something off of your child's clothing. Note that the plain edge portion of the blade IS the safety cutter so keep it sharp.
The Lanyard Hole: and what a hole it is! Most knives out there are stingy with the lanyard hole size and this knife is one of the exceptions. You can easily push 550 cord through this lanyard hole. So with the Groove feature being popular around salt water, it's a good thing this knife comes with a big lanyard hole to ensure not losing the knife at sea
In using this knife, I have no complaints whatsoever. It slices apples easily, cut my pizza for dinner today (coincidentally), goes through wood - cord - fishing line - etc... and still holds a great edge.
[youtube]nNn-SB4F6WI[/youtube]
I hope this was informative. Let me know what you guys think, J.
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