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SOG X-42 Field Knife vs. Spyderco Fred Perrin
- Thread starter The Bear
- Start date
The sog is a thick heavy duty blade, that while I have never used it can tell you will not cut food well, will not slide through nylon rope as easy and do small tasks nearly as well as the spyderco.
The spyderco has a much thinner edge and will slice like crazy But it is not a blade you want pound through a log to split it. The sog might be. I personally am getting pretty sick of thick knives, because all these super heavy duty tasks they are made for, never seem to present themselves to me, and they only cut through rope,cardboard, small branches etc, with much greater effort than thinner edges on less stout blades.
Also the Sog Blade is around 5.5 long. Not a chopper. So that only leaves the smaller tasks which I think the spyderco fixed blades are better at. To do everything, what you need is something heavy duty like a BK-9 or 7 for wood cutting, then the Perrin. I would consider the temperance fixed blade by spyderco as well if I were you. Both are great slicers. So are spyderco Moran fixed blade. The drop point works best for general use. Buy the Moran fixed blade drop point, the Becker BK-7 or BK-9 and you got it. For about 120 bucks total.
The spyderco has a much thinner edge and will slice like crazy But it is not a blade you want pound through a log to split it. The sog might be. I personally am getting pretty sick of thick knives, because all these super heavy duty tasks they are made for, never seem to present themselves to me, and they only cut through rope,cardboard, small branches etc, with much greater effort than thinner edges on less stout blades.
Also the Sog Blade is around 5.5 long. Not a chopper. So that only leaves the smaller tasks which I think the spyderco fixed blades are better at. To do everything, what you need is something heavy duty like a BK-9 or 7 for wood cutting, then the Perrin. I would consider the temperance fixed blade by spyderco as well if I were you. Both are great slicers. So are spyderco Moran fixed blade. The drop point works best for general use. Buy the Moran fixed blade drop point, the Becker BK-7 or BK-9 and you got it. For about 120 bucks total.
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- Nov 25, 1999
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Bear,
I have somewhat different experience with Field Knife than Mike. Trying it in my kitchen several times I have considered it as very nice slicer and quite suitable for food preparing, no way worse than Perrin. It is comfortable to handle and nicely balanced what makes it quite easy to use for precise work. At the same time this kind of balance makes it pretty inefficient chopper. So the bigger size is barely justified for general camping tasks over Perrin, for me at least. Anyway it is the absolutely heaviest knife I agree to carry and the absolutely biggest one what I can use sensibly for cutting tasks.
Field Knife is inherently stronger although not as much due to stock thickness 4,3 mm against 4,0 mm on Perrin. It is stronger because of full tang construction while Perrin blade tang runs about halfway of the handle length only. No one coin has single side Field Knife is practically two times heavier than Perrin.
Despite this I cant consider Field Knife as less controllable when working, the weight difference could influence for me the carrying comfort only.
Also Perrin has far better sheath what holds the knife securely and provides multi-position carry.
My conclusion probably could surprise you. Choosing between SOG X-42 Field Knife and SPYDERCO Fred Perrin Bowie for really hard trip in real wilderness I would choose... SPYDERCO Bill Moran Featherweight, supporting it with the decent medium-sized axe of course.
Just edited to add some images...
This depends on your liking only.
I have somewhat different experience with Field Knife than Mike. Trying it in my kitchen several times I have considered it as very nice slicer and quite suitable for food preparing, no way worse than Perrin. It is comfortable to handle and nicely balanced what makes it quite easy to use for precise work. At the same time this kind of balance makes it pretty inefficient chopper. So the bigger size is barely justified for general camping tasks over Perrin, for me at least. Anyway it is the absolutely heaviest knife I agree to carry and the absolutely biggest one what I can use sensibly for cutting tasks.
Field Knife is inherently stronger although not as much due to stock thickness 4,3 mm against 4,0 mm on Perrin. It is stronger because of full tang construction while Perrin blade tang runs about halfway of the handle length only. No one coin has single side Field Knife is practically two times heavier than Perrin.
Despite this I cant consider Field Knife as less controllable when working, the weight difference could influence for me the carrying comfort only.
Also Perrin has far better sheath what holds the knife securely and provides multi-position carry.
My conclusion probably could surprise you. Choosing between SOG X-42 Field Knife and SPYDERCO Fred Perrin Bowie for really hard trip in real wilderness I would choose... SPYDERCO Bill Moran Featherweight, supporting it with the decent medium-sized axe of course.
Just edited to add some images...
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- Apr 27, 1999
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I wonder if Mike is thinking of the X-42 Recondo rather than the X-42 Field Knife. The Field Knife has a much thinner profile and works well for a knife of its length. I would agree with Sergiusz that the shorter Moran design is a better match for the commonest camp chores. If you want a longer blade I would seriously look at the Field Knife. If you want to go in the middle pick the Perrin.
1. I have a question: a comparison between Recondo and the Field Knife concerning strength and toughness - which one is tougher/stronger. Naively, Recondo should have more steel (Field knife has a FLAT grind), however, 1. a geometry might be more important and, 2. both weigh roughly equal.
2. Serg is quoting 4.3 mm as the thickness of the Field knife. SOG site quotes 0.16" (= 4mm) for the Recondo, and Spyderco's site quotes 5/32"= 4mm for the Perrin. Is Field knife really by 0.3 mm thicker than the others two?
3. There is a looong thread about the brittleness of the Recondo (Cliff Stamp ...). Question: Recondo/FieldKnife vs. BM Nimravus (in ATS-34) and brittlelness?
Regards,
Franco
2. Serg is quoting 4.3 mm as the thickness of the Field knife. SOG site quotes 0.16" (= 4mm) for the Recondo, and Spyderco's site quotes 5/32"= 4mm for the Perrin. Is Field knife really by 0.3 mm thicker than the others two?
3. There is a looong thread about the brittleness of the Recondo (Cliff Stamp ...). Question: Recondo/FieldKnife vs. BM Nimravus (in ATS-34) and brittlelness?
Regards,
Franco
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Franco,
Ill try to answer point by point:
Ill try to answer point by point:
- SOG have somewhat lowered hardness of Field Knife blade in comparison with Recondo, say from about 62 to about 60 HRC. So Field Knife blade should be inherently tougher and less brittle and probably it is. However no one of them is any good prybar, definitely. Get Fallkniven A1 if you need sharpened prybar with similar dimensions.
- My caliper with 0,1 mm accuracy displays Perrin blade thickness as 3,8 mm and Field Knife one as 4,3 mm. No comments, just measurements.
- Probably you couldnt notice any real life performance between Field Knife in BG-42 and Nimravus in ATS-34 no matter in edge retention, brittleness and so on.
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I've ground thinner edge on my X42 Field knife and IMHO for non heavy duty camping chores, and food prep a tht ecamp site it works very well. I assume you won't be doing complicated cooking at the camp site anyways. I've used it in the kitchen for testing and it worked well, especially for the field, obviously convex edge Global chef knive was cutting better, but it's much thinner too.
For all around light use knife X42 Field does it. I don't have problems with X42 brittleness, neither on cable/wiring, nor when cleaning bones.
Recondo was a different story, RC was higher, blade grind different and purpose too. I dont' think you'll be using Recondo for the same tasks as Field knife.
Nimravus is a better cutter, because it's thinner. Respectively X42 is stronger
For all around light use knife X42 Field does it. I don't have problems with X42 brittleness, neither on cable/wiring, nor when cleaning bones.
Recondo was a different story, RC was higher, blade grind different and purpose too. I dont' think you'll be using Recondo for the same tasks as Field knife.
Nimravus is a better cutter, because it's thinner. Respectively X42 is stronger
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Just a quick note: All SOG BG-42 knives have been lowered to Rc 59-60 as of about a year ago.
Thanks for your kind answers.
Serg: I already have the Fallkniven A-1 and the BM Nimravus Cub (in ATS-34) - as a matter of fact I was much influenced by reading your reviews and comments about the A-1 and the Cub (additionally supported by Nemo/Perrin's reviews). Clear, for normal hiking I don't need the A-1, the Cub is enough - however, it is my pleasure to have in my backpack the A-1 too. So far, they (A-1 and the Cub) are nice, complementary pair.
The new pair might be X-42 and, e.g., the F-1.
Ron@SOG: Thanks for the advice, I'll try. May I ask a question: any plans by SOG to make a smaller version of the X-42 (Recondo/FieldKnife), something like the BM Nimravus and Nimravus Cub? The dimension of the Cub would be perfect.
Best regards,
Franco
Serg: I already have the Fallkniven A-1 and the BM Nimravus Cub (in ATS-34) - as a matter of fact I was much influenced by reading your reviews and comments about the A-1 and the Cub (additionally supported by Nemo/Perrin's reviews). Clear, for normal hiking I don't need the A-1, the Cub is enough - however, it is my pleasure to have in my backpack the A-1 too. So far, they (A-1 and the Cub) are nice, complementary pair.
The new pair might be X-42 and, e.g., the F-1.
Ron@SOG: Thanks for the advice, I'll try. May I ask a question: any plans by SOG to make a smaller version of the X-42 (Recondo/FieldKnife), something like the BM Nimravus and Nimravus Cub? The dimension of the Cub would be perfect.
Best regards,
Franco
Allen E. Treat
Banned
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- Oct 4, 2001
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- 498
IMO go for the X-42 field knife
And me being a Spydie man!
AET ( ATE on the Spyderco.com "home" forum )
And me being a Spydie man!
AET
( ATE on the Spyderco.com "home" forum )
- Joined
- Nov 25, 1999
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- 1,499
Franco,
SOG Field Pup could be considered as smaller brother of X-42 Field Knife.
Maybe not exactly because it has hollow ground AUS-8 blade instead of flat ground BG-42 blade on Field Knife. It also has the handle of rubber-like plastic injection molded around blade tang (Field Knife has removable Zytel scales).
However entire design philosophy is pretty similar and this knife feels at the hand as smaller and lighter version of Field Knife, very comfortably by the way. It is minimally bigger than Nimravus Cub but not heavier and feels very controllable for precise work.
SOG Field Pup could be considered as smaller brother of X-42 Field Knife.
Maybe not exactly because it has hollow ground AUS-8 blade instead of flat ground BG-42 blade on Field Knife. It also has the handle of rubber-like plastic injection molded around blade tang (Field Knife has removable Zytel scales).
However entire design philosophy is pretty similar and this knife feels at the hand as smaller and lighter version of Field Knife, very comfortably by the way. It is minimally bigger than Nimravus Cub but not heavier and feels very controllable for precise work.
