nope, no correlation between blade material & sheath type that I'm aware. And probably no particular rhyme or reason, except for what Mr SOG wanted to present as part of that year's offerings.
My Tech I has a leather sheath, just a basic nothing-fancy sheath that looks good and does the job quite well. (Just so I don't seem negative or ho-hum about it, I like leather sheaths and this one is well-made and holds to the KISS principle.)
My Tech II has a nylon sheath. And I gotta tell ya, I wish ALL my SOG's had a sheath like it !!
I'm fondl.... er, checking it out right now and here are the two features which really set it apart from other sheaths I've seen:
1. it has two straps around the handle. Standard !! Way Cool !! A couple of years ago I decided this feature was so desireable I added a second handle strap to all my SOG sheaths !! (I haven't yet gotten around to desecrating my Randall sheath... one day, perhaps.)
2. the belt loop uses a quick-release open/close to make it easy to get the sheath attached to your belt. Besides just the setup being very slick, there is a snap provided to close over a belt width of 2-1/2". And if your belt is wider than 2-1/2" or if you're attaching to something very wide, the total space will accommodate up to 8" wide. I know that's near-impossible to understand without pictures, but in my limited experience with sheath designs I've not seen anything as slickly functional (functionally slick) as my SOG Tech II nylon sheath.
3. Also nice if you're a warrior: there is a plastic loop at the bottom so you can rig up a thigh thong to secure it from flopping around. (were I a manly warrior I would remove the plastic and fashion a steel loop to avoid breakage concerns in heavy use.)
3A. There are two large-diameter through-hole rivets at the blade insertion point.
Thus using those two rivet holes plus the bottom plastic loop, a fellow could very securely 3-point tie/secure the sheath in any position.
SO, the moral of the story: ya just don't know what kind of sheath goes with a SOG knife. In my case, two supposedly same models have different sheaths. Why ??
-- Could be that the Tech I's got leather and the Tech II's got nylon.
-- Could be that I is a different year than my II, and leather was offered one year and nylon the next.
I sure don't know...... and I personally don't see it as a worry factor. If I want a leather sheath, SOG probably has one on the dusty back shelves somewhere. Likewise with nylon. And there's many sheath makers out there who will fix ya up in great style.
Cheers,
Carl
