What's With the SOG Agency?

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What's a good going price for an SOG Agency? And is there a good liklihood SOG will re-produce it in the foreseeable future, perhaps in a better knife steel? Some knife companies never make more than a single run of knives, then that's that.

The Agency has AUS8 steel with a gorgeous black finish. Does anyone know what that finish is and if it's durable? Is it a pretty decent knife? And does anyone make a similar knife? Is the Agency a collector's knife or is it for using, or both?

I don't have anything against AUS8A steel as long as it's heat treated well. Cold Steel does a great job with heat treat, but I don't know about SOG. It made a Bowie, a Super Bowie and, of course, the Agency. I'm a big fan of Cold Steel's DLC finish and my EDC folder is a CS Broken Skull, which wears very well.
 
BF Rules don't allow discussion of values unless the person asking s a Gold or above member.

The Agency came in Satin finish and Titanium Nitride (TiNi) finish. All finishes are durable until they come off, which they eventually will.
DLC is about the only fairly common exception in that regard.
The Agency is a "decent" knife if you like that Randall 1-7 style. No idea if SOG will ever produce it again. The Agency is a reproduction of another
Vietnam era combat knife and the currrent SOG (under GSM ownership) seems to be moving away from it's roots a bit.
In this size and type of knife the appeal or need of dazzling newer steels isn't there as there are in folders.

The Randall 1-7 and Blackjack 1-7 are similar knives. The now discontinued Cold Steel R-1 Military which can sometimes be found for sale is another.
There may be more out there.

While not as sought after as the Seki SOGs, all discontined SOGs are today pretty much collectors items. If your Agency is in mint shape you might want
to just keep it. Bt if it's been used and beat up already, might as well as use it.

Both Cold Steel and SOG's Aus8 were very good when they were made in Seki, often in the same factories. I tend to think the same applies now with the Taiwan factories.
 
Yes, my AUS8A knives by Cold Steel are great. If I didn't know how undesirable they are (to some people) I might actually think they were pretty decent knives.

My reason for inquiring about value is that elsewhere on this forum, some had said SOG was very expensive, and that once most people got them, they wouldn't use them because of their beauty and expense.

So I went to eBay and checked the prices out there and, given that many knives are now going well over a hundred bucks, nay, and unto the northern regions of two hundred, the prices no longer seem that unreasonable.

The Super Bowies I've seen just about everywhere are not used by their owners. They spend all their time in safes. Not being a camper, hunter or outdoorsman, I can't say I'd be any different, but I'd love to see a Bowie that's been used hard.

Is the TiNi the same, better or worse than DLC or gun bluing? My Broken Skull's DLC seems very durable, though it wears along the edges. On flat surfaces, it wears exceptionally well.

Thank you for your post.
 
Aus8 was and still is a good steel. It;s just that newer steels have come out and become prevalent. So the older steels are regarded as "inferior".
SOGs made in Seki, especially the classics command high prices because they have become total collector items.
The Taiwan discontined models have to but not to the same extent.

DLC is better than TiNi for sure. I also think Blued is better as well. But others may have different opinions.
 
KenHash said:
Aus8 was and still is a good steel. It;s just that newer steels have come out and become prevalent. So the older steels are regarded as "inferior".
SOGs made in Seki, especially the classics command high prices because they have become total collector items.
The Taiwan discontined models have to but not to the same extent.

DLC is better than TiNi for sure. I also think Blued is better as well. But others may have different opinions.
Click to expand...
The SOG AGENCY TiNi version is such a classic blade
 
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