Comments about SOG SOG Gov-Tac Fixed Blade Knife:

I purchased my gov-tac a couple months ago after shopping around for a sturdy survival knife, and seeing great reviews on it. I am getting into backpacking, and wanted a knife that was light enough to take along in the back country,yet big and reliable enough to handle camp chores and survival woodcraft tasks. I finally had my first chance to try it out this weekend while on a wilderness hike. Now this was under ideal conditions, (dry and warm), but the knife handled superbly, considering its size and blade shape limitations. The 6.1" blade handled batoning through dry 4 or 5" logs easily. I sprayed some WD-40 on it for this, and it blew right through the firewood. The tip and the finger guard took a beating with no damage. I still have some concern about how it will handle wet, live wood, in winter time. SOG said on their web site that the blade is flat ground, but it feels concaved to me. I also did some light chopping through some live mountain mahogony just to see how it would do. the light blade handled this reasonably well, although a heavier, more weight foward blade would be faster. After about an hour of woodcraft, the soft, grippy handle felt fine in my hand. No blisters or soreness, and I'm a wussy city boy with soft hands. It came as no supprise to me that the finish on it got scuffed, but thats a good thing. The edge, which was razor sharp out of the box, held perfectly. I tested it with paper and on my arm hairs afterwards. After this, all I did was to take it to a strop, but it wasn't really needed. I'm very impressed, and happy with my choice. Its a good light all purpose knife that holds an edge great and won't break under hard conditions. A word about the sheath. It came with the kydex sheath, and is designed to be clipped to a belt without having to remove the belt. But I found it to be tricky to get on my belt, especially one handed, and it kind of pokes out away from my leg. I purchased the nylon sheath for the SOG seal team knife, and it fits it well. The nylon also has a pocket that I had my sharpener in. But now that I know I don't need to have the sharpener with me so much, I think I'll put my multi-tool in it. The only thing I don't like about the nylon sheath, is that the handle security strap has velcro, and velcro is no good in snow. Guess I will just switch back to the kydex sheath in snow, or put snaps on it at some point.