Wow I was just looking on net at some of the new (this year) Sog knives I have the trident and flash . ( for about 6 years or more )And they have been ok knifes I tend to have them in strong side rear pocket. I use the case peanut or swiss army for every day task up front pocket. Looking at some of the prices you can buy a Benchmade for close to same price as Sog. I don't own a Benchmade but I am thinking about the new Bug out down the road. Is Benchmade a big step up next to Sog? Because Sog is getting up there price wise net wise. Sure you can get some bucks off but given the choice Sog or Bench ?

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Spin The Wheel

Bought the Sog Trident myself years back. Aus-8 steel which is not bad bud Benchmade often uses SV-30 steel on many models and often costly. Guess most will agree that Benchmade is great and many models offered. Like the new Bugout model myself. Check Amazon for prices or Blade Headquarters for selection. Still studying up on the lock-up strength myself.

SOG make good knives, generally at a much lower price than comparable Benchmade or Spyderco knives.

The lock on Benchmade knives is the best I've ever used. It's strong, yet easy to open or close one-handed. With light pressure on the release, even small Benchmade knives can be flipped open with your wrist. Scales on the mini-Griptilian are solid and have a nice feel. Scales on the full sized Griptilian are hollow, and sound hollow when you use it. G-10 grips are available from third parties, or as an extremely expensive option from Benchmade.

I don't own, nor care for "assisted opening" knives, which seem to be the selling point for SOG. Furthermore, you may run afoul of state and local law. Don't try to enter Canada with one.

All knives need periodic sharpening. While some steels are harder to sharpen and take a keener edge, I haven't found any with significantly better edge-holding life. My nemesis is fiberglass reinforced tape on packages.

I like Benchmade, better finish and more modern steels. SOG are excellent knives too, I will never utilize them for more than opening boxes or cutting threads.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

Most SOG offerings aren't even in the same ballpark as Benchmade however they do make some very serviceable knives. If you don't have a Benchmade and one appeals to you try it out. If you have an issue their customer service is very good based on my experience which is limited to my own screw-ups not theirs.

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BCCI Life Member #2068

The Axis folding mechanism on some Benchmade models is the safest, most reliable one in the business.

Benchmade makes an excellent knife. So does Spyderco.

I have a number of SOGs. They aren't bad knives and I think their fixed blades like the Sealpup are excellent values.

Benchmade and Spyderco are several notches up in my opinion. The Griptilian is an excellent knife. So is the Spyderco Delica. I have no idea why they call it a Delica. I have owned and used Delicas a lot and they are anything but delicate. Both of these make excellent EDC knives. I have field dressed deer with a Spyderco.

My SOG Trident has ridden in my right pocket going on 12 years now. It's used from opening boxes to cleaning fish and game. Never had any issues other then it needs a trip back to the factory for new springs.

Been carrying Benchmade knives for close to twenty years. I won't carry anything else.

Their service is excellent. And it cost $5 to ship it back to them to be resharpened.

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Life Is A Gift. Defend it!

Some time back I grabbed a knife without doing much research because it was a larger than usual folder-with a large handle. It is a Cold Steel Talwar.
It is one of the most aggressively designed knives I have ever handled. Have you guys ever seen one?

I have 4 Benchmade folders and one fixed blade. Great knives. Frank

I have a few Benchmade knives and a couple of SOGs. The SOG Spec Elite has a lock that resembles the Axis, and has a very smooth and quiet opening action. It was a gift, so I don't know for sure what it cost, but its list price at Cabelas was about forty or fifty bucks more than a Griptilian. I don't know if the difference between VG10 and 154CPM is enough to justify the extra cost.

My other SOG is a Flash II with a partly serrated tanto blade. Although a lot of people swear by this knife, I have never bonded with mine, mostly because of the tinny sound the lock makes when the assisted blade opens. I would probably like it better if it had a drop point and a plain edge.

I would put any of my Benchmades ahead of either of my SOGs. The Griptilian is simply a brilliant EDC, even in its plain-Jane livery. I think I would like the Mini Grip even better, but the Grip is what I got, another gift.

My favorite Benchmade is the Mini Barrage. A lot of people do not like the assist; I do, although I would still like the knife without it. Other Benchmades that I would particularly like to own are the Bugout, the Volli, and especially the 940 Osborne. That one is up around $175, and it is easy to spend more on better steel and handle materials, either in upgraded factory versions or in aftermarket additions.

Overall, I strongly prefer the Benchmades over SOG. I am not aware of any SOG that I would really like to have.

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Not in jail.

Where would Zero Tolerance fall in comparing to Benchmade or Spyderco?

Same quality.Some say overbuilt.

I use my knife pretty much daily and I treat it like any other tool so I tend to be a little rough with them.

I've carried just about everything trying to find something holds up and keeps a decent edge.

I've tried a couple of SOGs but neither one worked out for me. I ultimately ended up with a Benchmade mini griptillian and it's been holding up and keeping a nice edge.

Personally, I prefer the Benchmade over pretty much everything else.

My EDC is a Benchmade "North Fork" folder w/ wood scales $140.... 2.97inch blade and wood scales makes it look non-tactical ............

I have Kershaw "Blurs" and "3/4 Tons" for weekend hard use "working" knives.

My oldest Benchmade is from the late 70's or early 80's. It is a non-folding pilots survival knife with several hex holes in the grip area. I'm told these are for disassembly of a Piper-Cub dash board. There were two versions with leather scabbard or like mine with a folding blade guard.

Camping I have skinned and cut up small game, dug roots, debarked walking sticks & shelter staves, split kindling and pulled splinters from my fingers. At 7 to 7.5 inches overall length weighs in the 4 to 5 ounce area. It is still sharp enough to do all these functions! But I have never sharpened it or needed to!

It was $5 more than the scabbarded version at $44.99 when I bought it. I lays flat in a thin pants pocket, and seems to be tough as nails (although I never tried to cut one!)

The only experience I have with anything SOG is their pocket pliers, and those were belonged to men on my maintenance crew. Like any other American designed pocket plier, they are well made and thought out. I never saw any advantage over good Leatherman or Gerber products. EXCEPT for one feature. The wire crimping notch on the SOG was enlarged at the request of the US Army's combat engineers to fit the crimp notch on standard blasting caps! A very handy feature, should you have the need! My F-I-L was Brigade Command Sargent Major of the 13th Engineers, he told me he never saw any other brand of pocket pliers on the 5 Battalions of his men! (That would rank as a very good endorsement!)

Ivan

Bought a Talwar myself a few years back, on sale for a price I couldn't pass on. Trouble is, it's too big to EDC, (for me anyway). So, it's warm and dry in the safe.

How does the Blur compare to the North Fork? People talk about modern, more expensive steel. You can get a Blur with S30V steel for about half the price of a similar Benchmade knife. The last time I was looking to buy an EDC knife people on knife boards talked me into a Blur. I haven't regretted it one second. They lock up strong and they open easy. They are assisted opening. I wouldn't want a knife without that as an EDC now. I don't live within 500 miles of any place that might have a problem with them. And it's been many years since I have traveled to those places.

Anyway the story I got about the Blur with S30V steel was that it was as good as many knives costing much more. I can't find a single fault with mine. I've owned a lot of knives and this one is by far the best one. But I haven't owned a Benchmade because people talked me out of buying them.

I guess there is one problem with an S30V knife. They are hard to sharpen. But that toughness causes them to hold an edge a long time also. I have knives I can sharpen with just a few strokes of a stone. They get very sharp. But they have to be sharpened again after a little work. I have a kitchen knife made by Old Hickory (Ontario Knife Company) that will get as sharp as a razor blade with very little effort with a stone. It will stay sharp for an hour or so of continuous work. My grandmother used one for decades to cut up food for canning etc.. I watched her work with it and sharpen it as she worked. She wore half the blade off over the years. Some types of steel are soft and easy to sharpen. Other types stay sharp a very long time.

Benchmade in my opinion. Love my Griptillian. Spyderco makes some great ones also.

I have a leather strop I made myself, from a strip of 2" belt leather glued to a piece of mahogany 12" long. I load the leather with jeweler's rouge or ceric oxide (the white paste used to polish cases in a tumbler). I can restore the edge two or three times by stropping between sharpening.

The best tool for sharpening I've found is made by Edge Pro, either the Apex or Professional model. (The former is very light and portable.) It works on the hardest steel, from S30V to M1 tool steel (tungsten, 65 Rc).

The Edge Pro comes with four water stones, 120 grit to 1000 grit, and takes about 10 light strokes on each side with each stone. I mark the edge bevel with a felt tip pen (in lieu of prussian blue), set the angle with an electronic protractor, and make sure the ink is removed in one light stroke.

mostly I carry a Leek but I have a Blur for when I'm out in the woods and don't have to worry about frightening anyone, LOL! It's a pretty big knife. I do have some SOG blades around too. I think their Kukri is a really nice blade. It's awesome for cutting through under growth and very similar to one I used to carry in the jungles in Central and South America. I also have an SOG Fasthawk that I carry with me in the woods here. If the Kukri can't hack it the Fasthawk can. I had never had a polycarb handled Hawk until the SOG and I'm surprised at how light but durable it is. As for their EDC knives I have been checking them out quite a lot recently. Not that there's anything wrong with my Kershaws, just looking for a change of pace.
Good thread !

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Tertia Optio

[QUOTE=C J;139721614]How does the Blur compare to the North Fork? People talk about modern, more expensive steel. You can get a Blur with S30V steel for about half the price of a similar Benchmade knife. The last time I was looking to buy an EDC knife people on knife boards talked me into a Blur. I haven't regretted it one second. They lock up strong and they open easy. They are assisted opening.

Anyway the story I got about the Blur with S30V steel was that it was as good as many knives costing much more. I can't find a single fault with mine. I've owned a lot of knives and this one is by far the best one. But I haven't owned a Benchmade because people talked me out of buying them.

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The Blur is a wider, longer blade. 3.25 or 3.5 IIRC vs the North Fork at 2.97. 3 vs 4 oz. Closed 3.? vs 4.5"

I really got the North Fork because it is <3" and with the wood scales looks more like a "pocketknife" .... hate scaring folks in the "burbs of the Burgh" where carrying a knife is the exception rather than the rule.

My weekend Blur is the 14C28N steel....... but thinking about getting the S30 V version for $60-70 on Amazon.

Where I live people aren't so easily spooked. I know lots of places that react badly to stuff. Heck I bought an ax a few years back and you would have thought I was going to yell out, "Here's Johnny," before I got out of Lowes. Some things do freak people I guess. That one really surprised me because I grew up with farm tools everywhere. An ax was as common as a hammer almost. People watch too much TV I guess.

I like the bigger size of the Blur. It doesn't bother me in my pocket often. It's the biggest EDC I ever used and I wondered about it at first but I never had a problem. Once in a great while I'll have to adjust my pocket I guess. Not very often.

Spooked isn't the right word......... I grew up with a knife....... today's world not so much..... but except for my AAA flashlight it is my most used EDC item..... and most borrowed.......

if they only knew what else I was carrying......................... LOL

I have one Benchmade, an Auto 5000 and one SOG, a tiny folder with a plastic handle and a belt clip. The SOG is clipped in a pocket of my sweat pants that I wear around the house. The Benchmade is clipped in the right rear pocket of my 5.11 trousers. It is my EDC knife.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

I own SOG and Benchmade models, and I think the quality is a little better and ergonomics a lot better with Benchmade. You need to handle a Mini Griptilian and see if it isn't the most comfortable knife you've ever used.

SOG makes a quality knife. Benchmade offers the quality and the configurations I most desire in my EDC knives. Doesn't mean I don't have a couple SOG's . . .

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Wisdom comes thru fear . . .