Sog Specialty Knives BGH93 X-42 Field Knife

Comments

1. G. Powell says:

   November 30, 2009 at 1:45 pm

   First the good stuff, this is a very nice knife for general purpose cutting. As such it makes a few trade offs. The first is that its not a pry bar, the second is that its not a hatchet, third it’s not a trenching tool. Lots of “survival” reviews of knives do all sorts of things to a knife that no one should do and expect it to still function as a knife.

   For testing purposes I took it into the kitchen to make lunch. Carved the leftover turkey nicely, that curve at the tip slices very nicely. Cut the tomato in nice pretty thin slices. Slicing cheese well the wide wedge made it break off a bit. Cutting bread, not great, but then its not a bread knife. Also the slight rise in the center of the blade makes it not a “chopping” knife like a French Chef knife. It tends to not cut all the way thru if you hold it flat against the cutting board. Slicing a banana, its a bit wide to do the old pull the blade toward you motion. My hands are large so it worked but not great. Peeling an apple, lousy the blade is too wide. So no points as a “peeling” or “pearing” knife.

   Off to the garage..Cutting rope, like a knife thru butter, breaking down cardboard boxes, no problem…

   Negatives: The saw tooth grip at the back of the blade makes putting much pressure on it a test of whose skin is tougher, the turkey’s or my thumb. The turkey lost. I could see filling this down just a tad.

   Bigest negative is the sheath. Its just plain not well thought out. I suppose they spent all the budget on the steel for the blade and that is probablly a resonable choice. But the sheath has two major failings. First the belt loop is kytex and wide and thus has no give. So a the slight deformation one is used to to put a odd size belt thru, no chance. Second, in order to keep the blade from being scratched by the thick leather, they put a thin plastic sheet inside the sheath. This is not bonded to the leather. So everytime you put the knife in or out of the sheath it rolls the plastic farther down into the center of the sheath.

   If you get this knife for actual camping use you will want to make your own sheath or buy a custom one or something. Heck even a getto sheath of cardboard and duct tape would do a better job. Fortunately there are a number of easy to make sheaths, just search for “Knife Sheath instructions make” and wade in. I like the one on “Cliff Jacobson’s’” page. Or go to your local leather store. They should be able to help you out.

   So all in all 4 stars for the knife. 0 for the sheath.

   Update: Using the knife itself and a fishing filet knife I was able to cut the plastic liner out. Pliers to fishout the pieces. Took about 15 minutes of carefull applied force and cutting. Then 2hrs to make a new sheath following Cliff’s instructions, well worth the effort. (I used a nice scrap from a local leather store.) I’m much happier now.
   Rating: 4 / 5
2. Anonymous says:

   November 30, 2009 at 4:42 pm

   A knife with a look that is pleasing to the eye combined with the toughness and edge-holding ability of BG42 steel. Mine was purchased from a knife dealer in the UK as importing goods from the US can be quite [costly] for the private collector. Nice Hybrid Leather/Kydex sheath, which would benefit from the addition of a retention strap as, in time, the leather will stretch and the friction fit would not be so reliable. Handle is extremely ergonomic although the thumb notches on the blade are somewhat aggressive for my tastes. Choil is just about perfect for detailed work. I would have given this four-and-a-half stars if possible, although unable to give five as my Fallkniven F1 just beats this model with its slightly superior VG10 performance. Value for money? Extremely good (£73 in the UK) as I believe that the manufacturer gives a limited lifetime warranty.
   Rating: 4 / 5