Accidentally on a SOG kick

[Grant Lamontagne]

With the arrival of the SOG Kilowatt that I had been waiting for, and the SOG ToolClip that a very generous member sent me recently I find myself thinking more and more about SOG designs and construction.  All too often here we talk about Leatherman versus Victorinox, and why more people aren't carrying Gerbers (or why don;t we have a Gerber Forum? ) that SOG seems to be overlooked, which is a real crime because of the innovations and differences that SOG is famous for.

Take the ParaTool for example.  No other tool bends like that, which of course is one of the reasons why not too many folks like it, but we always extol the virtues of other tools that weren't successful because they are prime examples of the evolution of the tools that we do like.  The ToolClip (and Mini ToolClip) are prime examples of good designs that everyone likes, but for some reason, never made it.  The compound leverage is also unique among tools, and is a feature I personally see as limited in actual function, but is yet another piece of evidence that SOG is indeed a major contender in the tool field.

So, I am issuing a challenge to all SOG owners out there.  Put down your EDC tools, and carry your SOG for the next week, then let us know how well it worked for you, what you liked and didn't like.  It doesn't matter what SOG you have, drag it out and put it to work.  It'll thank you for it later!

Def

[David Bowen]

Well Def 'ol buddy, I myself have been on a SOG kick! Been carrying the paratool alot lately and my new Flash II is getting a work out. I have got to start rotating the tools around to give each tool a try. I even got my boss going, WOW what's a SOG? and he was impressed. I think I could easily be turned into a SOGaphile. I realize SOG's are hard to carry and hard to get use to because they are not mainstream, they are not leading the revolution (well not yet anyways). So we go with what works, Leatherman, Victorinox, etc. I have resisted the urge for two weeks now to carry a Charge and have done so with the paratool. Try it, you might just like it....

David

[Viper]

Knives aren't allowed at my school, but when I go back to work during Christmas and summer, I'll bring my new SOGs, I'm on the kick too. Heck, I want to get a Killowatt now, and I've never even done more with wires or a computer than just typing, surfing the internet, etc.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Yeah, definitely don't get yourself in trouble at school- did you hear about that kid in Georgia who got suspended for ten days and charged because security found a SAK in the console of his car?

Zero Tolerance may be silly, but it's your butt that will get in trouble, not theirs!

Def

[David Bowen]

Didn't hear about that one  and I live in Georgia.

David

[Viper]

I still carry a SwissCard Lite in my wallet, but I wouldn't dare use it on school grounds unless I absolutely needed to. I've had a few small annoyances that I wished I could use the scissors for already.


My friend accidently left a small (2 1/2-3 inch blade I think) Spyderco knockoff (still getting him into quality stuff, his latest, and so far only good tool is a Buck knife) in his pack from his vacation. He didn't get caught, but he probably would have, had I not convinced him not to throw it out the bus window, already on school grounds. If he'd have done that, someone would have found it, and everyone would know about it, and eventually they'd catch him. It also didn't help when he was screaming on the bus-

"Holy crap! I can't believe I brought a freaking knife to school!!"

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

That's a bad thing... we have come a long way from the good old days when I carried my SAK to school and having a dummy hand grenade in my locker only got rolling eyes from my teachers!

Def

[Anthony]

I still carry a SwissCard Lite in my wallet, but I wouldn't dare use it on school grounds unless I absolutely needed to. I've had a few small annoyances that I wished I could use the scissors for already.


My friend accidently left a small (2 1/2-3 inch blade I think) Spyderco knockoff (still getting him into quality stuff, his latest, and so far only good tool is a Buck knife) in his pack from his vacation. He didn't get caught, but he probably would have, had I not convinced him not to throw it out the bus window, already on school grounds. If he'd have done that, someone would have found it, and everyone would know about it, and eventually they'd catch him. It also didn't help when he was screaming on the bus-

"Holy crap! I can't believe I brought a freaking knife to school!!"

 

Do your bags go through an X-ray machine?

I would have just sunk it to the very bottom of my bag for the day..

[CQC-7]

I always used to carry my knife to school.  This is pre-9/11 of course.  I once had a teacher that did not allow us to get up and sharpen pencils during class.  Broke off my lead and not wanting to upset him I took out my stockman and sharpened my pencil.  He looked in my direction, grinned and said absolutely nothing. 

[Viper]

I told him they don't x-ray or anything, and he said that there are metal detectors in the front. For one thing, he doesn't even use that door, and for another, it's for library books, not metal.


He's just ignorant, and he doesn't think things through.

[Anthony]

I was in high school between 1996-2000 and knives were not allowed...although I bought a sold a few...even a crappy chinese butterfly knife!

As long as you weren't waving it around no one "searched" you.  Times change though, I'm sure they now have metal detectors and drug sniffing dogs

[Sparkey]

That's a bad thing... we have come a long way from the good old days when I carried my SAK to school and having a dummy hand grenade in my locker only got rolling eyes from my teachers!

Def

I carried a knife to school from the time I was in grade school, I carried a SAKKO(sorry, I was young!) in high school and put it to use regularly (although more for the screwdrivers and bottle opener than the blade, but it did see action, too) and no one really cared. I didn't go waving it around or doing stupid crap with it, so no one made a big deal. Plus, this was in a rural area, so everyone carried a pocketknife of some sort. The worst thing I had to put up with was being called "MacGyver" whenever I used it. I even carried a lockback that looked like a switchblade, and no one really got too bent up after I explained it wasn't really a switch, but it did get a few looks. My nephews told me of some kid getting busted for carrying fingernail clippers with a small blade on them and getting sent home for 3 days...zero tolerance. I'm all for safety in schools, but I'm even more for common sense.

[CQC-7]

I think that zero tolerance sucks.  I is just a reason to move us closer to government control by inducing paranoia by making any example out of anyone.  You can here the dinner table conversation now.  "Mommy, jimmie got caught with a dangerous swiss army knife today and he is locked up in juvie hall." 

In my High school days the people with knives were not the ones you had to worry about.  My cousin was sent to juvie hall over somthing that he never even said, matter of fact he was not even at school that day.  Luckily his uncle is an attorney and he was realeased after the false allegations were proven that they were false.   

[David Bowen]

On my SOG kick I noticed something bad with the Flash II, the one hand closing method has some drawbacks. When closing it one handed, it's closed with such a snap (from the spring) that it makes a dent in the zytel where the blade rests in the handle. I would say that is pretty signifigant, it's not going to dull the blade too much I don't think, but makes me think I should be more protective of it. Any thoughts?

David

[skylinedo]

On days when I expect to be doing electrical work (crimping, stripping, etc), or breaking furniture apart to throw out, I reach for the SOG PowerLock everytime.  The compound leverage is a HUGE advantage.  Crimping with the Surge I have to exert twice the effort!  And the crimps are less accurate due to the crimping surface area on the Surge.

Now for the annoyances ...
When driving a screw using the driver on the PowerLock, the gears digg into my palms (I have the old style PowerLock).  Opening the blade brings out the bottle opener as well!  I have to play around with the rest of the tools so the scissors would actually lock.  The wings get in the way of opening large tools.

[CQC-7]

I have had the same problem with my SOG.  I like the compound leverage as well, but those darn gears do dig in deep.  As for the SOG blade digging into the handle, I have to say that I have not noticed that problem.  I guess that I have to carry my sog folder more and pay attention to that.