Savvy About Survival: Survival Gear Review: The SOG Field Knife

SOG has produced many fine knives including several now made in the USA again. I have several and enjoy the heck out of them, but my favorite SOG ride retails for over $200. But for one-eighth that amount, SOG has an excellent basic knife that has a fine handle, an excellent blade, and a pretty good sheath. Normally I shy away from cheap blades, but this time I’ll make an exception.

By Doc Montana, contributing author to SHTFblog and Survival Cache

A knife made in China is not automatically a bad thing. Patriotism aside, the negative issues most common with overseas production is poor quality control, substandard materials, and in the particular case of knives, inappropriate steel tempering even if the steel choice could be considered appropriate. However, SOG has a rich history of offering China-made blades that don’t suck. But many don’t rock either.

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For some reason the Swedish-made Mora Knife is an acceptable non-USA made blade. German blades are exceptional as often are English blades. And Finnish blades are tops even when they are made in Japan. And Japanese blades are truly some of the world’s best. But China? Let’s just take that one knife at a time. The SOG Field Knife retails for a whopping $30 with a street price of under $25. That’s about five bucks more than a MORA. Or about a hundred and fifty dollars less than what usually deserves my attention. At the minimum.

The SOG Field Knife checks in at a paltry 3.8 ounces or well within an acceptable folding knife for EDC. However the blade is plenty thick at 0.13 inches and an overall blade length of four inches. That is well within the specs for many different field knives types including those for bushcraft, tactical applications, hunting, and survival needs.

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The handle of the SOG Field Knife is a thermoplastic rubber that works well but under hard use will likely not last a lifetime. Or even a best cheap survival knife decade. But that’s not the point of this knife. The grippy handle has an index finger notch and a contained finger area ending just before the tang meaning the blade metal extends all the way through the handle and out the other side. A reasonable guard is molded into the grip and serves its purpose well. The protruding metal is solidly jimpped and can be counted on to transfer 100% pounding force to the very tip of the blade on the southernmost blade end.

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The sheath is a hard plastic form-fitting blade cover that is mostly no-nonsense. It holds on to the SOG Field Knife through a friction grip on the knife handle. A cut-out in the sheath allows for a small access to the blade for shielded cutting of cordage.

The overall length of the SOG Field Knife is about eight and a half inches. That’s plenty for most uses SOG steel type and a highly respectable size for this price point. The blade steel is fairly unexciting at a 7CR17MoV, or in other words, a room temperature stainless with acceptable knife properties. 7CR17Mov is a step above 440 Stainless which is the go-to steel for many budget knife makers. With the hollow grind and clip point, many good things can happen. Add to that the choil to move a finger forward of the handle proper, and a jimpped thumb placement on the spine again forward of the handle.

For general survival and bushcraft tasks, the SOG Field Knife scores highly. Give it extra points of the low price, and the SOG Field Knife is a winner worthy of attention. And here’s were my rubber words meet the road. I am a user of the SOG Pillar since its creation. The SOG Pillar is an American-made CPMS35VN super-steel knife that weighs twice as much, an inch-and-a-half longer, and is much nastier. But at arm’s reach, it’s quite similar but with a street price at least six times higher.

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While I don’t endorse the SOG Field Knife as my first choice, second choice or even tenth choice, it is still an excellent choice when price is a serious consideration.

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