Gov-Tac solid or not?

C

Carcajou

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Feb 3, 2008
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I have bought a sog gov-tac in 2005 and i haved remove the kraton handle to look at the tang...it was not really a full tang the blade look to stop at half of handle and to be welded to another (smaller) piece until the pommel..after i haved see it i haved continued to destroy the knife and the knife broke right at the welding or at the (weaker part of the tang)..this is the weaker part of the gov-tac.I hope you understand what i try to explain with my bad english...so i can't undertstand why sog dont make the tang full across the handle to the pommel.It look to be a economy of steel versus the solidity of the knife.I dont have any pictures of a gov-tac without handle kraton..so do have?and can you show it here?thanks
 
Shame you don't have pics of what was under your Government's handle 'cos I'm dying to know. I have an older Government model and it makes a weird click when given light lateral pressure, and it never used to. It is not a loud sound, and I'm not talking about a great deal of pressure. I can make it do it by holding the blade in one hand and the Kraton grip near the pommel in the other. If it was just Kraton rubber over a good size tang I'm sure I wouldn't be able to make it do that as it would need two hard things and the rubber surely wouldn't be enough. The odd thing is the knife doesn't actually appear broken, but a tang fracture is my only plausible guess. Assuming there is similarity between the older and newer models you could have saved me a good deal of wondering.

I've asked before about what lies under the Kraton of the SOG Government in a bunch of places. As yet nobody has been forthcoming much less posted a picture.
 
if you have a gov-tac, i think its the washer that cause this weird click...it was the reason why i haved tested my gov-tac...the knife was doing the same (click)
 
Nah, the one I have is the old style Government not the gov-tac, so it can't be a washer thing. Although there are some differences between the two I was thinking that something more fundamental might be common to both, such as perhaps some kind of sleeve that is between the Kraton and the tang.
 
ok you have the governement agent!On the gov-tac the tang is weak and seems to be welded to the blade after the gard.the tang is in square form.So i think its probably the same for the old version of gov.
 
Anyones can find pictures of SOG fixed blade without handle?Gov-Tac,Tech Bowie,Trident 2.0,or any bowie?Chris@SOG are you able to find that to show us the truth about SOG fixed blade tang.
 
I remember that someone did a gov-tac rehandle. In my search, I found that BubbaGanew did a rehandle on a gov-tac. He put leather washers on it. The problem is that I don't have a paid membership here, so I searched the site with google. Maybe someone can find BubbaGanew's post about doing the rehandle, because he did have pictures.
 
I had a Government years ago that had that problem. Actually is space between the handle and the tang. It still bugged me so I sent it back to SOG outlining the complaint. They said that it was just the nature of the knife and that it wouldn't in any way affect the performance. In other words - live with it. It kept bugging me so I took the handle off and put epoxy on the tang and put the handle back on. Voila, problem solved. Hope that helps.

Dan
 
Dan, hi

You've comforted me and alarmed me at once - “live with it”, yeah, nice attitude, but as you say the performance isn't impaired. mmm

I'm not willing to put up with it either, and although my Government is no longer a user I would like to fix it. The most obvious solution would be just to slice off the Kraton and do a new handle but I'm loathed to do that. I became distressed by the direction SOG has started to take a while ago so I won't be buying any more from them. That said, I would like to keep my Government as in tact as possible because I think it is a design classic from the days when SOG were at their best. Ideally, I'd like to just dismantle it and reassemble.

I've read that key to getting them apart is to break the glue bond added to the pommel bolt. I'm stuck for ideas as to how to get a solvent in there, especially when it'll probably nerf the Kraton. I have wondered if I was to boil just the pommel in a shallow dish of water, whether that would be enough to loosen it. May I ask how you did yours?

Thanks for your help so far.

'taco
 
Carcajou, hey

The best I've got at the moment is this tang from a Trident:

visc081149ep6.jpg

Apparently the Desert Dagger uses this design just on a different scale. Given the similarity between the Desert Dagger and my elderly Government this is what I'm expecting to find. Don't know how helpful this is going to be on the Gov-Tac trail though.

The truth is out there, somewhere ;-)
 
hey this is a good tang....but this was not the same fot my 2005 gov-tac....i hope since 2005 SOG have change the gov-tac construction..but i don't believe.
 
if its necessary i will buy another Gov-Tac and show the tang to you!If nobody is able to destroy a gov-tac kraton handle to proof that the Gov-Tac is not realy a strong quality knife.
 
I finally found the thread where BubbaGanew posted pics of his gov-tac with the handle removed, but the pictures were gone. If anyone can pm BubbaGanew, you might at least ask him what the tang was like on his gov-tac or have him post the pics again.
 
Carcajou, hi

Yeah, that tang design is pretty much what I'd envisaged all the Government versions to have including the Gov-Tac. You've got me very curious now. At the risk of baiting flames though, “i will buy another Gov-Tac and show the tang to you!” sounds great if you are me but miserable to be you. No Sir, save yourself some pain and bag yourself a Fallkniven instead ;-)

I'm still holding out hope dl351's trail is going to bear fruit.
 
dl351, hola

I very much appreciate your efforts amigo. I usually interrogate this site with this, but I'm not having a great deal of luck this time and you've managed to refine the trail much better than I have.

Cheers

'taco
 
finally...i haved see the poor quality of my ancient gov-tac and i dont want another one.I'm happy with my good old Buck 119 & i'm waiting for a buck 120 General pro-line that i haved order last week.SOG have great design with the gov-tac & government agent so there knives are a little bit expensive for the quality.Maybe & probably a gov-tac will never break but...a welded tang is not the best for me.The kind of tang & blade of the trident II you have show up is what i want for a knife.
 
gov-draw.jpg
[/IMG] this is a little drawing of a gov-tac tang...for give you a good idea of what is under the govtav handle
 
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