SOG SEAL XR review

Tracked one down...a few things. Closed, mine also has that little amount of up-down play. Also, when opening manually, with no flipping, the blade has some sort of stop or bump in the pivot, causing the blade to stay open. It will stop the blade almost exactly half way (similar time how some slip joints have a stop in the blade when they are opened)...

**Edit** Upon disassembly, found that one of the bearing races wasnt seated all the way in the frame. All fixed now...Smoooth action.
 
Last edited:
Good stuff OP. According to the product page for the SEAL XR on BHQ the liners are stainless. I am considering this SOG as a hard use folder. I am considering a Benchmade 810 Contego and also a 275 Adamas.

This SOG with all that jimping all over it looks a lot like the 810 Contego. How thick is the XR lock bar? Anyone have a measurement on that? I know the 275 Adamas has one of the thickest lock bars in the entire BM catalog. The 810 Contego has BM's "standard" lock bar.

This SOG Seal XR definitely has my attention. Would be cool if it had G10 handle instead of fancy plastic GFN. Last thing I expected from SOG was this large folder with an S35VN blade but hey cool!

Have not seen SOGs worth the trouble of buying since I collected all the Vulcan variants and the Terminus XR. Good stuff!
 
Good looking knife just not into folders that big. I went with the Terminus XR which was tested by special forces as well. Rugged also and in D2 and G10.
 
Mate,
I've also got the SOG
Knife.
Have you had any issues with the opening using the flipper.
Mine is very hard to open.
Regards
Mark
 
Whoops, completely forgot about the update šŸ˜…

I'll put one together this weekend and put some pics in. The knife has held up great, I still very much like it.

Mark Dombrowski said:
Mate,
I've also got the SOG
Knife.
Have you had any issues with the opening using the flipper.
Mine is very hard to open.
Regards
Mark
Click to expand...

The first one I received opened smoothly at first, and then became harder to open. Like, really hard. That one also developed significant rust after being in fresh water. I opened the knife up and looked to see what was causing the knife to be so hard to open (rusting was a separate issue, unrelated to the opening issue), I removed the thick coating that the lock bar rides against when opening and closing, and slightly sanded in the area where the lock bar rides out of upon opening the knife. This remedied the issue. I contacted sog and gave a detailed explanation of my findings about the stiffness and rust issues, they had me send the knife back to them. I received a replacement some time later, and never had the same stiffness issue (I don't know if they revised it, or what (because this was before the knife was released).


The rust issue remained due to their steel choice but I lived with it and still really enjoy the knife, I recommend opening the knife up and putting a thin film of oil of your choice on the steel liners and hardware if you know you'll be in water.

Anyway, I'll give update the review this weekend, if there's anything else I can answer let me know.
 
Wow time flies. Sorry for unanswered questions, I went a long stretch away from the forums and didn't keep up with posts here.
 
jbmonkey said:
nice. no safe sitting or baby work on that knife there. its been working hard. glad to see ya back with us posting, Sir.
Click to expand...
Charlie Mike style no safe queens and thanks good to see you as well.
 
I just picked one up and really like it. It's a bit over jimped for bare hands but you're not going to lose your grip and it would excel in gloves. I did take the small screw off the clip and add extra loctite.
 
shinyedges said:
From the moment I saw the SOG SEAL XR in the SHOT show video I was interested. I have always liked a stout knife and have had many of them, from tons of different manufacturers. This one is big and not for the faint of heart but those who like overbuilt knives will love this knife.

Blade length: 3.82"
Blade thickness: .186"
OAL open: 9.13"
OAL closed: 5.311"
Blade steel: s35vn


I have carried this SEAL XR non stop since I got it over 1 month ago:



First and foremost, this goes without saying... the knife is an absolute tank of a knife. The blade is .186 thou thick, but do to its high grind it maintains a very usable cutting geometry:




For those wondering, its handle is .696 thou thick and fills the hand well. There's jimping all over the place that definitely isn't needed, but I have not sanded them down and I have used the knife pretty darn hard without any real pain or blisters.


Here's some action shots of the knife cutting thick hoses off of fittings and making short work of clear vinyl:






I cut 12 of those hoses from those fittings, they were extremely stubborn to come off once the clamp was released, I used the knife to completely cut down to the fitting and they came right off.


This leads me to my next point I'd like to hit on, the heat treat is DAMN good, like really good. I absolutely love their heat treat on this hunk of s35vn. I haven't seen a single chip of any sort despite my rather hard use/abuse, and it sharpens up SO nicely... holy batman, it gets retardedly sharp. I can make this edge make hair pop off with barely any effort on my dmt stones.


I will say, the steel they used for the liners and extended pommel are a carbon steel that rusts easily when wet. I had the knife clipped to my shorts while lounging in this river for about and hour and rust was all over the liners and extended pommel/crusher. Sorry, didn't take pics of the rust before I cleaned it.








Overall this knife is a keeper in my stable, it's a rugged knife that is smooth as butter and cuts surprisingly well (obviously compared to an opinel on a zucchini this is a brick) and is well worth the price. (For the sake of disclosure, I attempted to purchase this knife before it was released and SOG sent me this knife for free, despite repeated attempts to pay). For those who know me, if this knife sucked I'd say so LOL

Well done SOG, the only complaints I have are the jimping which I can live with (if I couldn't I'd sand them down) and the components that rust very quickly if wet. That said, everything cleaned up nicely and if you maintain your knife, is no big deal.





I actually nearly forgot, I did knock some of the jimping on the flipper tab down...

Hope anyone who may be interested in this knife finds this helpful.
Click to expand...
Kind of a stupid question, but how did you knock some of the jimping down? Mine should be here any day now. I really need this thing, but my method of choice of reducing is probably not going to be the best method.
 
XYL said:
Kind of a stupid question, but how did you knock some of the jimping down? Mine should be here any day now. I really need this thing, but my method of choice of reducing is probably not going to be the best method.
Click to expand...
Hmm, I still have this knife and I'm trying to remember how I sanded it. I may have lightly touched it up on a 1x30 belt grinder I had.

Honestly it could be done with care, a variety of ways but I think a 1x30 or dremel are super quick and easy. Just go slow and light because it's permanent.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top