SOG Multi-Tools and Knives

What SOG makes for hunters and campers

On this site, SOG covers five types:

• Multi-tools: full-size and compact geared pliers tools, plus a few specialty tools
• Fixed-blade knives: the SEAL family, small neck knives, field knives and bowies
• Folding knives: assisted openers, lockbacks and the XR-lock folders
• Tomahawks and a camp axe: short one-hand tools with stainless heads
• Machetes: a kukri, a sawback and a few straight blades

The grid filters by type and changes as listings come and go. So I'll write about the lines and what separates them, not about how many of each are listed this week. Most specs in the grid come from Amazon listings, and the grid marks them. Where a listing leaves a box empty, the grid shows a dash.

Lineup notes: the SOG multi-tool families

Compound leverage: the geared pliers

This is the feature SOG builds the line around. SOG's multi-tool page says the geared pivots double the gripping and cutting torque at the pliers jaws compared with a conventional single-pivot head, and that you need less force at the handles. That's the maker's claim, and it's the reason the jaws look like they have a small gearbox in them. They do.

The same page says the gears let you flip the tool open with one hand: hold one handle, flick the other. It names the PowerLock, PowerAssist and PowerAccess among the models that have it. Shop-class translation: a gear is a lever that keeps working past the point where your wrist quits.

Full-size tools: PowerLock, PowerAssist and PowerAccess

Per the listings:

• PowerLock: full-size pliers, 18 tools, knife and scissors on one version, a V-cutter on another
• PowerLock EOD 2.0: 22 tools, knife and scissors
• PowerLock Folding 18-Tool: stainless frame, pliers, knife and wire cutters
• PowerAssist: 16 tools, stainless frame, pliers
• PowerAccess: 18 tools, stainless frame
• PowerAccess Deluxe: 21 tools with a knife
• PowerAccess Assist: full-size pliers, 21 tools, knife

The names stack up like trim levels on a pickup. The PowerAccess Assist listing mentions one-handed assisted opening, and the Deluxe lists more tools than the plain PowerAccess. Read the tool list on the exact listing. That's where the real differences live.

Compact tools: PowerPint, PowerLitre and Flash MT

The small ones, per the listings:

• PowerPint: compact pliers, 18 tools, 3.2 inches closed, knife and scissors
• PowerLitre: compact pliers, 19 tools, knife and scissors
• Flash MT: compact pliers, 7 tools, knife and wire cutters, stainless frame

Yes, a Pint and a Litre. Somebody at SOG had fun. A compact tool rides in a pocket instead of on the belt, and that's the whole reason to own one: a tool on you beats a better tool in the truck.

Specialty tools: SwitchPlier, ParaShears, Tellus MT and Rapid Rescue

These do narrower jobs:

• SwitchPlier: 12 tools, pliers, knife and wire cutters
• ParaShears: 11 tools built around shears
• Tellus MT: pliers, knife and wire cutters
• Rapid Rescue: a rescue tool with a seatbelt cutter, per its listing

The ParaShears is the one to look at if most of your cutting is cord, tape and packaging. More on the type across brands is on the multi-tool page.

Lineup notes: SOG fixed-blade knives

The SEAL family

The SEAL knives are the core of SOG's fixed-blade side. Per the listings:

• SEAL Pup: 4.75-inch AUS-8 stainless blade, 9 inches overall, glass-reinforced nylon handle, nylon sheath on one version and a Kydex-style sheath on the Tactical
• SEAL Pup Elite: 4.85-inch AUS-8 blade, 9 inches overall
• SEAL Strike: 4.9-inch AUS-8 blade, partially serrated, 9.6 inches overall
• SEAL FX: S35VN steel, tanto blade, Kydex-style sheath

A partially serrated edge has teeth near the handle and a plain edge toward the tip. The teeth bite rope and webbing. The plain part does the careful cuts. On a deer, it's the plain part you use.

Hard-use fixed blades: Pillar, Pentagon FX, Tellus FX

Per the listings:

• Pillar: 5-inch CPM S35VN blade, Micarta handle, full tang
• Pentagon FX: CPM S35VN blade, G10 handle, in standard, Blackout and Covert versions
• Tellus FX: 4.2-inch Cryo 440C blade, full tang, GRN handle, sheath included

S35VN, 440C, AUS-8: steel names read like hardware-store part numbers. They're all stainless. The grid lets you filter by steel when the listing names it.

Small fixed blades and field knives

• Field Knife: 4-inch clip point, TPR handle, full tang
• Ace: 3.8-inch clip point, 7Cr17MoV stainless, full tang
• Gambit: 2.58-inch blade, nylon sheath
• Instinct: 2.3-inch blade, full tang, sheath included
• Snarl: 2.3-inch sheepsfoot, 9Cr18MoV, Kydex-style sheath

The Field Knife and the Ace are the hunting-sized ones here. The Instinct and Snarl are small enough to ride on a neck cord or in a coat pocket. The hunting knife page and the fixed blade knife page compare sizes across brands.

Bowies, a boot knife and a bayonet

• Tech Bowie: AUS-8, Kraton handle; a stonewash version lists a 6.4-inch blade
• Super SOG Bowie and Pinnacle Bowie: 7.5-inch blades
• Nightshade Boot Knife: 4.75-inch 3Cr13 blade
• BAR15T Tanto Bayonet: 7-inch AUS-8 tanto, 12.2 inches overall

SOG's company history says its first product reproduced the original SOG Bowie. So the bowies are the family's oldest branch. The bowie knife page and the boot knife page have more.

Lineup notes: SOG folding knives

Assisted openers

An assisted opener has a spring that finishes opening the blade once you start it. In the grid, the Twitch II (2.65-inch AUS-8, aluminum or wood handle), the Flare (3.5-inch blade) and the Flash AT (D2, partially serrated) list assisted opening. The SlimJim lists assisted opening and a lockback. Practice the open and the close at a table before you carry one.

Lockbacks

The Salute (8Cr13MoV, G10, thumb stud), the Salute Mini (3.1-inch blade), the SlimJim and the Adventurer LB (3-inch Cryo 5Cr15MoV drop point) list lockbacks. Press the bar on the spine, and the blade lets go.

XR-lock folders and the rest

SOG describes the Terminus XR as having its ambidextrous XR locking mechanism that opens three different ways, with a 3-inch D2 blade on the G10 version. The grid also lists a Damascus Terminus XR with a carbon fiber handle and the SEAL XR with a 3.9-inch S35VN blade. Other folders: the Kilowatt (3.4-inch clip point), the Escape (3.4-inch serrated, 9Cr18MoV), the Fielder (3.3-inch, G10) and the Trident AT (3.7-inch Cryo D2 clip point). The pocket knife page and the everyday carry knife page cover locks across brands.

Lineup notes: SOG tomahawks and the camp axe

The tomahawks

Per the listings, the Tactical Tomahawk comes in two versions, both with 420 steel heads and sheaths; one lists a nylon or polymer handle and a limited lifetime warranty. The FastHawk and the Voodoo Hawk Mini are the shorter ones, with stainless heads and sheaths. All of them sit at hatchet length or a little longer. Their listings name throwing, survival and tactical use, and the FastHawk and Voodoo Hawk Mini add camping and hunting.

Read the named uses as the maker's pitch for each one: the tomahawk listings lean toward throwing and tactical work, and none of them names splitting. If the job is kindling, the Camp Axe below is the SOG tool whose listing does. The tomahawk axe page sorts head shapes across brands.

The SOG camp axe

The Camp Axe is the hatchet-style tool in the SOG grid. Its listing gives the shortest length of the SOG axes, a nylon or polymer handle, a stainless head and a sheath, and names camping, bushcraft, chopping and splitting. This is the one for kindling on a block and small limbs around the fire ring. The camping hatchet page and the hatchet vs axe guide cover sizes across brands.

Sheath the head whenever it isn't in your hand, and chop on a block with your free hand well back.

Lineup notes: SOG machetes

Per the listings: the Sogfari Kukri with a 13-inch stainless blade, the FARI with an 18-inch high-carbon sawback blade, the Phantom Strike Machete II at 12.6 inches, the Jungle Primitive with a rubber handle and sheath, and the Tellus Machete. Blade shape is the main split: kukri, sawback or a plain straight blade. The machete page explains the shapes across brands. Swing a machete only with clear space around you and nobody within reach.

How to choose within the SOG lineup

Pliers, belt knife, pocket knife or brush cutter

Pick the job. If it's fixing things around camp, start with the multi-tools. If it's field dressing, the Field Knife and Ace sizes. If it rides in a pocket every day, the folders. If it's kindling, the camp axe or a tomahawk. If it's clearing a shooting lane, the machetes.

For multi-tools: the jaws before the count

My one opinion on this page: pick a multi-tool by what's at the jaws, not by the tool count. The reason you can check is in the grid: the counts run from 7 to 22, but the fields that change the job are pliers, wire cutters, scissors and knife, and they're listed separately. The 22-tool EOD 2.0 and the 18-tool PowerLock are both PowerLock versions, and SOG lists the PowerLock among its geared-pliers tools. Four extra tools don't change the jaws. Decide whether you need scissors or a V-cutter, and whether you want it on the belt or in a pocket.

For knives: size, edge and sheath

Blade length in the SOG fixed blades runs from about 2.3 inches to 7.5 inches. Plain or partially serrated edge comes next. Then the sheath: nylon or Kydex-style, per the listings. Try the sheath on the belt you hunt in, over your November coat.

For folders: how it opens, then how it locks

The opening field in the listings splits SOG folders into assisted openers and thumb-stud knives. The lock field splits them into lockbacks and "other," which covers the XR lock. Learn both before the first trip. A lockback closes with a press on the spine. The XR knives close the way SOG's own instructions show, and you want to read those at the kitchen table, not on a tailgate at 5 a.m. with cold hands. Blade lengths among the folders run from about 2.65 inches on the Twitch II to 3.9 inches on the SEAL XR.

Who can skip most of this grid

If you already carry a pliers tool and a belt knife and both still work, you don't need a SOG page, or anybody's. If all you want is a knife for field dressing, skip the multi-tools, the bayonet and the bowies, and look at the Field Knife and Ace sizes. If you never clear brush or split kindling, skip the machetes and the tomahawks. Danny would argue he needs one of everything "for coverage." Danny also brought two coffee makers to a three-day hunt.

Care that applies to the whole lineup

AKTI's maintenance guide gives the basics that suit every tool here:

• Clean the handle and blade every few months; a toothpick works and won't scratch
• Light oil on the folding mechanism of a folder or multi-tool you use often
• Oil the blades before storage
• Store dry; damp basements and garages rust steel

AKTI warns to keep your fingers outside a folder's closing arc, and to cut away from your body. Knife carry rules vary by state, so check your state's rules before you carry one.

SOG facts

• Founded: 1986, by Spencer Frazer, per SOG's own history page
• First product: a reproduction of the original SOG Bowie knife, per the same page
• Origin: American Rifleman traces Frazer's first design to the bowie carried by the Vietnam-era MACV-SOG unit
• Owner: GSM Outdoors, headquartered in Texas, acquired SOG, as American Rifleman reported in February 2022
• Warranty: SOG describes a lifetime warranty; defective items are repaired or replaced at SOG's discretion

Wipe the pliers jaws, put a drop of oil on the gears, and put the tool back on the hook by the door. That's where you'll reach for it in the dark.