SOG Force Survival Knife with Custom Convexed Edge/Mini Review

Back in 2013, SOG Specialty Knives & Tools sent me their "Force" Survival Knife and asked me to review it. Owing to the barrage of wildfires in my area of Colorado at that time and the ensuing chaos that followed, many of my reviews from that period got shelved, including the review of the SOG Force. The Force knife ended up gathering dust in storage for over a year before I was finally able to dig it out and spend some time in the bush testing it. So how did it do? Read on below to find out more.....

The Force Knife

I love the Force's simple but useful blade shape, excellent splitting ability, roomy handle and nearly indestructible construction. However, its edge profile is a different story. It is profiled more for strength in a survival situation than for pure wood carving ability, which left it a bit wanting while performing bushcraft tasks.

Don't get me wrong, the Force's factory edge, in actuality, cuts things just fine, but I wanted to see if I could improve on it for bushcraft purposes while still having a strong edge. Enter the Work Sharp......

I decided to break out my Work Sharp Ken Onion Knife Sharpener to see if I could improve on the edge by reprofiling it into a convex.

The result? A total transformation. The Work Sharp did a fantastic job reprofiling the edge, and all of a sudden, the knife was carving wood like a champ.

 

After re-profiling the edge, I took the SOG Force with me on several more field trips. The combination of its sturdy, 1/4" wide blade and new convex cutting edge made the knife great for a variety of woods tasks such as prying the bark off of dead trees for making tinder, baton splitting logs, creating feathersticks, and chopping small poles to make shelters.

Cheers,

Jason

For more information visit: 

www.sogknives.com/catalog/product/view/_ignore_category/1/id/18/s/force/

About the author

Jason Schwartz is the founder of Rocky Mountain Bushcraft and the author of Edible & Medicinal Survival Plants of the Rocky Mountains Pocket Guides. Jason has also written for the The New Pioneer and Backpacker, including writing the "Tinder Finder" portion of Backpacker's "Complete Guide to Fire," which won a 2015 National Magazine Award (NMA). Email him at rockymountainbushcraft @ hotmail.com (without spaces)