PMCI - February 2017

pmcimagazine.com
MEET THE MAKER: SOG KNIVES
SOG KNIVES
A few years back now, when SHOT was still staged in Orlando I recall seeing a quite unassuming stand
which although modest piqued my curiosity given its name; SOG Knives. As an aficionado of military
history and especially the Vietnam War I immediately made a connection and knew I had to speak to them.
The story of SOG Knives does indeed begin in
Vietnam, where members of a highly classified
US special ops unit known as the Military
Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and
Observations Group (MACV-SOG) carried a
unique combat knife into the jungle on covert
missions, missions that were often far behind
enemy lines where the small, lightly armed
“Recon Teams” used every trick in the book to
thwart their enemies. Years later, in 1986, that knife inspired a
young designer, named Spencer Frazer, to found SOG Specialty
Knives. His mission; to reproduce the original SOG Bowie knife
and pay tribute to the special ops unit that created it.
Making changes to the original design of the MACV-SOG
knife, like resin-impregnating the leather handle, utilising
thicker stock and new grind lines, Spencer and his wife Gloria
launched their product and company with a one-page, black
and white ad in Soldier of Fortune Magazine of the S1 Bowie, a
replica of the SOG Knife. They also produced the SCUBA/Demo
knife, which is a replica of one of the rarest military knives to
date (only 1 of the original 39 knives produced has survived till
this day). Knives such as these and many of the SOG models
produced prior to the shift of production from Seki, Japan to
Taiwan are considered to be the best knives SOG had ever made.
A second “maritime” version of the Bowie (S2) was made
utilising a black micarta handle and stainless steel blade and
was known as the Trident. It was decorated with the US
Navy SEAL emblem as opposed to the Special Forces
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