I decided that I needed a proper survival knife to add to my collection. I have a number of great Tanto's but they seem to favor being used as a fighting utensil rather than a practical knife used for survival. I wanted something that could take literally everything I throw at it. Something I could beat on but stay sharp and straight.

My initial thought was to look for something by Cold Steel. I've simply never been a fan of folding knives, although I do see their purpose, so I set out to find a fixed blade Cold Steel knife, or at least something like it. I looked in to the Bushman series, G.I. Tanto, etc...

After a few weeks of looking online I decided that I would head to Bass Pro Shop and see what they have remembering that they have a small Cold Steel section. Nothing sparked my interest too greatly while I was there until I looked over the SOG collection they had. As soon as I saw the Seal Pup I was sold. From the shape and color to the blade to the feel and weight of the handle to the perfect sheath, this was something I was interested in.

From www.SOGknives.com:
The SEAL Pup Elite is our high performance new edition to the existing SEAL family of products. Sometimes.... we just ‘have to have’ more horsepower, the racing suspension, and every available option including sunroof. All kidding aside... the SEAL Pup Elite is serious business and carries on the tradition of supplying the worlds elite military forces.

One fact the sales rep explained to me that I was impressed by was that this particular knife is one of the most common knives used by law enforcement and military today. It is tough, resistant, and sharp.

The feature I was most impressed with on this particular knife was the sheath. Since I saw Bear's horizontal knife sheath on Man Vs. Wild I sought out to find one. After literally months and months of searching, I gave up. I could not find a decent knife that came with a horizontal sheath. So I gave up until I found the Seal Pup. The great thing about this sheath is that not only can it be worn horizontally, but it can be worn vertically on your belt and vertically on your shoulder. Making it an extremely versatile knife considering how many methods of carrying it you have. I will be wearing it on my belt, horizontally for the most part.




The knife is held in to place by one nylon strap just above a pouch found on the front of the sheath. This is unlike any other sheath I have ever used before because not only does it have a button closure to hold the knife in place, but it also uses Velcro. So, you can have them both connected for a great hold on the knife or you could just use the Velcro part so you can quickly unsheathe it.


The sheath has an extra pouch on the front of it, that, I'm not exactly sure what is even for. It is about 3-4 inches long and about 1.5-2 inches wide. I can see putting a sharpening stone in this pouch but I found it odd that it didn't come with one. There are countless other uses for this pouch, however, being that it is big enough to fit many survival items in it and has a very secure Velcro closing on it. From the top of my head, I can imagine that I will use it for a compass, a pack of waterproof matches/flint + steel, and possibly some string/rope.


The blade is very attractive on this knife, coated in black, it is about an inch and a half serrated, and has a very aggressive profile. It looks, very much, like something a member of S.W.A.T. would use. My only complaint about the blade is that it is Stainless Steel and not High Carbon. Had I gone with a Cold Steel, I probably would have got a HC one, but that doesn't make me not like this knife. The Seal Pup is full tang, like most knives of any value, and is much stronger than those that are 3/4's tang.

The handle and grip of this knife feels as perfect as any knife should. Average is probably the best way to describe the size of my hands and fingers. That being said, I can say that it has an amazing feel to it. It's all business when holding it, either upright or the opposite way with grooves for each finger and even a place to put your thumb on the bottom of the blade.

I've been looking for a survival knife for some time and I have had blinders on. I was only looking for a few companies and completely ignored SOG. They make an amazing knife.

For the Seal Pup I am rating it
/
What would have made it a 5/5 you ask? Well a High Carbon blade might have pushed it over the edge. That is the only thing I can think of that would improve this knife. Unfortunately for the Seal Pup, even though it's the only con, it's a big one for me. I am a fan of High Carbon.

From the handle, to the blade, to the sheath, this is a great knife. I can't imagine finding a better knife for what I needed. Thanks SOG.