SOG SEAL XR: The Dark Has A New Enemy

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The SEAL XR is an intimidating beast. When you get your hands on the knife, there is no doubt left in your mind, that this blade was created to accompany good men into bad places.

The XR is the third blade in SOG’s SEAL line of knives and it continues to set the standard in brute strength and toughness.

This knife is not meant for everyone, it’s a different breed, but like the sword in the stone, everyone should give it a try just once.

SPECS

Overall Length: 9.12 in
Blade Length: 3.90 in
Blade Thickness: 0.19 in
Blade Style: Clip Point
Blade Material: CPM S35VN
Edge Type: Straight
Handle Material: Glass-reinforced Nylon
Lock Type: XR
Weight: 8.25 oz / 233.88 g
Opener: XR / Thumb Hole / Kick
Opening Action: Manual

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OVERALL

The SOG SEAL XR is an all-around awesome knife. Out of all the knives I own and have tested it is one if not the most tactically focused and functional.

It has four deep finger choils, a textured grip, a lanyard hole, a thick pocket clip, and a slick clip-point blade. All though not particularly slicey the XR is very stabby and excels at puncturing clothes and other tactical gear.

In day-to-day activities, the SEAL XR is a bit overkill, but it does everything you need it to from cutting cords and zap straps to opening bags of chip and Amazon packages.

It is a heavy-duty workhorse of a knife.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

The first aspect that stands out when you pick up this knife is its weight. Coming in at 8.25 oz the SEAL XR comes in at two almost three times as heavy as many other popular tactical and EDC knives.

The handle also stood out because it isn’t flat at all. It’s rounded so it fits the contours of your hand and sits in your fist nice and snug. The handle is also extremely textured with deep jimping along the front and back and on the blade’s spine.

The first time I tried to open it, how strong the XR lock held the knife locked in place also stood out. With a strong detent you know there’s no concern about this knife opening when it shouldn’t.

How thick, heavy, firm, and rough the SEAL XR is, are the characteristics of this knife that hit me hard when I first opened that box.

FIELD FIRSTS

Getting used to the added weight in my pocket was probably the number one thing I had to deal with with the SEAL XR. Never having carried a heavy-duty knife around as an EDC before, this was new to me. That being said I got used to it pretty quickly.

I learned as well that the XR isn’t as slicey as many EDCs are. Now that has nothing to do with the sharpness of the blade, but purely to do with the thickness of the blade.

Slimmer blades slice right through objects, but the thicker blade of the SEAL XR can not. The S35VN steel can be razor sharp and cut objects like butter, but slice right through objects not so much.

Where the SEAL XR does shine is in stabbing. Where many thinner knives would break upon stabbing a medium to hard object such as a kitted-out tac vest, the SEAL XR with enough pressure can puncture right through without bending, breaking, or chipping.

So far it has easily been able to handle everything I have thrown at it with nothing more to show than some of the Cerakote finish coming off.

QUALITY & DESIGN

HANDLE

SCALE OUTER TEXTURE

The outer scales are both heavily textured with diamond imprints. The rough texture provides great grip with both bare and gloved hands.

A complaint I have seen online is that it is too rough, I, however, don’t see it this way. I think it’s exactly what is needed in a heavy-duty tactical blade.

Most blades have an issue remaining grippy once you have gloves on, but this texture anchors the SEAL XR to the hand no matter how thick the glove is.

FINGER CHOILS

The finger choils on the XR are excellent. It boasts four solid choils with an extra deep choil at both the bottom and top of the handle.

The deep-end choils allow for an extra solid grip with your index finger whether you’re wielding the XR in a forward or reverse grip.

Each finger choil is also slightly bevelled to better fit the curve in your finger. This makes gripping it easier and more comfortable.

SCALE LININGS

The inside of the scales has full steel linings. These steel linings are where the XR gets a lot of its weight as well as a lot of its strength and sturdiness.

SOG did attempt to lessen the weight slightly by putting a few cutouts into the steel linings, but I don’t know how much it helped.

I like how thick and heavy the SEAL XR is as it makes you feel like you’re actually holding a solid fighting tool.

BLADE PIVOT

The Pivot point on the XR uses ball bearings which offer an extremely smooth open. This is excellent since the XR has such a thick heavy blade it needs a smooth open to still be opened quickly.

One issue that you typically see with ball bearings though is that they can get dirty and then slowly become less and less smooth. This is especially a problem with field knives, as the field is a very dirty place to operate.

SOG solved this problem to some degree by having the ball bearings recessed into the handles.

This prevents them from getting dirty as easily as in many other knives.

LANYARD HOLE AND POCKET CLIP

There is a decently-sized lanyard hole on the tail end of the XR. This provides a great place for an extra length of 550 cord in case of an emergency

The SEAL XR has a deep carry pocket clip, which lets it sit low in your pocket. Like the rest of the knife, the pocket clip is strong and beefy.

It is the widest pocket clip I’ve seen on a folding knife. A clip this size is needed on the XR however, with it being so heavy and big, the clip holds it securely in your pocket.

POMMEL STRIKE

Unlike many pocket knives which have a glass breaker bead or tip on the bottom of the handle, the SEAL XR has a pommel strike.

The action of pommel striking is a downward hammer fist typically while holding a sword. So you’re hitting your enemy with the butt of the handle.

The SEAL XR having a pommel strike, is just another part of the knife meant to be used to injure or unalive an enemy combatant.

This again reinforces that the XR is a knife truly meant for the battlefield.

REAR JIMPING

The entire back side of the knife has steel jimping, from the bottom to the top. This along with the diamond texture on the scales makes the XR extremely grippy.

Regardless of the thickness of your gloves, the XR won’t slip out of your hands. Now at the same time, people complain that this hurts their hands and that this level of texture is unnecessary.

I strongly disagree though. I haven’t had any problems with it hurting my hands and it helps with grip. I quite like the jimping on the back, as it accentuates the toughness of the knife.

BLADE

STYLE

The SOG SEAL XR has a clip-point blade with a sabre grind. It comes in both a serrated edge and a straight edge as you can see in my photos.

The classic sabre grind would typically offer great slicing ability but with such a thick blade it gives it what it can. It does offer though strong stabbing ability and a thick spine for massive strength.

MATERIAL

CPM S35VN is a premium steel created to be even tougher than its big brother CPM S30V. This improved toughness of S35VN gives it excellent edge retention even against other high-end steels.

Its approximate hardness lies between 58-61RC on the Rockwell Scale and is highly regarded as one of the best premium steels in the knife industry today. 

Check out my article on blade steel for more in-depth steel understanding, “The Ultimate Guide To Blade Steel“

SPINE WIDTH

This is one of the largest chunks of S35VN steel you’ll find on any knife, let alone a folding knife.

The spine of the XR is 0.19 inches thick and is one of the thickest spines you’ll find on a folding knife. This thickness makes the SEAL XR extremely strong and this is why this blade can take such a beating.

This amount of steel, along with the liners is also part of the reason why the XR is so heavy and why it comes with the price tag it carries.

OPENER

KICK (FLIPPER)

The flipper or kick, as SOG calls it, is quite large and has the same aggressive jumping on it as the rear of the handle and the blade’s spine.

It comes in handy as the detent on the XR is so strong you need that extra grip on the kicker to open up the knife.

Again, it is rough and sure it could hurt your hands if they’re soft but it is not something I have had any issue with and I don’t think most people would.

THUMBHOLE

The XR comes with a nice big thumb hole as one of the three ways you can deploy the blade.

The issue with using the thumb hole is, that the handle is so thick the thumb hole is almost unusable as a practical method of opening the blade.

It’s a good idea and you can use it if you’re just playing around, but it’s next to useless if you need to deploy the blade with any real urgency.

XR LOCK

SOGS XR lock is their version of Benchmades Axis lock. SOG did an excellent job creating its version. It is extremely tough and strong being able to withstand 1500 lbs of force.

The XR lock is the third method of blade deployment on the SEAL XR and although not as easy as just using the kicker it is easier than using the thumbhole.

You can see the two bars in the back of the knife are extremely thick and do an excellent job holding the blade in place once it’s deployed.

The outside pull tabs are smooth and easy to operate, you do have to pull down quite strong however to release the blade fully. It is functionally fantastic and simple and makes for a great lock on a tactical knife meant for field use

CONCERNS AND CRITICISM

LOOSE SCREWS

The one complaint I have had with this knife was that it came with loose screws. Now, this might be an accidental one-off situation and I have never experienced it with any of the other SOG knives I have owned, but within the first month, I had two screws come out and the belt clip almost come off.

When you’re paying upwards of $200 for a knife you should not have to worry about it falling apart from simple everyday use.

I then called SOGs customer service and they would not replace the screws that had fallen out. Again, I had not yet done any testing of the knife, I had not abused or misused the knife in any way.

This was highly disappointing that they fell out so easily and then even more disappointing that SOG would not replace the screws.

SEAL FAMILY

SOGS SEAL line of knives is one of the all-around toughest strongest, and most functional family of knives ever created. Soldiers and the tactical community were thought about from start to finish in the creation of these knives.

The whole line of knives has solid finger choils for grip, deeply textured handles, a large finger guard, a lanyard hole, a thick spine, and other than the XR a full tang.

For many years the SEAL Pup was even issued to soldiers because it is such a simple, light, and functional knife.

SOG created these knives as brutes made to be used and abused in hostile environments. Anyone looking for a good tactical knife, backpack knife, field knife, or just everyday carry would do well to pick up one of these.

CONCLUSION

SOG is truly a maker of tactical knives, they excel in this genre and the SEAL XR is no different. It is a tactical beast, made to fight bad men.

The XR excels in far more than just the battlefield though. It is the perfect heavy-duty folder for any hunter, hiker, adventurer, law enforcement, or gear enthusiast.

So, if you want to take a step out from the more traditional little slicey pocket knife and into the realm of the heavy-duty pocket knife the SOG SEAL XR is the perfect knife to do it with.

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