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Quick Look: Swamp Rat Bog Dog

A Product Review by Phil Elmore

My
Swamp Rat Bog Dog comes to me courtesy of a member of
Pax Baculum,
the official discussion forum of The Martialist. Member

JohnG, who visited the 2004 Blade
knife show in Atlanta, went above and beyond the call of duty for
both members of the forum and subscribers to this publication. He sent me a
care package of product literature and other materials from the show.
Among the items he obtained for my use as publisher of The Martialist
was
the Bog Dog.

Sold without a sheath, the Bog Dog is a light, remarkably
ergonomic fixed blade with clean lines and good execution. “I can’t
remember,” I told John, “the last time I held a knife quite this comfortable.”
The Spyderco Temperance is certainly competitive,
and there are a few other great blades from some of my favorite companies that
rank up there (such as the CRKT Hissatsu and the
SOG Pentagon). The Bog Dog, though, has a
unique feel all its own, making it worthy of consideration.

The students in my Kali class had similar feedback.
All of them found the knife extremely comfortable and a pleasure to wield.
The handle is a molded, textured, contoured affair of something called “Resiprene
C,” which fits securely in my palm and provides great traction. It
swells where it should, tapers where it should, and feels great as a result.
Grooves on the spine and belly of the handle keep my fingers in place in
forward and reverse grips, while the handle itself curves perfectly for
“capping” with the thumb.

According to Swamp Rat’s
website,
Resiprene C offers all the advantages of rubber without rubber’s
disadvantages. It provides good insulation and Swamp Rat says it is
resistant (if not impervious) to chemicals and moisture. A chamfered,
lined lanyard hole has been added in the tail end of the handle.

The simple drop-point blade bears only the
Swamp Rat name. It is an eighth of an inch thick and came with a very
sharp edge. Steel is D2, which rusts more easily than some alloys but
which has good edge retention by comparison.

In testing, the Bog Dog’s deep belly sliced
very well. The knife also penetrated stacked cardboard deeply on
thrusts, but what impressed me most was how it simply moved. The
Bog Dog feels almost weightless and slices through the air gracefully.

In need of a good sheath, I contacted
Nicolai Brix, whose
work with the Bog Dog and other blades is earning him a good name in knife
fora online. He sent me his Bog Dog model, without a belt loop per my
instructions.

I had a small Tek-Lok fastener left over from
another project. The standard model comes pre-drilled with holes for
such a fastener, so I figured my Tek-Lok would be perfect for Nicolai’s
sheath.

I had a little trouble fitting the Tek-Lok
because the sheath grommets almost lined up with the Tek-Lok holes.
Minor fit variation is a problem frequently encountered on Kydex and Concealex
sheaths produced in quantity (rather than tailored exactly to a single,
specific knife), so I wasn’t troubled by it. A little pressure with the
screwdriver was all it took to get everything working together.

Once I had the Tek-Lok and the sheath lined up,
I set up the rig for reverse grip “drawpoint” carry. The sheath is
well-made and holds the knife securely. The two flanges part easily with
a slight rasp as the knife comes free. Nicolai’s workmanship is quite
good, with only a few minor variations in the shaping of the Kydex.

Thanks to John’s generosity and Nicolai’s
craftsmanship, I have an excellent self-defense blade with a well-designed and
executed carry package.

What more could a martialist
want?

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