The SOG Northwest Ranger is a knife that has a lot going for it. I’m told there is a new version of this knife, but mine’s an older model that I got in a trade years ago. It’s comfortable, well-balanced, and has all the features I would want in a self-defense fixed blade, including a clip-point blade, a section of grooves for the thumb, and a guard. The handle affords great traction and has superb ergonomics (it’s basically the same handle as the SOG Pentagon).
The problem with the Northwest Ranger is that SOG markets it (or did market it) as an outdoors knife. As such it use to ship with a traditional leather sheath that, while well made, simply didn’t do anything for me. Few things are as useless to my daily life and dress as is a leather belt sheath.
The solution was to call one of my Kydex suppliers, in this case Bob Humelbaugh of Survival Sheath Systems. Bob sent me the beautiful friction-fit sheath you see here. It’s very low profile, the workmanship is superb, and it has a belt loop that I can unsnap (which means I don’t have to take my belt out of my pants to thread the sheath loop over the belt).
For day-to-day defensive carry, the sheath is absolutely as important as the knife itself. If the sheath for your knife isn’t everything you need it to be, there’s no reason you can’t change that. Survival Sheath systems is one of several Kydex suppliers that we at The Martialist use on a regular basis. When you contact them, tell them we sent you.