I don’t carry a hammer, chisel, crowbar, hatchet, shovel, large screwdriver and the like when I go in deep, I just carry a tough trail knife. It’s the Swiss Army Knife of backcountry tools. And because I use it for so many different and often demanding tasks, I carry the toughest knife I can get.

So how can you separate the tough ones from the pretenders? There are no standards for trail knives, knifemakers use tricks to promote their wares, and most people recommend what they own, which is what their friends own. If you really want to know, you have to do the research yourself.

I assembled a box of candidates for my latest test. I added more knives later, but these were the starters.







I’ll cover the other knives later, but for now let’s focus on the Scrap Yard SOD, shown here at the test site. There’s a lot of talk about how tough the SOD’s SR-77 steel is, mostly from people who’ve never put it to the test. So let’s see if it measures up.







The SOD has just been removed from the deep freezer, as evidenced by ice condensation on the blade. If you’re in the snow and have ice condensation, your internals are VERY cold.

But why do this? Because warm steel is tougher steel and harder to detect problems with, while cold steel is more brittle and will reveal its true strength. That’s why knifemakers show off their knives in the Amazon and not the Arctic.

Notice the raised grid on the hammer face, and the dents in the SOD’s edge. I wanted to see if the edge was strong or weak, and would it shatter. So I set the SOD on its spine and hit the edge a few times with the hammer. That’s a large, long handled, grid faced, 28 ounce Estwing framing hammer, heavy and super tough. It hits with authority. The SOD’s edge is strong.







And here’s the testing block, a solid granite boulder. Notice the grooves in the granite (center frame). Those are from prior chopping tests. Any knife can chop wood, but only the toughest can chop granite in the snow for long.







Here’s the SOD well into the test.

The SOD was first laid flat on the granite, then hammered on both sides top to bottom full force with over 100 blows from the Estwing. Then the edge was faced into the granite and the spine repeatedly hit full force with the Estwing, driving the blade into and through the granite, splitting off a chunk. The SOD did this without problem and with surprisingly little edge damage.

This was repeated a second time, breaking off a second chunk of granite, as shown here. The whitish substance on the SOD is pulverized granite, embedded in the coating by the force of the side blows and from driving the blade through the granite.







A third granite block has now been chiseled off. You can see to the upper right where the rock was cut by the SOD’s blade as the spine was pounded with the Estwing.

But before the granite was cut, the SOD was laid flat on the granite and then hit full force on both sides with the Estwing a total of 50 more times. You can see some of the results in the new splits in the RES C grip.

At this point, the SOD has absorbed hundreds of hard blows from the Estwing.







Here’s a close up of the Res C grip. Notice the ripples caused by impacts from the Estwing’s grid face. I was surprised at how tough the Res C was.







And here’s the blade. Notice the patterned impacts from the Estwing.

Notice also the marks on the choil. To further test the SOD’s strength, it was placed over a depression in the granite to create a bridge between the tip of the blade and the end of the handle. Then the choil was hit full force with roundhouse swings from the Estwing. This resulted in the knife springing about 5’ up and 10’ distant, a process I call Knife Jumping. This was repeated about a dozen times.

While testing the various knives, some of the lighter knives made with spring steel flew 10-15’ up and 30-50’ distant while Knife Jumping. It was quite a show, if a little dangerous. Drinking beer and then trying to catch the knife or hit it with a bat is not recommended. I think Knife Jumping should be an Olympics sport, but only with sober judges.

Notice the amazingly good condition of the edge. I was quite impressed with the SOD’s toughness.







Close up of the blade. Notice that the coating on the thicker spine has been completely removed by the side impacts and from driving the blade through the granite. The patterned marks left by the Estwing as it pulverized the coating are clearly visible.

Note again the amazingly good condition of the edge.







Typical result of an abuse knife test with Knife Jumping. If you don’t see this, you aren’t swinging the Estwing hard enough.







I did some other tests, including wood chopping (did ok, not great), granite chopping (fun), pry test (strong), and some others that I’ll detail later. Basically, the SOD did just ok in the tests requiring size and mass, no surprise since it’s a mid-size trail knife, and very good in the tests requiring strength and toughness.

So was the SOD tough enough? An unqualified Yes! The SOD is one of the toughest knives I’ve ever tested. Its SR-77 steel proved to be incredibly tough.

If you’re tough on your knife or rely on it in tough spots, take a good look at the SOD. Most people look at styling, edge retention, rust resistance and the like when considering a trail knife, but toughness is the trump card where there’s no backup or second chance. You can always touch up the edge of a knife, but you can’t put it back together if it breaks.

And the SOD is as tough as they come. Subjectively, having owned a number of Busses, I think the SOD is tougher than a comparably sized Busse. It won’t hold an edge as well, or resist rust as well, or do some other things as well as a Busse, but it’s tougher.

Don’t think so? Check KnifeTests.com, where a much smaller Scrapper 6 essentially tied a far larger FFBM in the destruction tests. That’s a ±1.5 wide, full flat ground, .275 thick, partial-tang, SR-77 blade matching up against a 2" wide, saber ground, .32 thick, full-tang, INFI blade. That’s tough stuff!

Here’s my new SOD in a Rainwalker.
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Throw price into the mix and the SOD is a big winner. Superior performance to price indeed!
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