AUS-8 SOG flash II thoughts?

[Imprezed]

Does anyone have any information about the sog flash II aus-8? This will be my first non spyderco purchase in a year if I get it. The assist opening really draws me to this knife. The handle and the blade itself really looks good but the only thing that I don't know is the ability of the aus-8 steel. It says it has a RC hardness of 56-58. My last purchases have been the calypso jr with zdp-189, vg-10 assist I, native cpm-s30v,and vg-10 endura. while aus-8 dissapoint me? any feedback will help. thanks

rich

[Irish Lager]

I own several Aus8 knives. Salsa, SS Caly Jr, Rescue Clipit, FRN Dragonfly, Cammilus Blaze, etc. From what i have found Aus8 makes for a good daily use knife for cutting boxes and the likes. It has pretty good edge retention and sharpens easily. Its no VG-10 or S30V but its not to be over looked IMO. Personally i dont care for AO knives so when i played w/ the flash II it didnt catch my fancy, but it does look neat. Hope that helps some, others will chime in who can be more helpfull.
J

[ghostrider]

I bought a Flash II about 3 1/2 years ago and immediately sent it back. IMHO the knife was cheaply made (blade play, and opening wasn’t very smooth, along with a weak AO). For that much cash I’d rather have a Kershaw Whirlwind or Blackout. The only thing I don’t like about the Kershaws is the weak clip. The steel in the Kershaw is only 440A, but it performs better than that IMHO. I think it holds an edge as well as my AUS-8A Beretta Busfield. I think it must have something to do with the grind, heat treat, and tempering. If it weren’t for the weak pocket clip, I’d still be carrying one and probably wouldn’t have bought a Spyderco. The Camillus Robo series (Heat, Blaze, and Sizzle) have a very strong spring mechanism and come in AUS-8. I have the Sizzle and it is much better built than the Flash II I had. Keep in mind that the SOG I bought was when they first came out and they might have worked the kinks out since then. The person I was selling for at the time told me that she had had a lot of them returned, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

[BlackNinja]

Does anyone have any information about the sog flash II aus-8? This will be my first non spyderco purchase in a year if I get it. The assist opening really draws me to this knife. The handle and the blade itself really looks good but the only thing that I don't know is the ability of the aus-8 steel. It says it has a RC hardness of 56-58. My last purchases have been the calypso jr with zdp-189, vg-10 assist I, native cpm-s30v,and vg-10 endura. while aus-8 dissapoint me? any feedback will help. thanks

rich

It's an overpriced piece of crap! AUS-8 is ok, but not that great! I'm not a big fan of AO either, just a matter of time before they are labeled a switchblade. In some states they may already be illegal.
I do own one.

[flipe8]

I don't have any experience with the Flash II, but I did own a SOG Twitch II and it really was brutal,IMO. It also had considerable blade play and the AO only worked well if the pivot was loosened off quite a bit, further adding to the blade play. After a short time, the spring actually broke in mine.I don't find AUS 8 to be that bad, but this knife didn't seem to hold an edge very well. I didn't even bother sending mine back to SOG for repairs; straight to the surplus store to be sold with some other 5$ POS.I don't normally knock things I don't like, but this one was a dud from the start.And to be honest, I'll never know if it was more or less isolated, or indicative of their other products.Oh yeah, one more gripe. I could pop the lock even with it engaged, so be mindful of that as well.

[fret]

I have the Flash II. I don't use it for anything. Seems ok tho. Fun and different to open. Still don't think I'd want to depend on it much.